Golden Years

A couple of weekends ago it was my Nana and Bampie's golden wedding anniversary, so we gathered at my mum's place in Lincoln to celebrate.  I can't even begin to explain how amazing they are.  They are such an inspiration and so much fun to be around.  Our whole family just love them to pieces.  You've got to agree, they're pretty adorable right?

Congratulations Frank and June for reaching 50 years!!

Cool Breeze

I don't know about you guys, but I'm feeling a bit chilly. I am a very nesh* person anyway, but lately the temperature has definitely dropped around these parts.  It's making me want to wrap up, drink tea and make blankets.  In fact I started a new blanket this week... I've gone wrong though and am now having to undo an hour or so's worth of work (grr!).  I have to keep telling myself it's all part of the learning process.  I'll share some pictures once I get a bit further with it - fingers crossed I make no more mistakes.

*from where I come from nesh means to feel the cold easily.

The Gallery: Kevin Appel

Hey there folks.  Have you had a nice bank holiday weekend (those of you that are British anyway)?  I've had a very relaxing weekend, spending time with my manfriend and dog - family time.  We've had plenty of lovely food, enjoyed a few drinks and ducked in and out of buildings (including an art gallery) to avoid the sporadic rain storms.  All in all it's been fun, and quite tiring - in the best way of course.

Here are a few images of pieces by Kevin Appel.  Looking at the modern art this weekend made me want to share some with you here.  I hope you like.

Pillow

Look at this lovely pillow our friend Amanda made for us.  Isn't it great!?  I meant to share this with you a while ago (I forgot until now).  There's an 'F' on one side for Floyd and an 'L' for me.  I love the fabric she chose for each of our initials.  I just love handmade presents, they're so much more thoughtful.  I always think that when you're making something for someone you are thinking about them, which is part of what makes them so special.  Thanks Manda :)

Last week

Hello peeps.  Sorry I've been a little absent as of late - I don't really know what happened.  Life I guess!  I've been seeing friends and family, going to work, making things and taking pictures... the usual.  I promise I'll be better at sharing soon.  I have some actual time for myself this weekend (no planned trips or jobs to do), so I hope I'll get lots of blog stuff done and make it a little more interesting around here!

Thanks for sticking by :)

Style Crush: Natalie Suarez

If you follow me on Pinterest you'll know that I have a bit of a style crush on this pretty lady - model Natalie Suarez.  I've only recently started following her blog and am always mega inspired by (and envious of) her wardrobe.  Now I feel it's time for a shopping trip to buy lots more bohemian/floaty items, skinny jeans and leather!  Yeah dream on Lois...

Tuesday's Tune: SBTRKT

This week's Tuesday's Tune comes from SBTRKT - one of my current MP3 player faves. This video is a little freaky, but great nonetheless. I've noticed the kind of tracks I post for this feature vary depending on what time of day it is... I think this tune is a definite night-time track. Enjoy.

Margot

WARNING: extra cute post!

When our friend Amanda and her little girl Lily came to stay the other night we were quite excited because we don't get to see them as often as we would like because they live down in Bristol. They've never been to our flat in Sheffield before so we couldn't wait to put them up for the night - it was a real treat having them here (Lily is the most entertaining kid I know), and I'm already looking forward to their next visit.

They brought the best surprise guest with them... their African Pygmy hedgehog, Margot.  As you can see from the pictures, she's pretty darn cute!  It was a bit of a challenge getting a good photo because both her and Betty were little wrigglers and were quite keen to get a sniff of each other.  Needless to say, they're all welcome back any time (even though Margot had an early morning escape around the living room, waking us up at the crack of dawn).  Fun times.

Giving: confetti gift wrap DIY

I love giving presents!  I find real excitement in picking that special something for someone I care about, and I love thinking up new ways of presenting them too.  This particular one is really simple...

All you need are these things:
1. Brown parcel paper
2. Sellotape
3. Hole-punch
4. Double sided tape
5. Paper cutter (or scissors)
6. Black craft paper (or any other colour/s you wish)

 Okay, so first you need to wrap your present...

Then make loads of coloured confetti with your hole-punch.

Use the double-sided tape to make any pattern you want on the paper.  I use the roller stuff because I think it's so much easier.

Now empty your hole-punch confetti and start sticking it to the pattern you've made on the present... And there you go!

There are so many possibilities with this DIY - you can do your friends' initials, chevron pattern, different colours or multi-coloured confetti.

Have fun making confetti gift-wrapped presents :)

Practise

I've been spending a bit of time recently practising. Practising with my camera, mirrors, editing, new techniques... just my photography skills generally.  I think it is so important to make great images to share here with you guys.  There are so many posts about my daily life that I don't bother sharing in the end because I haven't managed to find a decent enough picture to go with the story.  Therefore I decided I need practise.
I'm going to spend more time this weekend and next week thinking up ideas for photo shoots, and try my hardest to take more pictures - a lot more!

In other news, I went to my first Nando's tonight with friends - it was pretty tasty!  Tomorrow I have my good friend Amanda visiting with her little angel Lily.  So hopefully I'll have some pictures to share from that (or I'll just spend all evening chatting and ignoring my camera like I usually do!).

feeling feminine

I'm totally swooning over these images from photographer Anna Palmer and stylist Katelyn Mooney.  I love the airy sixties vibe and gorgeous outfits - I just had to share!  It's making me want to crochet myself something pretty.  It is on my birthday list of things to do, so maybe I should be searching for some new patterns (I love searching for patterns).

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  I spent mine in Cardiff visiting uni friends.  I didn't take my camera with me, so I don't have any photos to share - just good memories.