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,

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?

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!

Free Stuff Is The Best Stuff!

2colorideas Sans / BodoniFLF / Clumsy / Dingleberry / Emmy 3D / Ignite the Light / Mossy / Dubiel / Wednesday Matinee / Rose Tattoo / Peixe Frito / MariDavid / Sverige Script / Maharani

As you may know if you have read this blog before, I am always on the lookout for great free resources to download, and free fonts are my favourite! If I find something great and free then of course I want to share it with you so here are some of my most recent discoveries. There is a real range of styles here - I was hunting for a nice italic serif fonts like you see so often in magazines, but I can't help getting distracted by a pretty hand drawn font so I often get a bit off course. I particularly love Maridavid since I was recently eyeing up another similar paid font but couldn't justify the cost and now I have found this lovely alternative.

Go wild and download them all (I did!)

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

The Found Alphabet: A

I love having little iPhone photography projects, I feel like they make me keep my eyes open and look more closely at the beautiful small things in every day life. My latest project - I only started it today! - is called The Found Alphabet. I am challenging myself to find every letter of the alphabet from A to Z in my travels. I will also post these letters on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #foundalphabet if you would like to join in!

Here is the first letter of my alphabet, A, which is also the first letter of my name, hooray! I found it on a metal label on a telegraph pole on the way to playgroup with baby Joe this morning. I loved the functional look of punched and embossed metal labels.

I hope this post inspires you to keep an eye out for the little details that make life interesting this week.

Download Free Photoshop Brushes

Feather brushes by Kerri Ann Crau

Hi friends, has this new week started well for you? I hope you had a great weekend. We had such fantastic weather this weekend here in the UK, and spent lots of time in the garden playing with baby Joe in the sunshine. I was also very excited because I discovered all about downloading free extra Photoshop brushes online. I edit my photos and images for this blog using Photoshop Elements 10. I used to use Photoshop CS2 at work before I had baby Joe, and imagined Elements wouldn't be able to do very much, but since I can't currently afford to buy full Photoshop for myself, I got Elements as a compromise. I have actually been really impressed with it, and find I am able to do pretty much everything I want with it. (Well, the one thing I miss is creating actions, which as far as I can tell you can't do in Elements, unless anyone reading this knows otherwise?)

Lace Brushes by Nadine Pau | Mesh elements brushes by Falln Stock

Although there are lots of great preset tools that come as part of the package, I have been really excited to find out that it is quick and easy to download and install free extra Photoshop tools. As I think I have mentioned in previous posts, one of my all time favourite blogs for free digital resources and Photoshop tutorials is the incredible Pugly Pixel blog, written by Katrina. The freebies she creates are absolutely AMAZING, I can't believe how generous she is in sharing her work like this. I also recently purchased her digital extras for just $5 usd. I cannot recommend this blog highly enough, it is a treasure trove.

Watercolour brushes 1 and watercolour brushes 2  by fudgegraphics | Blotches by Aless

She is also great at curating free resources and tutorials from other sites and it is through her recent posts about lace brushes and watercolour graphics (pastel watercolour wash effects are everywhere at the moment, aren't they?). Following the links she shared, I discovered Deviant Art, another fantastic source of free digital resources. I went a bit crazy downloading free Photoshop brushes, and wanted to share my favourites with you today because when you find something great, you want to spread the love, right? I had previously thought about brushes in terms of drawing lines and shapes, but these brushes are more like using rubber stamps, and because they're brushes you can set the pixel size and colour as you wish.

Cross stitch embroidery brushes by Nadine Pau

I just cannot believe how generous so many talented people are about sharing their work for free. The resources you can download free of charge are amazing, what a great world we live in where so many people are happy to share so much, they must have earned some very good karma!

I hope you are as excited as I am about all these fun new tools to play with. I'd love to know about your favourite sources of free web design resources. Have a great Monday!

PS. The font I used here is La Belle Aurore from Dafont and the frames are Vintage Inspired Label Shapes, part of the extras blog bling from

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!

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!

What's in my... Fonts Folder?

Claire Hand / Skinny / Sunshine in My Soul / Sweetly Broken / The Only Exception / Zombie Checklist / Little Days / La Belle Aurore / KG Les Bouquinistes de Paris / 5th Grade Cursive / Baby Boston / Grant’s Ghosts

As you may be able to tell from my previous posts, I love typography, and discovering new fonts. I've found lots of fonts through other people's blogs and pins on Pinterest and so I thought I would spread the love by sharing some of my favourites. I have been using lots of handwritten fonts recently while working on my Dad's 60th birthday photo book, so I thought I would start by sharing some of my favourites.

Happy downloading!

PS. The notepaper background is also a free download, from Fuzzimo, and the scalloped circle label is from Pugly Pixel

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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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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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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.

Quotation of the Week: Mary Oliver

Good afternoon friends,

I hope you're having a great Friday and have a wonderful weekend planned. We are taking little Joe the baby swimming tomorrow morning with some friends, which should be lots of fun, if not exactly the lazy Saturday morning lie-ins of yore...

So, another new weekly column: I love a good old quotation, me. I'm always looking for inpsiration in life, and nothing is more pleasing than to recognise a feeling you have always had, put more concisely and succinctly than you had ever been able to express it before. I thought you might enjoy sharing some of my favourite quotations, hopefully they will find you just when you need them.

This is an excerpt from the poem Starlings in Winter (I found the full poem online here if you would like to read it). I hadn't heard of Mary Oliver before - I don't know whether this makes me sound like a dunce or not, I think maybe she's more famous in America than here in the UK. Anyway, this is such an inspiring passage and I hope you love it as much as I do.

...I want to think again of dangerous and noble things. 

I want to be light and frolicsome. 

I want to be improbably beautiful and afraid of nothing, 

as though I had wings. 

Mary Oliver

I originally found this poem - like everything! - on Pinterest - as a beautiful lino cut print, which you can see here. I wanted to post a link to the original source for this print, and to credit the artist, but the link I had no longer works, so if you do know, please leave a comment and I can make sure the right people get their dues!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Love,

Amy Xxx

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Can you pin it? Yes you can (now)!

Hi friend,

Some great typography I found in Pinterest here

Are you on Pinterest yet? I've found that, like everyone says, it is totally addictive, but hey, at least its not crack right? Of course, pinning projects is not actually the same as doing them, the road to hell, good intentions, etc. Anyway, I'm hoping to make my posts interesting enough that some of you might want to share them on Pinterest, and so I've made it super easy for you by adding a Pin It button to all my posts. Check it out at the end of this post, check out Pinterest (as long as you have some spare time and are prepared to lose it...) and have a great day.

Love,

Amy

PS. If you want to follow me and my pins on Pinterest, there's a button for that too, top right!

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