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Through blogging and Instagramming, I’ve been introduced to an amazing Virtual Sisterhood of Creative Ladies.
The Oh Creative Lady series is your chance to meet these incredible, kind-hearted, inspiring <insert ALL the happy, positive adjectives HERE> women.
Somebody recently asked me what motivated me to start the Oh Creative Lady series. I replied that it’s mainly because I’m nosy. I love getting an insight into the lives of others. I especially love seeing how ladies balance their creative callings with motherhood. It’s always interesting to see how these mummas then infuse creativity into the lives of their littles. Viv from @papercutmum embarked on the coolest project with her boys. I loved finding out that when she’s not cutting bits of paper with her boys, she works…. well, I’ll let her do the talking.
I am… Viv, aka @papercutmum, hello! I’m a mum of two wonderful little boys – three year old Covey and one year old Arlo. You may know us as 366cards – a little project I did last year with my toddler Covey who was two at the time.
I find inspiration… in meeting other creative people. When I’m not cutting paper and making a mess with my little ones, I’m a freelance interior photographer who takes pictures of creatives’ homes and writes about them on Apartment Therapy. Not only does this job allow me to work around my children (although often means I work til midnight after they’ve gone to bed), it also gives me access to meeting some really interesting people and seeing the way they live. I always find that after a shoot I’m energised again with new ideas and inspiration from these clever individuals.
I am excited about… our latest papercutting project. We were in London a few weeks ago and visited lots of fun places like museums, art galleries and parks, and after each time we recreated a collage of that particular place (like the new Design Museum below). I actually forgot to pack any paper this time so we ended up cutting everything from the free London magazines like Timeout London or Evening Standard! I’m thinking of turning them into postcards maybe? Stay tuned!
When I’m in a creative slump, I… follow my kids around, like watching a snail crawl outside our front door together, or looking for funny shaped pebbles, or splashing paint all over our decking. They always seem to come up with the craziest ideas.
I’m really proud of… the fact that we’ve actually finished making 366 cards! It’s funny because it started as a bit of a joke between me and my husband Ben – he thought it was a bit unrealistic, and didn’t think I could get to 36, let alone 366. I’m quite competitive so wanted to prove him wrong. In the end when I’m staring at the 366 cards that we actually made, I’m beyond proud!
Someone once told me… that “a woman’s career would be over once she has a baby”. He was a creative director at the advertising agency I worked in, when I was an art director at the time. Well, my advertising chapter may have closed for now, but I’m working on a bunch of interesting projects at the moment, like illustrating a children’s book, designing a parent/children craft project, and of course my freelance photography. It’s also quite nice not to have to spend my weekends and evenings in the office anymore, and being able to be there for my kids whenever they need me.
My advice to you is… don’t worry about starting a project that may seem a bit daunting at first. If something is not scary, it’s not worth working on! (500 cards anyone…?)