It's nearly August...

Which means it's nearly time for The August Break...

I missed a blog post yesterday - it shouldn't be a big deal but I am completely gutted with myself - I only had two days left for full posts this month and my life overwhelmed me - I'm busy at work, I'm busy planning our move (we found a house, it has a garden but I'm saving pictures for August!) I'm busy balancing my life around our families (which shouldn't really be so much hard work should it?) and my blog suffered.

I know its only one post I missed and I shouldn't be upset but now that amazing post (which is currently still amazing but only in my head) will have to wait until I have the time to do it which will probably be September... and I don't have the time to put together a great post today... The last thing I want to suffer is my blog - its my baby, my safe haven, my access to other blogs and amazing friends... My blog is one of the main things I want to thrive and grow and although I know I will be posting photos - taking this teeny step back right now feels like a leap away.

I know I need it - the fact I'm completely overwhelmed by everything and almost crying over a couple of missing posts (and the fact I can't decide on what to have for lunch...) means I need to break from one of the aspects of my life but now its come to it - I don't want to... I need to, I'm ready to, but I just don't want to...

I guess I'm posting this as a reminder to myself that my blog will still be there - you guys will still be there - I'm not leaving, just prioritising right now... and although prioritising sucks, I do aim to catch up on all your comments (you all leave the best comments!) and catch up on my reader (which is pretty shocking right now...)

So... happy weekend and happy August, I'll see you on Sunday with my first photo!!

Weekend with my cousins...

Last weekend my Aunt and Uncle came to visit with two of my cousins. It's the first time that they've been to visit Leeds whilst we've lived here and it was so much fun!

We decided to take the children to Roundhay Park...

...so we could go to Tropical World (one of mine and Thomas's favourite places - we're big kids) where we saw monkeys, meerkats, crocodiles, butterflies and inside waterfalls!

There were flowers and petals everywhere, perfect for a feet photo.

And we even found a castle!

p.s. I feel I should also share with you that apparently I say the word cute too much and I shouldn't laugh as I sound just like my sister when I do... You have to love children's honesty right?

Lomography Article...

Wow, I have been busy haven't I?

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Lomography (they contacted me!) to write an article about 35mm and my experience with Lomography cameras and of course I said yes. Looking back through my blog for inspiration I stumbled on a Questions and Answers post that I did last year and I remembered answering one particular question from Diana that I loved...

So for an expansion of the answer to the question:

35mm Film - Why Did I Ever Stop?

and to see some more of my favourite photos taken with my holga 135bc and my diana mini...

Check out my article in the Lomography Magazine!

Giveaway winner!!

Happy Monday!

First a massive thank you to Holgarama for being willing to take a chance with my blog and for contributing to my Holga celebration! I personally think that this giveaway has been one of the most exciting things to happen on my blog and the response was mindblowing!!

341 comments = 419 in total entries

Mindblowing right? I wish I could say that you all won something but there can only be one winner and the winner of the cute yellow orange holga 135bc is....

ButterCup Caren from Buttercupped!

Please could you email me your details!

If you didn't win, don't feel too disheartened - the good news is that Caren is also holding a giveaway of a polaroid camera - so check that out!

Thank you again to everyone who entered - I'm hoping that such a huge turn out will encourage others to take a chance on a giveaway with my blog as I love holding them and the more there is to celebrate the better!!

Also a massive thank you to everyone who commented on Friday's post, hehe, it was so exciting that I completely forgot to post my Friday links - I'll just have to double them up this week...

I have been featured!

Me and my photos, in an actual magazine...

How exciting is that?

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.

Of course I said yes and here I am!

As well as including some amazing artists within the magazine, Megan's article also includes work from Megan Rhodes and Kathleen Frank - two amazing photographers with gorgeous etsy shops, who I feel so honoured to be featured with!

To check out Megan's article in Style Magazine featuring little ole me

click here - and head over to page 46!

Thanks again to the amazing Megan for thinking of me to be including, I'm still amazed that people love my photos as much as I do...

p.s. Don't forget, all the photos featured above are still in my shop!

A few things...

{Jarritos Love by Pugly Pixel}

It seems like I'm always catching up with everything at the moment but here are a few things I've been meaning to share for a while.

~ I finally finished updating my blogroll ~

It looks rather lovely if I do say so myself - its now broken down alphabetically so its a bit easier to look at and it gave me an excuse to play with Katrina's tape some more...

~ I joined Kristin and Megan's network at BonBon Rose Girls and became a Rosebud ~

I love these girls - their dedication to blogging and the community is amazing so how could I not?

~ Katrina has a new photography shop ~

I love Katrina's photography and her new Pictures and Prints shop is lovely!

(in fact I borrowed a photo from there for this post, isn't it pretty?)

~ I've joined Susannah's August Break ~

What with moving, family visiting, sorting out the photoswap, fun trips with friends and catching up with all your blog comments (I'm so behind sorry!) during August, I decided to take a tiny (teeny tiny) step back blogging wise and I'm going to enjoy blogging with a photo or two a day for a month - it should be fun to share the chaos with you... There's no way I could stop blogging, I don't want to, but sometimes life gets hectic and this seems like a happy and fun compromise... (and I'll prob end up writing things anyway...)

Check out all the participants so far here!

~ A massive hello and welcome to my newest followers! ~

Over 440 seems like such a massive number right? I'm slightly overwhelmed... but excited you're here! If you are new here and haven't left a comment before, please say hi - I love seeing comments and checking out everyone's blogs :)

Happy Thursday!

I miss the sunshine...

It rained on St Swithin's day here this year and normally I don't believe this kind of thing but it has rained every day since... every single day!

I took these on the way home from work one day - everything looks so much prettier in the sunshine!

More Berwick photos...

I haven't really taken many photos lately, except for the swap ones and I'm a little sad to say that most of my cameras have been packed in a box as we get ready for the big move in about a month (house permitting... crossing fingers) but I do have some more Diana mini's from Berwick that I never got round to posting.

I almost want to celebrate my Diana Mini now... I do love it!

p.s. if anyone has a profile on the Lomography website, I just finished adding some of photos to my profile if you want to check them out...

Much love Monday: We heart day trips!

We've been wanting to go to Knaresborough ever since we got the train from Headingley to York and we went over the amazing bridge with the views below and as we've got some really hectic weekends coming up, we decided this past weekend was the perfect time to do it!

I love going out for day trips around Yorkshire!

Did you see the heart? It's quite small... There's no zoom on the camera on my phone... Oh, and the cat? I only just realised the cat was there today...

And yes, I had another cupcake... it was amazing!

Hurray, it's Friday!

{a couple of double exposures from Bolton Abbey I never got round to posting}

This week has been so exciting, I have absolutely loved celebrating my holga and I'm still incredibly excited about the giveaway, the response has been amazing! There's still a week to enter as well, hurray!

We have so many busy weekends coming up but this weekend I plan to take some photos for the swap (with helga of course), go for lunch on saturday, breakfast on sunday and hopefully start some premature packing for our impending move. It should be a busy weekend I think, I can't wait.

To finish off celebrating my holga week, here are some amazing holga related links for the weekend!

1. An amazing featured photographer on HolgaJen

(an amazing holga blog, check out her links page for more holga resources)

2. Holgas from Brighton

3. Holga Summer Love

4. A digital Holga?

(I'm not sure - I would want a small viewfinder)

5. Holga wedding photography

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Alphabet Walk Blog Hop!

I'll be honest, I've been totally caught up in finding a house (eep!) and focusing on my holga that I completely forgot that this week was the Alphabet Walk Blog Hop on One Sydney Road.

However, after seeing Cassie's lovely post about N yesterday, I got excited about this project again and I saw it as another opportunity to share some more Holga photos that I may have not posted already...

Can you guess what letter I'm focusing on today??

If you guessed 'T' for trees then you are absolutely right! I honestly didn't realise that I liked taking photos of trees so much until I looked through all my films on Tuesday, but there you go.

Oh and here's a Tractor as well, just for fun.

Do have a look at the rest of the bloggers photos that participated in Piper's Blog Hop, I can't wait to check them all out!

Holga love on Etsy!

I can easily say that I had alot of fun researching this post. There is just so much great stuff on etsy!

Holgas are great - print on vintage book page by Girls Can Tell

Holga love by Spazberry Jam

I love Holga prints No 1, No 7, No 3 and No 5 by JUNK & PO

Made to Order - 12oz cup holga by Circa Ceramics

Gorgeous Holga print within a Lomography Cameras Set of 4 by Hey Harriet

Fun Holga card by Cute n Boot

H is for Holga - Limited Edition Print by Autumn and Eve

A Dear Friend and Camera Love by Lola's Room

And my personal favourite...

Holga Shirt Plastic Fantastic Pride by Cram

I heart etsy!

My favourite Holga photos... Part 1!

*warning - this is a long photo post*

Can you believe that since I've had my holga I've taken 14 rolls of film - thats more than one a month and I don't care to think how much money. It's been completely worth it though!

Each film has been a joy and I constantly find myself looking back through my photos, remembering exactly how I felt when I heard the shutter snap and I am always changing which photo is my favourite in each film...

So here is are my current favourites from each film that you may not have seen before.

Roll 1: I heart Kirkstall Abbey!

Roll 2: Our first holga shadow photos, I love the colours!

Roll 3: Hurray for Scarborough and double exposures!

Roll 4: A different side of Birmingham…

Roll 5: Me taking a picture of C taking a picture of G, taking a picture… haha, love it.
Oh and theres another gorgeous Abbey in the background…

Roll 6: I had to include Harry of course!

Roll 7: I love the mountains in the background.

Roll 8: The gorgeous beach at Llandwynn Island

Roll 9: Some pretty bikes in Caernarfon

Roll 10: I’m spotting a trend of bright colours and high contrast!

Roll 11: Playing with my fish eyes lens. I should really use it more…

Roll 12: One of my photoswap photos I sent

Roll 13: A beautiful stream in Malham.

Roll 14: Kirkstall Abbey again, I love it.

Eee, I think I'm going to have to do a similar post again next year, this has been so much fun (though harder to pick just one from each roll than I thought) I love my holga!!

p.s. you guys are amazing, such a fantastic response to the giveaway, I'm happily overwhelmed.