What Really Great People Do

Font: {Skinny} Jeans

Happy Friday! I hope you had a great week this week. As you know, we are on holiday this week, so I am writing this post to you from the past (spooky!).

I only post quotations here that I really love and try to live by myself, and I find putting this post together each week really inspiring myself. I love this quotation because I hate it when people try to make themselves look better by putting others down. I am not saying I'm perfect and I have probably done this myself - it often feels like an instinctive way to act when you are feeling insecure. But I aspire to being secure enough in myself and what I do that I don't need to belittle anyone to make myself feel more important. There is room for everyone to be great together, and tearing down other people's work won't make yours better.

I love how supportive the blogging community has been to me so far, and I am all for collaboration, sharing and generosity. We are all stronger when we work together and support each other! Be really great this weekend,

My First Guest Post!

Hello! Just to let you know that today I have written a guest post for my friend Rosie's blog, (do you remember, I blogged about her here recently too) all about our recent inspiration trip to London. Hop on over and check out all the pretty things we saw!

As Happy As You Choose To Be

Font: Dingleberry

Following on from my post earlier this week about gratitude, I thought this quotation was a good thought to hold close. I know that sometimes life really throws you some tough stuff to deal with, but a lot of the time being happy is as much about how you chose to look at things as it is about your objective circumstances. We all know people who seem to be amazingly happy despite tough circumstances, and I am always inspired most by people whose positive attitude is infectious and seemingly unassailable. It isn't always easy, keeping positive takes discipline and hard work at times but  I really believe being happy is as much about how you think as what you have.

This weekend I am making up my mind to be happy, how about you?

An Attitude of Gratitude

Font: Kraft Nine

I have been thinking a lot recently about how lucky I am. I know it sounds a little cheesy but I often find myself thinking about this recently. I feel like at the moment my life is so lovely I can't quite believe it, and sometimes find myself thinking "surely no-one gets to be this lucky, something must go wrong some time soon".

I know this is a crazy way to think and it is mad to find something to worry about even when things are so good, but in the mean time I think it never hurts to appreciate what you have: I am young(ish!!), strong and healthy, I have a wonderful husband who I love very much, a beautiful little baby who was concieved without any trouble or stress, a nice house to live in in an area we came to live in quite by chance but absolutely love. I have a fantastic family who mostly live relatively nearby and parents who help us so much with baby Joe, babysitting and looking after him so Dan and I can get some time to ourselves. Because Dan works from home, it means we get to spend tonnes of time together as a family, and I don't have to deal with the loneliness and isolation that lots of stay-at-home mums do. Dan helps me so much with Joe, which is great for me and great for their relationship. A few years ago I could never have believed that I would be where I am now. Somehow I have managed to get everything I ever wanted. Now if that's not a very lovely and fortunate life, I don't know what is.

Lots of people don't have half as much as we do, and plenty of people who are richer in financial terms wish they had the time and happy family situation that we have. Sometimes when we visit friends with larger houses and fancier holidays than we have it is easy to wish we were wealthier and had more, but we are so amazingly rich in time instead, and most of the people I know with more money than us have paid for it in the time they have. I don't mean to sound pollyanna-ish about things, I am very aware that these are tough times for many many people, but there is so much to be grateful for, and it is all too easy to lose sight of the good things we have.

I hope this doesn't come across as horribly smug, I really don't mean it to. One of the things I was always sure about from the outset of starting this blog is that I really want it to be positive, optimistic, creative and inspiring. This doesn't mean that in real life I am always positive or optimistic - anyone who knows me will tell you I can be as cynical and pessimistic as the next person, but that isn't something I want to put my time and energy into sharing or developing, and it isn't something I imagine many people would rush to read.

I think that cynicism and negativity are often falsely perceived as cleverer and more intellectual ways to see the world, with the idea that the optimist is simply naive and doesn't perceive the problems an pessimist can see. I don't mean to blow my own trumpet, but I am an intelligent person with a degree from one of the UKs top universities and I really strongly disagree with this idea: I find it is much more challenging to work on being positive and constructive than picking holes in things and moaning. These are often just the lazy alternative to trying to really do something, or risking failure or ridicule (which, as Adam Ant taught us, is nothing to be scared of!). In writing this blog, I am trying to work on living the most interesting life I can and being more positive, more inspired and more creative. If I can help other people do the same by sharing what I know and do then that is a wonderful thought.

This is a different kind of post to the ones I usually post, though don't worry, there will still be pretty pictures and cheerful chat again soon! I hope that maybe this post will inspire you to look at the little (and big) things you have in your life to be grateful for. And if you are currently feeling that you don't have much to be thankful for at the moment, then I hope things turn around for you soon.

Earn It First

Font: NeoRetroDraw | Dotted border brush: Pugly Pixel
Watercolour brush background made using brushes by Fudge Graphics

I admit it it, I am not always the most hard working person in the world. That's not to say I never work hard, but as I get older I realise how much I have always laboured under the misapprehension that if something is hard, it is a sign you shouldn't do it. That is to say, I aspired to a life of effortless brilliance and ease, avoiding things I wasn't naturally good at. But as I get older I realise that this is a) not true, and b) can prevent you from lots of good things in life.

The more I think about it, the more I realise that actually, hard work is not something to be feared, and having to put in a great effort shouldn't be taken as a sign that you are doing the wrong thing. Everyone who has ever achieved anything great has had to work hard to earn it, and it is the knowledge of deserving something that makes getting it all the sweeter. So this weekend, I am going to try to remember that nothing worth having comes easy, and try to remember how good it feels when you get where you're going and look back with pride at how you got there.

Have a great weekend, hard workers!

Quotation of the week: Explain it Simply

Font: Quicksand Light | Feather brush by Kerri Crau

This is one of those truths that I feel like I already knew but never explained it with this clarity - perhaps I didn't understand it well enough! And who's going to argue with Einstein? I have always found if I'm struggling with something I'm trying to write, it is a good test to explain what you want to say out loud to someone. If you can't explain it clearly to them, its time to go back to the drawing board. Clever doesn't have to mean unintelligible!

Have a great weekend,

PS. The background for this quotation was inspired by early cyanotypes by Anna Atkins. You can view them online on the Victoria and Albert Museum's website

For Tough Days

Font: Oswald

In past Quotation of the Week posts I have used quotations from famous and wise people, but this week I just wanted to post this little phrase since it is one that helps me a lot. When our baby was first born, I found the early months incredibly tough (I'm sure I'm not the only one!). The early days of parenthood are so relentless and gruelling, especially if, like us, you have a baby who is very colicky in the evenings and wakes a lot at night. One of the hardest things about having a baby, and one of the things that got to me back then, is that there is no way out of it and however hard it is you can't give up or change your mind.

This was a phrase that someone said to me in those weeks (and months!) when you wake up after yet another terrible night and wish you could escape but know you can't. Whenever I am struggling with things in life, I often think this little mantra to myself and remind myself to just keep going because nothing lasts forever.

If you are currently in those tough, tough days with a young baby I hope this might help you too, or if you're struggling with anything in life at the moment. Sometimes all you can do is keep trudging along and wait for things to change, I know they did for me and I'm sure they will for you too. And today is Friday, which is always a good thing!

Our Dorset Honeymoon

I thought it would be nice to share some photos from our lovely honeymoon with you. We went to Dorset for our honeymoon mainly because my grandma owns a cottage there where we could stay for free. Since we were doing our wedding on quite a tight budget, we didn't have much money to spend on going somewhere exotic, and we have always loved staying at the cottage. I have been going on holiday there since I was a few weeks old so it has a very special place in my heart.

Although our honeymoon location was based on necessity as much as choice, we had the most wonderful two weeks and if we could do it all again with more money, I wouldn't change a thing. Partly this is because holidays in the UK always remind you what a beautiful, amazing country we live in and how much there is to discover practically on your doorstep. But another thing I hadn't considered was that we were exhausted by the time our wedding was over, and it was the best thing to be going on a honeymoon we could drive to. We could travel whenever we liked, in our own car, we didn't have to worry about being anywhere on time, we were there door to door in 3 hours or so, and we didn't have to think about vaccinations, time differences and airport transfers. And the advantage of going somewhere you've been before is that you can really relax because you don't feel you have to rush around seeing every sight there is to see just in case its the only time you're there.

We had the most relaxing time ever just pottering around, making nice dinners, reading our books in the garden and sleeping about 12 hours a night, total bliss! As with so much to do with getting married, it is easy to get sucked into feeling like you have to make your honeymoon a spectacular trip of a lifetime, but after our wedding, what we both needed was a rest and time to recover from all the stress and hard work that we'd put into the day. Keeping our honeymoon domestic gave us so much more flexibility and less stress, and the fact that it was cheap seemed almost incidental. If you are currently planning your wedding I would definitely recommend you consider making your honeymoon a little more local - there are plenty of chances to go on big trips, but straight after the busiest day of your life might not actually be the time you most want to head off half way around the world.

Incidentally, the cottage in Bere Regis is available to rent if you would like to stay there, maybe even for your own honeymoon. You can see more pictures and book online on holidaylettings.co.uk

Where did you go on honeymoon? Was it near or far, familiar or new? I hope you had a wonderful time wherever you went.



PS. Want to download this sweet font for free? It's The Only Exception from Dafont

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Be Brave

Credits: Font - Savoye , vintage label shape - Pugly Pixel (premium extras)

I'm not a natural risk taker, but this weekend let's all try to remember to throw caution to the wind a little bit. I don't know who originally coined this quotation, but I found it from a print sold by Three-Sixty Press sold on the Keep Calm Gallery website.

EDIT: I found out this morning that this quote is from Grace Murray Hopper, who seems to have been an all round remarkable woman who said many wise things. I found this out because, by complete coincidence, Sincerely Kinsey posted a print on her beautiful blog featuring the same quotation today as well. What are the chances?

Have a great weekend friends!

Collect Champagne Corks

I thought it would be fun to share with you some of my little collections over the next few weeks. I love collecting things, and have all sorts of little collections on the go. It gives me some focus when I am shopping at charity shops and car boot sales, and collections can make great displays for your home.

I thought I would start with my collection of corks. I know this sounds completely tedious, but they are not just any old corks! I like to keep champagne corks from any time we have a special occasion - a wedding, a birthday, New Year's Eve, a new baby. I write on the cork to remind me when it was from and keep them in this great vintage tin. Looking through reminds me of so many special times gone by. It may be unusual but I love my cork collection!

What do you keep? How do you store and display your collections?

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A 60th Birthday Surprise

Hello! We made it, another weekend has come round, phew! I hope you've had a great week this week, and you've been busy with interesting things.

This week I have been working really hard on a special project my sisters and I have been working on for our Dad's 60th birthday next week. We are making him a photo book based around music, which has always been one of his greatest loves in life. As long as I can remember my Dad made compilation tapes, for each year's family holiday, for weddings, for birthdays, for each of us girls whenever we went away by ourselves. We asked his friends and family to send us photos of them and dad, and to pick a song that reminds them of him. They also sent us a message to include.

My youngest sister, Rosie, has been responsible for dealing with all the correspondence, and then this last week I have been laying out the book pages, adding extra images and song lyrics. Its been a great project to work on, reading all the wonderful messages for my lovely Dad and seeing all the old photos. As always I should really have started work on it earlier, and I wanted to get it ordered by Friday so it would get here in time (hopefully) so the last few days have been a bit stressful trying to get it done while not neglecting my baby too much! 

I'm so pleased with how it looks and I know it will all be worth it to see his reaction to the book this time next weekend - its so exciting! We are also making a compilation CD of all the tracks that people have chosen and that will be added to the book too. I thought I would also add a CD with all the digital photos that we've used in the book, since there are some that Dad doesn't have. On the last page I added these lyrics from "The End" by The Beatles, his favourite band. I thought this was a great sentiment to sum up the spirit of the whole book, which is just bursting with a lifetime of love and friendship. I hope in another 30 years I will be as well loved and highly regarded as my Dad.

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PS. I got most of the extra images I used on this project from Fuzzimo, an absolute treasure trove of free digital resources.

All Shall Be Well

Hi Friend,

I've been so busy this week, its been pretty stressful so I wanted to post a calming, reassuring quotation this Friday to remind myself to take a deep breath and keep calm! This beautiful quotation is by Julian of Norwich.

I hope you have a peaceful and calm weekend planned, I should get all my work done today (got a deadline!) so this weekend I can get back to normal and take it a bit easy. That's the plan anyway...


PS. I just downloaded this font, it is called Bebas and you can download it for free from Font Squirrel. I'm loving nice clean sans serif fonts this week, downloading free fonts is definitely one of my little obsessions! What's the best font you've downloaded recently?

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Mother's Day Stickygrams

Have you remembered? It's Mother's Day (in the UK at least) on 18th March, which is only a couple of weeks away, eeek! This time of year is really busy in our family for birthdays, so it is really hard to keep on top of all the presents and cards.

I ordered some Stickygram magnets for my mum for a Mother's Day gift recently and I am so thrilled at how they have come out. Stickygram are a company that link up to your Instagram account. Do you already use Instagram already? It is one of my absolute favourite iPhone photography apps, which allows you to add loads of vintage looking filters and frames to your iPhone photos and then share them, with followers. You can also follow other people: it's sort of like a visual Twitter. And the app is free, hooray!

Ordering Stickygram magnets turned out to be easy-peasy. You pick out sets of 9 Instagram photos - I picked ones of my parents with baby Joe - and they will print them as magnets and post them to you. Although the prices on the site are in US dollars, they are actually a UK company and my order arrived in a couple of days - so UK readers still have time to order for Mother's Days!

It is great to find ways to use all the photos I have taken on Instagram, and has inspired me to look into more ways to print them out. I really like these Instagram posters you can order online from Pinstagram. Have you found any great sites for using your Instagram photos? I'd love to hear about any recommendations!

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PS. This is not a sponsored post! Stickygram and Instagram have not asked me to promote them, I just like to share the love when I find something great! I will always make it clear if a post is sponsored by a company or is a promotion or review.

My Wonderful Wedding Quilt

There were so many things I loved about my wedding day but none more than the amazing wedding quilt that my wonderful friends and family. This was a secret project that I knew nothing about until we were presented with the quilt after cutting our wedding cake. I wanted to share it with you partly just because it is so incredible - this is definitely one of those "things you would save in a fire" items - but also because I thought it might inspire others of you to do a similar project for someone you love. It is a great wedding gift, but could also work for a new baby gift, a birthday gift for a landmark birthday, or an anniversary present. We worked together to make another quilt last year for my little sister's wedding, so I came to learn more about the work involved from the other side of the project last summer!

The wedding quilt project was masterminded by Martha, one of my oldest and best friends in the world. Together with my sisters and both of our mums, they emailed all my girlfriends, female relatives and future in-laws and asked who would like to be involved. Everyone who wanted to contribute was given a basic format to follow, which ensures there is some consistency in the overall design. They were told a set size for the square pieces, given this pattern of light, medium and dark fabrics to follow and asked to add a personal design in the centre. The good thing is that each individual square is small and light enough to be easy to post, so people who live far away or even overseas, can take part if they want.

The centre designs of each square are so personal to us, and reference things from the history of my relationships with the person who made each square: my friend Sarah put tea and cake on her square as a reminder of the many times we have been for afternoon tea together, while my Mum embroidered the lyrics to one of the songs she sang to me and my sisters when we were little ("You are my honey, honeysuckle/ I am the bee"). My mother-in-law and sister-in-law featured a beautiful cross stitch design from one of the seed packets sold by their family company - fittingly, Hearts' Ease - while my sister's friend did a fantastic square featuring the binary solo from Flight of the Conchords song "The Humans Are Dead". Each one was completely different and totally personal to us.

Once all the individual squares were collected, they had to be assembled into a quilt top. A single fabric was used in between all the squares, which again brings together the different designs. You then have to add backing, edging and sandwich a layer of padding in between. All these pieces are sandwiched together and tacked together to hold all the layers of the sandwich together. The edging and piecing together is done with a sewing machine, but then all the quilting was done by hand. You can do as much or as little hand quilting as you can bear, or you can do it by machine if you are confident with a sewing machine, but bear in mind that the quilt will be enormous (ours in the size of our king size bad) and heavy, so it will potentially be hard to manipulate when using a sewing machine.

One of the most wonderful things about this quilt to me is the many hours of work that went into making it. The time, thought and effort it obviously took to make this precious heirloom are what give it its value to me. It is incredibly moving to look at it and think of the love that went into it. We have it on our bed every day so I see it all the time and it is part of the fabric of our every day lives. I love the idea that one day I will hand it down the family, along with the stories behind each square.

Having worked on another wedding quilt myself, I can say that it is also a really fulfilling thing to do for someone special, and there are such happy times to be had sitting with a group of other women (or men) of several generations, friends and family, all working on hand stitching a quilt like this. It feels solid and old fashioned and symbolic to work on something like this, knowing how much meaning it will carry. We will treasure our wedding quilt forever.

Have you worked on a collaborative wedding project before? What did you make? And what special wedding gifts have you been given?


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Nan style!

Hi, how was your Monday? OK I hope. Normally I like to post a DIY project on Monday, but this weekend we've been away the whole time visiting family for Joe's first birthday celebrations. We had such a lovely time seeing loads of family and friends, but I think all three of us were glad to get home today.

Anyway, with so much going on I haven't made anything this weekend, but I did pick up a load of home style inspiration while staying at my husband's nan's (that's grandma, foreign friends!) house last night. I know Dan and his family will laugh if they read this post, seeing his nan held up as a style icon, but honestly, she has so many lovely things that wouldn't look out of place in a super-hip vintage shop. I'm sure she would be as surprised as anyone to see her tupperware cupboard on a website!

Seeing these way cool objects at Dan's nan's house reminded me that while vintage sellers are great at picking out individual items and putting them in a context where you can suddenly see them as cool rather than grannyish, if you get your eyes tuned in you can find design inspiration in the most unlikely places.

I hope this post inspires you to keeps your eyes peeled this week - and to visit your nan!

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On not saving things for best

Let me introduce you to my brogues. Aren't they lovely? I bought them around my birthday in September last year, but I am ashamed to say that yesterday was the first time I have worn them out. This is no reflection of how much I love them. They make me feel like I am skipping between The Great Gatsby and Jeeves and Wooster.

The thing was, I never felt I had the right outfit to put them with. They were too good for every day, and really I probably needed to buy some new clothes to go with them. So they have lived in the cupboard until now. And then, getting dressed to go to a play group yesterday, I just thought "I want to put together and outfit and feel like myself again". Since having a baby I have paid very little attention to my appearance. Before I used to enjoy putting together outfits and colours, and I loved the confidence boost of feeling you're looking good. But with a baby comes a lack of sleep, lack of energy, the post baby body, the mess and lack of time, and before you know it you're in stretchy trousers every day and going out in your slippers.

It made a huge difference to put these brogues on yesterday, just with my normal jeans, and style up my cardigan with a wide elastic belt on top. I felt like my old, pre-baby self was waking up again for the spring. And I thought "If I wait for the perfect occasion to wear these shoes, I'll never wear them". Sometimes you have to take the plunge and realise that if you save things for special, you'll never use them, and if you wear special things on ordinary days they can make normal life feel that little bit brighter.

So, this weekend, why not get out something from the back of your wardrobe and let it play in the sunshine: Life is too short not to wear your good shoes!



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Quotation of the Week: Real Power

There was another Ayn Rand quotation I was going to share with you today but in looking it up I found this one which I didn't know, and I liked it so much I changed my plan! Knowing what you're doing is surprisingly rare, and it is certainly easier to get where you want to go once you've worked out where that is.

I hope this inspires you to gain a little clarity about what it is you are trying to do in your life at the moment. Work out what you want to do and do it!

Have a great Friday,

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Quotation of the Week: Action!

This week's inspiration for the weekend is courtesy of Joan Baez (not that I know her personally, you understand...). I love the directness and simplicity of this quotation, and speaking as someone who is easily bogged down by despair and would like to take more action in life, I think it is one that can be useful every day. I thought I would put it in ironic blue on a handkerchief to remind myself not to sit and drown in my own tears when things get me down: do something!

I hope this quotation inspires you to take action this weekend!

Handkerchief image: Pugly Pixel
Fonts: Learning Curve Dashed, Kingthings Xstitch


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DIY idea: frame your first dance 7"

Happy weekend!

I just wanted to quickly post about this idea my husband had. We bought and were given 7" singles of the song we walked out of the registry office to (The Ramones "Baby I Love You") and our first dance (Fleetwood Mac "Need Your Love So Bad") at our wedding in 2010. He found these frames for singles, they arrived today and we just put them up now.

They looked so great I really wanted to share this idea with you as a not-too-cheesy way to remember your wedding in the form of some great looking wall art. It would also make a great wedding or anniversary present that would be both original, personal and potentially quite cheap. With older sings you could also frame the sheet music.

I hope this post inspires you to dig out some of your favourite singles again and show them the light of day! What ways have you found to commemorate your wedding in your home?

Have a lovely weekend.

PS. Don't you love this Polaroid style frame, complete with vintage sellotape? And the roses, for a wedding-y touch. I am currently in love with the blog bling created by the inspiring Pugly Pixel blog. You can download the rose clip art from Pugly Pixel, and the Polaroid frame I found out about from PP, but is actually from Fuzzimo, which is a complete treasure trove of images and clip art for FREE!

I love that we live in a modern world where such talented, creative people are happy to share so much with the online community for free, this must surely earn you a LOT of good karma - no coming back as a dung beetle for them!

Quotation of the week: Episode 2

Happy Friday dear Cardiganeers!

So, the second in our weekly series, "Quotation of the Week", giving you a little brain food to take into the coming weekend. Did you have a good week? Did you drag yourself through it, always keeping the weekend in sight? Well if you had a bad week the good news is, its almost over! Keep on trucking, it'll be 6 o clock before you know it and you can have a little sit down and maybe a cocktail. I hope you have a wonderful weekend planned. I can't think of exactly what mine has in store at the moment, except that it better contain the drop scones I shared with you last weekend, or else Mr Cardigan will be recieving a strongly worded letter of complaint...


I love this quotation because I am someone who struggles to make decisions and agonises over the multitude of choices we have in modern life these days. So, my message of the week is, stop dithering and pick something! Mostly this is a message from me to me, but I hope it might help you if you are stuck in the mud of decision-making hell. Remember, it is better to go with one option that to waste all your time trying to choose.


Have a fabulous and decisive weekend!




PS. I designed and laid this quotation out myself but I originally found it on Pinterest here. I love discovering new fonts and am always on the lookout for handsome free fonts to download. The one I use here is called Rosecube, I found it on The Homemade Home and you can get it on Dafont.