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So we made our way from Kent to Dartmoor early Sunday morning and when we arrived, it was beautiful and sunny weather. This lasted pretty much that one day and ever since we have been adding to our camp with rain resistant extras like a gazebo and boy are we glad we now have a bigger tent with an awning! We have been making our camp inside, huddled up under blankets watching forgotten comedy films on the iPad. we are streaming using our personal hotspot through our phone which thankfully, we have an unlimited data plan. Perfect for Netflix fans like us.
It's been so damp and wet it's been darn awkward to take and use the Polaroid camera and I took my phone to a Kodak Kiosk in the local Boots store but I couldn't connect my iPhone. So, I'm taking snaps when I can on the instant camera brought so I could scrap on the go but I think I will print my pics when I get home and add to my scrapbook then.
Our trip has still been a lot of fun though. We have visited so many places on Dartmoor and having our pooch Toffee with us made the trip fun. We bought a new secure harness for him so he could swim in the River Dart, which has quite a strong current in some places, it worked our so well. At Dartmeet, Toffee was rock jumping having a real blast! After, he cuddled up with me in his towel and had a really long nap as we drive across the moor in thick mist. Remind me, it is June right? It gave us an excuse to visit the infamous Warren House Inn where we had a few drinks and dinner. Toffee was welcome and the lady in the pub gave him a really lovely welcome referring to him as a 'beast'. It's lovely to think we were eating in the same Pub my parents used to visit when they were first married in the seventies.
Luckily, after 2 nights of really bad gale force winds, it's been a pretty good Thursday and the forest has dried a little and was littered with pretty flowers that had fallen from the trees. It really was beautiful. Tonight we are cooking garlic potatoes and steak and my fiancé is chatting to the owls. He really thinks he is the owl whisperer!
I thought I'd share a few photos with you from our trip. It doesn't do it justice but there's more to come from the digital camera!
I normally get my photos printed when I get home, through online services like Aldi Photo, which of course I still will do with the digital images from my camera because it is inexpensive, fast and cheap delivery. However, using a Polaroid camera or getting your snapshots printed in a local Boots store on holiday, if they have a Photo Kiosk, means you can also use your phone photos. This means your edited Instagram photos can be in your hands on the dayyou took the photo. Perfect for journalling, this means you have all the memories fresh, with all the tickets, receipts and things you collected. You can easily scrapbook on the go with just a few things in a bag.
What will I be taking? Keep on reading. I mean watching!
After chatting with my cousin last week, I ordered this book by Julia Cameron she recommended on Amazon. I must admit, I am a sucker for a recommendation. There, I admit it. But, I trust her. She is probably the most grounded person I know in terms of being positive, encouraging reaching for your dreams and being a loving person with friends and family. However, on all other levels she is batty as a fruit cake and can't decide one thing to the next. I could insert a story about ordering drinks on a beach side restaurant here but I will refrain. Anyway, I digressed. Another wonderful characteristic she holds, just like me. I am doing it again, I do it so much without realising. That is probably why this book was meant for me.
If you are creative, sometimes lose the craft mojo or even have self esteem issues, this book may uncover some things you may prefer to keep locked away but it also, with letting out some deep and dark emotions, allows you to deal with them and also release creativity you never imagined possible. I can't show you my morning pages. I have hidden them and will not even show them to my fiance. Some things are best kept private, not to say there is anything I am ashamed to share with him because in fact, he is the one person in this entire world who knows every single thing about me. I guess that makes him my best friend too. You see, I digressed again but to a wonderful place where I realised in just over a year I am marrying the man who has stood by me through tough times and never judged me on my worst days and has helped pick me up and support me, never mentioning those times again, not even in an argument. Pretty special, huh? I am sure as you delve into your inner feelings, you too will realise some things about yourself and your relationships. You may not want to deal with some issues because you may realise that someone in your life is not very supportive, but you know what? That's truth. You need to deal with truth in order to move on and enjoy your life. I have done some wicked things in my time, I am so far from perfect, that's true. Now though, at the cross roads I am at, I am starting a new journey and know which roads to avoid and if I had not done some of the things I regret, I would not know it's not what I want now. So, perhaps in a way, it was meant to be that way. Dealing with someone in your life that does not truly love you is so hard. I know from past experiences, yet when you find true love, the kind that is unconditional, really unconditional, it feels amazing and it might be hard to trust. That comes in time, with actions rather than words. Actions from your other half or actions by yourself. It is not only others you need to learn to trust, it is yourself too.
Actions, these can be your words in the morning pages you write or they can be the artwork you create or perhaps the day you choose to have. You can sit at home and do nothing and moan you are bored and have nothing. Or you can get up, shower and feel better in that 10 minutes, then go walk somewhere with a camera. You all have one, on your phone I guess, we all have great phones nowadays. Challenge yourself. Take a photo an hour and let your creativity shine. If the sky is blue that day, with fluffy clouds, take a picture of them. If you see one beautiful flower in the dirty and dusty, busy street, take a photo of it to show beauty can blossom anywhere. You know, life is what we make if it. We can all let it get us down, but we can also take all the good parts, even when times are hard and bad and there is no way out and make them good. Even if you feel time is ticking, you can make every single moment count and fill your days with love and happiness if you let people in your heart and actively spend time doing what you all love. If you feel like your life is really bad right now, I challenge you to read this book and see if it does not change something in you. I challenge you to reach for your dreams and not think of them as out of reach but a step or jump away, you might need someone to lift you and help you. You might not have someone who can, so you might have to reach a little higher alone. They say in times of desperation, a person can lift a weight much heavier than they normally could, so you have no excuse.
Some of my favourite photos are the ones of small details on special days. Here are a few to show you.
Father's Day last year. We had a blast and enjoyed a few too many drinks but it was fun to cook a ten course tapas meal and laugh all together.
This was on the way home in the rain and everywhere looked miserable, then these extraordinary rainbows appeared. It made us smile.
Christmas 2011. A time of great change in my life. Having my friends all round together on Christmas Eve was a dream come true and I loved every second of it. From that wonderful time though, a time my ex did not want to happen because they did not like to not let my friends in our life, I realised the truth I was not in the right relationship. But. Look where I am now? Happier and in truth, my ex is happier now too.
The very first photo we ever took of us. Not a great picture or great quality, but it is the beginning of a good journey.
Crete. October 2012 and it took us about 50 takes to get us both in the air. Dean looks a bit scared, but the point is, we will never forget the fun doing this and more importantly, we hope to go back here on honeymoon and I would love to recreate this shot! Although I hear June is a lot hotter than October, so I am not sure how I will cope!
See how he is as mad as me, crunched up on the floor taking mad photos. You know what though? They are good photos.
I can't wait to go back over all our photos and get them all printed. If we were not positive and had not grabbed these snapshots, these memories of what we did, the small things would be gone. It's these moments that make a memory that count. Not the formal shot of you in front of a famous landmark! Try it. You will not be disappointed.
I apologise, this is a soppy post! Yes. We got engaged. It was a while back but until everyone we knew was told in person we decided not to share it online anywhere. I was so thrilled to get this ring, it is the same as my Nan's and my Mum's which makes it extra special. 3 perfect diamonds signifying "i love you'. I'm in love with it and the special man that gave it to me.
Dean is a wonderful and kind man who I am so lucky to have. He is selfless and does everything possible to make me happy. He is the kind of person no one hates. A special soul who found mine. I fell in love with Dean because of his ability to see beyond exterior beauty. He truly sees the beauty underneath in everything and everyone, it makes him a special man. Not only is he very supportive of my new business ventures, he is the driving force that tells me I 'can' do something!
I can't believe I found my heart song. The one person who loves me for who I truly am, not what they want me to be. I am the luckiest woman alive and feel extremely blessed. Bless him in that photo above, he was really ill whilst on holiday in Florida and it took all his effort to look at the bright light for the camera to get these just enagaged photos!
On a crafting note, this means we will not only have a DIY wedding and lots of ideas to pin on Pinterest. My boards can be found here, we will also have so many crafting tutorials for things to make to show you! Hoorah. He gets me and my crafting. What a keeper!
You know the story, see a tag and continue, well I saw one to do with makeup and wonderd why should this be exclusive to makeup products, so I adapted it to craft. Watch the video here:
Next up is my giveaway. Anyone can enter and the prize is whatever you want made. So it can be an altered frame or mini album or ipad case. Just watch this video to know what to do.
Last but not least are the videos of my latest swap. I filmed the Tim Holtz and Prima 'Good Times' album I sent here:
This is the album I received. Isn't it lovely? Yes, the Graphic 45 Secret Garden collection is divine and I love what Vikki created. Find her over here on her blog.
Well, I am painting a canvas right now, at just gone 7am. I must be bonkers. "No, it's called craft mojo" says the voice in my head.
Have a great Friday and don't forget the second comment on my Facebook page gives you a second entry!
I finally decided to do somthing about my old craft room! I could bore you with the entire Ikea story, however, let's just say I was let down ny their online stock checker a few times!
This is the before.....
You can watch the video tour here. It is in 2 parts so that I could upload it directly from my camera card. You will see a massive improvement!
Yes, I was busy designing new ranges of stamps yesterday and it was inspired by the art of Zentangle® which lends it's hands perfectly to stamps!
Zentangle® is something I only recently discovered when participating in a card swap online, I did not realise it was a copyrighted technique. The Zentangle® Method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas and is copyrighted. Zentangle® is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.
I found it really therapeutic and relaxing to doodle the patterns and now want to design my own stamps to save me repeatedly doing this on several projects. Next up, I decided to incorporate it into my tribal designs I had in mind. I also made some designs with large empty spaces to enable crafters to use their promarkers to colour the image themselves or they could, if they liked, Zentangle® the gaps themselves. I love how the word is a noun and verb!
So, the next set of red rubber stamps I am designing are orientated around this new craft phenomenon I only recently found out about. Imagine feathers, arrows and other tribal images which will look beautiful stamped in any colour and also be perfect for crisp sharp embossed images too. As a concept the feather has really inspired me to create something that works for a whole range of mediums and crafting endeavours.
This week has been absolutely mad. I have not crafted anything for weeks and this week was no different. I have, however, been designing and creating samples of my products for my online store and adding them to the site. This takes quite a bit of time and I have been careful to design something unique and something not available anywhere else. I want my store to be a place where there's lots of beautiful things for all occasions that hopefully will inspire a gift list in people's minds. Like the hand crafted versoin of Moonpig.com. The mission is to provide fine, quality finished cards and gifts as well as tools like stamps, papers, digi-stamps and masks for crafters to make their own creations. I have some more sneak peeks right now.
I am offering a custom painting service of any lyrics of your favourite songs, in addition to landsacpes painted in oil.
This is part of the 'Will you be my bridesmaid?' box that is custom made to the bride's colour scheme.
Last but not least, my drawing journal with my stamp designs.
Yes, it is a good morning. Why you ask? Well probably because I just uploaded that image to this post editor in 3 seconds instead of 2 minutes. Also, high quality large photo images only take around 15 seconds instead of 4/5 minutes.
How come? You may ask? This would be thanks to fibre optic being installed after more than 4 years of 'down the phone broadband' at an average speed of 0.3mbps (Yes you read correctly) which was pushed up to 1.8mbps a few weeks ago after identifying a fault on the line. We now receive a whopping 22mbps on wifi and I am yet to test the wired connection but since that is plugged into our Playstation, let's just say gaing and watching Netflix and Lovefilm in HD is not going to be a problem, so we can finally get the best use of our HD television.
So life this week has begun in HD (and speedily) for us in the flat in the sky. We could not be happier with regards to our technology. We also are preparing Mamfa makes for an online store launch and are really excited to share all the products and gifts we will offer. For now, it's all under wraps.
Oh I must go and watch some videos and enjoy not needing to pause and wait for a portion to load to reduce it stopping half way through. it is a novelty right now. No page loads for blogs.
Have an excellent Tuesday and beware I will be loading more heavy photo posts from now on...in fact let's just do some now.
