I have chosen to enter blog-land... i will leave a trail of bread crumbs to find my way back...

I'm new to the world of blogging and not really sure where I'm going with this yet so if you stumble across me here, please be gentle on me!

I suppose I should introduce myself and explain my name...

Helmamallama is me: Helena, mum to 2 boys, a 2.5yo and a 4.5yo, wife to a llama... no just kidding, my husband of 11 years is a crazy Scotsman, the llama bit actually came earlier, but I'll get to that ;)

Before I had my boys I'd been teaching Performing and Visual Arts at our local primary school for about 10 years. Since taking family leave and staying home with my boys, my creative outlets have diminished somewhat. My paints, mosaics, paper mache and tin-work have been replaced by playdoh, chalk drawings on the pathways and fancy birthday cakes. The guitar and African drumming, swapped for a cute doggy xylophone and a home made drums and maracas which we jam along to whatever's playing, occasionally my music but more often than not, The Wiggles, Justine Clarke and the occasional cringe-worthy rhythms of Hi-5!

Don't get me wrong, I'm loving that I get to bring out the creative expressive side of my boys but it's now time to get my own creative juices flowing again. I've never really 'mastered' anything myself but love getting into the arts and giving it a go.

So here is where I plan to share the return to my creative side. It's just baby steps at this stage, with 2 crazy boys, I don't have much time to get into it as much as I'd like to and don't have the space to do a lot of stuff safely with Captain Chaos and his sidekick Destructo-Boy running amok constantly, but I will try.

I have realised after slaving over their birthday cakes or cutting and sticking numerous boxes together to form cars, planes or robots over the past few years, that doing something for them, is the best way to have them 'let' me do something creative during daylight hours!

At the moment, my kitchen has been taken over by my new paper mache project- the Octonauts. For those not into kid's shows, it's a cartoon about a bunch of animals who from their Octopod Headquarters, Explore! Rescue! and Protect! all those who dwell beneath the sea.

I started collecting bottles and boxes etc recently that vaguely resemble the shapes of the 'Gups'. (Under water vehicles shaped like different sea creatures. eg an angler fish is the Gup-A, the Gup-B is a shark) I have also started on the Octopod and have plans to sew soft-toys of the Octonauts themselves. The artwork from the tv show and books is just beautiful and the

designer, Meomi is a big part of the inspiration to get creative again. The real inspiration though has been the fact there is no merchandise available in stores for anything Octonauts-related! I love seeing my eldest in his Captain Barnacles hat I made, role playing with his squirty bath toys, referring to each of us as different characters. (I'm Tweak Bunny lol)

He's got a great imagination and I really enjoy joining him in his make-believe worlds. I love that I am inspired to be creative and add to the magic with him and his little brother.

Here he is with the Gup-B... The Gup-A should be finished soon :)

So there we go, my first step towards committing myself to getting creative again. I will use this blog to keep me motivated in keeping it up and maybe work on the old creative writing skills too!

(Tho, I don't imagine all my posts will be quite this long, I'll be too busy making stuff!)

:) Hel xo

PS oh yeah, the llama bit? Friends & I had ourselves a band back in the day lol... my 'stage name' was 'Llama Helsinki'... I'm planning to rediscover my musical side here too... stay tuned ;)