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Cherry blossom tree in London, Spring must be on the way!
One thing I adore about living in the UK is how seasonal the weather is. There is a very distinct Winter, Spring, Summer (albeit short) and Autumn. Parts of New Zealand are very seasonal as well, but in Auckland (where I come from) you definitely get Summer and Winter but the in-between bits are often just a quick interlude.
This is my third Autumn in the UK and I have fallen head-over-heels for this season. I never thought much of it before, so I’ve been thinking – why do I love Autumn so much?
…Although I love Summer for obvious reasons, Autumn is cosy! It has the chill of Winter but with more crisp, blue sky days and less rain.
…Autumn always feels like new beginnings to me. I think it’s because Autumn was the first change of season I saw when I first moved to the UK (as I arrived in Summer) and it reminds me of such an exciting time in my life.
…and of course, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, Autumn means Christmas is just around the corner and mulled wine, pine trees & thick woollen scarves aren’t too far away.
Autumn 2009 Layout
Last year I spent a bit of time in London’s glorious parks taking photos of all the lovely leaves, so I wanted to share a page featuring some of my Autumn 2009 photos:
A pretty simple layout, but I like it.
What is Autumn like in your part of the world? Do you love it as much as me?
Before I sign off, a big hello! to all the new friends made during the blog hop – it was so much fun and I’m so happy to have a heap of fresh, inspiring blogs in my Google Reader.
N x
This weekend I took part in Shimelle’s online crop, which was my first time doing something like this. I didn’t get to complete as many of the layouts or take as many of the photos that I wanted to, as I had a full day photography workshop on Saturday (and had to work on Friday unfortunately!). However, Sunday was my designated scrapbooking time and I got a few layouts done that I’m very happy with so it was a success.
And here they are…
1. The First Sketch
The photo in this layout was taken during my recent trip to Greece. Taken in Thira, Santorini just before sunset while we sat out on a terrace drinking cocktails, it was such a dream come true!
Surprisingly, this is actually the first sketch I’ve ever done and it’s my favourite layout from the weekend. I’m loving the navy blue, pale pink and white ribbon combo – I think I’ll have to do a whole layout in these colours soon.
2. Scrapbooking with Quadrants
The photo in this layout was taken in the Souks in Marrakech during our holiday to Morocco last year. I don’t think any description I write would do this place justice, it’s like nowhere I’ve ever been before. So much colour, intricate patterns, a mix of scents and flavours and a crazy yet perfect clash of cultures. A truly beautiful and exciting place!
The Basic Grey Marrakech papers were an obvious choice and it was perfect for this challenge which was to use a quadrant of papers.
3. Second Sketch and A Little Pink
I’m not sure if this is in the ‘rules’ or not but I combined two challenges here. I interpreted the second sketch and used a fair amount of pink at the same time. Oh well!
A little about the photos: the one on the left was taken in Barcelona at Park Guell, the photo in the middle was taken in the local park near by old flat where I spent a lot of time in the first 18 months I moved to London, and lastly the photo on the right was taken in Greenwich Park during a snappy outing with Shimelle and a few other girls last Autumn.
I hadn’t scrapped in ages before this weekend so it was fun to get back into it and get inspired again.
N x
How was your weekend? Mine was awesome, except Sunday night I was starting to feel sick and come Monday morning I had the full-blown flu. So here I am at home for the second day in a row feeling sorry for myself.
What I really want to tell you about though is the photo treasure hunt I did on Saturday through ShootExperience which I heard about through a friend. They hold them around London mostly and the treasure hunt is set in a walkable-sized area or suburb – the one we did was around King’s Cross. Then they give you a series of cryptic clues to find certain buildings, landmarks or other interesting places and you have to take a creative photo to represent the theme of the day in that place (our theme was Points of View).
Me being silly & taking snaps in a graveyard where one of the clues led to (Photo: M. Lambourne)
The amazing Hardy Tree at St. Pancras Old Church has a beautiful arrangement of gravestones at its base which have sort of become part of the tree over many years. (Photo: M. Lambourne)
It’s very much about having fun and being creative and not about being a pro photographer or having an incredible camera with lots of equipment – lots of people there were using their point-and-shoot cameras. At the end of the day they do a big slide show of everyone’s photos and a bit of an awards ceremony for the best shots.
One of our entry photos for a clue leading to Camley Street Nature Park - an unexpected gem in the middle of industrial London
Our entry for the creative clue "The Camera Never Lies"
Unfortunately we didn’t win anything but we had so much fun and as you can see we discovered some really interesting places we never would have found otherwise – definitely a great way to learn more about the city we live in.
Then on Sunday I dragged my fiance along to the National Wedding Show – he hasn’t been to one before but I think he quite enjoyed it…and there were cake tastings so it all paid off in the end :)
Wishing you a wonderful week,
N x
