A Share Advent Round Up - Days 1 to 25

All 25 Share Advent Instagram Photos

(for more info click here)

 

 

 

For more information about each day...
Days 1-5
Days 6-10
Days 11-15
Days 16-20
Days 21-25

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Share Advent Instagram Photos - Days 1 to 5

Share Advent Days 1-5

(for more info click here)

 

 

1st December - Joy to the World

(taken from an old hymn book)

 

 

2nd December - Write and Send a Letter

(first post circle Christmas package on it's way across the oceans)


 

3rd December - "...dance like there's nobody watching"
 

(everyone loves Elf Yourself!)


 

4th December - Wreath Wednesday

(courtesy of my lovely friend M)


 

5th December - Been Putting This Off

 (yeah, I should probably get round to reading these for my essay...)

 

 

 

If you've got Instagram, feel free to follow me for daily Share Advent updates. :-)
 

Pretty Post Circle Packages

A while ago I signed up to the lovely Miss Beatrix's ever-growing #postcircle

 

The idea is for lots of like-minded stationery, paper and letter enthusiasts to send each other lovely things via good old fashioned snail mail.

 

More info about the #postcircle is available over at Miss Beatrix's site - although unfortunately I think she's not accepting any more applications at the moment.

 

I was grouped into a team of 6 friendly people - we're called Team Jellyfish!

Last week I received my first #postcircle letter - a lovely card (and some tea and coffee!) from Charli.
It was all very exciting when I saw it there on my doormat!

 

 Yesterday I posted out my first two #postcircle packages and it was just as exciting putting them together and sending them on their merry way.

 

 

I won't mention who I've sent them to, just in case they're reading!

 

Hope they both arrive safely!

 

 

Day 4 - Five Fave Blogs

Day 4 of rosalilium’s 'blog every day in May' challenge

Five Fave Blogs

(Share the blog love! Tell us about five blogs you love and why?)

 

Having read lots of other people's day 4 #BEDM posts, I feel exactly the same about today's blog topic - it's incredibly hard to choose just five!

One of the first blogs I started reading a few years ago was Elizabeth's lovely rosalilium blog and I've followed it ever since, picking up many more fabulous reads along the way. So it goes without saying that rosalilium is definately a blog I love and therefore I'm not going to include it in my five.

Now I'm only a trainee blogger; duck in a dress is only a few weeks old and still very much a work in progress. I'd been toying with the idea of blogging for a while and Elizabeth's blog and the five blogs I've chosen were (and still are) all inspirational in giving me the confidence to start up my own little piece of the interweb. As a lot of bloggers said, "just give it a go and see what happens!"

 

So, in no particular order...

 

Beautiful Clutter - by Jem.

I love Jem's photography, how she manages to make even the smallest little thing look stunning. If only my pictures were half as good as hers! She also has a keen eye for vintage finds and often turns up treasures that I remember from my childhood or from visiting my grandparents.

 

Essbeevee - by Sarah

Sarah has such pretty dresses and it may sound weird, but I also love her current hair colour! Lots of photographs filled with happiness and writing filled with warmth and humour.

 

Mathilde heart Manech - by Lisa

My weekly (aspirational) to-do list comes in the form of Lisa's "5 Positive Things to Do This Week" Monday morning blog post. Lots of lovely tips as well - films to watch, bags to buy and things to do.

 

Queenie & The Dew - by Sally

Sally's lifestyle blog is always an interesting read with pretty photos and also quite a few tips for blogging. Great fashion sense and lovely clothes wishlists as well.

 

Miss Beatrix - by Anna

Home of the fabulous #Post Circle with creative crafting, delicious recipes, vintage things and lots of tea. A perfect read to inspire your creative side!

 

There is of course, lots and lots more blogs I could list and I took me quite a while just to narrow it down to these five. If you fancy it, please check out my Blog Roll for many more beautiful blogs.

 

This Weekend at the Duckpond

We have mostly been...

 

Sorting - out the mess that has (rather embarrassingly) become our spare room.

Spot the sewing machine...

In our defence, there is method to the madness. Like some sort of bad movie plot, our boiler and heating system decided to pop it's clogs over the Christmas holiday - on Christmas Day morning no less.
Luckily, we know a chappie who does boilers and he agreed that if Andrew did all the pipework and plumbing in the house, he'd come along and fit the new boiler and make sure everything was safe and sound.
So everything in our house was moved around to make way for new copper pipes, fittings, fixtures and other complicated sounding objects. Hence the tip of a room.
But - lo and behold (well, fingers crossed) by next weekend we should have heating again in our house!
Which should be just in time for some lovely sunny weather...


Experimenting - with my new camera - a fabulous Panasonic Lumix GF5

Playing with the camera settings with some flowers and an unexpected hailstorm.

For our wedding anniversary last week, my parents very kindly gifted us some money and I decided to treat myself to something I've been thinking about getting for a while. After doing a bit of research on the internet - well, actually, a lot...and it involved spreadsheets {hangs head in embarassment} - we chose the Panasonic Lumix GF5 and so far we're both very impressed!


Rebuilding - an engine from a Scammell Lorry

The very complicated-looking inside of a Gardner 6LW 1952 engine.

Not me, but Andrew spent the weekend covered in muck and oil working on the engine he took apart last year. Hopefully it (and the rest of the lorry) should be fully working in time for the first steam rally at the end of May over in Selwood near Trowbridge, Wiltshire.


Involving - myself in the lovely rosalilium's "blog every day in May challenge".
Bit a a challenge for a newbie blogger but hey ho, there's nothing like throwing yourself in at the deep end!
Also signing up for the heart-warming #post circle run by the wonderful Miss Beatrix.
Very much looking forward to creating and sending off my first #post circle package!



What did you get up to at the weekend?