Sunshine

England is gripped in heat and there is nothing I love more than summer. I love the feeling of being tanned and all of the long summer evenings and these things cancel out the things about British summers which are rather unpleasant such as women spilling out of their clothing and the amount of drunk people falling about outside the pub near my house. 

On another note, my summer started on Monday as I am now on study leave and this heat could not have come at a better time! I have spent the days on the beach and in the sea which is gradually warming up. The pictures above were taken on Thursday after I had two exams when we went 'cave crawling' and swimming in the habour which probably wasn't the smartest idea as we missed getting hit by a boat by about 20 seconds and this boat created waves which almost washed over all of our phones and clothes which were resting on a rock nearby which would have been a disaster. All in all, my summer is off to a pretty amazing start!

One of my grandparents tortoises eating: I thought this deserved a spotlight as it's so cool!

Exam Season

Exam season has officially begun for me and the millions of other students. I have had fleeting moments of panic but I am pretty chilled about it all, probably too chilled but I am working but without that driving force of fear.

 This is my final exam piece for my GCSE inspired by the work of Tim Gagnon (timgagnonstudio.com). His work is mind blowing and defiantly worth a look. I also drew inspiration from one of the Narnia stories as it fits well with the theme 'sense of place'.

On another note, my friend Jess' ducklings hatched a few weeks ago and this is them when they are just under a week old. They were so tiny!

Cycling!

   The only way to carry these was hanging out of my bag which made me feel slightly French.

     This was a bench that a few of us stopped at whilst waiting for the others to catch up as the twins hadn't cycled in years and were very hesitant on their bikes. 

We were looking for somewhere to have our picnic and we stumbled upon a beautiful pond so naturally we had to take a trip back to our childhoods and feed the ducks! Although this led to Rita getting chased by a goose. 

This is our picnic with some people cut out as they didn't want to be in the pictures. 

  I stole Emilys' amazing vintage bike which, although is old is so nice to ride!


Overall the day was so lovely and we met lots of friendly people who stopped to have a condensation which is so refreshing because that never happens, especially with old people.
 

Hannah's Baprism

 A few weeks ago, my friend Hannah got baptized and I managed to get some photos of it even though some are a little blurry. It was beautiful and if I hadn't have heard her speech before hand I definitely would have cried full out. Congratulations to Hannah!

Jewellery Box Memories

I was going through all of my jewellery yesterday and the memories attached to them go way back and I thought it'd make a nice mini series on here to share some of those. This will be part one and I will see how it goes.

This is my jewellery box which was a Christmas Present years and years ago from my Grandma and I've had to glue it back together a few times but it does the job well.

I bought this necklace last year whilst I was staying in a tiny fishing village called Port Issac in Cornwall. The cottage we were staying in was one wall of an alley which is the smallest in the world called 'squeeze belly alley' and it really was so tiny that the suitcases got stuck when we went through it. It was from one of the shops there. Since then, it has been an on and off companion as it is perfect for living by the beach as it doesn't have parts to go rusty or break.

This is from a shipwreck museum in Rossilli bay on the Gower Peninsula in Wales where I went on holiday a few years ago. I think that it is just one of those standard pieces of jewellery sold in tourist shops everywhere. It is made of a blue stone called Howlite and it is meant to be a 'super calming stone' and 'an excellent antidote to insomnia due to an overactive mind' and all of that other weird stuff which is a bit weird and if you believe that, that's cool but I just bought it because blue is my favorite colour and I loved the changes in colours and as you will probably be able to tell through this series, I like natural jewellery.

This bracelet was made in Africa by some ladies in a village which name escapes my memory but a man from my church bought some back with him and sold them for about £3 or thereabouts and all of that money would go to them and I liked the look of it anyway but if you can help someone along in the meantime it's such a bonus. I don't know if you will be able to see from the pictures but the beads are actually made of paper. I have done something similar before where you get a long triangle strip and roll it up as small as you can but I love how you can barely tell as they are solid and take the appearance of wood. 

This was a gift from my Aunt for being a bridesmaid at her wedding which was mad but she went completely crazy with the wedding especially as we wore pearly necklaces which we got to keep. There is no specific memory attached to this piece but it's origins are a memory in themselves to me. On the wedding day, during the best mans speech I found out about how many cars my uncle has crashed and all about when he was younger. It was in Scotland and so I knew no one beyond my own family and when you are 12 as I was, you will never avoid the 'school' and 'future' questions from strangers who are just trying to make convosation.

So there we are, there are a few of the pieces in my little collection. I have so much wooden, stone and natural jewellery but that is my favorite type. Feel free to do this yourself showing the meaning and stories behind some of your jewellery.