Today is my Daddy’s 50th birthday! I’m pretty excited about it, my Dad isn’t much for getting attention so my Mum, sister and I are all indulging in the chance to really spoil him – he’s not going to know what hit him, haha :)
Happy 50th Birthday Dad!
I love you, thank you so much for being there for me all the time, you’re not just my rock, you’re everyone’s and we don’t tell you enough. Enjoy your day (try not to complain about the weather) and thank you for all the best hugs that I’ve ever had, you really are the best Dad anyone could ever want or need.
p.s. The photo of my Dad doing his speech at Mikela’s wedding is my all time favourite :)
I’ve seen a lot of peoples work on Society 6 recently and really loved it (Cassia Beck is my favourite*, its a good thing I don’t have an iphone, or I would be buying them all as cases… I will be buying this tote eventually though!) and last week I decided to set up my own.
Society 6 is essentially a shop platform that allows you to upload your artwork (photos, illustrations, collages etc) for free to create various products such as prints, iphone covers, tote bags and even pillows. For every item that is sold, you then get a small percentage of the profits. Essentially for me, Society 6 removes all the hard work of sourcing places to produce these items, ordering them, packaging them and posting them out (everything that took too much time for me with my Etsy shop) all you have to do is upload the image, which is so simple, and your item is there.
If I’m honest, I created mine mainly because I wanted to see my photos as Iphone cases – that’s probably a little sad/odd/hilarious/indulgent but I just loved the idea of them being something that someone uses everyday, as well as the idea of prints being on someones wall.
I’ve found it quite hard to pick photos, so if theres one you really wanted and its not there, let me know :)
*I’ve been a huge fan of Cassia’s work since I started my blog and she’s been incredibly supportive with giveaways and such here too, so if you love her Society 6 definitely check out her Etsy shops as well: Cassia Beck, Lola’s Room and Violet May.
I don’t know about you, but I am ready for a new year and excited about it – our plans are already starting to come together for the next few months alone and I am excited about what the year brings… I was thinking about writing another 4 Simple Goals post… but really, my goals for this year are still the same as last years goals.
1. Get fitter and healthier and stay that way. (Still working on that one…)
2. Stop worrying so much.
3. Take too many photos. (inspired by my friend Anna)
4. Be happy. Don’t try and be happy, just be happy.
However, my word for the year is different… and I think its a good one! My word for the year is…
The definition is: To make (something) easier to bear; lessen; relieve.
At first, I was quite surprised by my word as it seems like I’m starting in a negative place if I want to make things easier for myself (which I’m not) but after being considerate to myself for a year, it makes sense that I want to make little changes and hopefully ones that are for the better.
The thing I like about ‘alleviate’ too is that its a ‘doing’ word… If I have to make a decision where this word will help me, I’m probably going to have to actively do something to make it better and I like the idea of that too, rather than just thinking about things and being aware of them, I’m actually going to do something.
Also, why limit my word to just me right? Perhaps I can help make things easier for other people too…
I have a good feeling about 2013 already, how about you?
I love end of year recap posts. I’m still amazed that this is my 4th one on here.
Normally a year seems to fly by, but 2012 seems to have been the longest year… so much has happened but overall, I think I’ve come out of it happier. I’ve definitely come out with lots of photos, though I’m not sure I managed my 52 rolls of film target that I set last year, it’s over 40 though so I’m happy with that.
We took it pretty easy after a busy year and enjoyed the Christmas preparations and celebrations.
Oh, and… I managed to fit in another book for Gadchick just as the year ended. Yup, I wrote two books in 2012. That was pretty unexpected, but so amazing!
What a year it’s been! I can’t wait to see what 2013 brings.
p.s. You can see my previous end of year recaps here: 2009, 2010& 2011. Time flies when you’re having fun (and blogging…)
So I know I’m a little early in wishing a Merry Christmas, but I’ve been so busy this week that I haven’t blogged once, and I can imagine that’s going to continue until Friday and then, its celebration time!!
I am so excited about the holidays, I’m going to take a small break from here (and maybe the whole of the internet) for a while and relax, eat, drink and be merry! I’m also going to take a lot of photos. I haven’t taken any recently (stupid Winter) and my heart is aching to take some… so hopefully in the new year I’ll have something new to share, and also my word for 2013 and probably a recap of 2012 as well… why not :)
Anyway, I hope that you all have an amazing Christmas, full of cheer and merriness and wonderful New Year.
Yesterday Susannah wrote a post with her 12-12-12 wishes and also referred to her wishes from 09-09-09 which reminded me that I wrote a wish post in 2009 as well. I’d completely forgotten!
(And yup, I’ve been a Susannah fangirl for that long.)
Looking at my last wish list, a lot of my wishes are still the same (in italic below), some don’t seem to matter as much any more, and some came true (See our garden above and my Diana Mini photos. Yeay!) So here are the wishes that I noted down yesterday to share today…
~~ I wish for mine, my family and friends, and Thomas’s happiness. I wish to travel the world and take photos everywhere. I wish to continuously love. I wish for jeans that neverrip at the thighs. I wish for perfect little nieces and nephews to cuddle and spoil (hehe, sorry Mikela), I wish I could drive (without the long learning process and cost, meh), I wish for continued life surprises, I wish to write my own book*, I wish to keep creating things, especially blankets and I wish for my very own puppy (and maybe a kitten for Thomas too). ~~
When I wrote my last wish list I mentioned about being brave enough to commit to one thing… and although that was what I thought I wanted at the time, I’ve realised that in the last 3 years, I’ve committed myself to a number of things without realising: blogging, my photography and writing professionally. The last one I did not expect, and its only been in this last year but I have seriously loved it. To the point of where I actually want to write more somehow, but what to write?!
In doing this process again, I’ve realised that I don’t actually truly wish for that much, really I just want to be happy and being happy for me isn’t about getting more things and achieving ridiculous goals, it’s about accepting that things don’t always work out to plan and going with it, it’s about realising what I already have, it’s knowing who I am and what I really want, not what I think you want.
*Ha, I did not see that one coming, but it’s out there now… yikes!
It’s that time of the year when we start thinking ahead to the New Year, so to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported this blog (and me!) this year, I put together another free ‘For the easily distracted…’ calendar with 12 of my favourite photos from this year. I hope that you love it, I found it quite hard to narrow my photos down but I think these all look great together.
Yesterday Susannah Conway released her 2013 Unravelling workbook and after going through it last year and picking my word for 2012, I guess now is the time to reflect on how the year has been before I move forward into 2013.
My word for 2012 is/was considerate. I actually can’t remember how I came upon this word, but it has always felt right. However, I can’t decide if the year has come to suit the word, or if having the word meant that I had chosen to cope with whatever the year had to throw at me. And this year has thrown a lot at me.
Funnily enough, after reading through my original post about my word, I don’t feel like I’ve really chosen where I want to be in 5-10 years time still, but in being considerate to myself, I’ve also come to realise that it doesn’t matter any where near as much as I thought it did. A lot of the expectations for the next 5-10 years of my life don’t actually come from me – they come from the people around me and what they think I should be doing (either directly about me, or in projecting where they think they will be in the future and expecting the same) and in realising that, I let them all go. And together, Thomas and I actually decided on a possible future that no one would have expected from us. And you know what, it feels like it could be the right thing to do. Scary perhaps, but right and in being ‘considerate’ with what’s best for us, I’m actually much happier (and terrified haha)
It sounds simple saying ‘I let them all go‘. Letting go always sounds simple. But it wasn’t and I don’t let things go easily, in fact, I’ve mourned my ‘losses’ for a long time this year. And being ‘considerate’ to myself has been my crutch. I let myself sulk, mourn and cry because I know that I needed to. The good news though is that once I was done feeling bad about it all and getting it all out, I felt better. I remember once that someone told me, ‘in order to clean a room, sometimes it needs to get dirty first…’ and I think the same process seems to apply to me looking after myself and getting myself to where I need to be. Hopefully the dirty part is over though…
One thing I’ve made a ‘considerate’ effort to let go of is my worries… and the best thing I found to help me was this video from Marie Forleo about ‘Dealing with being overwhelmed‘. It might have even been a link from Susannah actually, but I’ve watched it once a week ever since I first saw it and it has worked. The first time I did it, I wrote out two full sides of A4, with no gaps, it just fell out of me through my pen. And then I crossed out 3/4′s of it. Sure, those worries have crept back every week but the more I cross them out, the less important they seem.
Writing this post, it seems weird that one word has helped me so much with a year. That one word has helped me look at myself and realise that I like who I am and that I always have done. It has made me realise that a lot of things are out of my control and it is OK to let those things go. It has held me up through the unexpected and painful and its guided me through a lot of decisions. I guess part of me must have known that I needed to take some time to look after myself, though I didn’t realise I needed a whole year.
I’m actually pretty nervous about choosing my 2013 word now (I have no idea what it will be yet) as the impact of 2012′s word has been so huge, but at the same time, I’m ready to move forward and take that word on too.
I am so excited, after putting together the new photoswap page on this blog and the 2009, 2010 and 2011 galleries, my excitement for this years swap has been building and I’m ready to go!!
For those of you that don’t know, here is a quick history of the photoswaps.
It all started when the lovely Susannah posted a link on her Twitter about disposable cameras way back in 2009 and I started to think how wonderful it would be to take photos to then
send to someone else to develop!
I love photos – I especially love photos taken by film cameras and I love the anticipation of waiting for my own photos but waiting for someone elses with no clue about the photos would be beyond exciting!!
Each photoswapper either takes a roll of film
or buys a disposable camera
it has to be something that you develop
and they take photos just for their swap partner,
then send the cameras/films to each other
and develop the other persons photos.
(and posts them on their blogs for everyone to see of course)
.
Entry for the 2012 photoswap is now closed.
.The dates for sending your films to your partners will be announced once all the pairs have been put together (this can take a while depending on how many people join but don’t worry further dates will be announced, when I know, you’ll know).
..
I hope you are all as excited about this years swap as I am!
If you think I’ve missed anything important or if you have any questions please do email me on rhiannelouise@gmail.com
p.s. Thank you to Katrina for her wonderful tape which I’ve used everywhere!
It’s nearly August again… which seems crazy to me. But the exciting news is that August means Susannah’s August Break, and once again I am excited to be taking part.
Like last year, I’m going to use this month to catch up on some film photos that I haven’t shared on here before, my Flickr is at over 3,000 photos now, so I can imagine there are a lot on there that aren’t on this blog, I can’t wait!!
I am so so excited that you’re here, I really hope you love my new blog, I am completely in love with it myself and it has been hard to keep at Blogger when I have a new shiny site to play with.
So whats new?
Well first – I’ve migrated the Photoswap blog into this blog – you can see more about the Photoswap here and check out the galleries of photos there too, which I just love. I’m hoping to do the Photoswap next month (eep) so if you haven’t heard about it before or just want some inspiration, this is a great place to start.
I am currently in the process in organising my blogroll, so I will be announcing that when its ready (its going to look sweet!) and I also have a ‘More, coming soon…’ section in my menu for all the future things I’m planning for this blog.
I’m so so excited about my new blog home, and I hope you are too – please look around, follow by RSS feed, or by email and let me know what you think :)
p.s. I’m still very new to WordPress so if you have any hints, tips or advice, its more than welcome, thank you.
p.p.s. you can leave comments on individual posts, I still don’t know why the comments aren’t showing on the home page, I’m working on it…
There I am, I added the arrows so you didn’t miss it.
(it’s on Amazon so its official!)
{An excerpt from the book in the latest Gadchick Magazine, the book has reviews of all new apps.}
So what did I write?
I wrote a guide book for one of my favourite online magazines, Gadchick,
for Android phone photographers.
Even though I predominantly use my film cameras, I ALWAYS have my phone with me and I love using it for spur of the moment photos along side my film cameras or in situations where film isn’t really practical. As well as tips for better android photography, I tested 30 different camera apps and included my thoughts on each which was actually a great process for me as I learnt to appreciate my little phone for so much more than its calling/texting abilities and to embrace digital photography as a different way to express myself.
You can now buy your own copy from Amazon for your Android or Kindle so if you have an Android phone please check it out, and if you do get it, let me know what you think!
It’s been no secret here that I am completely in awe of Susannah Conway and having taken part in one of her E-course’s this is even more true.
When she announced her book, This I Know, I knew that I would own it, I had to. For a number of years now Susannah has been a huge inspiration to me – both in my blogging and photography and there was no way I was missing out on her book. However, I was going to be patient and ask for it for my birthday (which isn’t really that far away now…) along with Instant Love until I saw this…
Pre-order This I Know and get a free E-Course by Susannah for free. FREE!!
So of course, I caved and pre-ordered it and then did a little dance.
“The goal of Exploring the Senses is the renewal of our senses – becoming more aware of them, how we use them and how we can strengthen them. It’s so easy to jog through life with our eyes shut, our ears closed, our sense of smell dialled down to zero, so we’re going to be gently challenging this as we work through the course. This I Know is all about mindfulness, living in the present moment and mining our lives to uncover the truth about the past and our dream.”
I can not wait to start!!
For more information on this offer please check out Susannah’s blog post today, I can promise that you won’t regret it.
Note. This special pre-order offer will close at midnight GMT on Monday June 4th 2012.
{A portrait of me by the amazingly talented and lovely Caitlin from Hue and Hum}
Last month, my blog friend Caitlin (who I first blogged about here featuring her amazing art) from Hue and Hum posted about accepting portrait orders and I jumped at the chance to have one of me with one of my cameras…
And here is the result. I just adore it. I love the yellow camera, all the stripes, the cute shoes and my usual outfit of a cardigan and jeans, woohoo!!
See more of Caitlin’s portraits here, she is one seriously talented lady!!!
p.s. you might notice the original portrait that Caitlin has that I have an earring, I edited it out as I don’t have my ears pierced… sorry Caitlin :)
If you’ve been following my blog for a while then you’ll know that over the past three years I have made some amazing blog friends and one of the most talented (and nicest) people that I’ve had the privilege to get to know is Megan from Studio MME.
Over the last three years Megan has worked incredibly hard on her work and her blog to get to the stage where she is now - writing a book. And I couldn’t be more thrilled for her. Read on for more details from Megan herself. Rhianne x ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I was little, I was too cool for real friends and not cool enough for imaginary ones. If books had counted as friends though, I would have been the most popular girl at school. I’m embarrassed to say that I used to spend weekends organizing my bookcase. Yep, I was that nerdy.
My favorite books included: Sabriel by Garth Nix, The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey, Imogene’s Antlers by David Small, and The Princess Bride by William Goldman.
All those years of book friending and bookcase organizing must have rubbed off on me because I’ve just written my very own book!
How to Outsmart Tea Pirates (and other useful sailing tips) contains a collection of my quirky pen and ink illustrations and my quirkier short stories. It’s the book I wish had been on my bookshelf when I was little, but better late than never!
My fellow English majors always thought I was the weird one to write about such things as wallpaper that eats end tables, pirates with sugar tongs for hands, and the Barracollossus (the fish that eats bad boys and girls – tricycles and all). But I love stuff like that and I know you do too! I believe that this book can rekindle your wonder and spark your imagination. It will have you laughing every story and wondering what would happen if the tales were real. Would you set sail with the tea pirates and subject prisoners to high tea with pinkies up before they walk the plank? Or would you sit in on the Court of the Gulls and help settle food disputes? If you’re young at heart or if you’d like to add another special book to your shelf, I know you’ll enjoy my very first book!
If you’d like to see a sneak peek chapter or hear an audio recording of a story, you can find them HERE!
I’m having a very special pre-order until June 20th. I love when an author signs a book so I’m signing every pre-order copy. Plus, to make the book even more special, I’m including one extra, handwritten sailing tip! (Just in case you’re at sea with the book.)
I’d love to know what your favorite childhood books were!
Today is the day that not only can I call myself a blogger, designer, cad monkey and photographer… but I can also call myself a Freelance Writer!! Um, WOW!
I’ve written a short post for Gadchick before, but recently Diana contacted me about writing a Gadchick Ebook for Android Photographers, testing and reviewing a variety of Android apps, and Gadchick Issue 2 contains an excerpt of that Ebook, the Ebook that I wrote, haha!!
Issue 2 of Gadchick is all about photography and contains other brilliant articles by the amazing people you see above including Meg, Chelsea, Diana and Aline, who I just love. So if you love photography, whether its digital, analogue or with your mobile then check it out, you won’t be disappointed!!
I’d like to quickly thank Diana, Aline and Scott from Gadchick for thinking of me to do this and believing in me, I never imagined when I started blogging that this would ever be something that I would do (um, I wrote an ebook…) or that I would be part of such a great team. I am tickled (hello kitty) pink!!
p.s. Dear android photographers, the ebook isn’t available quite yet, but it will be soon and of course I’ll let you know when it is. There are some pretty amazing apps available on Android at the moment and the book also contains tips from me, so it will be worth the wait, I promise.
The main reason for our two weekends with my family is that it’s my Mum’s 50th birthday today.
Isn’t that exciting!
Happy 50th birthday Mum!
I love you and I can’t wait to see you in a couple of days and spend another weekend celebrating with you. I hope you have a wonderful day. Thank you for not just being the best Mum that Mikela and I could have asked for but one of our best friends too x
p.s. how amazing are the photos of my Mum when she was little?! I love them!
{All images taken by Andrew Millar and used with his permission,
to see the individual photos on Flickr, click on an image}
Sometimes I stumble upon photos on Flickr that truly take my breath away… and these photos by Andrew Millar taken with the newer Impossible Project films and a SX-70 have done just that.
The colours, tones, light and subject matter in these are just stunning and I always have a weakness for photos of horses and silhouettes. But it’s the top right photo that’s my favourite and it alone makes me want to try even harder to populate my photos and to capture the lovely little moments of interaction between people.
To see more of Andrew’s photos, check out his Flickr photostream (I highly recommend it) or his Facebook page – you won’t be disappointed.
It’s not very often that I blog about online shops, after permenantly putting my Etsy shop on hold, I haven’t had the enthusiasm for Etsy that I used too. However, yesterday I got very excited about online shopping indeed as two of my lovely UK blog friends Elizabeth and Zoe opened their shops and now I am very excited to share them with you!
If you follow Elizabeth’s blog or Twitter then you know that she has been putting her shop together for a while hunting out the perfect pieces for it and I must say, her finds really are lovely.
With a combination of vintage and retro pieces and categories such as Kitchen, Fashion, Photography and also a great £10 and under section, this vintage shop has a huge selection of delightful pieces at great prices.
You may recognise this shop from my last Christmas giveaway. I was very excited about Zoe’s shop then and now that it’s open, I am just as excited about it now.
Like Elizabeth’s shop, Zoe’s shop combines a lot of my favourite things – cameras, brooches, birds, dogs(!!) and photography. With beautiful necklaces, stationary,photos and postcards and a huge variety of brooches, Ladybird Likes is a fun little shop, perfect for gifts, either for your friends or just for yourself.
Having had a shop once myself, I completely understand the time and effort it takes to put one together and to show your work well. Both Elizabeth and Zoe’s shops look wonderful, have amazing pieces and they are both a true testiment to their hard work and skills and both are definitely worth a look around, enjoy!
Although it hasn’t been very long since I updated my blog layout – I was never completely happy with how it looked, so this time I looked around a lot for a template that I liked which I thought had massive potential to overhaul to something that I loved… and here we are, woo.
(if you’re using a reader, you should check out my new layout!!)
I’ve also finally taken a photo of all my cameras (again) – and instead of the 33 in my original image, I now have a huge collection of 47 cameras (plus one that isn’t photographed and on loan lol)
So as well as a layout update, I’ve also updated my camera collection page.
It’s all go here!
p.s. the comments are now at the side rather than the bottom of the post, I love that feature!
For the past few years, Susannah Conway (who I’m sure that you know that I love by now) has beenchoosing a word to define her year by and try as I might I haven’t been able to choose one.
But this year I have and I’m very excited about it!
For some reason, this word just popped into my head and it made sense… and the word is:
I’m not really sure why this word popped into my head, but it felt right and the more that I thought about it – the more that I liked it.
The definition is:
con•sid•er•ate [kuh n-sid-er-it] adj.
1. showing kindly awareness or regard for another’s feelings, circumstances, etc
2. carefully considered; deliberate.
3. marked by consideration or reflection; deliberate; prudent.
I feel that normally I am a considerate person – of other people feelings especially – but I think this year I want to be considerate of my feelings, my future and where I want to be in 5 – 10 years time. I want to be considerate when I’m taking my photos, considerate when I’m writing my blog posts and considerate especially of myself, through eating healthily, exercising, going for long walks, making a nice cup of tea, that kind of thing…
I’ve spent the past 3 years settling into a new life in Leeds, finalising the end of University, moving to new houses and a lot of that time worrying about other people but never truly deciding on where it is that I want to end up in my life. In fact, I’ve almost avoided thinking about it – partly because of disappointment in my career (or lack of, haha) and partly because, even though I’m 26 – I’ve never felt grown up enough to truly make those kind of decisions… isn’t that bizarre.
(I don’t think anyone ever feels properly grown up btw, but that is a whole different post)
Of course, this doesn’t mean that I want to make all sorts of decisions right here and now or even in this year – I truly believe that things will happen in their own time whether I like it or now – but in choosing this word – I’m hoping that it opens me up to different possibilities and opportunities, as I’m no longer scared of things working out differently from how I thought that they might have done before…
p.s. Susannah has put together an amazing workbook for 2012, which I’m currently working through now and it’s really helping me feel grounded for the year ahead, I truly recommend it.
I love end of year recaps, it’s so fun to remember the good things about a year I think and blogging definitely helps me with that!
This year has flown by, it has definitely had it’s up and it’s downs but overall, I think it was pretty good to me – it could have been an awful lot worse.
So here’s the crazy part – I used 45 films! 45!!! But looking through my 2011 posts, I’m really glad to see that I’ve been using more cameras and learning more about myself through them.
I can’t wait to take more photos in 2012!
p.s. although thinking about it, 45 isn’t even a roll a week… perhaps I should do that for 2012…
I was planning on doing a best of 2011 photos post, when I realised that I had a lot of favourite photos with different cameras, so instead of a long post of photos, I made a calender for you all!
(A massive thank you to Elle who pointed me in the direction of this post before I left,I highly recommend it, though it will make you want to go to Paris more…)
Seriously… where has this year gone? However, August is great because it means…
~ August Break!~ I loved taking part in Susannah’s August Break last year and this year I’m using it as an excuse to share photos from the last two years that I haven’t shared on here yet .. there were more than I expected, though I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, my Flickr does have over 1,000 photos on there now and I’d say most of them are film.
~ Paris! ~ Thats right, the last week of August, Thomas and I are going to Paris, for a week and I’m taking at least 7 cameras and lots of film. I can not wait already!!
I’ll try and sneak in a what I’m packing post, like I did for Krakow… the outfits will be slightly different I feel and I have some amazing guest posters to keep my little blog company whilst we’re away, woo!
See you in August, it’s going to amazing, I can tell. Have a great weekend!
I’ve been smitten with Just Noey’s polaroid coasters for a while now (I love coasters!) and just this week 8 more designs have been added to the collection.
Sugar & Hatter is the combined talents of two young(ish!) ladies from Norfolk – one of which I have the pleasure of knowing. Both have been making vintage inspired accessories since they were able to pick up a needle and thread and together they have opened a new shop of lovely hair accessories.
I was incredibly fortunate to get to wear a lovely felt creation by one of the ladies for one of my best friends wedding (over a year ago now?!) and I’m definitely buying something else for an up and coming wedding this month too.
As well as having a lovely shop, Sugar and Hatter also have a great new blog so check them out!
I’ve been looking through the Impossible Project PX680 Flickr group for the beta testing of the film, trying not to get too excited about the new film (and failing…) and this photo just completely blew me away.
I really hope that this film is better than the first possible project film that I tried… my photos are almost completely faded now and I still feel a bit let down by that when I think about how much I paid for them.
p.s. I’m completely addicted to Flickr… so many beautiful photos!
p.p.s. Laura asked if it was available yet but I think it the beta stock has sold out. Oh and it is for 600 cameras (which I have, woo). I probably should have mentioned that originally…
It’s not very often that I reblog something on here but I am completely in love with everything in this home – the cameras, the dog, the gallery wall, the coat hangers… everything!!
If you haven’t seen this post on sfgirlbybayfeaturing the home of Dabito from Old Brand New (my new favourite blog!) then you have to look, now! I insist. And if you’ve already seen it, look again… you may have missed something!
I love the new circle feature on Etsy… it’s such an amazing way to find new things and Julochka (who also has a lovely blog) always finds the most amazing things including…
Somedays, I really struggle to think of something to blog – something that I actually want to share… My mood has always dictated how I work (which kind of sucks sometimes when I need to produce something amazing but I really don’t feel like it…) but luckily (for us all) I feel like my mood is starting to improve…
and then, sometimes, I just stumble onto something amazing that has to be shared.
I’m feeling festive!! It’s the first of December, there is alot of snow in Leeds and I think the tree is going to have to go up tonight – I don’t think I can wait until Saturday.
and… I found these amazing cards from Illustrated Cards on Etsy to help with the festivities as well! I may have ended up buying quite a few… I’m keeping them to myself though, haha.
I can’t even decide on which is my favourite, can you?
p.s Feeling christmasy? Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a little christmas love from Me and The Dizzy Pixie!
Even though I no longer live in Norfolk, all of my favourite childhood (and many adult) memories are there and when I saw Sarah Culleton’s Handmade Bags and Accessories etsy shop I absolutely swooned … especially as it’s postcards as well… seaside postcards are my favourite!!
Sarah’s shop also includes some adorable brooches and hair accessories, but I think it’s the Norfolk postcard coin purses that I’m adding to my christmas list!
p.s. I can’t wait to go home to Norfolk next month now, hurray!
p.p.s. I finally put together an ‘About me’ page on here, if anyone is interested…
Which means tomorrow is Saturday and we are going to Poland.
Tomorrow. eep.
I am soooo excited (despite the 6.30am flight…) and honestly I can’t wait to not be at work for a whole week. As if to prove that I need a break – this week has been mental at work – I’ve been too busy to post two days (boo) and even now my list is longer than my arm (perhaps a slight exaggeration…) however I will finish it all up and that’s it. I am out of here!
Luckily some incredibly gorgeous ladies volunteered to guest post for me over the next week so my little blog will be well looked after and you will see some amazing posts – I love the variety and creativity already :)
I’ll try and pop in – I’ll be updating twitter occasionally I imagine…
but for now, happy weekend and I hope you all have a wonderful week!
I almost can’t wait to get back just to share it all with you :)
p.s. thank you for all the lovely comments so far about Poland, don’t worry we are taking big coats and hats – its going to be chilly!
Can you believe its nearly October?! I’m hugely surprised by this and honestly a little caught unaware! I meant to write this post ages ago… oh well.
Last year when we went on holiday to Wales I asked for some bloggers to help with guest posts under the title ‘My name is ….. and I am easily distracted…’ and this year I would love to have more people guest post for me whilst we are away following the same theme…
So are you interested?!
I had a great response to this and have guest posters all lined up – thank you to everyone who wanted to help me out :)
I really hope people are excited as I absolutely adored reading the guest posts last year and I love a good blog series!
Last time that I announced an update on here about the Photoswap, the Flickr group had 210 photos… well now it has over 600! How amazing is that?
This post is just let you know that I have updated the Photoswap blog sidebars and link bar – adding a about the swap section and, more importantly, a how to take part section which includes a form to join the new Photoswap Mailing List that I have created!
(Aren’t mailing lists fun!)
If you are interested in joining the next photoswap – or just on getting the latest updates of the swap in a newsletter then please join the mailing list!!
I’m so excited to announce there are currently210 photos in the photoswap flickr group! How amazing is that? And we haven’t even made a dent into the photoswappers yet!
A little while ago, the lovely Megan from Studio MME (you all must know I love her by now) emailed me and asked me to be featured in her ‘Old Shutters’ article about new generations using older cameras in Styl Magazine.
Hurray, I have finally sent out all the emails with everyones partner information on and the deadline for sending the films has been set at
Friday 6th August 2010.
I am probably more excited about the swap this time around, here are some fun statistics to help you stay excited too!
~ The swap has 86 participants making up 43 pairs~
~35 of these pairs are sending to a partner in a different country ~
(compared to 14 last time!)
~ the participants come from 14 different countries (wow) ~
~including 23 States of America ~
I have set up another Flickr group for this swap called Photoswap 2010so if you want to join that please do and also if you are a photoswapper please contribute to the ‘A little about me!’ discussion I started, it would be great to hear from everyone!
I’m starting to take my photos this weekend, so I hope everyone else has as much fun taking them as I plan too!
Thomas has dubbed today as Thursday/Friday… you have to say it really fast.
It really makes me laugh when he says it.
Anyway, we are going away to Berwick-Upon-Tweed* tomorrow, just the two of us (finally!) so today is indeed Thursday/Friday. I can’t wait. I have cameras at the ready!
As I have a couple of guest posts lined up by one of my besties GeeGee (who you may have seen around leaving comments or taking part in the photoswap) I wanted to share some amazing things I’ve seen in the blog world lately today as I won’t be here tomorrow.
Here’s the idea in Lindsay’s words: for each installation of the project, I’ll give the contributors a single word or phrase. Each contributor will submit a single picture that best represents that word or phrase for them, and then we’ll see what we come up with. My idea is just to see how differently different people see and interpret the same thing. I think that this will be a really fun project, and I hope that it will grow and evolve with time. I’m thinking of one per month for starters, just to see how it goes.
How exciting does this sound and apparently it was inspired in part by me and the photo swap, how cool is that? If you love my photo swap then you will love this, I do!
I saw this on Katrina’s blog as she also has the bunting clip art featured on the image above available on Piper’s blog – I am all over that one!
What the Alphabet Walk Blog Hop is in Piper’s words: you’ll choose a letter of the alphabet, grab your walking shoes and camera, and find a spot where you want to take pictures of things that represent the letter you chose. (ex: “a” could be an apple or abstract or even the letter “a”). then on your designated day, you’ll post the picture (or pictures if you want!) of your letter on your blog. then we’ll spend the week “hopping” around to see everyone’s interpretation of the alphabet! (click here to see what i did on my walk)
I’m beginning to think that Cassia is a lady after my heart…
Not only does she take the most amazingphotos (a number of which I have framed in my house), but she has been incredibly supportive of my blog and now she has opened a new shop, Violet May
featuring the most amazing collages.
I feel a little silly as I didn’t realise at first that it was her shop – I just stared at the amazing colours, the delightful poses and wonderful simplicity of her work.
I’m delighted to say that I think the photo swap in 2009 was a success and even though its been a long time coming, I am just crazy enough to host another one!
It all started when the lovely Susannah posted a link on her Twitter about disposable cameras way back in 2009 and I started to think how wonderful it would be to take photos to then
send to someone else to develop!
I love photos – I especially love photos taken by film cameras and I love the anticipation of waiting for my own photos but waiting for someone elses with no clue about the photos would be beyond exciting!!
Each photoswapper either takes a roll of film
or buys a disposable camera
it has to be something that you develop
and they take photos just for their swap partner,
then send the cameras/films to each other
and develop the other persons photos. (and posts them on their blogs for everyone to see of course)
{click on the photos for each persons blog}
Entry for this swap is now closed!
If you want to put the banner like the one at the top of this post on your blog then here is the HTML code to do so:
If however you fancy a smaller button for your sidebar like this then use this HTML coding:
I hope that you are all as excitedabout this as I am – the results from the last photo swap were so amazing that I can’t wait to see what we get this year!
If you think I have missed anything or just want to ask me a question then please email me on rhiannelouise@gmail.com
p.s. Thank you to everyone
who have volunteered so far, Cassandra who helped me with making HTML coding visible on posts and in the sidebar and also Katrina for her wonderful tape which I’ve used everywhere!
Right now my blogging issues seems to resolve around balance – what to put on here, what to put on Tumblr, whether or not to just use my images or use someone elses, is more than one post a day too many..?
Anyway, I realised as I was looking through my blog that I missed my ‘Oh my…‘ feature – where I just had to share something that really made me think ‘oh my…’ and I realised that as long as I was happy with my referencing and I gave as much credit to the creator as possible then I should really share the things that I love on here as well – some things are just that amazing!
(Original blog post here… Click on each image for their flickr pages)
I mentioned about my Yashica Autofocus yesterday…
I adore this camera and it looks so amazing here.
There are more cameras and photos on Liyen’s blog and Flickr page – yeay.
I’m in camera inspiration heaven… and if I hadn’t already really wanted to draw in a moleskine before, I really do now. I think I may have to go shopping this weekend…
I honestly can’t believe that I have a polaroid camera and film I can use for it this year – and get this – you can use any instant film – so I actually have two cameras I could use…
Just a quick post today as I am about to hop on a train back home to Norfolk (yeay!) I can not wait to see this little guy! I’m taking my Diana mini with me, so I’m hoping that I finally get a great (unbroken) roll of photos from it.
Also I wanted to say that I have been featured on Bonbon Rose with two of my favourite girls – Nicoleand Adele- I seriously love these ladies! Check out our interview here!
(Huge thanks to Kristin for putting it together – I also adore her!)
Have a wonderful weekend and don’t forget about my amazing giveaway! x
p.s. thank you for all your amazing comments this week – I will be catching up with everyone next week!
…tomorrow is my little blogs one year birthday/blog anniversary thing
and today I just reached 300 followers
how amazing/ridiculous/fantastic/bewildering/exciting is that!!
I’ll be honest, my blog started off pretty rubbish – I’ve never done anything like this before and it took me a good couple of months to get into the swing of it but now I am incredibly pleased with it, with all the amazing people I have met through my blog and some of the great projects and swaps* that I have been involved in through my blog.
Tomorrow I have a great giveaway planned which I am so excited about, so I thought I better get the gushing, teeny bit of crying and amazement out of the way today :)
A massive thank you to everyone who reads my blog – I probably wouldn’t have continued to blog if Jessica, Jamie and Amy didn’t start to follow my blog way back when. I always try to read everyone’s blog and reading other blogs is definitely an inspiration for writing mine.
Here’s to another year!
*talking of swaps, have you seen Megan’s stationary swap? I love stationary, what a great idea!
We had an unplanned break through January (oops) but today is my first featured blog of the year and we also have some exciting news! Yeay! Check it out!
{ Drawn by Notebookdoodles for me, I love it and will probably post it again and again}
As I mentioned yesterday I am so proud of what I accomplished last year and especially my blog – it started off so small (and a bit rubbish if I’m honest) but with some hard work, excitement, new friends and fun times it has now become my little haven and an important, creative part of my life.
So I’ve thought long and hard about this and I’ve decided that I am just going to go for it:
For the easily distracted… is now accepting sponsors!
Update 2011: For the easily distracted… is not accepting sponsors. Although I enjoyed it at the time, I didn’t feel it suited me or my blog. If you’re interested in working with me in some way then please contact me on rhiannelouise@gmail.com perhaps we can work something out.
p.s. Thank you so much again to all my readers for your continuous support, you really have been amazing!
I had no idea I would make friends with some incredibly wonderful people from all around the world – all of a sudden my little bubble doesn’t seem so tiny anymore. (See my favourites!!)
I had no idea I would be sending postcards, photos, ornaments and presents to people I’ve never met and completely love it.
I had no idea I would be part of an amazing project that inspires me constantly
I had no idea that I would start a swap that would be so much fun!
I had no idea we would go to the beach so much! (yeay)
I had no idea I would take so many photos of our feet :)
and I had absolutely no idea that in a years time I would be so proud of myself, of us, of all of my friends and family and so grateful for everything and everyone in my life…
I still can’t believe that the holidays are over but I am definitely feeling refreshed, over excited and happy that its time to make a fresh start with things!
How was everyone’s holidays? Mine was wonderful – I saw all my family and friends and I had sooo much sleep. However, I had no signal on my phone in Norfolk (so no twitter or random texts ) and for some reason our laptop wouldn’t connect to anyones wifi – so I had no internet either – it was surprisingly refreshing and now I am so excited about being back.
(I missed you!)
Did I mention that I got so much sleep…? Ohhh it was wonderful!
I have so much to do now though (catch up on over a weeks worth of blogs, sort out my shop, send lots of parcels, email people…) so please bare with me :)
I’m so excited to be back!! Happy 2010 everyone!
p.s. A big hello to all my latest followers, I’m still overwhelmed by how lovely you all are and I really am so happy you’re here – sorry I’ve been so organised with linking to everyone.
p.s.s. Farah is having a lovely giveaway to celebrate her 200th post! I love her blog so pop over and say Hi :)
So I feel like this week has been a bit of a non week on my blog but I have been busy, I promise – here are a few things I’ve been up too and a couple of reminders :)
~Check out myDear 16 year old me letter on Red Boots today – I love this idea and think you should definitely send a letter to Wendy as well~
~I am guest posting today at A Simple New Something! I love Shokoofeh’s blog so I was so excited to share some of my holga photos celebrating Autumn in Leeds~
~Nicole’s giveaway of my prints finishes on Monday, so if you haven’t entered yet, head on over and do so ~
~Don’t forget about my giveawayof a Lola’s Room print as well ~
~Today is the last day to email me if you want a christmas card from me I can’t wait to start writing them!~
~The Photo Swap deadline is Monday so hopefully everyone’s films/cameras will be in the post soon, yeay! I can’t wait to see the results~
~oh and thank you to everyone who has voted for my little blog here, I love you guys~
So… now I need your help – although I read alot of blogs…
I would love it if you could recommend me some more to check out.
The idea of Diamonds is to highlight the undiscovered gems in the blogosphere so if you have any favourites that post frequently with amazing content that makes you keep going back for more and of course they are courteous bloggers who comment back (very important) then quick, let me know… now…please…
(though please don’t recommend your own blog – chances are if you follow my blog then I already follow yours and I always check out every person who comments on my blog anyway…)
Thank you in advance, you are all wonderful for sticking with me! I can’t wait to see any blogs you recommend!
I totally forgot to add this morning that I have a guest post on My Teacups in Peony today with some pictures from the weekend – we went to Whitby and it was lovely!
Today I opened my very own Etsy shop featuring 15 of my holga photos…
I’m so excited… and I feel a little bit sick…but good sick… I think.
Anyway, as dedicated readers of For the easily distracted…
I would like to offer you all a little treat when you order a print from my shop. Just make sure you write “I am easily distracted” in the additional message to seller box (I think thats what its called) and you will get a little surprise along with your order!
So I’m checking blogger on my phone whilst we were at a gig last night, trying not to be too obvious so that Boyfriend doesn’t give me any dirty looks (I’m terrible, I know, sorry Boyfriend, I love you) and I see 100 followers!!
Being sly goes totally out of the window, I grab his arm, thrust my phone in his face and squeal ‘oh my gosh! 100 followers!!’ and Boyfriend in all his excitement says…. “didn’t you only celebrate 50 like a week ago?”
Technically Boyfriend it was just over a month, so there! And yes I am as surprised as you are…
Anyway, thank you so much for following and reading my blog, I love having you all here and reading your lovely comments – I really wish that I had been much more prepared and had another giveaway to offer you as a massive thank you but I got so excited by the photo swap I didn’t even think about it… I shall think of something*
So… a big hello to my latest followers: Check out all their great blogs!
I’ve had the link for Diamond in the Rough in my sidebar for a while now and I feel so honoured to be featured on the blog – its a wonderful idea and all of the blogs on there so far have been great – so check them out as well!!
Thank you so much to Hermia and Nicole for involving me in the project! I didn’t think I could love Nicole any more than I already did but then she noticed my header – She’s a girl after my own heart I swear :)
*please excuse my current obsession for Yo Gabba Gabba – I seriously love it!
I’ve been trying really hard not to repost things off other blogs but oh my this is wonderful – I saw it on Daydream Lily(which means you have probably already seen it too…) but I’m soooo excited I can barely contain myself!!!
A 35mm Diana Camera!!
Not only does it take 35mm fim but it can also use half of the film per photo so you get double the amount of photos! Check out the gallery on the website!
Oh my…
I’m officially too excited about this – where can I get one over here?!!
Just a quick hi to say I’m guest posting at Grace’s Birdcage today whilst ms. birdcage is off to South Beach with three of her closest friends for a long weekend! Pop over and say hi!
Oh and remember to check out the rest of ms. birdcage’s amazing blog too – I love it!
I know – 3 posts in one day but I got too excited about seeing these and I had to share!! I know that Kate Spade is everywhere at the moment (here, here, here and here) but I had to post the pictures of the yellow tights! I seriously seriously want some!
I’m completely in love with these clothes – can you believe I didn’t know about Kate Spade before today?!
I’m beginning to think that these posts should be titled ‘uh oh…’
I spent the whole year we were in London avoiding the massive Topshop on Oxford Street in an attempt not to spend all of my money on these bags… and now I’ve found a website – disaster!!
I guess I don’t need to tell you I have a thing for bags… and these from Lie Down I Think I Love You are my absolute favourite!
(I don’t think I’ll tell Boyfriend about this… he doesn’t trust me with bags as it is…)
Sidenote: I finally got one of these bags in 2012 haha, amazing!
I saw these on Jars of Cute and I had to share them as well, especially after seeing the Creme Egg!! I seriously love Creme Eggs… I can’t even decide which one I like the best… they are all just delightful and my favourtite treats!
I discovered The Red Deer this morning through Grace’s Birdcage (Alicia also won a postcard) and now she is following my blog as well! Hi Alicia :)
Check out her amazing cupcakes – I have never so much wanted to bake cupcakes as I do right now – especially as my lovely Mum just brought me some cute cupcake molds!! Question is: which one do I make first? The Kit Kat one really looks yummy…
p.s. I’m actually going to make some bourbon biscuit truffles tonight after seeing these Oreo Truffles on I Then Shall Live… I hope that bourbon biscuits taste as nice. I can wait for cupcakes… I think…
I’ve seen this bag bouncing around a number of blogs lately but none had a link to where to get it until now. I think I’m in love – I can’t even pick a favourite out of the colours…. (You can get the from here by the way)
Normally I wouldn’t post something from Design*Sponge… but I adore this DIY project: cardboard stampede by ann wood I wish I had a little girl to make these for, so cute!
A series of rare film posters went under the hammer at Christie’s in London last month.
I love vintage posters – I’m totally in love with the Sabrina poster and the fact its not in English just makes it more appealing! All I would have needed was £12,000 and these could have been mine! I wish…
Thomas and I went on our
8 Voigtlander Cameras 
