Organising my Hama beads

I haven't posted any Hama bead crafts for a while have I? That's not because I haven't wanted to craft with my Hama beads, but because I was getting a bit overwhelmed. My love for Hama beads hasn't gone unnoticed among friends and family, and as their children outgrew the beads I became the happy recipient of many large boxes of unsorted beads! In addition to my own supplies, I found that I had a cupboard full, and I couldn't even think about where to start.

Over the summer my niece visited for the day and she enjoyed using some beads which I pulled out for her. So I decided to start by sorting out a box of basic colours for her along with some boards so that she could do some Hama bead crafting at home. I had five massive boxes of unsorted beads, and so this prompted me to finally get down to it and work on sorting out the beads into their individual colours. 

This was a huge job, and it took me several weeks. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of what I began with! I tipped out handfuls onto a large tray and patiently picked through the beads, sorting them out into a variety of plastic cups, beakers and empty food packaging. Anyone around at the time was encouraged to help me out!

I didn't really find any easy way to sort the beads apart from trying to do it during daylight to more easily see subtle colour variations, and making sure I had enough containers for all the different colours. It was actually very relaxing!

I already had some of my Hama beads sorted into plastic storage boxes but the colour selections were haphazard and most sections were too small to fit all the beads I wanted. I also had way more colours than sections. So I emptied out the different boxes and also purchased a new box for the extras. It wasn't enough to hold all my beads but I didn't want to spend too much money so I used sturdy sandwich bags for the more popular colours and tiny plastic bags when I only had a few beads of a particular colour.

It's really satisfying now to see all my beads clearly laid out. I know what colours I have and how many of each colour, so I can plan my craft projects. In particular I have plenty of transparent beads, neon beads, skin tones and red and white beads, so expect to see those cropping up in future blog posts!

Having such a big sort out has really re-ignited by love for this craft, and I'm really looking forward to crafting with Hama beads again!

And if you want to see my Hama bead storage goals have a look at this - Ultimate Hama bead storage - I'd love to splash out on some of these tiny boxes for my Hama beads, I'd just need so many of them!

Our summer holiday 2023

This is a collaborative post

And just like that, September has come around again and the children are back at school!

Weather wise it doesn't feel like September at all, in fact it feels more like the end of the summer term!  The weather this summer was a little disappointing wasn't it, just last week I was out in Brighton wearing a cardigan underneath my thick winter coat. I'm really glad that we are currently enjoying a few warmer days before winter kicks in!

We were lucky enough to get away this summer and enjoyed a fantastic Northern Europe cruise aboard the Disney Dream. The cruise started in Copenhagen and we spent a few days there before sailing back to Southampton via stops in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands and Belgium. We visited Copenhagen for the day on a cruise a few years ago and loved it, so we decided to spend a few (unfortunately rather wet!) days there before the cruise began. 

It was a great itinerary with a really good mixture of smaller towns and larger cities, and we really enjoyed exploring places which were new to us and re-visiting places that we've not been to for years. The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam was a highlight, as was the evening spent sailing back through the North Sea Canal and waving at all the people who had come out to watch us go past. In Fredericia in Denmark we were greeted by the townspeople firing cannons, and several places put on a marching band as we departed. Stockholm in particular was a lovely city and definitely somewhere that I'd like to return for a little longer. And of course a Disney cruise was as magical as always!

At the beginning of the holidays I went to see Blur at Wembley and Pulp in Sheffield on two consecutive weekends which was amazing. They were my two favourite bands as a teenager and I never thought I'd see either one live again. Blur at Wembley was a huge concert, such a brilliant atmosphere. The Pulp venue was much smaller meaning that we had an excellent view of the stage which was great because the staging of the show was perfect, each song had different lighting and projections. I even rocked the vintage Blur and Pulp t-shirts that I still own!

Apart from that the rest of the holidays were fairly quiet. I took Mia out shopping to Hobbycraft a few times, combined with a trip to the café next door for hot chocolate and cake. We had a trip to Monkey World to visit our adopted Kim, and a few playdates. Harry spent a lot of time playing a new computer game that he is obsessed with, it's called Kerbal Space Progam and is the perfect fit for his maths/physics/rockets interests!

A summer highlight was Harry receiving his GCSE result - he achieved a fantastic grade 9 in Computer Science which he took two years early as he has a natural aptitude for and interest in programming. He was mainly self-taught, although he did have some extra help from his computing tutor. We are so proud, I can't believe he's already got a top grade GCSE under his belt at age 14!

Now we are slowly getting back into the school routine. At the time the holiday seemed long but looking back it flew by. It seems like a long slog ahead now until the Christmas break!

Different ways that you can document a holiday or vacation

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I'm fortunate enough to have enjoyed some amazing travel experiences around the world, and I love reliving my holiday memories whether that's looking through photographs or re-reading my old travel journals. Documenting your travel memories is a great way to preserve them, whether for your own personal reminiscences or to share with others, and so I've put together a list of different methods. 

A written travel journal (with ephemera)

This is my personal favourite! A travel journal can either be written as you go along or on your return. I used to keep notes in a temporary notebook and copy them up later, but recently I've been writing straight into my current journal. A lot depends on the type of holiday - if you will be rushing about from place to place then you might just want to take quick notes, if you will have time to sit and write while you are travelling or in the hotel during the evening then you can take more time over it.

I always preferred to write on my return because I didn't want to run the risk of losing it or of anyone else reading it. I also didn't want to be distracted from enjoying the holiday or feeling too much pressure to keep up with writing it. But these days our holidays tend to involve a little more chill out time, and I don't have as much free time at home to catch up with it all!

You can either have a journal just for writing, or go with more of a collage style. I personally love collecting bits and pieces to stick into my journals - leaflets, tickets, maps, food packaging, business cards, coins or paper currency, stamps, stickers, themed washi tape and so on. I like to include practical details in case I want to refer back to them - the addresses of where we stayed, attractions that we visited and prices, what and where we ate, important dates.

If you are writing while you are away you might want to include sensory details - sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures. You can also write lists either as you go along or at the end - favourite places, best meals, top beaches, most memorable moments, favourite souvenirs. Also think about whether you are writing a personal journal or one that you want to share with others, because your writing style will likely change depending on your audience.

An illustrated travel journal

An illustrated journal is more like a sketchbook, containing drawings, paintings and perhaps also travel ephemera. It could be scrapbook style with photographs (either polaroids, using a mini photo printer, or added in on your return). Drawings can either be done in situ or else working from photographs when you get back. 

For my next travel journal I'm intending to add some quick sketches and watercolours. We don't often have time to sit still long enough to work on a picture so I'll probably use photographs, hopefully finding some time in the evenings!

A printed photobook using your travel photos

If you enjoy taking photographs, a great way to make sure that you don't forget all about them is to have them printed into a photobook. There are lots of different companies that offer this, and you can usually arrange the photographs how you like, along with captions and larger sections of text. 

It would be nice to include candid photos rather than just staged shots of the main sights. You could also include pictures of your accommodation, meals, photographs taken while travelling for example in the plane. Just make sure to live in the moment and not worry too much about getting the perfect shot!

Photo credit Arun Prakash via Unsplash

An online journal or blog

If you want to share your experiences with others then a blog is a great way to do this. You could set it to private for friends and family, or open it up and share it with the world. There are plenty of free blogging platforms, for example Blogger which is what I use, and it's easy to add texts, photos and links to the different places that you've visited.

It's easy to update anywhere as long as you have an internet connection, so you can write it on the go and add in your photos.

A shadow box display

When you get home, a shadow box display is a great way to display bulkier items like small souvenirs, maps, leaflets and tickets. You can buy a readymade frame or look for an online tutorial like this one - Ticket stub memory box tutorial - it's really easy to do.

Vacation memory jar

Either for physical items like seashells, pebbles, coins and so on, or write down memories on slips of paper then take them out to re-read, maybe on New Year's Eve. 

Wall displays and frames

You can display postcards that you've brought back in a hanging pocket postcard pockets (affiliate link) or a hanging postcard display (affiliate link). Or simply collage them into a frame or stick directly to the wall - my student bedrooms always had colourful postcards stuck all over the walls with BluTak! You could choose to display printed photographs or a mixture of photos, postcards, ticket stubs and other ephemera.

Photo credit Mick Haupt via Unsplash

Personalised travel maps

There are lots of different ways of sharing your travels using a map. For example, I've shared my cross stitch map (affiliate link) before, very much a work in progress but then so are my travel adventures!

You can also find other examples, like scratch off maps (affiliate link) or a travel destination bucket list scratch off poster (affiliate link). Alternatively you could just buy a large map and some pins to stick into the places that you have visited!

I hope that this post has given you lots of inspiration for recording those travel memories. My final tip would be to make sure that you actually go back and read through those travel journals and look through those photographs! I'm guilty of keeping all my journals stuffed in a cupboard, even though I wrote them with the intention of revisiting them. It's my intention to set aside some time with a cuppa and a biscuit and enjoy reading back through them.

Some little extras that I always pack for a cruise

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I like to think of myself as a bit of a seasoned cruiser, and as I start to put things together for our next cruise I thought I'd write a little list of the things that I always make sure to pack!

These are things that aren't expensive, don't take up too much space, and that a first time cruiser might not necessarily think of!

Magnetic hooks - these are brilliant. I have a set of four magnetic hooks (affiliate link) and they are brilliant, tiny to pack and surprisingly strong. We place them near the door and use them to hang lanyards, baseball caps, bum bags, swimming goggles - all sorts of things that you don't want lying around and getting lost!

However it's best not to pack over the door hooks or over the door hanging pockets. These may be confiscated by the cruise line as they can damage the doors. There is usually plenty of storage in the room for smaller items.

Travel adaptor plugs - I've seen cruise ship staterooms with both US and European sockets. If you can bring a couple of each then you'll have more charging options.

Photo credit Call Me Fred via Unsplash

A lanyard - this is a personal preference thing, cruisers use it to keep their room card accessible, which can also be used for onboard purchases like drinks. I don't tend to wear one, but the children like to. Some cruise lines will provide them, especially as you move up through the tiers, but they will be expensive to buy on board if you suddenly decide that you want one!

Velcro cable ties - on a couple of our Disney cruises we came back to our room to find that the stateroom attendant had organised all our messy loose cables with little velcro cable ties! We left the ties behind but I bought some reusable velcro cable ties (affiliate link) as soon as we got home. It's a really good way to save space on the small desk area when you all have several devices that need charging at once. 

A spare, non valuable, credit card sized card - some cruise ships have a slot by the door for a card in order for the lights and air conditioning to work, and it's easy to forget that you've left a card in there when you leave. I have a couple of credit card sized cards which have a magnet stuck to the back so when we leave the room we can stick it to the wall ready for our return.

A small magnetic whiteboard and pen - this is especially useful if you are travelling with others. You can stick it on your stateroom door and then people can leave you a message - helpful if you don't have the onboard Wi-Fi or data roaming while you are travelling. An A4 magnetic whiteboard is a good size. You might find that people leave you little messages saying things like 'happy cruising!'

A small bag to hold a phone and room card - most of my clothes don't have pockets, and I do like to take my phone around with me for photos and the cruise line app. I bought myself a small bag which I can use for a few essentials, and it's worth spending a little more for a smarter bag that you can use with more formal clothing in the evening.

Small hand gel - we've found that since covid restrictions eased not all cruise ships have hand gel around the ship outside of the food areas, so it's nice to have a little bottle to take around with you.

Photo credit Engin Akyurt via Unsplash

Waterproof phone cases - we discovered these on a recent holiday and they were brilliant! Even if you aren't going on a beach cruise you may want to use the pools, and having a waterproof case means that you can take photos and not worry about getting your phone splashed while you sit nearby. I bought these waterproof phone pouches (affiliate link) and was very pleased with them (test them at home first by placing some kitchen roll inside and leaving submerged for a few hours!) They are also a good idea for any other electronics that you may want to use near water, like a Kindle or tablet.

Laundry supplies (if your ship has self-service laundry facilities) - I usually take a couple of my own laundry pods. They will be available to purchase but my family can sometimes have sensitive skin so we stick to what we usually use.

I also like to take a small mesh bag which I use for socks. This way there's less chance of losing one, especially if you are late back to the machine and someone empties your things out. A larger laundry bag is also useful for all the dirty washing that you'll be taking home. Something like this set of mesh laundry bags (affiliate link) would work well.

A tip - if you are doing laundry on a cruise ship avoid the first day, the last day, and sea days. Try for early in the morning or later on during dinner. Disney cruise ships have an app which will let you know when your washing is finished and also lets you know which machines are free.

A refillable water bottle - there are usually plenty of free self-service drinks options on board, but it can be awkward to carry cups of water back to the room and I find a water bottle more convenient to keep on my bedside table for drinking at night, especially when space is limited. Just note that you may not be allowed to fill them directly from a dispenser, instead I fill a cup and pour it into the bottle. It's also useful for when you leave the ship.

Photo credit Bluewater Sweden via Unsplash

Towel clips - if you are planning to sit out on deck then towel clips can be very helpful to keep your towel safe in the breeze while you go in the pool or to get some food. They are also a good idea if you want to dry swimsuits or towels on your balcony - you can clip them safely to the furniture! Towel clips (affiliate link) are larger than normal clothes pegs so they will fit easily around a sun lounger or chair. 

Sandwich bags - we are a family of fussy eaters and it can sometimes be difficult to find food when we are out and about. I always take some pre-packed snacks that we can take with us on shore excursions, but sometimes we take a few bread rolls or cookies from the buffet just to have handy and sandwich bags are great for keeping them fresh.

Photocopies of our passports - you must always check whether you need to take your original passports off the ship with you, as it varies between ports and many places will require it. But if you are leaving your passport on board the ship it's a good idea to at least take a copy with you. I'm old school so I have a paper copy, but these days a photo on your phone is probably just as good!

I hope that these packing tips were helpful if you are preparing for a cruise, do let me know about any essentials that I may have missed!

How my recent shopping habits have been influenced by my teen years

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Recently I was looking through my niece's birthday wish list to choose a gift. She will be 13, and I was struck by how all of the things on her list were things that I also liked very much, and in some cases already owned myself! It made me realise how many of my recent purchases have been inspired by things that I liked when I was a teenager!

Stationery

A while back I treated myself to a new pencil case to store my bullet journal supplies, and I chose this large capacity pencil case (affiliate link). Then Mia told me that almost everyone in her class had the same pencil case, and there it was again on the wish list. I've always liked a nice pencil case, and of course all the stationery that goes inside, and there is so much more choice available now!

Stickers

Another item on the list was a pack of boho themed stickers. I've always collected stickers, and back when I was in Year 8 sticker collecting was a big obsession. I still have my old sticker album and I love looking back through it and remembering where my favourite stickers came from!

About a year ago I discovered all the amazing sticker packs that you can now buy on Amazon. The first pack that I bought was a set of 100 Boho Stickers (affiliate link) and there are so many similar packs available. I've used these stickers to decorate my water bottle, notebooks and also to stick in my journal. I also own another pack of smaller stickers with space, nature, travel and ocean themes which I use for my bullet journal.

Toiletries

When I was a young teenager I used to love visiting Boots for my toiletries. I'm sure that I'm not imagining it, Boots used to have a pick and mix style counter where you could fill a bag with little shaped bath pearls and tiny soaps. I had a ceramic pot in the bathroom filled with them. I hadn't seen them in shops for ages but last Christmas I discovered that they were still available so they went on my wish list and I'm now the proud owner of a pack, they are like these retro bath pearls (affiliate link) which come in all the different ocean themed shapes.

Writing

I recently went back to writing in my journal with a fountain pen, or a cartridge pen as I used to call it, which we had to use for writing at secondary school. I bought the Helix Oxford Fountain Pen (affiliate link) which is a little fancier than the ones that I used to use, although the cartridges are the same. I love writing with it, sometimes it gets a bit smudgy but I have to write more slowly and carefully so my thoughts feel more important. When I was at school most of my homework time seemed to be spent copying out my draft essays into a final version, thank goodness for computers and easy editing these days!

Shoes

My favourite outfit as an older teenager was a black skirt, black tights, a band t-shirt and my Doc Martens. I loved my Doc Martens, they were expensive but I wore them for years until they fell apart. Last year I was treated to a new pair as an anniversary present and I love them again, I can't wear them for long periods yet as they are still quite stiff and I don't want them to get too creased so I save them for special occasions when I don't need to walk too far!

I'm obviously using nostalgia shopping to try and recreate some of those happy childhood times!

Why I've mostly stopped using Instagram

I joined Instagram a long time ago, way back in 2012 and at that time it was very quiet. I followed other bloggers, they followed me back, and I posted pictures of things that reflected my blog. They weren't people that I knew personally so I didn't post many photographs of the family or identifiable locations, instead I shared craft projects, nice cakes, pretty views and so on. 

Now that more and more people have joined Instagram I have quite a few people that I know in real life following me, especially since it became more integrated with Facebook. This makes me feel a bit more self-conscious about what I'm posting, and although I follow back people that I know I don't actively seek them out. 

A few years ago I had a big cull and unfollowed a lot of accounts which worked really well and I had a beautifully curated feed. But lately I find the photographs less inspiring, it's more about the selfies and making life look perfect rather than the pretty little snippets of everyday life that I like to see. I also lament the loss of the original square photo format, and sometimes every other post seems to be an advert. 

Photo credit Souvik Banerjee via Unsplash

When the reels came along that was the beginning of the end for me. 

I really hate reels, along with other short form video content like YouTube shorts and TikTok. I like to scroll in silence so sudden loud music alarms me, and they are also very addictive - once the algorithm has got your measure it doesn't let you go. It's not a posting format that comes naturally to me, and I just can't compete with the creativity on offer. I also discovered that mindlessly watching one video led to a whole feed of similar videos, in my case it was gender reveals which I just couldn't get rid of!

I still pop into Instagram from time to time but I'm not sure I'll ever be a regular user again, it has just changed too much from what I want it to be!

Things that I have stuck into my journal

 Things that I have already glued in my journal:

Stickers, seaweed, photographs that I've printed of things that interest me, packaging from food and snacks, notes from the children, wristbands, printed quotes from books, washi tape, business cards, scraps of fabric, notes found in second hand books, printed information from things I've researched, photographs from leaflets, confetti, gift tags, sand, drink mats, teabag tags, seed packets, leaves, maps, wrappers from watercolour paint blocks, dried flowers, set lists from concerts...

Things that I have yet to stick in my journal:

Postcards, wrapping paper, greetings cards, photographs, dried earth, seeds, stamps, tissue paper, patterned paper, ribbon, jokes from Christmas crackers, tickets, recipes, envelopes...

Tips for keeping a journal flat when it is filled with ephemera:

If you are planning to stick lots of things into a journal then you might want to consider a spiral bound sketchbook. The pages will be thicker so they can hold heavier items, and as well as giving you a bit more room because of the spiral binding it will also be easier to remove pages.

Removing pages will mean that the journal will lie flatter and be easier to write in as it fills up. You can also try to stick bulkier objects to different areas of the pages to spread them out at bit and use photographs or scans instead of originals.

Or you can just embrace the look of a splayed out journal, overflowing with all sorts of interesting things!

Ways to attach items inside a journal:

PVA glue (be careful as this can make the page wrinkly and takes longer to dry), a glue stick (keeps the page flat, dries quickly, not so good for heavier objects like dried flowers or leaves), paperclips, staples, sellotape, washi tape (not as sticky as sellotape and can peel off easily), BluTack (will lose it's stickiness over time and is quite bulky), glue dots, double sided tape, sewing, storing items inside envelopes (good for more delicate items that you don't want to cover in glue).

Remember that many of these adhesive methods (and for that matter most of the things that you are sticking inside) are not archival and will not last forever. It all depends how long you want the journal to survive - just for your lifetime or for many generations to come! If you are very concerned about the longevity of your journal then it's worth doing some research on what supplies to use and ways to preserve it. There are some good tips here - Best supplies for archival journal making.

Personally I'm making my journals for myself so I'm not too worried, and as long as I can look back through them in a few years time then I'm happy!

If you want to read more about my journal then you might like this post - How starting an illustrated journal helped me to notice things