Embracing being a ‘Mummy Blogger’

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When I first started out blogging, I resisted calling myself a Mummy Blogger. I blogged about being a mum, sure, but I also blogged about beauty, fashion, and interiors - I was determined to prove that there was more to me than being a mum! When you hear the words 'mummy blogger', the chances are that the person saying it will have a kind of sneering tone - a disbelief that blogging about life as a parent could ever be a 'thing' - and, even amongst other bloggers, I noticed a general feeling that mummy bloggers were looked down on. But after a year of blogging, I think my posts have settled down into what I would loosely describe as 'family lifestyle' - ...

Hot Pink Wellingtons is One Year Old!

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I can't quite believe it, but somewhere along the line a whole year has gone by since I started blogging! I'm so proud of what my little site has become over this year, and everything I've achieved. I wrote a reflection on 6 months of blogging, and I'm so pleased that all those things I loved at six months are still so relevant now - the community, the emotional outlet, the creative element. Rather than repeating myself here, I thought it would be nice to look back at the highlights of this year and the things I'm most proud of achieving with my blog. Instagram I find it hard to believe now, but it took me a long time to set up ...

The Best Instagram Hashtags for Parent Bloggers

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So it's no secret that I'm a huge lover of Instagram. Despite my initial hesitation, it's grown to be my 'happy place', and rarely a day goes by that I don't upload a photo of what we're up to. When I started out, I was hesitant to use hashtags, and didn't really understand them, but I've come to realise how important they are to getting your photos seen and liked by as many people as possible, and connect with other users who share the same interests as you. There are so many instagram hashtags for parent bloggers that it can be a bit overwhelming, so I wanted to share the ones that have really worked for me to grow my ...

My favourite Up and Coming Instagram Accounts

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Before I started blogging, I didn't see the point in Instagram. I rarely shared photos to my facebook feed, so why would I be interested in sharing photos with people I didn't know on Instagram? But since an Instagram account is pretty much an essential part of a blogger's toolkit I signed up and it's rapidly become my favourite social media outlet and has fuelled a love of photography that I never knew I had. I love the positive vibe that Instagram has - it's just a lovely few minutes out of my day to scroll through my feed and see beautiful snapshots of people's lives. At first I was quite restrained in terms of interacting with people, and I would see ...

Sharing the Blog Love - Showcase 6

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I can't believe we're in August already? Where is the summer going - and more importantly, what happened to the sun? We were so pleased that so many of you managed to join us last week for #SharingtheBlogLove - a record 38 of you lovely people linked up! And it's even more amazing to see how many of you really are sharing the blog love by leaving loads of lovely comments - we love seeing our hashtag sprinkled over your posts when we're stopping by to read. There were loads of great posts to choose from last week, and here are my 4 favourites to share with you.   The Butterfly Mother I loved Laura's Letter to her son. Laura's writing is always beautiful - ...

#SharingtheBlogLove - A new linky

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One of the aspects of blogging that I've most enjoyed since I started has been the amazing community that exists around it. I've always been an avid reader of blogs, but the sheer number that I read now has grown massively and I find there is always a new up and coming blog that I discover and love. #SharingtheBlogLove is a new linky venture which I've set up with the lovely Laura from Dear Bear and Beany. We both wanted to give something back to the blogging community, so the idea of this linky is that it will be a weekly showcase of our favourite posts, introducing you to new bloggers you might not know, and highlighting the talent that is ...

Parenting Blogs you should be reading

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I've been a big reader of blogs for a long time now, but it's only in starting to write my own that I've begun to read less well established blogs as well as the big names. It's amazing the amount of blogging talent out there, so I thought it would be a great idea to list some of my favourite 'newer' parenting blogs for those who haven't come across them yet!   Squished Blueberries Louise is a mum to Mabel, Greta and Ernest (such fabulous names!) and posts about daily life as a mum of 3. Expect lots of fun Days Out posts, but also heartfelt writing about the ups and downs of motherhood. I love Louise's first post 'Something for me', about ...

Things I’ve learned from 6 months of blogging

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April marks my 6 month anniversary of blogging - 6 months since I first started typing out my thoughts and putting them out there for people to see. What started as a pretty private diary of things I was up to, and my musings on life, has become my own space where I'm proud to put myself out there and where I've managed to connect with so many other like minded people. I love blogging! I feel I've learned a lot over the past 6 months and it's been amazing to see how my blog has developed over the months - hopefully the next 6 months will bring me more things to learn!   01. If you don't promote yourself, no-one else is ...

The Liebster Award

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I was really chuffed when I got a tweet the other day from Fi at Beauty Baby Me to say that she'd nominated me for the Liebster Award. I'd not heard of it before, so I had to look it up - it's an award passed from blogger to blogger as a way of recognising and supporting other blogs and bringing the spotlight to newer bloggers. And then the next day I had another tweet from Jemma at Anxious Mummy to say that she'd also nominated me! Thanks so much to both of you lovely ladies - I'm really chuffed that you thought of me and happy to take up the mantle! I've answered both sets of your questions, and just ...