Relaxing summer activities

July 14, 2018November 1, 2018

Ah Summer. It’s a time for lazy days, sunny weather (hopefully), barbeques with friends, evenings outside, and reading books in your favourite spot. No one wants to do anything that takes too much effort, we like relaxing summer activities. So how do you know your precious summer is going to be relaxing and refreshing? Well, I’ve curated a list of fun things for restful and reviving summer days. Things you can listen to, read and make. I promise if you are feeling the need for slow summer days that take no effort but still refresh your soul, then these are little effort guaranteed. Enjoy!

Some links are affiliate links which doesn’t mean they are dodgy, it means if you happen to click and buy I get a small commission at no cost to you and it would help me create more content for you.

Listen

Podcasts

Summer can be full of long car journeys or lazy days on the beach, when you want something to fill your mind and soul with all the good stuff. This year I have discovered a new love for the podcast. Picture sitting on the porch, beach, or being in the garden, earbuds in whilst catching much-needed vitamin d, this is one of my favourite relaxing summer activities. These are my podcast recommendations for soul refreshing.

The Next Right Thing by Emily P Freeman

She calls it the podcast for anyone struggling with decision fatigue, second-guessers, the chronically hesitant or just those who are a little overwhelmed. It’s a place for those who need white space, a few minutes away from the stream of information or sometimes delightful hum of entertainment. The episodes are only 15 minutes long, but each one is a little gift, even if you don’t think you have any decisions to make right now.

“If you’re in a season of transition, waiting, general fogginess or if you’ve ever searched “how to make a decision” on the internet, listen in as best-selling author and host Emily P. Freeman helps create a little space for your soul to breathe so you can discern your next right thing in love.”

This summer I’d suggest starting with Episode 40: Keep your rest.

KXC

KXC is a church in Kings Cross London, the podcast is their Sunday sermons. I’ve loved the series on emotional health which starts with ‘Becoming Your Authentic Self” 17th June 2018 and is still ongoing. Another favourite was one titled Kingdom and Culture by Mark Sayers.

On being with Krista Tippett

I’m not a regular listener to this podcast but I loved this episode. Krista’s voice is very soothing and I tend to fall asleep too easily when listening to podcasts, but this episode with John O’Donohue is worth staying awake for!

John O’Donohue – The Inner Landscape of beauty

“Beauty isn’t all about just nice loveliness, beauty is about more rounded substantial becoming, so I think beauty in that sense is about an emerging fullness, a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth, and also a kind of homecoming for the enriched memory of your unfolding life.” John O’Donohue was a priest and a poet and here he talks with Krista Tippett on the inner landscape of beauty, It’s just a beautiful, enlarging conversation with depth.

Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

I also loved this conversation between Father Richard Rohr and Oprah called ‘Finding Your True Self’ on the Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations podcast.

Music

iola bloom playlist

iola’s new issue is coming in September! Whoop! This coming issue has the theme of bloom and so we’ve created a themed playlist that goes with the theme of the articles. Have a listen before the magazine is available here. If you don’t have Spotify, here is a list of the songs to use in your favourite music player or app.

and the previous playlist is still worth listening to:

Read

Magazine

Having listened to the iola playlists, you’ll want to read the first issue of iola magazine – it’s still available both as a print copy or digital. It’s been described as a breath of fresh air, it will inspire you with stories of hope and courage from women just like you, it has beautiful photography which is a feast for the eyes, simple creative prompts, and poetry. It’s the magazine I wished I had ten years ago on the beach – and there is no article telling how to get a beach body, I promise. Buy your copy here.

Books

I have a pile of books on my bedside table that I’m looking forward to getting into over August, but here are some previous favourites that will refresh you.

I read Soul Keeping a couple of summers ago and loved it, but I may pick it up again this summer.

This is a beautiful and short read, The Way of the Heart, which is exactly what you need in summer.

I will be reading this summer:

Surprised by Oxford, I’ve started this but it’s one to read in lengthier chunks so I will be setting aside some afternoons to finish this one. I’m familiar with Oxford so it’s always interesting to see another person’s experience and story based in a familiar place.

I love a good John Grisham! This one is waiting for me, I’d love to know what your favourite author or type of novel is. For me it’s often a crime novel, I love a story where the mystery is solved, there is always a sense of intrigue and I have an internal love for justice being delivered.

I just ordered Rhythms of Rest by Shelly Miller which I’m looking forward to, I like the sound of this: “Ultimately, this book is an invitation to those who long for rest but don’t know how to make it a reality. Sabbath is a gift from God to be embraced, not a spiritual hoop to jump through.”

and finally…
I pre-ordered Cozy Minimalist Home this week, it’s not out till November but I know it will be good and I loved The Nesting Place by Myquillyn Smith.

Make

I promise I’m not going to get complicated here, you know I’m all about preaching that creativity doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are my simple ideas for relaxing summer creative activities.

Scrapbooks

When I was little my mum used to encourage my brother and me to make holiday scrapbooks. I think it was probably the teacher in her that wanted us to do something that resembled homework! We’d always be looking for things to put in our scrapbooks. We’d stick in postcards and food wrappers and write a diary of our days. Very educational. I think my favourite part would be looking for foreign food wrappers that I’d want to stick in the book, especially if we were in France. Usually the cheese ones. I never found any of those funny or rude ones where the foreign word means something different in English though. You know, the crisps labelled ‘poo’ or something. I digress. That was the beginning of my design and magazine obsession clearly. These days it seems a little quaint, but I think encouraging the kids to write and keep memories or just to keep a book that shows their creative endeavors and progress is never a bad thing. Maybe you could even start writing a line a day through the summer. It’s the perfect slow summer activity that will keep the kids busy at least until that ice cream truck comes around AGAIN. (funny story – when our kids were little we told the kids that the ice cream van’s tune that played out in the street was the angels. Mainly because we didn’t want to be nagged for ice creams every evening and we thought it was cute. I know, bad parents. It didn’t last long though, they soon figured out that their parents had lied to them – so maybe don’t do that!)

Maybe you could even start writing a line a day through the summer.

This Wellbeing journal looks great and it’s been developed in partnership with Mind, the mental health charity, each page of this journal has been thoughtfully crafted and it includes activities, colouring, drawing prompts, contemplative quotes and lots of space for you to write about your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

Print photos

Print your photos! We hardly ever do now, do you? Photos sit on the phone or on facebook so that every so often facebook creates a video with you and that friend you made in primary school with some random photo selection! Have you ever had that? Well in summer I try to make a point of printing some family shots. Some of my favourite memories of the fun outdoors stuff we get to do. My top tip though is to print the magnets not the prints, because – it’s Summer, and who has time to frame prints? Print magnets for your fridge instead. Job’s a good un.

If you use the Lalalab app on your phone you can order your magnets straight from your phone – it’s so easy and there is a £10 offer code here for you. (only available until 21st July) Use code PG2559O0 for £10 off your first purchase.

Whatever you are up to this Summer I hope you have some fun, and some time for rest that is refreshing.

How to create a stop motion for Instagram

May 24, 2018August 21, 2018

Have you seen a stop motion on Instagram or elsewhere and thought you would like to have a go? Or wondered how they are made? I have made a few lately. Whilst I am still learning I thought I would share all I know so far.

If you are new to the world of stop motions then effectively they are a mini movie made up of still photos. The ‘movement’ of the items in the movie is made manually by yourself in increments and a photo is taken at each stage. They work much like a flip book you may have had as a child. A stop motion is a great way to make items move that wouldn’t normally move and visually represent something in a way that will delight or surprise others.

To make the stop motions below I used my iphone 6, a small grip tripod on a larger camera tripod, and a bluetooth remote. I had a white back drop which is a piece of shelving placed on a table. Props such as flowers, pencils, pencil case, notebook.

The apps I used were Photoshop (not essential) and iMovie on my Mac laptop. There are apps on your phone which you can use but I haven’t used any yet.

I have written this guide to share how to make the simplest and shortest stop motions. The one’s I have made are no longer than 14 seconds.

How to make a stop motion

Concept first

Before starting it is a good idea to come up with a creative idea and maybe storyboard or plan what you are going to make. For the three below I wanted to convey the idea of creating beauty with words so I thought about how to visually represent that. Hence, pencils for the action of writing words and flowers for the beauty created.

Then I needed to think what I wanted them to do. For one stop motion I thought that I would like the pencils to dance a bit and then shoot out the flowers and the flowers to dance. In another I wanted the pen to write something so it made a number with petals. Then in another stop motion I wanted the flowers to appear in a notebook as if from a pencil and then for them to dance.

Here are some stop motions I have made:

Weekends are for playing. This one is for the writers who create beauty. . . #hopewriters #bloomandgrowtogether #dayofsmallthings #awakethelight #tinytinymoments #simplepleasures #abmlifeisbeautiful #beautyinthemundane #flowersofig #lovelysquares #dayslikethese #graceupongrace #stopmotion #WHPoddlysatisfying

A post shared by Abi Partridge (@abipartridge) on Apr 28, 2018 at 1:36pm PDT

There’s so much information out there on writing and publishing it’s hard to know where to start and who to trust. . There is a process and it doesn’t have to feel like a mystery. . From a blog post to an article, to a book, publishing is about sharing your work. . You are already on the writing path! . The hope*writers have created a short fun quiz to discover where you are in the writing path and how to move forward. . Access the quiz via link in my profile. You’ll discover your stage in writing process and tips to get you to the next stage! . 🎼bensound.com

A post shared by Abi Partridge (@abipartridge) on May 15, 2018 at 4:07am PDT

This is your one week left to submit warning! See iolamagazine.com/submit for more details on having your writing published in iola magazine this September. . 🎼bensound.com

A post shared by iola (@iolamagazine) on May 8, 2018 at 3:10am PDT

Set up

It is really important that you set up your camera on a tripod so that all your photos are of the same area. I used a camera tripod and as I was using my phone and don’t have an adapter for the larger tripod, I used the mini grip phone tripod to grip around the tripod. You will need to face the camera/phone as face down as you can get it. Here’s my set up in front of a window but not on a bright sunny day – despite the paddling pool in the background!

Photos

Then I took a series of photos moving items a small amount each time. I use a Bluetooth camera remote so I don’t have to touch the phone and risk jogging it. It also makes the process quicker. You can use apple headphones as a shutter release. For example here is a series of the first few shots of the ‘How’ movie. There were 42 stills in the movie in total. (If you are looking for a letter board like mine, here is a link.)

I edited the photos in Photoshop by brightening them (recording the action and batch processing so that it is consistent across the whole movie) but if you have good enough photos, that are lit well then you may not need to do this.

Making the stop motion in iMovie

Here is a mini movie of making the movie!

Make a new movie with no theme, add media – your photos to project media. (my photos are all square because I want a square movie for instagram)

Select all and drag to your movie time line window.

Make sure all the stills are selected and go to the crop button and select fit.

Make sure all the stills are selected and you want to change the duration to something between 0.2 -0.6 seconds.

Press play and watch your movie!

You may notice the flow isn’t quite right (or like I did, a rogue hand is in one of my stills), so you can go back and delete or add more stills or add stills again to repeat a section. You can also add music if you want to, but this is just a basic guide.

Share on Instagram

To share the movie on Instagram, I put the finished movie file into my Dropbox which I can then access on my phone to share on instagram.

This post contains affiliate links.

Six ways creativity is good for your health

May 15, 2018May 15, 2018

I was curious, why did I feel better when I had made time to be creative? When I sat down to actually put pen to paper and write whatever came to mind. When I was creating graphics on the screen, when I was composing a pretty photo. It wasn’t just me who had noticed either. I ran craft workshops in the evenings for a couple of years and people frequently said things like, “I love this – it’s so calming”, “I wouldn’t be creative if you hadn’t made a space” “This should be prescribed by my doctor”

I know that making time to be creative can be a large struggle. We don’t make time for it and sometimes we are even unsure where to begin. It feels like an indulgence or being selfish to take the time. In our pressured, productive world it can feel like a waste of time.

And yet we know and suspect that there is more to creativity than that. When we have spent time being intentionally creative we know that we feel good afterwards. I suspected that it was because that was how we are made. I have the sense that being made in the image of God, we are most like his children when we play and when we create.

Practising regular creativity is a form of self-care that can be a strategy for staying mentally well. It’s not just my opinion, I found some articles that mention the specific ways that creative activities, such as painting, gardening, and creative writing, have long been known to boost happiness and wellbeing.

So how exactly is creativity good for our health? Here are six specific ways:

6 ways creativity is good for your health.

1. Single tasking increases your mental focus

When focused on making something your mind is engaged in that one activity for a prolonged length of time. With the constantly contactable, and connected online world that we scroll through on our screens, our minds suffer from not being able to concentrate on one thing at a time. Rather than making us able to multi-task well it serves to help us do many things badly. Studies have shown that it is better to focus on one thing at a time, it slows the heart beat and eases anxiety.

2. Working with your hands allows your mind to solve problems

Single-tasking also has the benefit of allowing your mind to wander and think on problems that your mind may need to sort through. I’ve known the soothing power of rhythmic stitching or crocheting and being able to do something with your hands can help your mind day-dream or think about things that we may not have made space to do.

3. Can help to decrease illness

Writing, painting and drawing and other creative outlets can give a voice to emotions that we are going through. This helps us to process emotions healthily. Writing about life goals or trauma have both been found to help to decrease illness.

4. Classes or groups may increase the sense of belonging and community

Taking a class to learn new creative skills or joining a group to get creative together, can establish new friendships and the more someone feels part of a group or community, wellbeing increases.

5. Reigniting former passions – increased wellbeing

Rediscovering former creative pursuits that may have lapsed can increase a sense of wellbeing. Taking the time to do something you previously enjoyed can be beneficial and creates a sense of pleasure and fun. Finding the things you are passionate about can give purpose, interest, and meaning to your days.

6. Creative play rewards the brain

Creative play gives a sense of freedom that children enjoy – being creative with no fear of judgement, no comparison, no striving for results all give creativity an essence of fun and freedom that in today’s pressurised world we rarely feel.

Research has shown that free-drawing, doodling, and colouring trigger the brain’s reward centre by increasing blood flow in the prefrontal cortex. Pleasure is gained from being creative – independent from the creative results.