Here's to 2014!!

Well Happy New Year Ladies!

Sorry I haven't managed to check in this year yet, been ever so slightly busy! But here I am, and here's to a great 2014, hopefully this will be the year of some major changes in my life, some great changes! So instead of a New Years Resolution Post which most of us bloggers do at this time of year (and no doubt most of us fail within the first month! Lol) I am going to make this post about the changes and progressions I shall hope to make this year. A declaration of positive reinforcements that I shall be aiming for shall we say. (Oh that all sounded a bit heavy didn't it!)
Number 1: Lose Weight!  Right I know what you are all thinking - this is the most popular New Years Resolution out there and yes it is, lol! But me and the hubby actually decided to be pro active about it this year, we joined Slimming World on New Years Eve! I am determined to get back down to a size 10-12 (I have an entire wardrobe of clothes that currently do not fit me and it is rubbish!) We have been on it almost a week now and are finding it OK, just waiting to see if I have actually lost anything on Tuesday evening - so I hope to be making Wednesday 'Weightloss Wednesdays' where I will talk about food/healthy eating, fitness, weightloss or anything related to that.

A much slimmer 18 year old version of me and Jon!

Number 2: This will be the year we really get our business off the ground! Cross-Jones Photography is mine and Jon's dream, photography is his passion, he comes alive when he is behind the camera, and I love seeing that. We are in our element when creating beautiful memories for parents, brides and grooms and everyone else we work with, we love it so much. We made a huge jump moving back home with the parents, giving up a salaried job with career prospects to survive on my Part Time job, but we felt we had to do it! We want to make this business our lives, we want to be working for ourselves, controlling our own lives!

Number 3: Get a little closer to owning our own home!  Whether we actually get there this year or not I don't mind, in fact I don't expect us to at the moment, I simply want us to be one step closer. To keep adding slowly to our savings so that we know at some point we will be able to put down a deposit on our own home. That really is the dream, it's simple to most people, but it will be a huge financial struggle for us whilst trying to also start a company and live on just 1 small wage. But we will get there!
Number 4: Develop a better work/life balance! I juggle multiply jobs, a start-up company, freelance work and a blog - and somehow try to have a life too! I realised that the last few months of last year I barely had a life, I did very little with the spare time I had other than watch TV or do more online work! This year I want to try develop a better balance. I'd like to read more books, get out of the house more and find more time to exercise (links to Number 1!) plus keep up with my pen pals! I just want to enjoy my life more!
Number 5: Take more Photographs! I know this sounds odd from someone who runs a photography business, logically I would spend all my time dealing with photos, but in all honesty I don't actually take that many, Jon is always behind the camera lens. But actually I mean more photos of my life and not just for instagram! Me and Jon have very few photos of the 2 of us because we are always the ones behind the camera! And I realised there are lots of events and times in my life that I have no photos of, and I want that to change. I want more photographs, more long term memories. And I will be sorting them all into albums for a change, not just posting them on Facebook or leaving them stored on my computer!

Last Number 6: Build my Freelance Website and Get more Private Clients Ok this one might sound like it would just mean more work, so even less of a decent work/life balance, but in fact the hope is that I will be able to work for myself full time at some point - Writing/Editing/Proofreading and running the photography company. The overall goal is for me and Jon to be able to run our lives in a way that will work for us, and no longer on someone else's time frame. So although it may mean I have to work harder at the start, I really hope it will pay off in the end.
So that is it I think! These are the major changes and advance I want to make this year! What are your 2014 plans?

Review - Holga Lens Case for iPhone 5

The guys from Three Mobile got in touch recently to ask me to test out the Holga Filter Lens for the iPhone 5. As I am a bit of an Instagram and Twitter fanatic I figured it would be a bit of fun, I take lots of pictures with my phone, as most of you know, so why not add a little effect to a few of them.

So this is what it looks like, most of you will have seen one or something similar. You can get it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

It fits my phone nice and snuggly, and I was surprised it was so light. It is a little bulky at the top but wasn't too much of an issue in my pocket or handbag. I have actually left it on for the last 3 weeks without any problems

Even without using any of the effects the plain lens gives you a nice little vignette, which I really liked on my pictures. 

So here are the effects you can produce:

2 lens splitter

3 lens splitter

 4 lens splitter

Had some fun with the heart frame in work, it was a little hit and miss on how clear the heart showed up.

 Blue spot lens, good for putting a focus on something

 Yellow Spot Lens, wasn't really as obvious to see, the colour wasn't really bold enough

 Green filter, does what it says

Red filter, again self explanatory
Now all the lenses above are just a bit of fun and not something I would use all the time. But what I was really impressed by was the Macro lens, as a blogger I often want to take close detailed shots of things, especially my nails for a mani of the week post, and the general phone camera just wont allow you to focus that tight to the nails themselves. This macro lens is simple but very effective, I was able to get so much closer to the nail, really show off the colour and quality of the polish, and the polish label itself as we all know how tiny the writing is on those bottles. This is something I have been finding very useful over the last 3 weeks and think a lot of beauty bloggers and crafters who write tutorials would really find it an advantage. Here is one of the detailed shots I took this week.

Now the photo below is the one they use to advertise the lens and you can see how much closer you can get.
So I may not buy this lens just for the fun factor, whilst it is good I don't think I would use it much or often, it would be a bit of a fad for a few months I think, although I think it might be a fun gift for someone who loves taking images on their phone. But I would genuinely buy it as a macro lens, even if I just put it on when ever I needed a detailed shot of my nails or something else, it has been so helpful for some of my blog post!
Have you tried this lens or something similar? What are your opinions?

*I was sent this lens from Three Mobile to review free of charge, all opinions are truthful and my own

Sorry I've been on holiday

Hello ladies, sorry for the lack of post I have been on a little family holiday!

I'll be back with some great new posts very soon just busy with work since I have returned, but for now here is a little pic of where I have been this last week!

Norfolk!

Cross-Jones Photography - Smash the Cake Photoshoot and Competition

Just a little update from Cross-Jones Photography, as a few of you know we are now running the company full time (you're probably sick of me tweeting and FB'ing photos! lol) so here is just a quick update on one of our recent shoot. Smash the Cake with Rhys on his 1st Birthday - we had such fun shooting this set of picture, if you want to see more check out our Cross-Jones Photography Blog or Crossjonesphotography.com.

And just incase you haven't see our Facebook page recently we are running a little local competition to win a free kids photoshoot with us. If you live in South Wales and have a child under 16 please check us out here and enter your little Mischief Maker!

If your looking for a photographer for any occasion in the UK (we're happy to travel!!) please check us out and get in touch!

Cross-Jones Photography - Nelson Family Reunion Photoshoot

Thought I would give you a little look at the shoot we did last week for the Nelson Family, you can check it out on the Cross-Jones Photography blog or on our facebook page. Please take a peek and let us know what you think.

This is little Imarni we took photos of when she was just 10 days old, she is now 5 months old and has grown so much!

Cross-Jones Photography - Marie Batchelder

Jon and me have been busy shooting photos of the beautiful and talented Marie Batchelder, a local musician. So I just thought I would give you all a sneak peek and if you want to see the rest of the sets you can see them on our Cross-Jones Photography Blog, please go check them out and let us know what you think.

If you are South Wales based and are looking for a photographer for any occasion, from promotional work, live events, newborn, family or wedding photos please check us out and get in contact. crossjonesphoto@gmail.com 

Shopping - Just a little haul

Me and Jon went for a little shop last week to get him some new work clothes. As I haven't bought any clothes since Christmas I thought I would have a bit of a look for something for myself too. I've worked a silly amount the last few weeks so I thought I deserved a little treat, and luckily TKMaxx had some great cheap summer dresses in.

 A simple maroon polka dot skater dress for £16 from a brand called Club L

 And this pretty butterfly print dress by Lili which was in the sale down to £12

I also found some cute little things in Paperchase. My main score was this great ring bound scrap book from £10 down to £4.50! Which is now half full with my postcard collection. I have about 100 cards so far I think, they had all been in a big file but were starting to get to heavy, and I liked them all sorted better so I can see them. So I spent an evening this week sorting them all by month they were sent and putting them in the book with photo corners. I also got the nice little Thank You stamp for when I have my etsy shop up and running. The cupcake stickers are for my other scrapbooking, letter writing and ATC making.

We have also finally started sorted all our photos properly. We have always been big on taking pictures, yet like most people they sit on our computer and only make an appearance on Facebook. But I spurred on to finally sort all those pictures after finding the blog Lil Blue Boo and reading all her post on sorting  photos and compiling albums. We aren't quite as organised as her, but we have taken on a few of her tips and are now putting together pages in our new photo album every month. We will also be back tracking the last few years as well but that will take some time. Once we have a few months done I will show you a few pages on here.

Anyone else done any shopping lately?

Or got any tips on sorting photos and compiling albums? Anyone got any special tricks for displaying their photos?

Travel - Scotland in the Snow

Well as you will have guessed we are back safe from our little trip to Scotland (even with all the snow!) so here are a few customary pictures from our holiday.

I actually drove from Wales to Scotland so this is us crossing the bridge to England!

Seeing snowy capped mountains in Carlisle on the boarder of Scotland.

Beautiful sunset silhouettes from my aunts home.

 Beautiful clear skies and the stars over Auchterarder

Photos of the Fruit Farm Poly-tunnels in the Snow

 We went on a bit of a road trip through the mountains and took these lovely snowy landscape photos

This is the Doocot which was next to where we were starting

 

Jon taking on the burger challenge at The Venue in Crief

 Highland Cows - mandatory thing to see on a trip to Scotland

Edinburgh by day and night 

 Outside Edinburgh Castle - it was very cold!!

Jon having his first ever battered Mars bar - He liked it!

Anyone else visited Scotland? What do you think of it? We love Scotland lots, and will be there again this summer I hope.