Hello there, I'm Libby, and I can't quite believe I'm blogging here. I'm so excited! Also, I like tea. It's a strange story--I drank coffee first, because it made me feel classy and sophisticated, exactly what I wanted living in this small village. But a few months later, I discovered the joys of a good old breakfast tea, and to me tea is part of my history. My dad's side of the family used to be involved in the tea trade, and my dad spent his childhood in Sri Lanka and Malawi whilst his father traded. With genealogy like that, I can't really escape the tea bags.

And to make time for tea, in a life that can so quickly becoming overwhelming? That is special. The ceremony to making a cup of tea is not complex, but I like to just take time to boil the kettle, stew the tea, stir the milk. And then, when I get to the drinking of the tea? When it's just me, my mind wanders. I sit at the kitchen table and write or doodle. If I'm drinking with my mum--the only other tea drinker here--we will chat about "shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings"... Everything under the sun.

So much can happen over a cup of tea, and it's all pretty easy on the eyes too. Most of my blog posts, in fact, are composed with a cup of tea or coffee in hand too, and I try and apply the whimsical and cheerful ideal of afternoon tea to all aspects of my life. Let's make time for tea every day!

Above, just a snapshot of the tea photos I've shared at my blog. I think we can safely say I'm smitten.
Thanks for reading. Do you drink tea? Thanks, Carlotta, for letting me talk about tea.

xx
Libby

13 & 86 simultaneously.

a picture taker & pretty-thing maker,

also, word weave, & book reader.

dress lover,

tea drinker, {coffee too}

cat snuggler and a blogger.

{blog, twitter, flickr}

These long, blissful, summer days have been putting me in a crafty mood lately. I just want to make pretty things all day long! So, I thought I'd spread the mood by sharing a lovely little DIY with you.

{delightful dry-erase boards}

you will need:

a picture frame with a glass cover

a sheet of scrapbook paper

acrylic paint {optional}

scissors or a papercutter

a dry erase marker {black works best}

{step one} Take the back & glass cover out of your picture frame and set them aside. If you'd like to paint your frame, now's the time. Make sure your frame is made of a suitable material to be painted on. Unfinished wood frames are perfect for painting. 

{step two} Once the paint has dried, measure the inside edge of the frame. Take your piece of scrapbook paper, and cut your square or rectangle with those dimensions. If you find that your square/rectangle doesn't fit in the frame easily, just trim it a bit. 

{step three} Put the glass cover back in your frame, followed by the square/rectangle of scrapbook paper, & then the back.

{step four} Sit back and admire your lovely handiwork. Grab a dry-erase marker, and doodle away! The marker is really easy to erase with a whiteboard eraser, or just a tissue. 

Use these pretties to decorate your walls, as a reminder board for your locker, or whatever else you come up with. Happy crafting! 

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Hello! I'm Abbey - an aspiring writer, photographer, and daydreamer, living in the Canadian prairies. It's a pleasure to meet you! Come visit me over at The Inglenook, my little space of lovely things.

Well this is totally embarrassing. When Carlotta emailed me asking me to guest post, I suggested I do a tutorial on taking self-portraits for outfit posts. True story. I know my post will pale in comparison to Hannah's hilarious one; try not to throw tomatoes at my head, readers.

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Hello, fashionistas of the blog world. Don't try to pretend you've never wanted to do an outfit post, but your friends/family/cats were busy. Never fear, beautiful and stylish people: armed with only your camera and yourself, you can still take gorgeous photos. I promise. And you won't have to go with the old bathroom-mirror attempt:

N U M B E R   O N E :   P O S I T I O N   T H E   T R O O P S . . .   A H E M ,   C A M E R A
Set up your tripod, or find somewhere to prop your camera. (A table or tree stump works well.) It should be at about waist level, so you won't get thrown out of proportion. For a background, find something simple that won't distract from your photo — a blank wall, a distant forest (if you have good depth of field on your camera), the middle of a street. Not even kidding on that last one.

N U M B E R   T W O :   F O C U S

If you're outside, a stick can be driven into the ground where you want to stand. Inside, focus on furniture or place a stool or plant where you want to stand. On a DSLR, switch to manual focus and make the object nice and clear. On a point-and-shoot, just make sure your camera is placed in such a way that it will focus on the spot you want it to.

N U M B E R   T H R E E :   C O U N T   D O W N 

Set your camera to self-timer (ten seconds is usually good). Try a test shot first so you know about how long it takes.

this is my mother's point-and-shoot... on a DSLR it will surely be in a different place.

N U M B E R   F O U R :   B E   A M A Z I N G

Now, press the shutter (stil on self-timer!) and hurry into the picture. Smiling is generally a good idea, unless you want the whole Vogue look (this works better with a crazier outfit... don't take yourself to seriously if you're wearing something normal-ish). Experiment with poses; find one that's natural, and remember that the camera won't judge you if you look like a complete idiot.

And that's pretty much it! How to take spectaculafabulous outfit shots if you have no friends (or they are busy doing other things besides loving you). I hope that helps somebody somewhere, but if not... well, it was fun anyways.

W H O ' S   S P E A K I N G ,   N O W ?

Olivia = grey eyes, curly hair, extravagant facial expressions. Fashion enthusiast, photographer, writer, actress, and model — all at once. Traveling and big cities make me happy. Vintage is better. Says yes to quests. High heels+jeans rule the world. Prone to boredom and prone to disaster. Blogs at of horsefeathers and would be tickled pink if  you'd stop by. xoxo, lovelies!

------------PS: you can see my outfit posts here.------------