Creativity in December

I have been busy doing all kinds of art and journalling. You can stay up to date with my creative ventures through Instagram, as that is updated far more regularly than the blog. 

I must admit, speaking with Pages and taking his advice to just get on with it has truly been a big motivation for me these last few weeks. Thankfully, whenever I attempt to be creative and reflective, I am left feeling excited, positive and incredibly optimistic. My mindset is good right now!

What has everyone else been up to these last few weeks? Was the holiday season satisfactory for you?

Canada Road Trip Series: Manitoba

Manitoba Facts:

Provincial Flower: Prairie Crocus

Provincial Bird: Great Gray Owl

Provincial Tree: White Spruce

We arrived late into Manitoba. Having visited Manitoba in the winter of 2010, we hadn't planned to spend much time in the province during our cross-country road trip. The day we arrived, we were met with thunder and heavy rain. After settling into the hotel, we went out for dinner at a rather posh restaurant and relaxed for the first time on our journey.

The next day, we met up with The Canadian's old school friend and enjoyed an afternoon with him before exploring some of the downtown delights of Winnipeg.

Before crossing the provincial border for our Ontario section of our road trip, we stopped in Falcon Park and enjoyed the last of the flat land and rolling clouds. The weather was beautiful and provided a fitting day to say goodbye to the prairies. 

If you're in Winnipeg on your road trip, or any visit for that matter, be sure to drop by the Winnipeg zoo, which is fantastic. We visited that in the dead of winter, and minus the -40 C cold, we had a fantastic time, as a bonus all the sensible visitors had stayed away so we had the park to ourselves. Other things to do in Winnipeg, when you're short of time and looking for 'free' or cheap days, include visiting the British sweetie shop, Candy Mountain, located in an old train carriage in "The Forks". The Forks also houses a mall, which is definitely worth a wander.

I've broken our Canada road trip into a series of blog posts, which can be found here:

Canada Road Trip Series

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba
(you're reading it)

Ontario

Tips for Successful Road Trips

How to Find Great Photo Opportunities on Road Trips

What are your tips for making a mundane trip into an adventure? Do you have any road trip hints and tips for smooth travel?

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In 2012, I travelled across 3 Canadian provinces and completed my first major 'road trip'. Road trips are a new concept to me, so my excitement was intense. Follow the Road Trip Journey and discover places to visit and enjoy in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, as well as hints and tips on the best way to make a road trip romantic, enjoy each others company and find great photo opportunities

Day Trips in England (365 Challenge!)

I visited a lot of places when I was in England. I missed so many of the small places that I spent a lot of lazy summer holidays visiting with my mum. It's so easy to take for granted the area you live in, that is, until it costs $1000+ to revisit them. I find that you usually get over the taking it for granted at that point. 

I visited Hebden Bridge with my mum on a rainy day. We drove to Nottingham. My sister and I went on a quick trip to Bridlington on what turned out to be a really cold and awful day (at one point, we lost the feeling in our fingers!) but it was worth it for the fish and chips. 

We visited York and ate at Jamie Olivers very snazzy restaurant. I explored Manchester again with my beautiful friend and revisted Halifax whilst enjoying British public transport. It was really an amazing trip filled with some pretty awesome memories and a lot of Pizza Express food! 

I also reorganised, donated, saved and photographed my childhood memories. I took photos of my art work as a record of how artistic I used to be, only to discover that I deleted the photos, thinking I had already backed them up onto Google Drive. Very bad, but I'm sure that just means that I need to go and visit again, or encourage one of my family to visit me with my art work in their suitcase.

On a regular basis, I will keep you up to date with my own mixed up version of the 365 challenge. Sometimes there will be dates missing, or, instead of photographs, there will be index cards, but my challenge is still sticking to all the rules, and what flexible rules they are. 

CLICK HERE for more information on the 365 challenge.

Mother's Day in Images

I loved last Sunday. It's the first time in forever since I managed to spend mother's day with my mum. 

My youngest sister decided that she would be in charge of breakfast, and proceeded to make the biggest mess I have ever seen, although, I must admit that it was also one of the better breakfasts that I've ever had. Yum.

My mum and co decided to go for a walk. Not being a massive fan of mornings, I decided to stay in and just prepare afternoon tea. It took two hours but it was delish, and it looked fantastic. Nothing quite like rooting through drawers of material in an attempt to find doillies and other fantastic lacy items. 

I used a lot of the recipes I posted in Mother's Day Inspiration but I must admit, I'm not an excellent baker, so I just went to Tesco and bought a little tray of brownies and millionaires shortcake pieces.

It was a great success, but I put that down to the clotted cream. Nom Nom Nom.

The First Valentines Day Card and The First Lemon Hive Product

Today, I decided to start practicing and sketching ideas for Valentines day products, because, I have decided, that is what I am going to start selling in my Etsy shop first and foremost. I am so excited to share this with you. Hello to the first product of The Lemon Hive.