Two years of Marriage

Happy Monday everyone!
Today is our 2nd anniversary, a wonderful day marking a wonderful 2 years of being married to Matthew Way :) They have been the best years of my life, we have grown together, been challenged together and learnt to love each other, and those around us, more truly and deeply.

Here are two videos that only get shown every now and again, the first is our save the date, and the second is a little wedding video made by friends! They seem like so so long ago, but are still so close to our hearts:)

Thank you to everyone who has been part of these years, you are SO dear to us.

Save The Date: Now! from Matt Way on Vimeo.

Matt & Esther 21.07.12 from Sarah Caulfield on Vimeo.

What's next, weaving and Diana

Can you believe it’s nearly the one year birthday of this blog? I have absolutely loved having this space to document life and different creative projects, I have had some brilliant opportunities and met some even more brilliant people, just by having this little corner of the internet! I think thats really great, and I’m so glad I ignored those insecurities that told me there is no way I have anything worth sharing.

I’ve written a bit of a personal post about where Matt and I are at with life, our plans for next year and the hope we are holding onto. I wrote it on my old blog but if you like you can read it HERE.

Last week I did a crafty guest post over on Made by Molu. You should check out her blog! I wrote a tutorial for creating a weaving loom just using string and a chair- I actually really liked this project. Soumya is also a bit of a perfectionist so you can head over there to see what it looks like when someone takes lots of time and care over what they present (my pictures got a treat of a facelift!).  Have a look at the post HERE.

Look at that fancy writing! Photo courtesy of Made by Molu

And Lastly, I finally got my film developed from my time in France with Emily in February. I was using Matts Diana camera for the first time, this is evidenced by the fact a fair few of my pictures didn’t come out, this is mainly because I hadn’t figured out how to properly wind on the film! Ooops! However, there are still some nice pictures of France, and then of the Olympic park in London. I loved using this camera so hopefully I’ll have more success next time! Here's a selection for your viewing pleasure:

Beautiful sea and creepy bar

Icy bravery in February

Irish and Catalonia

The Orbit

Actually, one last thing, you should totally add Matt on Snapchat! His name is mrmattway and his stories are pretty hilarious!

Have a great week everyone- especially those onto their last weeks before the summer hols! x

Moroccan/Western fusion style candles

A little while ago a friend gave me some gorgeous material she had received as a gift but had no use for. When she offered it to me, I obviously had to say yes! It is supposed to be a blouse- but I wanted to find an everyday use for it.

When we were planning our wedding there was a huge part of me that wanted to have a Moroccan/western fusion and I am still drawn to all things vibrant, tonally warm and shiny.

I would love to do some kind of styled shoot with this, or find someone who would like to use this idea for their wedding.

I unpicked each strip of material, and attached it to the candle by pushing short sewing pins through the material and into the candle. I really love the overall look- it makes me want to buy loads of candles to wrap and put on every surface in our flat!

Happy Thursday friends! x

Mountains and Maternity

Firstly, I want to apologise that all these photos were taken on my phone, but I felt they are better than nothing!

This weekend has been such a busy one! As you may remember, a group of us from London decided to do the Three peaks challenge to raise money for youth charity XLP. We left early on Thursday morning to drive to Liverpool where we were to meet the rest of our team and the kind people who had volunteered to drive us between the mountains.

The three peaks challenge consists of climbing the three highest mountains in the UK, in under 24 hours. I guess it could be described as a mixture of pain and delirium. Things really did not go to plan. There were roads closed, there was traffic, there was a lack of training and even an injured ankle. It was pretty hectic- but it was BRILLIANT. We were constantly struck by the beauty of this country we live in. I loved getting onto the mountains.

Sadly, all the delays meant we didn’t have a chance of making it in 24 hours. However, had we gone to the last mountain on time we would have been walking in high winds, torrential rain and thick fog. I think maybe we were fortunate to be late.

The only downside was that this meant I couldn’t complete the last mountain as I needed to get back to London for a workshop I was running. I was a little gutted at first, but once I arrived at the workshop I was more than happy to sacrifice that last mountain. The workshop was part of a mum’s to be event hosted by Bump & Blush. It was great to meet everyone- all these Londoners from different walks of life. Most people there had been specifically searching online for events which are aimed at building community and friendships between expecting mothers. These ladies really highlighted to me just how valuable friends are. Having a support network during such a beautiful but challenging time is essential. It was great to see people getting on and talking about the joys and the challenges of pregnancy. I’m a big fan of the craft we were doing- painting and stencilling baby grows. I love how you provide a group of people with the exact same resources yet everyone produces something thats ’them’. Here are a few pictures of what people made.

The event had delicious food and (non alcoholic) drinks provided by Mama tea,  Porgies and Mangajo. There was a body oil making workshop by Kadria skincare. The ladies could have some maternity photos taken by Veronica and lastly they provided hand massages and manicures using pregnancy safe nail varnish by ‘Knocked up nails'. That is one hilarious name!

I can't wait for the next event!