shhh... is it spring?

I have been very quiet here this last month. I've barely blogged and hardly commented on other blogs, although I've still been reading them. It's been a hard, long month, where the much needed end of winter hasn't really materialised and I've felt the unseasonal cold more keenly for that. It's the third of April and it's snowed today.

Through not blogging, I've discovered that when you don't blog for a while you enter a kind of feedback loop, where the fact you've not blogged means that the next post you create had better be really excellent to make up for it, and so the pressure to blog, and blog well, escalates, and that becomes a reason not to blog just yet... I've also felt the "I've not blogged for a while so I must blog a lot now to make up for it" anxiety, along with the "I've not blogged for a while so perhaps I should just not blog again at all" sensation.

But I'm still here, still finding words to say, and still seeing photos I'd like to share. Even in my short time blogging here, I've enjoyed meeting people, learning about them and their lives through their blogs, and becoming, in a small way, part of a large and fascinating community that so many others belong to.

So while I may not know exactly when I shall blog again at this very moment, I will do so. And I'll enjoy it. Thanks for reading :)

overwhelm...

I've been a little quiet here this last week. I've had a cold and I've been busy but I've also felt an affliction that I suffer from fairly frequently. I call it web-overwhelm.

Think calm. Be calm. Read this.

One of the reasons I started this blog was an attempt to deal with this, but I'm not so sure how successful it's been. I thought here I could list and store things I loved that I found on the net, could file them away to remember them and to remind myself to do them later, to make them, to read or listen to them, to remind myself about them.

And it has done some of that. But as I've followed more links, clicked onto more sites, I've found the amount of things on the web that interest me is endless. I've been pulling pages onto my bookmark toolbar in Firefox, adding blogs to Bloglovin, making notes in Evernote. And all these things just seem to add up to an ever-increasing and very rarely decreasing web-to-do list.

And it weighs me down. When I have to hunt through that bookmark toolbar and scroll though dozens of pages before I reach a specific one I saved, just a week ago, then the sheer amount of information I have given myself to read feels like nothing more than than something else to work through, rather than enjoy in any way.

So what to do?

I've found this post some help, especially this part:

"Pick a handful of sources. There’s an almost unlimited amount of reading out there, and you could do it all day and not make a dent in just what was created today. So let go. Pick just a few good sources (including news sites and blogs and social news and more), and check them once a day at most."

This is true. No matter how hard I may try, I cannot read everything I want to.

But what I am trying to do is read things that interest me, when they interest me. I've spent what feels like years skim-reading, then tucking things away into various bookmarking sites, to read later, when I've got more time. Which is, of course, never. So I'm trying to read more carefully, to take in the information I want when I see it. It's not easy. I think most people feel they're always up against the clock, whatever they're doing. But I'm reaching a point when I'm considering deleting all my bookmarks just to feel more in control again. And so a change of some sort has to happen.

I'm also going to consider joining Instapaper and saving the words simply, and I may well resurrect my old Pinterest account and see if I can use that for fast and easy bookmarking - I do love visual bookmarks (although I am very aware that pinterest just leads me to browsing the boards and finding heaps more things to bookmark...).

I'm going to read this post again and carefully, knowing how much sense it made the first time I read it, and the second time. I've linked to this before in my decluttering post here. The sentiments behind the need to have a digital tidy-up may not be exactly the same, but the ultimate goal is - to make the web easier to negotiate and clear some of the backlog that ties.

And I may well download this free ebook about focus - because focusing on exactly what you're doing, and what you're on the web for, must surely help with not feeling overwhelmed by the rest.

I hope this has been some help, and I hope to be back on the web a little more, but takng things a little more carefully.

make my own ... diary

This is something I would love to do - make my own book. I have a book about bookbinding but it's pretty intense so I think I need to start more simply.

If you fancy creating your own diary for 2013, or a journal or notebook, then do have a look at some of these tutorials.


If you've already got a diary, or a book that's just a little bit boring, then have a look at this tutorial that shows you how to create a fabric cover for any book, with handy inner pockets too!

Not an easy project, but a stunning result with a leather-covered book. I guess you could substitute faux leather, or even fabric.

If you really want to get back to basics, then follow this tutorial to create the actual pages. Total crafting DIY and wonderfully satisfying. It's very high on my to-do list...

Create mini diaries - this tutorial is so simple, and since the books are so tiny you can use odds and ends of favourite materials you have lying around! The tutorial gives you three ways to make a journal - advanced, intermediate and easy breezy ... Take your pick or start at the beginning ...

And finally, if you know a little about Photoshop and fancy creating a travel journal, then take a look at this tutorial. I know my limits but this inspires me to stretch them ... beautiful.

Have you ever made your own diary? And did it encourage you to journal more? I hope you find something here to inspire you.

this year I will ... write in my diary

It is not too late to start a diary for the year. Oh no. I've not even bought one yet, perhaps because I feel a little guilty for having such a beautiful one last year and not writing in it enough. I either have too much to say that I don't know where to start or ... well, it's actually always that I have too much to say and I scare myself off. Plus, I leave writing it till late at night when all I want to do is sleep ...

But, still, I will buy myself a diary very soon. Hopefully one of these ...


I love this cover - style and mystery...who is the shadowed lady of 2013...?


Willing to take a chance on this diary? Sorry, very bad 'joke'...


Simple, subtle, stylish.


Love this! Perfect if you're a leftie!


Just beautiful and inspiring, every day of the year.


A rather positive sentiment on the cover of this diary to get what's left of the year rocking...

Probably the sweetest companion you could have to travel with you this year.


Hope you're inspired to record your year in a diary - I'll also be posting about making your own diary, journal or notebook in the next few days.

fab freebies

I've been a little quiet this last week or so. Perhaps this wasn't the best time of year to start a new blog, but it felt the right thing to do, before Christmas and New Year. Sometimes it's the starting that's the important thing, and figuring out how it all goes together and actually works come later...

Anyway, back to the post. It is a new year, and, despite Christmas being past, this turn of time seems to still inspire generosity in those wonderful people who live on the web.

Here's some of my favourite freebies, to download, to enter, to fill in and be inspired by...

Treat yourself and download this beautiful calendar for 2013, from The Ink Nest.


Figure out just what you're going to do in those next twelve (well, eleven and a bit...) months with this free workbook from Susannah Conway.

Win a Fuji camera on Give a Girl a Blog - this one runs til the end of the month so you've still time...

If you fancy updating the social media icons on your blog then this selection should give you plenty to get started with.

Be quick! This desktop is just for January!



I hope you see something you like here.