Photography ideas to make your Instagram feed stand out -flat lay

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I love order and symmetry, call me OCD or maybe it’s the mathematician inside me but either way, seeing pictures of these gorgeous flat lays really appeals to me. I’ve had a little dabble over the last few months and I really like the effect you can create using just a few of your favourite pieces

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I’m a fabric hoarder, I love to buy off cuts of pretty fabrics which I always think will make a fabulous creation of course most of the time they just end up in my fabric stash. However they come in really handy for the base of the flat lay. Gorgeous paper napkins are also great as a base.

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I’ve had a posy of spring flowers, tulips and hyacinth which are just coming to their last few days so a perfect time to trim them down and include them in my flat lay.

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Finally a vibrant coloured new notebook picked up last week from TKMaxx will form a beautiful centrepiece.

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Have a little play around with all the elements laying out a square of fabric and placing the pieces on in a symmetrical repetitive sequence. Play attention to the placing of objects of the same colour and keep moving bits around until it becomes pleasing to the eye.

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I’ve included a couple of props for effect, a moka pot, a birthday card, cut out 50s, but for each picture, keep the elements simple and uncluttered.

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You can rearrange and create 3 or 4 different pictures from the basic items giving completely differnt looks.

It might be winter but………

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This has been officially the mildest winter so far and don’t we know it, daffodils are flowering already and it’s still only the 2nd week in January. These delightful daffodils were brought in a flower market over the weekend and are really brightening up my work space at the moment. I remember as a child waiting to see if the daffodils would flower in time for Mothers Day which is in March.

The grass has continued to grow not stop since last summer, ordinarily I would put the lawnmower away in November and not get it back out again until early March. Instead just two weeks ago I was still mowing. It was a little bit too wet for ideal conditions but I always find that if you just leave the grass to grow, it will be so long in February that when you do come to mow it, it becomes a big job and I think causes more moss to grow.

Last Sunday the weather was so lovely with the low spring sunshine I was really itching to get out into the garden and seeing as I needed to lift the last of the leeks I decided it would be good to dig over the whole veg plot whilst I was there.

It is so nice to get out into the fresh air, with some sun on your skin, you suddenly feel human again. I start wearing coat, hat scarf and gloves and after just a little bit of digging I’m casting off layers as you get so warm.

I felt very satisfied with a job well done and retreated indoors to start looking at the plug plants online ready for delivery in early spring.

What’s Going To Be Hot in 2016

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Last day of the holidays before we have to get back to work. I love the holidays with the long leisurely days where you can get up anytime you like and do whatever you want without clock watching. But I do know without a job you can’t have holidays or the money to fund them! Fortunately  I do actually love my job but the regular holidays are just right for a complete relax and refresh.

It’s in the holidays I have the time to think and reflect on life. I was watching Sunday Brunch this morning who were talking about how we know what trends are going to coming this year. One of their guests was a person whose job it is to go to the hip places and see what the trend setters are up to and pass this information to all the high street chains. It makes you realise why everyone has similar ideas, shops are stocking similar things and why fashions and fads are so here today, gone tomorrow. Even the simplest action such as having the top button done up on a shirt spreads around quickly as the way to wear a shirt.

Nobody wants to think they are behind the times. Who would’ve thought pulled pork would’ve started in a Michelin starred restaurant and ended up being sold in Greggs.

Predictions for 2016 include more wearable technology, lower sugar foods, calling our babies non gender names, Wilder, Jagger, Indigo or Blues,

hmm food for thought.

Let’s get this new year started

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Friday 1st January

Son and his girlfriend are back again, this time for 3 days. It’s a funny old thing when your children go off to university you get all sad and empty nester, then they promptly return for all the holidays and you realise that gone for ever notion is not happening. He’s sort of in limbo at the moment, he’s finished uni, so no longer lives in uni accommodation but doesn’t start his Engineering job until February so he lives near his temporary job in an Adhoc arrangement. This of course means all his regular belongings are still here at home and his day to day belongings are with him. He seems to drop back home to collect another forgotten item on a fairly regular basis. I will be much happier once he has started his real job, he can then get all of his life in one place. He will at least feel at lot more settled.

When we first designed our house remodelling we wanted all open plan, kitchen, dining sitting area.

It was on the first visit by the boys and their girlfriends we realised that was never going to work. All the chatting, TV, cooking smells all happening in one room was never going to be bearable. Fortunately we had the opportunity to create a separate sitting room as well, for anyone who wanted a quiet space. It’s on a day like today that sitting room really comes into its own, I can smell a pizza cooking, I can hear son and his girlfriend chatting away and I can hear an X box game being played, it doesn’t worry us though, We are in the sitting room watching Sherlock in silence.

A look back at 2015

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I’ve just watched Mary Portas on Channel 4 looking back at what we bought in 2015. It has made me think how many of these ‘fads’ I’ve joined in with and am pleased to say not many! Her first suggestion is of the fitness video made by Georgie Shaw star, sorry can’t remember her name, but no I haven’t heard about it let alone bought it or indeed used it to lose the astonishing 2 1/2 stone she claims to have lost.

Of course fitness videos are nothing new, I do remember buying  one back in the 90s put out by Jane Fonda, who is probably about 92 now!

The difference now of course is that the Geordie Shaw video has sold so many copies as she has so many followers on social media. They follow her every move and of course want to be her, so buying her video will achieve that! Mary Portas mentions when she did a guest appearance on Daytime TV sales of her video unchanged, but when she posted something on Instagram, sales soared that is the power of social media.

Mary also mentions the spiralizer as being very popular in the early part of the year, now I will confess I have recently considered buying one of these, seeing so many tasty recipes, created by highly talented chefs no doubt, has made my mouth water for one of the gadgets. I’ve never even tasted spiralized food or attempted to cook with any myself so no idea of the outcome . Of course if I do buy one it’ll probably reside in the same kitchen drawer as the apple corer, lemon Juicer and every other must have, can’t live without gadget invented in the last 25 years.

Other must have buys include celebrity endorsed trainers….no, Star Wars figurines….no, athlesuire ware…..no, Christmas jumper hmm maybe….we are certainly considering Christmas onesies for the whole family for Christmas Day next year! Or will I come to my senses?