I love being creative with blog photography. ​

I love making a photo look curious, that you will want to look at again and again, as you might discover something slightly different each time.​

Creative photography just takes time and imagination, not a fancy camera.​

Think about texture, props and layer your image both in terms of height and depth. Cake stands make great props for anything and everything to add height and interest. I am also a fan of perfectly positioned crumbs!

My favourite recent posts where I use this style were my pretty doughnuts and my petal ice lollies. Ok, so they might be too styled for your liking, but you get the idea.

These are a selection of my favourite DIY backdrops that I use for my blog photography.​

From top to bottom, left to right:​

A chopping board, a book of patterns, straw, wallpaper sample, kitchen tray, hessian, a paper fan, the garden table, a fence panel, scrapbook paper, gravel, fabric pinboard, flowers, wall art - shells, craft cutting board, vintage bell fast sink drainer, wooden palettes, fat quarters and tea towels, upturned tin bath, my office rug.

If you are a regular reader you will have probably spotted all of them at one time or another!

I love adding depth to my photographs with interesting backdrops and you will never find a white background here!​ I also stay away from shiny wrapping paper and wipe clean tablecloth material, as they can create a sheen when using a flash, if you are photographing your post in the evening. I also like using chalkboards - great for handwritten annotations!

Lifestyle blogs can be greatly enhanced with lifestyle photography. So if you have made some fabulous and want to blog it, show the ingredients you used. Leave some flour around your magnificent cake, or drizzle some icing on the worktop next to your perfect cup cakes. 

And my tip would be to get out of the habit of taking photos just from above. Yes include an overhead shot but get low to your subject, create a depth of field, bringing your item to the foreground of your picture and letting the camera focus on it, leaving the rest of the shot to blur. ​

One of my favourite posts for the photography was actually not that impressive when it comes to skill. No bake biscuits! But I love the way my eye is drawn to the biscuit in the shot where I am at it's level, from the side angle. ​You can have a look here. Let me know what you think? How would you have set up the shot? 

And that is my final tip. Take time. If you have gone to great efforts to create something beautiful, that you want to show off on your blog, then it deserves some loving photography. Take photos as you go, as a step by step guide and arrange the photos in a collage so they whole process can be seen.

​Do you have any backdrops you use that you could share? I can't leave a DIY store without an armful of wallpaper samples these days! 

And if you haven't voted yet for the Loved By Parents Blogger of the Year, what are you waiting for ;) ​

If you have never heard of Pinterest then this is the post for you.​

​If you have heard of Pinterest, but don't have the foggiest idea of what it's all about, then this is the post for you.

And if, like me, you are completely and utterly addicted to ​the wonder that is this online collective community of pinners and virtual pin boards, then I hope this may be a useful post for you too.

You can find my boards here if you fancy a nose! ​

You will see I am in full party planning mode! ​

My favourite is my Vintage Party Inspiration ​board. If ever my husband decides to throw me a surprise party, he only has to peek at this and we are golden! It features loveliness like this:

Pinterest is the fastest growing social network, the main source of traffic from the US to individual UK blogs and the first website I use to research anything. Anything at all. You name it I use Pinterest to find it. It's actually a challenge I set myself to come up with an idea that is not on Pinterest!​ 

If you are totally confused you can read about my introduction to Pinterest here.​

But as part of the Pin it Forward UK campaign to spread the word about the dedicated UK registration, I want to share some Spring Cleaning tips for your Pinterest account as I imagine that the majority of my readers either already use the site already or have heard me shouting about it numerous times before!

How to Spring Clean your Pinterest Boards

(and gain followers)

• LAYOUT. Do your boards compliment each other? It's highly likely that if someone finds one of your boards and has a shared interest they will like another and another. Take time to choose your cover images as that is the first thing a potential follower may see when they view all your boards together.
• THINK SEASONAL. If you still have an Easter or Christmas board near the top of your collection shame on you! Only teasing but those should be whizzed to the bottom of the pile. ​Split your boards into separate holiday categories so people can find them more easily. No one is researching Easter at Halloween so you don't want a multitude of pins that aren't relevant in the same board.
• ​HELPFUL DESCRIPTIONS. I am so guilty of repinning a description with the text "would love this", especially to my Wish List board, but how can someone else find that?! Be helpful and make your descriptions informative so that a search enquiry will find them. Same goes for Board descriptions. Have you added a description and category to your boards? Don't forget to add the American spelling in the description too or our friends across the pond might not find your perfect pins.
• CHANNEL YOUR INNER CRAFTY SPIRIT. Pinterest users are creative individuals. That's one of the reasons you would use Pinterest as a creative research hub. I pin Kid's Craft ideas and my own Fantasy Craft Room ideas separately as ​lots of my followers don't have children and wouldn't be so interested if I had ideas for both age groups mixed together.
• KNOW YOUR SOURCE. I try to check the sources of my pins as there is nothing more frustrating than finding the exact inspiration you were looking for only to discover a dead link when you try and click through to the original tutorial or product source.​ Pin from an actual blog post and not from the home page as you will be annoyed when you come back to it in a years time and can't find it!
• BLOG BOARD COMES FIRST. If you are a blogger make sure your blog board is the first thing you see and pin your content from individual posts to your blog board first.
• DON'T BE A FLOOD BE A RIPPLE. But be careful not to spam your followers and flood their news feed with masses of images of the same topic! ​Pin little and often. I pin 3 ideas on a theme at most at any one time.
• GET LINKING. Link your Pinterest account to your Facebook page, show your recent pins in your sidebar to encourage more interest.
• THE ONLY WAY IS UP, BABY! Keep your photos portrait style as they are much more likely to be repinned, as the majority of users read their news feeds on a mobile, where portrait style images display more user friendly on screen.​
• PIN IT BUTTONS. Something I ​am guilty of not having on my blog is Pin it buttons on images, it makes it so much easier for lovely readers to share your content. Job for today! 
• BE A PRIMARY PINNER. Pin as much original content as possible, repin, but Pinterest will be a better resource the more everyone adds to it.

As part of the campaign I am thrilled to introduce Helen at KiddyCharts. Check out her boards for parenting inspiration and helpful pins on children's behaviour and craft projects.

Now come and join the fun by clicking HERE! ​It's free and you will adore it.

I am over the moon to celebrate a whole year of blogging!​

It has opened some incredible doors and led me to some incredible people.

I couldn't resist a little photo shoot complete with birthday cake! Still need to accomplish my cake making goal this year but this beauty made a perfect stand in!

Thank you for all your love and support. Year 2 is going to be even better.​

​I hope you like the new design. Upcyling at it's best! A new year, a new design, a new platform. If you spot anything that my technical support, aka my husband has missed let me know!

Don’t forget you only have until the 26th March to vote in the MAD Blog Awards, click here to vote

(psst I’m in Best Craft and Best Photography).