Around this time last year I wrote this post alluding to the concept of a perfect "Insta" life. And it's been one of my most popular posts, even to this day.

So I decided that it should become a monthly feature, a celebration of behind the scenes!

It's waaaaay too easy to believe what you see is really what you get. The family photos with no family stuff. No hooks on doors straining under the weight of 15 coats, plastic boxes bursting with broken toys, Lego in tuppaware boxes, yikes, not in Pinterest perfect colour sorted trays with Instagram ready hand made labels. 

I'm not saying it's all a lie but I've learnt to take a lot of photos with a pinch of salt.

Yes they are the houses that those people live in, yes that's where they go on holiday, but most often they are showing us the absolute best bits of that moment. It's a little slice, not the whole picture. And when you embrace that you don't feel any sense of envy or negativity. I look at Instagram as this amazing, never ending source of inspiration.

Not a place that makes me feel bad that I don't have incredible natural light in our house, or spend our weekends battling with the boys, wrestling the iPad out of their hands, instead of soulful walks in the wild.

Because we do take them out and we do have lazy days, where the house is a bomb site, the sink is full of dishes from the night before and the dogs are filthy from rolling in mud in the garden, but I just don't share that photo. 

It's been a bit of a special month for me on Instagram. I watched my follower numbers tick over 25,000 and I almost fell off my seat! If you follow me you have made me cool to my 17 year old nephew. Thank you!

I'd like to take a minute to get a few things off my chest.

Firstly - it is a.ok. to edit your photos. Take them on your "big" camera, your point and shoot, your dslr, anything but your phone camera and spend time editing and preparing your best photos. In fact, I would encourage it! If you love shooting with your phone fantastic! But never ever feel guilty or feel like you have to justify or hide the fact that you share photos from your more fancy camera. It is not cheating.

Secondly - it is absolutely good sense to have a few images ready to use. A little bank of imagery that you can call on if you don't have a spontaneous photographic friendly moment. The weather has been DIRE this January, constant grey wet days in England and I tend to take advantage of the natural light whenever I can in the week and over the weekend to set up some mini shoots ready for the week ahead.

I try not to flood my feed with all the images from one set up, so I will spread them out, share a really detailed shot one day then maybe 4 days later share another. 

Thirdly - I think Instagram is the most supportive and encouraging platform. It's a way to join in and be part of a community and the more you put in the more you get out. By commenting, liking, interacting. Join in hashtags, totally indulge in the evening, sat scrolling through your feed. 

So here is a peek behind my photos. I hope they make you smile!

Yep, that's a fake piece of tongue and groove that I bought from Homebase for £9.99 and painted white, a piece of wrapping paper as the table and a dog strolling in thinking what on earth is going on?!

Here we have the newly wallpapered hallway, and the box of Christmas decorations that STILL haven't been put back up in the loft and the new stove that is so heavy that it's stayed in the hallway, in the way, for a week before it was fitted. 

Ah the glorious yellowly light that bathes our houses during winter. So what do I do? Edit that puppy with the help of white balance correction! Oh and rearrange the cushions. 

I had the pleasure of collaborating with HomeSense this month, sharing a week of images on their Instagram feed and this was one of the outtakes. My potting bench was in fact my small painted sideboard (an old HomeSense purchase!) next to the boys desk, which you can't actually get to for all the craft boxes full of pens, pencils, paints and left over stickers!

This was a photo I put together for the lovely Rose and Grey interiors and don't you just love the Christmas trees (yes plural) again STILL waiting to be rehomed in the loft. Aaaaah!

I had no idea when I posted this photo of the fruit in the bowl that it would sky rocket. A couple of weeks after I posted it, it still gets new likes and comments and I do a double take when I check the number of people who have taken the time to press that heart button. Just wow. The funny thing is it is exactly what I hope you can expect from my feed. Colourful, fun, not too perfect, but pretty. Does that make any sense at all?! 

And this last one will feature tomorrow! I'm not quite sure which one I love more to be honest. Check my feed tomorrow and see which one I went with! 

Here's to a February full of photography inspiration. Let's all fall a little bit more in love with Instagram together.

Linking up with The Ordinary Moments

Is it just me, or as the weather has changed from autumn sunshiny days and pathways strewn with golden leaves that demanded to be kicked and tossed in the air like you were 5 again to wet puddles and miserable endlessly grey skies, the need for a winter treat to cheer you up has got greater?!

I find myself slipping a (uh hmm) family pack of Minstrels or Malteasers into the weekly shopping trolley, because it just feels so comforting to swirl your fingers into a bowl of chocolates. I like to empty mine into a bowl so I can hear the chinking sound of the chocolates against the china as I dive in for a handful searching for the misshapen one at the bottom.

It's a time for complete indulgence. And I love it.

More kisses at the school gates wishing each other a lovely Christmas, rum cocktails on a Tuesday, extras with a roast dinner on a Sunday, suddenly I feel the need for all the trimmings and it's not even Christmas dinner day yet! Yes I need cauliflower cheese, Yorkshire puddings, red cabbage (I mean how good are the microwave ranges in the supermarket this year - I am totally cheating on the 25th December!?) and fires on a Friday morning.

My usually positive nature feels like it gets chipped away in the dark days of winter. I long for flip flops and spring and summer colours around me. I'm snapping at the boys more, my patience seems shorter and I am feeling the pressure of working in more limited daylight hours. So I do what I know best. Accessorise and indulge!

I've covered the sofas in cosy blankets which get equally used for den making and snuggling under for a film on a Sunday afternoon. My favourite sheepskin from the local farm shop hangs over the back of the sofa in the living room, for tired school boys who need to rest their weary heads after pick up.

This time of year is about cosiness and comfort. We sink into bed each night under our Winter Warm Slumberdown duvet and I feel like I can't get up in the mornings! It's too dark and I am way too warm, cocooned like a sausage roll in a pastry made from cotton wool. The westies are in complete agreement ;)

Winter time comes at the end of the year, a perfect time to say thank you and treat the ones who have loved you, supported you, encouraged and embraced you through the year.

So I have 2 treats today for you lovely readers.

Firstly a new set of floral wallpapers - it's been such a long while since the last! I picked out some of my favourite props and got silly with the glitter! You can download one or all of them! 

Choose your favourite and let me know!

Just click on an image to download.

I also have the perfect winter comforts bundle to win from Slumberdown. Because for all the racing around around, present buying, gift wrapping and good deeds we will do before the big day, you deserve to feel spoilt!

You will win:

A copy of the GBBO book, a vintage bath time pampering set, a fabulous hot chocolate set from Not on The High Street and a pair of Slumberdown's luxury silky pillows!

To enter leave a comment on this blog post or any of the wallpaper images I share over on my Instagram account. 

The competition is open to UK residents and will close at midnight on Christmas Eve GMT. 

Good luck!

Gathering is my word for November.

It's felt like winter has set in earlier this year, autumn sunshine has fought hard to blast through the dense grey cloud, but the bitterness and hardness of a fierce winter to come has kept it hidden.

I've spent a lot of time this month gathering my thoughts. We all think all the time don't we, so I guess this sounds a little over the top, to be so formal, but everything has sort of come to a head this month. I've realised I need to plan more, not just everyday to do lists but write down a plan for the future. For home, for work, for general life!

And I think better outside. When there are less distractions - does that make sense? Like when you talk a long walk along a beach and the sea air almost strips your mind of everyday worries and gives you a clear space to ponder.

I'm making steps to consciously change the way I work, to manage my time better, to be more responsive and to plan my weeks so I am not in a headless chicken mode! I am ridiculously excited about a new website, a new layout and a new design.

I've been busy researching the colours I know I want to use in new branding, the type of motifs and emblems, the way I would like you lovely readers to navigate through my blog and finally get my dream of an online product store live. 

It all starts on the 7th December, I found a design team who I knew were right for me, from the second we sat down together and who wrote my hopes and dreams and ambitions all over the windows of the meeting room.

They had me at hello. Or rather Hullo. 

A new year feels like the perfect time for a new start.

And as I walked around the garden the other day, gathering old seed pods and flowers for this Styling the Seasons post,  I realised it's not just about gathering physical things that help you make decisions it's gathering those who you trust, the people who mean the most close to you. Things that also represent an emotion or a connection.

And then I had an idea, to gather all my bits and bobs that I've collected over the last few years that I used for props to create flat lay photos and vignettes for Instagram and product photos. 

So I have a lovely post next week full of inspiration for creating your own dried flower collection. And decided writing on the windows would be a good idea too!

I love how mixing textures and fresh and dried flowers can evoke such a soulful feel in a photograph. That traditional autumn colours can still be as fresh as a spring composition, the lush greens against pink peppercorns and the deep orange of the dried rose.

I laid them on one of my favourite vintage tiles and snapped some photos to share to join in with Styling The Seasons challenge this month of flat lays. Just take a peek at the STSxMakelight gallery this month - so many beautiful photographs to inspire. 

I hope you are having a peaceful and restful Sunday. 

December I am ready for you!