JuBella.com – Get Your Creative Dose

Motherhood Is Art…Balancing the art of motherhood and creativity can sometimes come easy but many times it is quite a task to master. I appreciate this documentary entitled “Who Does She Think She Is” regarding being a mother and an artist collectively. I have always wanted to be an artist and a stay at home mother. In fact while I was still in high school I told my mother that these were my life goals. She did not discourage me with words like “well, you can be a career woman”, but she nodded her head, gave me a smile, and said “That’s A Good Thing”, and I forever appreciate her for that response. I think that if she had shown any dis-agreement about it, it could have reshaped my thoughts and values. Nevertheless, while attending the Savannah College of Art & Design, I feel that I started out on the right path towards becoming an artist, yet with the interventions of life and motherhood, I must say that my creative spirit took a back seat for quite some time.

Now I feel have a bit more clarity when it comes to my creative time and goals, which is why I started my craft blog: Crafty Hues. I truly feel that creativity and motherhood goes hand in hand. I tell everyone that “A Mothers Creativity Can Save The World.” As corny as it may sound, I truly believe this! Imagine a world where our mothers used ALL of their forms of creative expression and love to raise their children..imagine the level of confidence this world could have! I hear a lot of moms say that they are not creative, but I beg to differ…we create life, therefore, we can develop creativity within any shape and form.

So, as I grow up and as each day sets and rises, I hope to become an artist, but not just the kind of artist that creates beautiful paintings and decadent designs, but the kind of artist that also creates a masterpiece within my family..and with the help of my husband…sculpting each of my kids as you would on a potters wheel..with gentleness, creativity, and thought. We as mothers are all artists…as we bring out the art of life with each creative moment that we offer up to our families.

I am in love with these pieces from the Zid Zid Kids line! I absolutely love the poofs and the plush toys are simply adorable. I can imagine a childs room decorated with these up against a simple white/beige wall. A very simple room, with lots of fabulous accents such as these…perfect! And if you cannot afford their designer prices, I am sure it would be a breeze to make your own versions, especially for all of you crafty ladies!

I very much hope to have the opportunity to make my own baby food for baby girl when she arrives, even if it is not for every meal. It would be nice to know that I am taking out a bit of time to concoct some gourmet mash for her liking..LOL.

We had these for breakfast this morning and they came out pretty good in my opinion(I was experimenting with my pancake recipes), so I thought I would share the recipe here! After the first bite our son goes: “What did you put in these…they taste healthy”…LOL, he says this anytime I use wheat flour, anyhow, he ate every bit of it and said that it tasted good! Ok, here is the recipe:

Strawberry & Banana Pancakes:

Ingredients
1 C. Unbleached Flour
1/2 C. Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
2/4 C. Sugar
2/4 C. Nonfat Plain Yogurt
1 Egg
2/4 C. Almond Milk: Vanilla (I use Blue Diamond unsweetened vanilla)
2 tsp. Olive Oil

Directions: using your mixer, mix together all of your dry ingredients. Add your egg, yogurt, and milk & mix. Fold in your olive oil.

Pour batter into a non-stick skillet(i use canola non-sticking spray) on low heat. Using a 1/4 measuring cup pour batter into your skillet and spread batter a bit to create a larger circle. Place the top on your skillet and let cook/steam on one side until the edges are firm enough to turn. Do the same on the other side & continue this process until your batter is gone.

Serve pancakes warm and top with sliced bananas and strawberries. Here i used a sprinkle of powdered sugar, but that is totally optional.

Suggestion: Blend some strawberries with your syrup or honey to make a great strawberry flavored syrup!

Many of us can relate to the all to familiar “rush hour” within our homes. You know, that block of time somewhere between 4:30 and 7:00pm, when you find yourself running around the house trying to: pick up toys, cook dinner, tidy up, clear the sink from breakfast and lunch, all while you waste a bit of time trying to chat it up on your twitter or facebook accounts.

This is the usual for me, but I have realized that with me being a stay at home mom, I can take maximum advantage of scheduling my time to the best of my ability to keep my sanity in tact! So, I say all this to highly recommend to you all who are stay at home moms to give cooking dinner early(before 5pm)a try; and be sure to clean up and transfer any food to your tupperware afterwards, because you do not want to have to deal with that after dinner either!

For those of you who work, you should definitely invest in a slow cooker and a meal plan. This way when you get home from work you either already have the meal prepared from the slow cooker, and with a planned menu, you will not find yourself staring into the fridge wondering what to cook because you have already planned and scheduled it out.

Nevertheless, it feels great to have the rest of the day/evening with no rushing around in a hot kitchen and missing out on dinner around the table, and it cuts down on clean up time after dinner when all you want to do is relax!

How Do You End Or Begin Your Days?

As much as I would like to say that I am a morning person, I am just not! I happen to enjoy the late hours of the day when everyone has snuggled up in bed and have fallen off to sleep. This is when I find my quiet time. I take a hot shower/bath, find something good to sip on/snack upon, light a candle, grab my favorite floral/thrifted sheet and nestle in to the corner of my couch. Usually you can find me in this spot up until about 2am blogging, working, budgeting, dreaming, watching either the food network, nick-at-nite or some random movie. I find total peace at night. I have always been that way ever since high school! My favorite is to have a cup of chai and something sweet to keep my taste buds company while I write.

I think it is crucial for all mothers…anyone really, to find that special time within the day as well as a special place that you can just be at peace. A place to daydream, a place to feel inspired. Whether it is morning, night, or mid-day!

So, what do you do when you are sitting on the couch watching an Episode of Spongebob Squarepants with the kiddo for the 400th time(because nickelodean loves their repeats) and your little one goes: “You should get a real job like BaBa(this is what he calls his dad)? I was a bit caught off guard with his statement as part of me wanted to laugh and then another part of me felt quite offended and a little paranoid (yes I can get offended by a 5 year old). But it made me think, maybe he really does not understand my role here as a Stay At Home Mom. He knows that his BaBa wakes up every morning, gets dressed, goes out to work, comes home, and makes money. Now with me on the other hand, the only time he feels that I am “working” is when I pull the laptop out.

So, instead of reflecting on all of the articles that I have read on how stay at home moms don’t do anything or that they are bored out of their minds (which is totally not the case for myself). I just took that time to explain to him that both his BaBa and myself work, but that we just have different jobs; and that my job was to be a good YaYa(mother). I explained to him that my job was to make sure that he learned, ate his veggies and fruit, and to make our home warm and fun. I also told him that I also work at night on the computer after he has gone to bed.

He seemed to understand and that made me feel good, because even though I am a stay at home mom, the last thing that I would want is for my son to feel that their is no “work” put into such a role. So, if you are stay at home mother yourself, I highly suggest you explain to your kids what you do, your job, your responsibilities, and why your job as well as your husbands are equally important and how you two work together for their sake!

So, we as mothers tend to have to juggle a lot of little things that tend to snowball into one big enormous task that at many times can be truly hard to carry. I have found myself writing and re-writing, and formatting, and re-formatting a daily schedule for myself for months now; and while I think I have a decent schedule to follow, I find it quite hard to actually…well..follow it!

It’s funny how life may seem complicated, but for the most part it can be very easy to manage if one can learn and discipline themselves to manage themselves properly. I find that when I fight the ongoing battle with procrastination, and push myself to put things back where they belong, that my life and my day to day tasks just flow perfectly. I think that life is about not only living within this world, but understanding that their must be balancement, and sometimes we may not be able to accomplish each and everything on our list, but, we can accomplish a portion of the tasks, and set goals to accomplish them over time.

When you can spread your patience amongst the time allowed within the week to accomplish your tasks..that to me is balancement. Balancement is not accomplishing one thing while letting something else fall under but allowing yourself to focus and nurture each task for a given amount of time during the day until it is done by the end of the week or month, or however long it takes to complete it.

So, as I learn by trial and error the art of balancing it all, I hope to learn more about myself, my standards, and to set a good impression for my children to live by. If I ever had to tell my children something to live by on my death bed, I would say: “live simple, live organized, and lived balanced”.

Question: How do you try to stay organized and balanced throughout your goals and days? Any helpful mama tips? Please share by leaving a comment!

This particular recipe is fantastic for making with your children. Our little one LOVED it. You can get really creative with the recipe. We made both chocolate(pictured above) and vanilla and it was so good. Making this outside makes this treat even better for the little ones! However I will be investing in an ice cream maker soon, but like I said, it is fun to do this one with your kids!

Homemade Ice Cream

½ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

3 beaten egg yolks

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups chilled whipping cream

Bag of Ice

Rock / Ice Cream Salt

ziplock bags: sandwich and gallon size

1. Put the sugar, salt, and milk into the top pan of a double boiler (you can use two pots to do this should you not have a double boiler. Just add about 3 cups of water to your bottom pot and plate your other pot on top). Stir the 3 beaten egg yolks into the milk and sugar. Cook the mixture over boiling water for about 2-3 minutes or until you see bubbles forming around the edges. Let mixture cool to room temperature. Remove top pot and stir in the vanilla extract and the heavy whipping cream and stir together.

2. Pour the ice cream mixture into a plastic zip-lock sandwich bag and seal tightly. Fill a gallon size food storage zip-lock bag about one third full of ice cubes. Add a cup of rock salt. Zip the large bag closed, and wrap it in a towel to keep fingers from getting too cold.

3. Now squish and shake your bag, making sure that the ice and salt contacts the little bag as much as possible, and that the little bag gets lots of friction, this keep the ice crystals tiny, making it very smooth. Shake for about 10 to 15minutes. Voila! You’ve got some delicious homemade ice cream. Yummy!

Note: Ice cream will be soft, we preferred ours to be a bit firmer, so let your little bag sit in the freezer for about 20 minutes to an hour to get your ice cream much firmer to scoop up with an ice cream scoop!

Chocolate Ice Cream: Just add about ¼ cup of unsweetened cocoa to your mixture before putting it in your little bag. Proceed with directions.

Strawberry Ice Cream: Mash 2 cups of strawberries with 1/4 cup of sugar and add to your mixture before putting it in your little bag. Proceed with directions.