Christmas 2015 in Pictures

Christmas this year has been a bit of a whirlwind, well, when isn't Christmas like that? To make sure I don't forget those precious moments, I have put together a post of just some of the pictures I took of just some of the things we got up to over the past few weeks.

Yummy star mince pies, they made the perfect treat for Santa and our guests over Christmas.

Our visit to Santa was almost missed by my unobservant husband, but I managed to catch them talking to him in time, they were so excited and I just love the way my cheeky daughter is standing, talking to him and the casual stance of my son.

We took time out to visit our local church and sing some carols, it was a really lovely atmosphere and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. 

On Wednesday we received our Kelly Bronze turkey that we won from Jamie Oliver over on Instagram, it was super tasty and the centre piece of our Christmas dinner. Thank you Jamie :)

Once Santa had been our lounge looked like Christmas had sneezed all over it, in a good way though! Everyone had been truly spoilt and it makes you feel grateful for all that we have and all that we were given by our families and friends.

Christmas dinner was lovely and my rather retro trifle with swiss roll bottom went down well with hubby, what did you have for your Christmas pudding?

My daughter received a bike from Santa, it is her pride and joy and she has either been sat on it in the house or riding it outside every day. I remember my first bike, it too was my pride and joy and I hope she has as many great memories of her bike as I do of mine.

I will miss Christmas, I will miss the pretty decorations, the smell of the Christmas tree and the over inldugance of lots of lovely food. Days off with the family and watching films whilst snuggling together on the sofa.

I hope you have plenty of Christmas memories and here is to 2016, may it be everything you want and more.

My Favourite Instagram Acounts

I love Instagram, it's such a friendly place with inspiring pictures and people.  It is always the first place I turn if things aren't going great that day.

Full of wonderful snippets of life, whether staged or not, they are tiny squares of prettiness, sadness, glory, hope and everything in between. So I wanted to share with you some of my favourite Instagram accounts, people who have inspired me and made me smile and always bring a little square of joy into my life.

First up, I love Capture By Lucy, Lucy's photography, her styling and kind heart always shows through on her pictures and I love the little snippets into her life (even if I am slightly envious of them). She gets to play with such wonderful flowers and I adore her honesty and love that shows in every picture she takes.

Next is My Little Wildings, this gorgeous mama Zoe has the most adorable children and the most wonderful of jobs, her feed is just full of life and her beautiful work, each picture makes me smile and a lot of the time the pictures of the cutest tiniest babies make me feel broody!

I first saw Katy from Apartment Apocathary at BritMums Live this year and have been swooning over her feed ever since. Her beautiful styling and home are something I aspire too and her pictures are truly stunning.

For a colourful feed full of handmade gorgeousness, then look no further than Hollie at Flora Fairwather, she has the most beautiful handmade blankets, her feed is wonderful, bright and is sure to brighten up any dark day. I adore her feed and she is a lovely lady to boot.

And finally, this account offers the most fabulous foodie delights and after stalking her for the Springtime Surprise Project earlier this year, I can honestly say her feed makes my mouth water and my taste buds tingle. Claire at Foodie Quine has an amazing food blog and her feed is full of foodie inspiration.

Who inspires you on Instagram? Do you love it or loath it? And finally if you are on there then do pop over to my feed and say hello, I can usually be found posting pictures of stuff I make, love or my jelly shoes.

Prettiness in the Park

I have been working hard on my photography lately, finding beauty with the macro option.

I don't own an SLR so am making do with a Panasonic Lumix compact digital camera, it takes good pictures and until I can afford an SLR or similar it will have to do.

On a trip to the park at the weekend, whilst the children were playing in the sensory garden I stopped and used the time to take some close up snaps of the flowers and bees visiting them.

The colours and shapes of these flowers always manage to amaze me, nature is so talented and beautiful.

I am yet to find all the functions on my camera and would love to learn more, what is your favourite function on your camera and what do you love to take pictures of?

Real Photos and a Wishlist Item

As much as I love digital there is something to be said for real pictures, printed onto real paper.

So many pictures sit on hard drives and cards throughout the house and never get looked at, so when I saw an advert for the Fujifilm Instax I decided it needed to go on my wish list...

How lovely would it be to take a picture and it be there for you to treasure, stick on your monitor at work or put in your wallet....I know it's so futuristic...well actually it's not but it seems so exciting.

I would really love to go back to something so tactile and being able to actually touch the picture straight away rather than look at it a few times and then forget it existed.

Digital is wonderful but it also feels so impersonal sometimes too, does anyone else agree or am I talking rubbish?