I'm sat tucked up in crisp white hotel bed sheets, with the crumbs from the complementary dual biscuit wrapper crumbling into the laptop keyboard, and thinking I wonder whether anyone else is up now, if anyone is going to BritMums for the first time and nervously dreaming of what to expect?!

Well be prepared for noise. Walking into the main room at BritMums is like battling through a joyous cacophony of excitable women, equally excitable men, all sharing reunions, first hugs and squeals and anxious anticipation. 

It can be everything you want it to be. You just need to harness those nerves and be yourself. My advice to anyone gong tomorrow is say hello to as many new faces as possible. This is the one event where everyone "gets you" they're all on your wavelength and they all want to talk about nothing but blogging!!!! Bloggers - you will be in heaven!

It's a chance to connect in person with people who feel like your best friends on the internet. Make real life friendships to take away with you, even if the next time you see each other is in a year's time, back at this very same venue. I will be missing some of my best pals this year - girls, I wish you were there!

I packed the boot to bursting with wallpaper samples, paint chips, buckets for flowers and scrap book papers. I hope there is something for everyone! 

I am in awe of all the preparation. I finally arrived in the loading bay (yes it was just as glamorous as it sounds) at 8.30pm tonight, over 4 hours since leaving home in Somerset. I crawled out of the car almost in the same driving position as I had sat in for 125 miles and cricked my neck and back a few times as the kind staff from The Brewery helped me load up the trolley with all the props for the Define Your Design Session tomorrow.

My boxes were added to a room full of boxes, all waiting to be revealed tomorrow afternoon.

Everyone who is going - you are in for a treat.

Hats off to the organisers who have clearly worked around the clock. It's one of those Pretty Woman moments where I want to say to Jen, Susanna and the BritMums team "If I forget to tell you later, I had a really great time tonight."

I checked in to a very stylish and spacious room and I am going to soak up every bit of modern luxury before heading home to our very old, very dusty, very in-need-of-renovation 300 year old house. Queue wriggling my toes excitedly under the tight hospital corners. I am going to enjoy the pristine white tiles in the bathroom, and collapse into the tower of pillows topped with a foiled wrapped chocolate. 

This weekend I am representing Boots and their great campaign #SummerGoodTimes. I am so excited to see their stand, after hearing a sneak peek earlier this week. The Boots team are looking forward to welcoming all the bloggers to this year's event, so make sure you stop by! Some of the longest lasting relationships in the community between brands and bloggers are formed at BritMums Live. 

It really feels like Summer now, I walked back along the main road from the pub that connects to the hotel at 10.30pm tonight and the air was balmy, people were walking past me hand in hand and it felt like a Friday was already here. 

Good luck to everyone in the BIBs this year, it is an amazing achievement to get to the final, I will be so proud to see my name on that big screen but I feel I had my moment last year, stepping out onto that stage and being blinded by the lights, feeling so loved and so grateful. I shall be whooping for all the winners tomorrow night. Every single one deserves to be one that stage, how do the judges decide?! 

So it's time to crash out now. Dream of my talk for the design session, practise it as I'm in the shower (Please tell you someone else has taped their notes to a shower door before and it's not just me?!) and wake up excited for the first day of the 2015 BritMums Live conference. 

Ready steady go!

I felt like I had a bit of a wake up call after Christmas, that I followed and am followed by all these lovely people and yet I'm not sure I've nailed it in bringing them all together. I try and share different content and photos across my social media channels and hope that people find my blog post links and meet here in the middle of it all. But I wanted something that would tie us all together. 

I find in the world of blogging, that when you find someone you love reading, it leads to another and then another. I scroll through the accounts I love and see who they follow (Not in a stalker way like that sounds of course!) and find likeminded souls like me who inspire my photography, writing and the way I want to blog. Positively. 

I know it's all too rosy around here, quite often literally, with floral photos shoe horned into almost every post. But I hope these posts make people smile, a 5 minute read on a break from loading the washing machine, scraping leftovers off plates and other glamorous things that go on in our house like sorting the recycling on a Friday night. 

So you can imagine my sheer delight when I, rather nervously, launched the idea of my own swap project, and the sign ups started to ping into my inbox. It's a scary thing, starting something that relies on other people to join in, for a moment you dread no one will take part, no one will get the sentiment and that it will be a three way swap between my mum and my sister, oh and my sister in law in the US for a international flavour! But no, I was completely overjoyed at the hundreds that took part, sending pretty parcels all over the world! From the UK to the US, from Holland to Australia and to the UAE. Just incredible. 

I totally stand by my little tag line. About making the ordinary extraordinary. I read the same quote when it pops up in my Facebook or Pinterest feed about concentrating on the ordinary and letting the extraordinary take care of itself. But in my mind, I like to seek out those extra special moments in the blur that is ordinary life. Like taking an extra second at bedtime, when Ollie does his night time ritual. Tight squeeze, we have to say "Aah too tight!" and then he has to kiss you on the lips quickly. A blink and you've missed it, sometimes with puppy, the manky old soft dog he's has since he was born, who last night took the liberty of licking my glasses, Ollie proudly reported. Taking an extra minute as I close their door to appreciate that intimate ritual, he only shares with those he adore the most. 

And something so ordinary as sending a letter in the post does extraordinary things. I watched as the #springtimesurpriseproject gallery on Instagram grew and grew. The kindness of strangers. New friendships, new connections, a celebration of something so very ordinary. Posting something nice to someone just because. No birthday, no Christmas, just a celebration of springtime!

Just look. And this isn't all of them, I will add more later!

And my Twitter favourite button went into overdrive, saving post after post shared on the internet from bloggers who had taken part. I had specifically not asked anyone to blog the surprise project. I didn't want anyone feeling obliged to talk about it, to feel they had. I hoped people would want to, share their partner details, spread a little love for this concept of joining in a new community. Take a peek.

Check out these fab blogs The Mama Story, The Twinkle Diaries, Nomad Seeks Home, Life, Ninja Killer Cat, Baking Betsy, Me You and Magoo, This is Wiss, Real Housewife of Suffolk, Sit Still Monkeys, Floral and Feather, Celebrate Creation, This Little Space of Mine, Dark Tea, CardNest, Clarina's Contemplations, Ling Yeung B, My Mummies Pennies, My Life My Love, We Made This Home, Scraps of Us.

If I have missed anyone I will update the post and add some more photos too. 

I loved that Facebook friends from the real world (That sounds completely insane because over the last year the lines between my virtual life and real life have completely intertwined.) took part, that when I opened the next swap project up, my brother and sister were amongst the first to tap in their details. That even the handful of people who are still waiting for their parcels (I am a big believer in giving people the benefit of the doubt, and hope they will still honour their part of the project, if not, there will be a parcel from me next week.) have signed up again, because just like me they love the idea of something nice for no other reason than it feels good to be part of something nice.

Friendly, kind, creative people. My kind of people.

I would love you to join in the #summertimesurpriseproject. The idea is that you swap a £5 parcel with a stranger. You can choose whether your partner lives in the UK or abroad and you get the chance to tell your partner a little about yourself, so they give you some clues. Come and join in here!

Thank you so much for embracing this idea, for being the most supportive readers. I am feeling totally in love with blogging for all the right reasons. Because it makes me happy! Ooh and this happened too... I am over the blooming moon to be in the finals!

So you have just 24 hours or so to sign up for the next surprise project. The sign up form will close at midnight on Sunday 24th May 2015, GMT. You can find it here. 

Something else is closing this week too. Nominations for the MAD Blog Awards ends on the 27th May. If you think my blog has a place in the MADs this year you can vote here. Thanks so much! Happy Bank Holiday from the UK! 

I feel very lucky when I see nice emails pop into my inbox. As a blogger I get to work on lovely campaigns with like minded companies and as a photographer I have the opportunity to photograph all the things that inspire me.

So can you imagine my reaction when I was invited to speak about floral photography at the BritMums and Gorkana networking event recently in London?! I may have giggled like a little school girl which was most appropriate as we all went back to school that day. But to the most prettiest, sweet smelling, beautiful school surrounded by blowsy blooms, little buds and everything in between.

I started my visit to London the evening before and stayed at The Wellesley hotel in Knightsbridge in a suite overlooking Hyde Park. This hotel is all kinds of fabulous. It has glamour, history, oozes London sophistication and I was sorely tempted to take a photo of the doorman in his top hat carrying my baking tray backgrounds into the lobby! I felt like a princess, going to bed under sheets you almost didn't want to wrinkle. I loved having dinner by myself, people watching and for the first time in as long as I can remember, read a magazine cover to cover. 

Then I slipped upstairs and couldn't resist a soak in the marble edged bath with a indulgent amount of bubbles and made use of the white fluffy robe before a lovely unbroken night's sleep!

The event took place at the Judith Blacklock Flower School in Knightsbridge. Hidden down a cobbled side street away from the hustle and bustle is the perfect space for floral lovers to come and learn. Judith is to floristry what Martha Stewart is to craft. An energetic, charismatic teacher with patience and humour and the utmost professionalism.

I had the pleasure of chatting to Judith and within minutes we were like 2 excited puppies bouncing ideas off each other and making a wonderful connection. 

The event brought together representatives from a number of brands and PR agencies with bloggers from the BritMums community. It was lovely to see some familiar faces and squeeze in belated catch ups over foliage and oasis. And it was great to meet new faces and exchange details for the future. 

Judith is a master. Effortlessly, she whipped together the most breathtaking hand tied floral bouquet which I couldn’t resist asking what it would sell for in a local florists! A stunning arrangement that would take me hours to perfect and talked us through tips and ticks to keep your flowers alive for longer, dispelling the myths of putting bleach or lemonade to your vase of water.

No no no! Flowers do not like sugar so steer clear! 

There was a real buzz of excitement in the room and a sense of pride from everyone, when they started snapping their cupcake arrangements. I shared my thoughts from my experience of photographing florals and brought along a little selection of props for people to play with. 

In case you missed it here are my top 5 tips for photographing flowers:

1. LIGHT - botanicals always look better in natural light. NOT direct sunlight, nice soft, diffused light. Think cloudy but bright skies or a sunny day by the window. But pin or stick a piece of voile or muslin to the window to soften those harsh sun rays. Have a play. In direct sunlight you’ll see really harsh shadows and lines over your petals and colours can see flat. If you over exposure your flowers you’ll burn them out. Whites will look ghostly and vibrant colours will look flat with no detail. Use a reflector at the window too. A cake board does exactly the same job if you want a smaller, cheaper alternative. Gold for warm light and silver for cooler light bouncing off the board.

2. COMPOSITION - flowers are the best subject to play with! Stick them to walls, bend them, lay them in patterns, have fun! Remember if you are photographing them in a vase, make your tallest stem the same height as the vase. Embrace the rule of thirds and negative space, use tall straight stems as a natural leading line and think about what frames your background. Be careful to not let the background distract from your flowers. Tidy the kitchen surface, shut doors that show everyday clutter. In photography terms odd numbers are the magic numbers (except a pair which is an annoying exception to the rule) and try and create natural triangles in your image. So in a bunch of flowers find three of the same colour for example, that make a triangle shape in amongst the foliage. Play with the viewpoint and move around your flowers, taking photos from lots of angles. The more the better!

I have a new #backtobasics post covering composition coming up this week so check back in for a much more detailed discussion about composition. 

3. APERTURE - play around with your camera on the Aperture priority setting. Florals have such detail and creating a beautifully blurred background with a lower Aperture can transform your photo. You can create the same effect on your phone too if you use Instagram and the tilt shift editing tool. Check out this post on What is Aperture if you are not too sure! Sometimes flowers have lots of layers of detail and you need a higher Aperture to get all those layers in sharp focus. To still get that blurry background you need to move your flowers or vase far away from your background, like 10-15 feet if possible, to create that separation. 

4. EQUIPMENT - photographing florals outside is wonderful, but the wind is not your friend! It is definitely worth using a tripod for outdoor floral photography. Flowers have incredible detail and you may be pleased to know that high quality camera phones can capture that macro detail that often DSLR's will need a specific macro lens for. You can buy extra lenses for your phones and polarising filters for your DSLR will help reduce glare and improve the ability to capture the depth of colour. Don't be afraid to be "that person" lying on the ground with a tripod legs splayed to bursting point. Just think of the photos you will capture! 

5. PRACTISE - I try and take daily pictures of the flowers in my home and garden every day which I share on my Instagram feed. And I try and take myself off for half an hour over the weekend and practise in different light conditions and play with composition. It's therapeutic and honestly will help improve your technical skills. Cut flowers are the best still life because they are still! They don't answer back, they don't need bribing with chocolate and they make for beautiful images you will be proud of. Ooh and don't forget to edit!

It is not cheating to edit your photos! 

I tweak my phone images with a little brightening, a little sharpening, a little more contrast and it's time well spent. You'll be amazed at how subtle editing processes like altering your white balance, playing with exposure and saturation can make a big difference. 

Thank you for having me at such a lovely event BritMums and Gorkana.