Photo a Day: April

And we're back!
As usual, I'll update every few days. If you blog photo a day too, comment me the link to yours!

--> To join us, hashtag #fmsphotoaday on Instagram, and follow Chantelle on @fatmumslim and me, on @sairanaomi <--

The following prompts are taken from Chantelle's page.

Here goes... 

1. Play: Take a photo of play. How do you like to have fun?

The most fun is always had on holidays. I like to do things that I know I wont get to do again for at least 12 months.

2. Blue: This is our charity prompt for Autism Awareness. Shoot something blue.

 Best girlfriend ever was browsing a charity shop, when she came across a little submariner finger puppet in his blues. It looks just like my man when he was in the Navy, so naturally I had to buy it ;)

3. Something beginning with A: Find something beginning with the letter A, snap and share.
Advice.

4. This happened today: Perhaps you’ll need to take a few photos today and share in a collage, or pick your favourite. What happened to you today?

The resurfacer broke at work, so we had to do manuals all day.
Trust me, it's better than going to the gym!

5. Something good: What’s good in your life right now? Do share!
I found this on Pinterest and thought it was exactly how to answer this.
Whats good in my life right now is being off uni, revising for my final exams, working, managing my own time, and all that means that I can spend time just relaxing with my man. I think its really nice to be able to just appreciate each other. I'm so glad we've had 'our time' before we start a family in the future. We'd never have had the adventures we have had if we rushed into things. :)
 

6. Air: This month we’re exploring the elements: air, earth, water and fire. Today share air. Tough, right?

There's a chill in the air today, but on the whole, it's getting warmer. Finally!



7. Dreamy: To me dreamy is all about light and putting a filter over a photo that makes it a little whimsical. What does dreamy mean to you? Is it a place you like to escape to? Something you hope for?
This is where I dream of having my wedding one day.
It's not too far away, and it's beautiful :)  

8. On your plate: You could take this one literally: what’s on your plate for lunch etc? Or what you have on your to-do list right now…
We took my Grandma out for a roast dinner today and
I couldnt get over how cute my tea was! 

 

9. Tiny: Look for the small things in life; little ants running across the path, a teeny flower just starting to bloom.
Tiny friend got trapped in the house today.
I freaked. Hubs helped him find the window. 

10. A place: Home, work, a cafe, your town, a place you visited… pick a place and share it. Perhaps even geotag it.

This is my office :) jealous?
And thats me on the right of the 3 girls, 
pretending to light saber my friends...

11. Detail: How can you show off the beautiful detail in something. Get in close and show it off, or just shoot something that has lots of detail worth appreciating.
I cross stitched my iphone case last year :

12. In the middle: You can use ‘in the middle’ for composition and take a photo of something smack-bang in the middle of the frame, or choose to shoot something that is placed in the middle of other things. It’s up to you.
I was really happy with this photo because I was trying to get a shot of Einstein dead central, in the middle, head on...and he just looked up from his snack
right into the lens. <3 

(He is really. His eyes aren't actually as wonky as they look!) 

13. View from your bed: What do you see when you wake up or go to bed at night? Share it.
Feeling poorly today, I had a nap in bed watching Labor Pains
(Lindsey Lohan was surprisingly good, I liked it!) and feeling sorry for myself. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up, all I could see was a mini-mountain of Haribo :) he does treat me well! 

14. Water: Share the element water. Is it the sea? In a glass? From a tap?
It seems appropriate to use this photo today as its our 3 year anniversary,
and this was one of the first places we visited when we first got together.
St. Ives, 2010 <3 

15. Alone: Take a photo of alone. Perhaps it’s how you feel, what you’re doing, or a lone object sitting on it’s own.
Lonely person in the library.

16. Your favourite colour: What’s your favourite colour right now?
 Any shade of Turquoise. It's my birthstone colour and 
when I was younger, my Grandma always bought me a turquoise birthday present. I love it. Can't deny, though, pink is a close second!

17. Busy: What’s the busiest part of your day? Share it, or share something that is busy {a bee, a line at a cafe, a person working, you!}
Busy busy bee. Gym; swim; sauna; steam room; jacuzzi = all before 9.30am.

Home; spring clean; then 4 hours of revision before hubs cooked a mean dinner.

Oh and I also caught up with the blog and the tone it up girls :) 

This was the hour I spent napping in the sun - slowly working on a summer tan! 

18. Hello!: Use your imagination on this one. Is it how you greet someone? A sign? A look? Or something else?

Really missing puppy and the way he'd sit next to you and after a few seconds plant a huge kiss on your face. Hello Dad! <3

19. Button: On your clothes, or a button you press to start/stop thing… or a belly button if you may!
At the gym again. Why does the bike burn so few cals? Its my favourite piece of equipment, but I find the stepper burns double the cals in the same amount of time. Hmm...

20. On your mind: What are you thinking about today?
Summer! 

21. Fire: The fire element! A match? Candles on a cake? A fireplace? Be careful!
Now that it's getting warmer and the clouds are more scarce, we're having some beautiful sunsets. This lit up the sky like it was on fire. 

22. Blurry: How can you get creative and make your photo blurry? Move your camera quickly, or have your subject move quickly past the camera. This should be fun!
Archive: just me, playing with a torch and a slow shutter speed :) 

23. Time: You can show how time passes… the sun rising, a clock, something growing, or another way to represent time.
SpringTIME. 

24. I saw this person today: Who did you see today? A friend, a loved one, a stranger? Shoot them. Well, don’t shoot them… but take a photo. You know what I mean.
What an awful photo! Haha! Anyway, me and Mum spent all day in Grandma's
attic clearing out 50 years of memories. We found some amazing things! (No spiders, thank God!) 

25. Life is…: How is life today for you? Hard? Beautiful? Wonderous? Exhausting? Express it in a photo.

I used an old paragliding photo and a quote from Torchwood for today's entry.
I love that quote, and I love the photo. If anything can make you feel alive, it's risking everything. 

26. Childhood: Share something that represents childhood to you. Perhaps it’s a photo of you as a kid.

Little me with my Grandad who I miss more than anything.
We were building a chalk board :) My dungarees were too big
so I had to cross the straps over. Like my bob? :P Best. Childhood. Ever. 

27. Earth: The last of the elements, how will you share earth with us?
Earth. Air. Fire. Water. 

28. My Sunday: To me Sundays seem like a sacred day. Some people go to church, some people rest or make pancakes, others get adventurous. I’d love to see what your Sunday looks like. You can even share more than one photo {a collage perhaps?}
 Me and my OH have a tradition. Every Sunday since the first Sunday we met, we've spent the day cooking a roast together. (That's a lotta roasts!)
However, with exams fast approaching, a Sunday off recently has been filled with revision. :( I'm lucky to have a man who's willing to cook when I'm tucked up in bed with pages of notes.  

29. I wore this today: Share your whole outfit, or just part of it.

This is my favourite tank top, isn't it cute?! I'm obsessed with wearing it.
I love tanks in summer, and this one has a beautiful lace crochet pattern down the back. I might get some odd tan lines, but it looks so cute :)  

Front // Back

30. Glasses: Drinking glasses giving a cheers, sunglasses or spectacles? You choose. 

I really should wear my glasses more often! 
Silly eyes.  

 And there we have it, another month done!
Where the heck did April go?! 
Next month is exams month, so I'll do my best,
but if I'm slightly MIA now and again, forgive me :) 

Pimp your iPhone!

They say simple things please simple minds and seriously, this mind is one happy easter bunny today. 

For months and months I've wanted to pimp my iphone a bit.

I did have a pretty cool wallpaper before...

but it was time for a change.

All the photos I'd seen of personalised app icons involved jail-breaking the iPhone itself, which isn't a risk I was willing to take.

Luckily for me, however, I stumbled upon a blog: Cindy Emerson Photography, by chance. Thanks to her, I now have the cutest iPhone ever...

So... to get started, you'll need an iPhone and the app 

'Cocoppa'. 

It's free, relax ;) 

Basically, I'll talk you through what to do here, but if you need extra advice, hit up her blog.

 I love the vintage look, but the app has hundreds of different styles and pre-made themes for those of you who don't want to spend an hour or so on the details. Overall, I spent about 45 mins on my entire phone, but hey... it took my mind off exam revision! 

So, here's the low down...

1. Open the app! 
You'll want to make yourself an account so you can 'like' icons
to save them for future use.

2. Search icons. 
Find something you like. Start with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blogger...things you know you already have. You can go to the bottom and type in something to find particular icons (it works better now, so try it if you cant find something you like on the popular bit).

3. Find an icon you like.
You'll see a button that says 'set up link'. After 'liking' the icon, click this button. 

4. Set-up short-cut link
So you want to assign the icon to an app now.. click App Search
and select it from the list, or seach for it in the top bar.

5. Select the app.
For kicks, I've chosen Temple Run 2 (only because it's the only app I haven't bothered changing for some reason). Change the icon name to whatever you want written under the icon, e.g. Temple Run. Hit ok.

6. Agree to the confirmation.
This will open up a new safari page. Hit the button it says to and 'add to home screen'.

7. Confirm the name under the app and ta daa!

there you have it...





You'll have created what is basically a shortcut to the app. You need to keep the original app, so just create a folder at the back of your phone for all the original app files. If you delete them, the new icons wont have anything to open. 

It's slightly different with a few icons such as phone, messages, weather...all those 'apps' you can't delete off the phone.
Step 4 is where it changes. You'll see other options for phone call, email, message and URL.
They're pretty useless unless you want an app icon that texts calls or emails a specific contact from your phone book, but the URL one is handy.

 

Use the URL option to setup things like Safari and Messages.

It'll ask you to enter the URL you want. For a Safari app, just put in for example www.google.com. It creates a shortcut to that page.Type Music: to create an app icon that opens the ipod, SMS: for messages, and Maps: for the map app.

 For your email, you would type mailto: which will open up a new message so you just cancel that. It's a bit of a pain too because both email and message shortcuts dont come up with the little number to tell you how many you have, so I'd stick with the originals for those.

It's pretty straight forward, but if you need any help, leave me a comment and I'll try and answer as best I can ;)


Enjoy! 

Easter crafts

Happy Easter, folks!

Why is it when you try to be creative and copy something from Pinterest, it never goes quire to plan?

Today I opted to attempt nail polish marbled eggs, as seen on this tutorial.
Now, first off, can I just say Stephanie at Henry Happened is a genius!
These eggs looks amazing :)

But I do think she has magical powers because I failed miserably!

Or more likely, I just didn't have nice enough nail polishes.

Although my collection is pretty vast, and consists of mostly Barry M and Models Own, most of them were either rock solid or separated. 

So I started off by mixing some polishes in a cup of water.

*MUST BE ROOM TEMP*

By that they mean kinda warm. I started with cold and everything sank.

Give it a mix with a tooth pick.

I wore gloves for the next bit. If you don't have any, make sure you at least

have lots of nail polish remover!

Dunk the egg in, completely immersed, then remove.

This is where it all went horribly wrong.

Apparently, the Easter Bunny vommed all over my egg...

and the next one wasn't any better...

We can safely agree that marbled eggs was a disaster,

although the pink one did look quite sweet.
Plus, a Nikon DSLR can make any photo look passable.. right?!

Sunday Social 24/03/12

    I can't believe I forgot to post this entry! Okay, it's nearly a week late,  but I don't care ;)     This week's questions were about spring!

1. What is your favorite thing about spring?

I love when the weather finally gets warmer. Here, it's spring

but it's still -2 tonight, so it may as well be winter!

2. What is your favorite kind of flower to grow or receive?

My favourite flowers are lillies and plumerias. 

My lily tattoo.

3. What is your favorite nail polish color?

Don't get me started. I never paint my nails because I'm always on the go

and they chip daily. I also have better things to spend my money on than acrylics,

so I don't tend to paint my nails, although you wouldn't think that from my huge polish shelf! My favourite of them all is the mint/turquoise one by Barry M. 

4. What is your favorite outdoor activity?

I'm more outdoorsy during summer, but in spring it's probably 

going for walks with my man to Plym Bridge or Cadover Bridge.

No pup this year, though :'( 

5. Do you have any fun spring plans? Details! :)

I really don't! Revising for finals, job hunting...exciting times! :P

Your turn to answer the questions!

Next week's questions

1. What is your favorite type of workout to do?

2. What is your favorite guilty pleasure candy or sweet?

3. What is one thing you continuously forget to do?

4. Do you prefer post-its or phone reminders? Why?

5. What is your favorite picture currently on your phone that always makes you smile?

Have a fabulous Sunday!