Author: bbbeecreative

Nothing says Summer in Burntisland like the return of the annual Highland Games and Fair. The community here is justifiably proud of the fact these games have been running since 1652, second only to the Ceres Games which have been running since 1314.

The Games used to be more about choosing the strongest or most able-bodied men for the clan chieftain’s household and less about Scottish culture and Candy Floss but no Highland Games would be worth its salt without the ‘Tossing the Caber’ event. The caber is just short of six metres tall, lifted, balanced and completely flipped by the competitor. The highest scores go to those who land the caber straight ahead, in the 12 o’clock position. Aside from these shows of brute strength, there are dancers and music and all manner of athletic competition.

In Burntisland, the Games are also accompanied by fairground attractions which stay in situ long after the high energy of the Highland Games has dissipated. Being next to the beach during the long summer days, you can see why Burntisland was the high point for Glaswegians going on holiday ‘doon the watter’ during the Fair Fortnight.

My sister remembers hot days when the black tarmac was too hot to walk on barefoot, and everyone was sunburnt and happy eating ice creams. The roads were closed so visitors could wander unhindered and there was always an air of excitement and frivolity as all members of the family joined in the celebrations. These days some of the ‘family’ tradition has been lost, but it’s still a much-anticipated summer celebration.

A staple favourite has to be the Big Wheel though. What better way to see across the Fife coastline or feel the wind in your hair or whistling around your ankles? Whatever you are doing this summer, I hope you have fun and I hope you are making memories that you’ll still be talking about many years from now. If you are looking for a souvenir of your time at the Burntisland Games or you’d like a reminder of the summer vibe in Burntisland, why not treat yourself (or someone you care about) to Bumbumbee’s unique Burntisland Map (Click the link to purchase). That way, if you ever get lost in life, you will always be able to find your way back to Burntisland.

It’s 5.22pm on the 22nd of May and the year is 2022. You could say the number 2 is a bit special to me right now. Numerically speaking the number 2 is a positive number, a whole number, and the smallest, even prime number. Spiritually and symbolically speaking the number two is all about duality, relationships, harmony and partnerships, while personally speaking, well little Rosie is 2 and … incredibly … Bumbumbee Creative is also 2 years old. That’s right this week we reached the terrible two’s – oh wait a minute – no that’s Rosie – Bumbumbee has reached Tremendous, Terrific Twos.

As I look back over the milestones and achievements over the past 2 years, I feel incredibly proud. Just as our wee ones must grow, take their first tentative steps, find their feet and find their voice, so too we must take out first tentative steps in bringing our creative dreams to life. I have nurtured ‘the dream’ and had hopes that those early steps were just the start of something even bigger.

To study for years, then teach the arts and design is one thing – to step out from behind that and create designs for paying customers is quite another. It can leave you feeling slightly vulnerable. There’s always that little voice inside nagging away, ‘is it good enough?’ or ‘am I good enough?’ Those of you who suffer from ‘imposter syndrome will know exactly what I’m talking about. But you know what they say – ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’. Luckily, I have a whole bunch of supporters around me – cheering me on – particularly on those days I feel the fear or the demands of work and family threaten my creative time. There’s so much to be grateful for, but amongst the things I appreciate the most are those of you who have bought my illustrations and those businesses who have stocked my work. A big thank you to you all. It’s because of you we’re turning two!

Unwrapping some birthday love

Still on the theme of all the two’s, I mentioned that the number two is symbolic of partnerships and relationships which is quite appropriate since we have some exciting news to share. News I’ve been keeping ‘under wraps’ so to speak.

Leaf Natural Food Wraps is a Markinch-based business specialising in wax wraps and other eco products. They approached me some time ago with the idea of collaborating on a local wildflower pattern that could be used on their organic unbleached calico fabric.

Creating patterns of this nature can be quite intricate to get right as there are so many considerations, particularly when transferred to fabric – but I was excited and up for the challenge. In a project like this there is a lot of thinking time before concepts come to the fore. A partnership is a blend of many ideas, visions, briefs and evolving concepts – each of us bringing our respective strengths to the table. Ultimately, I think the magic was there and we worked together to create something unique that we can both be proud of.

The design features poppies, pansies, St John’s wort, forget-me-nots and elderflowers, interlaced with birch leaves to tie in with Leaf Natural Food Wrap’s logo in vintage tones.

The first batch of fabric is going to be used across a full range of products in the next week or two, and they’ll make their debut at Balgove Larder Night Market on Tuesday 7th June 2022, so do let me know if you spot them and what you think of the design.

Well, no self-respecting 2 year old birthday celebration is complete without some cake, so on that note, I am going to see what crumbs the Bumbumbee family have left me. My birthday wish for all of you who have creative dreams is to be brave and courageous – feel the fear and do it anyway. Until next time …

How many of you feel you have managed to achieve the perfect work-life balance? As someone who is feeling a little frazzled around the edges of late, I have been giving the subject some thought.

Life has been a little hectic, a continual balancing act between keeping the little bumbumbees fed, cleaned and watered, childcare arrangements and demands at work, all conspire to squeeze my creative time.

If you are up for a mini history lesson, the idea that working hours should be limited to create the fabled and mythical ‘work-life balance’ goes back to the 1800s.  Manufacturing laws were passed to restrict the number of hours women and children were working and by 1938 the Fair Labour Standards Act established a 44-hour work-week. It’s such a shame I can’t put Adam and Rosie to work just yet, but laws are laws I suppose.

The Women’s Liberation Movement brought work-life balance back to the forefront in the 1980s to accommodate women in the workforce who were also mothers or primary carers in the home.

Throughout the decades we’ve seen progress and backward steps in equal measure. Rising prices mean that both partners generally have to be working to own a house and even then, it’s a stretch. Everyone is too busy, too stressed with too little time for the important things. The story is the same in the majority of homes.

The big rethink
COVID was an opportunity to rethink how we could do things since it became apparent people were as productive if not more so, working from home and employers were forced into looking at new models of employment. You may have seen the term ‘hybrid’ appear on the likes of LinkedIn – meaning the option to work remotely and/or at home. I have been quietly hoping ‘the good’ in spending more quality time with loved ones could be retained from that experience – but the nature of some employment makes that tricky.

The idea of the 4-day week has been floated by New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Arden as a way to help with work-life balance while still improving productivity. A 4-day week would mean clocking up around 30 hours instead of the minimum of 40.

So with all these great strides in the name of progress, I do wonder why it is I feel frazzled as I write this? The work-life balance feels more like a fantasy than ever, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that.

So why is ‘work-life’ balance so important?  Achieving and maintaining a work-life balance isn’t just important – it’s imperative for creating a healthy, balanced life. Apart from anything else it significantly reduces stress and helps prevent burnout. It’s vital for mental health and that’s something we need to be especially careful of through such unpredictable times.

Being content in the moment

If you are wondering what the optimum work-life balance is, you may be forgiven for thinking it’s all about splitting your time equally between work – and the rest of life. Most of us think of it in terms of ‘time’ – when what it’s really about feeling ‘content’ or ‘being in the place we would prefer to be at any given time’.

That’s quite an eye-opener when you think about it that way. Yes, it is about ‘time’ to some degree because we all have so many things we ‘have’ to do … like pay bills – or feed the hangry ones – but if we start thinking about work-life balance as setting some boundaries around how we prioritise our time, perhaps we would start to create our own work-life balance – rather than have it dictated by mounting stress levels.

With this in mind, it makes sense that I’m feeling work-life balance is out of whack. It’s not simply down to the hours I’m working (many people are unaware of just how many hours teachers put in outside of the classroom – but I’m not starting that discussion here). I’m generally happy in the moment at work and I’m happy as a mum, though undoubtedly would love more time to cuddle my babies while they still let me. The clue was right at the beginning of this article. My creative time is being squeezed and that’s when I start to feel things are off.

So what’s the answer? If you have a passion or a hobby in life, something that clears your mind or lifts the stress of the day, you HAVE to make time for it – no matter how busy you are. It’s good for your health.

Feeling work-life balance is out of kilter?

1. Plan, book out – schedule some time to do ‘your thing’ each day or each week. Put it in the diary or set a reminder on your phone – guard that time. Protect it. You would block it out if it was a meeting at work – isn’t this just as important? More so?
   Set time in your schedule – even if it’s only 20 minutes.
   
2. You may find the above helps you identify where you may need to set some boundaries.
   
3. If you have LOTS to do, prioritise your tasks – remembering to factor in ‘your time.’
   Work out what absolutely HAS to be done – and move the rest a bit further down the list.
   
4. If you are a creative type, keep a handful of your art supplies (or your journal) set up on a table where you can pick up a pencil without having to drag everything out – and put it away each time.
   
5. Make sure you are getting enough sleep and looking after yourself in all the other ways you have control over, so you have the energy to enjoy your work-life balance.

These may seem like basic things to start working into your day, (and they are) but it’s amazing how much resistance we feel to carving out time for ourselves. That is a story for another day – when I have more time (cough cough).

To conclude these thoughts, I’ve been having on work-life balance, I would say creating (and maintaining) it is partly down to having the luxury of time, but more significantly it’s down to our mind-set and the ability to define boundaries (without the guilt) and prioritise the things that really matter in life.

All good advice that I am determined to follow for myself – if I don’t fall asleep on the couch after the kids have gone to bed that is.

Until next time …

I can’t believe it’s been a year since we celebrated Rosie being a Wild One. Having children seems to make the passage of time more tangible, more visible somehow. Mini milestones are always an opportunity to reflect on the year gone by and create hopes and dreams for the following year.

As you know, we love a birthday in the Bumbumbee family and Rosie’s second birthday is certainly a cause for celebration. By our standards, the two-year old’s running around our feet now have had an unusual time of it with the restrictions we’ve all had to navigate. They haven’t had the huge gatherings and parties for Christmas and Birthdays, the smothering of kisses and cuddles from various family members and friends, nor the messy, noisy play with other toddlers.

The blessing is, of course, these two-year-olds are not aware of the strange times they were born into, and they will be none the wiser until they read about it all in years to come. It’s us as parents that feel sad for our children that they ‘missed out’. However, as I’ve said before, there have been other blessings, the benefits of which may in time turn out to be the biggest blessing of all. Remember that precious time, that we as working parents always felt we missed out on? Remember all those times you felt sad your baby was growing too quickly and you wished you could keep them small forever? That time was given to us.  Granted – perhaps more than we wished for sometimes – but we were able to spend time with our babies and youngsters as they found their feet. I feel sure this is a positive as we have a new generation of well-attached, grounded little people who won’t constantly need the next big thing to entertain them.

It’s been a wonderful year of play in the garden, dress-ups, art-filled days, walks along the coast and time together. Yes, there were the practical challenges along the way as we all experienced, but it’s about choosing to focus on the simple joys and not missing those more meaningful moments as our babies grow.  

So yes, Rosie’s celebration this year was a big, beautiful, sparkly, colourful ‘rainbow’ day with family, cake, fairy wings and a crown fit for a flowery, fairy princess. There was time for and a small dose of reflection – at Edinburgh Camera Obscura with her brother and her cousins.

We hope wherever you are, you have been able to enjoy some precious family moments too.