Monthly Archives

August 2016

Monthly Memoir – August

August 31, 2016

The very sad truth of the matter is that if I am writing this at the end of August, that pretty much means that summer is over. The leaves on the willow are mostly yellow already and flowers are sparse in our garden. It’s been a lovely summer, but a very busy one so I’m making a note to be more prepared next year. It began at the beginning of June with frantic sewing of bottle bags for Glastonbury Festival; then I just had a week to get ready for the three week American road trip; then I had two weeks to fulfil two custom orders for Oshun and get ready for my stall at the New Forest Fairy Festival; then I had two days to catch up on housework before my parents came for a a few days; then I had four days to make a mermaid wedding dress ready for a photo shoot in Cornwall. Which brings me up to two days ago! I’ve still got a couple of Khaleesi costume orders to make, but once those are done I can calm down a little. Oh and then it’s my daughter’s eighteenth birthday party. I’m hoping I get one or two days to relax before Christmas! ….

Weekly Wardrobe – Sandals in the Sand

August 29, 2016

This week’s photos come to you from Holywell Bay in Cornwall. Chris and I took a few days to travel around our favourite county in the campervan for a bit of a photography holiday. We arrived at 6:30pm with a light drizzle, but a gorgeous warm evening light, so we drove straight to the National Trust beach for the Weekly Wardrobe. This week’s theme from Not Dressed As Lamb is sandals….

Weekly Wardrobe

August 22, 2016

I’ve had a hectic week this week. After the New Forest Fairy Festival, I had two days to do about six months-worth of cleaning before my parents came to stay! This is the outfit I wore when we went out for a lovely meal together. I thought I’d take the opportunity to wear these gorgeous wedge sandals from Faith that I can barely walk in, considering I only had to get from the car to the pub and back again! It’s not that they’re too tall – the style of the platform wedge makes them fine in that respect; but the lack of ankle support is the problem. That back heel strap keeps slipping down turning the shoes pretty much into flip-flops. Not ideal when you’re four inches off the ground! None-the-less, as you can see, they are just too pretty not to wear….

Using a Prism for Flower Photography

August 19, 2016

Playing with light is a photographer’s dream, so what could be better than creating magical rainbows and mystical haze?! Chris had seen some of the effects that a prism could make, so he bought me one to play with. How to use a prism in photography? – it is simple enough – you just hold it in front of the lens, and have a play with what you get. It gives an original look to photographs, and I think works particularly well for flowers. I think it would take a fair bit of practice to actually predict the results and know how to get them though. I discarded many photos because they just looked plain weird, or had too much rainbow or too much glare from sunlight. I tried it first with a bunch of flowers on my table, just to see what it would be like; then I took all my photography gear to Lytes Cary Manor to photograph their gardens, and particularly the apple blossom. This is the result….

Weekly Wardrobe – New Forest Fairy Festival

August 15, 2016

This the event of the year for my Oshun clothing brand. It is the day after the New Forest Fairy Festival and I am utterly exhausted! It was an amazing weekend; incredibly busy; the sun shone and it was a complete success. Unfortunately it was so busy, I couldn’t leave my stall at all so I only managed to briefly visit one of the people I interviewed before the event. It’s a real shame I didn’t see the others, and that it the only down side of the weekend – other than that, it really couldn’t have been better. Everyone is so friendly and the atmosphere is lovely, so what better place to bring you my weekly wardrobe pictures from! Only one outfit this week as I was too occupied with getting ready for the festival beforehand. I’ll tell you more about the festival in my Monthly Memoir post at the end of the month….

The story of a potter – Stephanie Edwards from Poundsgate Pottery

August 11, 2016

I’m another crafter who likes to listen to audio books while they work – the only problem is that time passes too quickly then! If I had a little more time and a little fewer hobbies already, I would definitely have a try at pottery – it looks like so much fun. Stephanie’s is also a little more quirky than the generic bowls and plates you might find at a craft shop. I talk to her about what it’s like to run a craft business….

The story of an artist – Sue Clyne

The annoying thing about having a stall at the New Forest Fairy Festival is that I never have time to have a good look around everyone else’s! There are so many interesting creative people, and artist Sue Clyne definitely has a stall worth visiting. Her paintings are so interesting, I could stop and look at one for a long time! It was fascinating finding out more about her and her work….

Weekly Wardrobe – styling an embroidered top

I know it makes no sense weather-wise, but just as much as I like the look of a vest top with trousers, I like a long-sleeved top with shorts! When I found out this week’s theme from Not Dressed As Lamb was embroidery, I thought I’d have no problem finding items to go with it in my wardrobe – I work all the time with stunning embroidered fabric from India, so I see it often, but it turns out this one blue shirt is the only item I own myself. So to give you a little variety, I styled it up twice….

The story of a log wood carver – Paul Rook

I’m often amazed at the patience involved in some crafts, and wood carving is definitely one of those. Paul Rook carves amazing-looking pagan Green Man faces into logs and they must take him hours! He told me more about what he does and how he started the craft….

A guide for how to survive Orlando theme parks – Disney World & Universal Studios

I’ll be honest, six years ago I’d never even contemplated an Orlando holiday – it just wasn’t something that interested me. We’d done a couple of trips to Disney Land and Universal Studios in California, and that was enough for me. But then they went and built Harry Potter World! That pretty much changed everything, and suddenly we were booking ourselves two weeks in Florida. Four years later we went again with Chris’s family; and last week we ended up there again for the last four days of our road-trip holiday. There’s something so magical and wonderful about those theme parks that is difficult to describe to someone who’s never been. I don’t know what preconceptions I’d had before; whether I was being a bit snobby about it; but I had not expected it to love it there as much as I do! If you’ve never been before and are going this summer, or planning next year’s holiday, then I hope you’ll find this little guide to Orlando useful. Even if you’re not, I hope you find it interesting! ….

The story of a wood carver – Martin at Lady Oak Wood

When I was a kid my Dad let me play around with a chisel and a piece of soft wood and I loved carving patterns into it. When I grow up I’d love to have another go! Martin from Lady Oak Wood tells me in this interview how he is inspired by nature and I totally agree – I love working with natural materials, including wood, and one day, when I’m not so busy with other things, I seriously would love to give wood turning and wood carving a proper try. It was interesting hearing more about it….

Weekly Wardrobe – Disney, Universal Studios & Somerset.

I’m sorry you’re getting several blog posts on top of each other – I’ve been catching up now that I’m back home, and hopefully back on track too. I’m aiming for Weekly Wardrobes on Mondays and each week, two other posts in between. So these are the last photos from my wonderful holiday, but hopefully not the last chance to wear my summer clothes! ….