Thrifting Finds

So last week I went thrifting/op-shopping/whatever-you-wish-to-call-it and had a wonderful time.

Here are some of my purchases. Hope you enjoy them.

Some pretty curtains for my room!

Some pretty fabric!

 More pretty fabric!

 Even more pretty fabric!

And this gorgeous painting. I just had to get it!

After our shopping we decided that we needed to refuel. So we went to this lovely cafe and had ourselves a small (not so small) treat.

- my sister looking forward to devouring her cake!

Have you had any wonderful finds recently?

XO Samantha

Recent Adventures

This past week has been a rather hectic one for me.
It's my birthday today and I was lucky enough to have a week long celebration.
Here are some of my adventures!

I went shopping with my sister!

We had a lovely time in a cafe which had already put up their Christmas decorations!

my sister Tarryn.

Find out what I bought on Wednesday!

I went out to lunch with some friends!

I bought myself a new camera!

This was a birthday gift for myself, however many of my dearest family chipped in a bit which certainly helped lighten the load. 

Don't worry, there will be much more on this later :)

I had a birthday dinner with my family!

My darling cousin was born on the same day as me and so of course we had to blow out the candles together!!

So those are some of my adventures from the previous week. How was your week? Did you embark on any adventures, big or small?

Today I am driving down to the beach with some of my friends, which is where I will spend my week relaxing and soaking up the sun.

XO Samantha

Fill In The Blank Friday

YAY. It's Friday! Are you as excited as I am?

1. Waking up at the break of dawn to go shopping is my idea of torture. I would rather go late at night or early in the morning so that it's quite and peaceful, but I still need my sleep!!

2. If I were to go shopping today, I would be on the hunt for crafty items, presents for my package exchange partners (yes, I have two and I am so excited about it!!!), a camera bag (I'm finally getting my camera on Sunday. Feel free to rejoice on my behalf!), some shoes, and anything Christmas related.

3. The best thing I ate yesterday was organic dark dark dark mint chocolate. It was simply delicious!

4. Something I've been learning lately is how to knit and crochet. I will upload photos as soon as I make something worthy of showing off.

5. I can not start my day without something to get me going. It can be coffee, a big breakfast, music or beautiful weather. I know I sound insane, but any of these things are essential if I want to be excited for the day to kick off.

6. My nighttime attire consists of whatever I can be bothered wearing. If it's hot - singlet and shorts, if cold - top/jumper and trackies, if I'm tired - whatever I was already wearing.

7. I am looking forward to so many things. In fact, I will list them for you!
    - my trip to Rye this week with some of my friends (bring on the beach)
    - my trip to Sydney next week (I'm so lucky!!) with some other friends.
    - buying my camera on Sunday (I sound loaded, but really, I have saved up for a long time for allll of these things!!)
    - hotter weather
    - Christmas
    - sending of my packages to my partners!
    - and so much more!

What are you looking forward to?

I hope you all have a terrific weekend!!

XO Samantha

Blog Design

Currently, I have been searching the web, reading blogs and sourcing any information I can find when it comes to improving my blog. I am not the best of bloggers, and I would like to make improvements.

I have found many different posts and websites about blogging tips and tutorials and thought that you might like to see them as well as they can be quite helpful!

So here's what I've found so far:

For beginners to blogger - here is a wonderful video tutorial on how to get started with blogger.

For those who are having difficulty with content - here are some helpful tips to get your creative juices flowing.

Here are some tutorials to help you work your way through the many frustrations of running your own blog.

Only A Breath's Top 10 Blog Design Tips can be found here.

DIY Custom Navigation Bar tutorial by Crafted Love can be found here.

A photo tutorial by the lovely Allison from Crafted Love can be found here.

Another fabulous tutorial by Allison from Crafted Love - how to create your own blog button - can be found here.

For those who are looking to design/redesign their blog - here are 5 wonderful tips from Mandy from Miss Indie.

Some useful tip for your blog from Design Love Fest can be found here.

Elsie from A Beautiful Mess has kindly shared her 5 Tips for Bloggers which you can find here. Also don't forgot to check out her Blog Love E-Course!!!!

I hope you find these tutorials helpful and would love to hear of any tips or tutorials you'd like to share!!

XO Samantha

12 By 2012

I absolutely love making myself to-do lists, ones which I often do not end up completing so I was thrilled when I recently came across Danni's (from oh, hello friend) post about her 12 by 2012 project and decided to join in as I could definitely use some motivation to get things done instead of merely enjoying my freedom.

So here is my list of things to have completed by 2012:

1. Redesign MadnessAndI layout.     - done already but I can't tell you about it, it's a 

                                                                          surprise!!!


2. Do some Spring cleaning - appropriate considering it's Spring now!

 3. Abide by 3 by 7 - Rachel's running accountability

  4. Blog consistently - blog more often and make a blogging calendar

  5. Scan all family photos - there are random ones lying around all of our house so it's time to put them all together and keep safe!!

  6. Get a new job!

  7. Update my blog list - I have so many now that it's not possible to go through them all and I end up skipping and not enjoying it - must cut down!!!!

  8. Start a new travel scrapbook

  9. Buy a new camera and improve photography skills - ordered my camera!!!!

  10. Read a minimum of 12 books! - completed the Diary of Anne Frank!

  11. Set up my sowing corner and fix up a couple of items and make some Christmas presents     -  haven't fixed up my corner yet, but I have made some Christmas presents!

  12. Spend more time outside in the beautiful sunshine! - done plenty of this!

I hope you like my list, feel free to join in yourself here. I will keep you up to date each time I check off one of these boxes :)

XO Samantha