cuttlefishLOVES

The weather was so lush yesterday I had to jump in the sea at Seaford and give my Mahina merfin a little outing! As the weather gets nicer it can feel like there is more pressure to look a certain way when you're on the beach. But all bodies are beach bodies if you're on a beach. All bodies are bikini ready, if you feel comfortable in a bikini. Likewise, nobody should feel pressured (or forced, as we've seen with Muslim women in France) to reveal more skin than they want to. Let's celebrate our autonomy over our bodies by wearing what we want to this summer, and by standing up when we see the autonomy of women to dress how they want to undermined.

Hello! I've been thinking about what makes us beautiful recently, and it turns out it's totally key to why I want to get people into mermaid tails! I don't think that beauty or attractiveness is related to our physical attributes. I think it shines from within, coming from a playful place within us. For me (and I suspect quite a few other people as well!) my playful side really comes out in the water! If you'd like to put on a mermaid tail and rediscover your sense of play as a grown up, I would SO love to take you mermaid swimming! I have tails in all shapes and sizes you can use. Check the link in my bio for packages available over half term - booking deadline is tomorrow! #mermaid #mermaiding #mermaidswim #mermaidstyle #mermaidpoolparty #mermaidlove #playful #playfulness #mermaidswimming #brighton #worthing #sussex #letsbemermaids #imreallyamermaid #mermaidsofinstagram #ukmerpod #mermaidsuk #bodypositivemermaids #bodypositive #fatacceptance #allbodiesaregoodbodies #effyourbeautystandards #honormycurves #radicalselflove #selflove #selfacceptance #curvymermaids #chubbymermaids #fatmermaid #ilovemyself #loveyourself #mermaidparty

Hey Merbabes! Here are the available dates for booking a mermaiding session with Sparkleforce:The Mermaid Playground. I would love to meet you and find out more about what has made you want to put on a mermaid tail. Come and book in with me and be a body positive mermaid!

Grown ups! Come and be body positive mermaids with Sparkleforce: The Mermaid Playground this half term! Mermaid swim packages and prices are on the website (link in bio or copy and paste www.mermaidplayground.co.uk/packages ) Booking deadline is 6pm on Friday the 26th May. If you book by 6pm on the 22nd of May you'll get a FREE Body Positive Mermaid Mega Bundle to download! It includes actions you can take to feel more body posi, mermaid tail recommendations, my fave bopo mermaid accessories, tips to release your inner mermaid and an 'envision your Mer- persona' worksheet! There are bookings available on 31st May, 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June. Check the website for timings. Who wants to be a mermaid? Shout out below!

Hey, what are you 'watering' today? Are you nurturing and tending to yourself as well as everything else? If you've been neglecting yourself recently or have fallen out of love with your body, I've got some new dates ready so that you can try out mermaiding, and fall back in love with your beautiful self. There are 2 different packages this time round - There's 'Light Your Spark' a fun package for people who want  to get some mermaid magic in their lives and rediscover their inner sparkle. And 'Relax and Glow' for a more low key, embodied mermaid swim. Mermaiding has just been such an amazing journey for me, I am really excited about getting to introduce some more people to the feeling of swimming underwater. So, shout out in the comments section if you want to be a mermaid!  The available dates and times at our lovely warm, private, Worthing-based pool are: Weds 31st May 10-12, Thurs 1st June 8-9pm, Fri 9-11am OR 10-12, Fri 2nd June 6-7pm and 8-9pm, Sat 3rd June 9-10am and 11-1pm OR 12-2pm

Happy weekend beauties! How are you spending your bank holiday weekend? I'm doing some making ready for the #brightonopenhouses - I'm exhibiting my kanzashi at Hummingbird Studio on Havelock Road in the Fiveways trail. Over May. Are you excited about the upcoming #brightonfestival? Got any recommendations for what to go see or do? Search Etsy for 'cuttlefishlove' to find my pieces for sale

Today as I sifted through photos from this shoot finding tonnes that I now love, that all along I've just been looking for permission to love and celebrate myself. There's a certain side to the culture of how we talk to each other as women that is about putting ourselves down to build someone else up. That really liking the way we look is vain or embarrassing because other people might not like the way we look as much. When you love and celebrate yourself without asking someone else to dull their light so that you can shine, not only do you shine more brightly, but you give others permission to celebrate and love themselves too. What can you do to love and celebrate your body today? What can you do to shine?

These sunset inspired kanzashi hair flowers and brooches will be available at Hummingbird Studio during the Brighton Open Houses. I'm planning on making a whole series using the colours of the different and varied sunsets I see out of our kitchen window every evening. We have an amazing view of the Sussex downs from our house and it's like owning a beautiful picture that changes constantly.

Just a couple of dates left if you want to book a Relax and Glow mermaid swim session with Sparkleforce : The Mermaid Playground! The dates are both 2 hour sessions Friday 21st April 9am and Saturday 22nd April 12pm. I would love to help you spark a reconnection with your body that starts with putting on a mermaid tail, and holding your breath underwater. If you've been feeling like you and your body aren't good friends, like everyone else is so much thinner/sexier/more beautiful than you, that you don't deserve good things until you are more like those people, that you'll never be able to feel good about the way you look. I want you to take a look at what you're saying to yourself and imagine you were talking to someone you love and admire and think what you'd say then. I want you to take a step to bust out of that cycle of self punishment and do something that breaks the mould. I want you to come be a mermaid with me! Link to packages in my profile. Pool is in Worthing. Huge thanks to @gracehillphoto and @catalystcarla at @runawadays for this image

This style is now officially low in stock, especially in the black and purple colourway. I'm about to make the few scraps of remaining fabric up into finished pieces so from next week these will all be ready to ship. This fabric cannot be reordered (sadly) so when these are gone, they're gone! Find my Etsy shop by searching for cuttlefishlove on the site or copying and pasting www.cuttlefishlove.co.uk

Hey loves, how are you feeling about your body today? I used to wake up already feeling guilty about the exercise I *should* be doing. I used to get a little knot in my throat when I looked in the mirror because I wanted to change what I saw there. I used to get anxious if I went someplace with dancing on the menu because I felt so worried about triggering my back pain, and afraid that claiming my moves and my body as sexy and joyful would open me up to ridicule. I used to feel so dissociated and disconnected from my body that I couldn't always recognise that I was in pain or feeling anxious. If this is you too, I don't want you to waste another day on feeling like you and your body aren't worthy of love, joy and adoration. I've just launched my Mermaid Playground and my Relax and Glow packages are specifically for you if you've fallen out of love with your body, you feel disconnected from your vitality and joy and you've realised you want to stop obsessing over what's wrong with your body and begin to love and embrace yourself as you are. In a 1 hour Relax and Glow package you can try on a mermaid tail, swim underwater with it and find out how breathing and embodiment exercises combined with moving in water will allow you to feel graceful, beautiful, connected to your body, centred in the moment and like you and your bod are finally working together. In a 2 hour Relax and Glow package you can do all the above, try on some mermaid accessories and have your photo taken poolside. We'll also do some healing self acceptance and mindfulness exercises that will allow you to start or continue a #radicalselflove journey feeling glowing and full of sparkle. 1 hour Relax and Glow 1-1 £120. Join a group £65pp Fri 14th April 9am Weds 19th April 10am 2 hour Relax and Glow 1-1 £180. Join a group £120pp Sat 15th April 10am Fri 21st April 9am Sat 22nd April 12pm Joining a group session will give you the chance to connect with other people who are on a similar journey of self acceptance. For these dates only you will also receive digital photo files and video of your swim completely FREE! Dm me to book. Link to site and packages in my profile.

Six amazing Irregular Choice heels for unicorn brides by cuttlefishlove featuring irregular choice shoes

Pastel Rainbow Unicorn by cuttlefishlove featuring highlight makeup

Using the 'select multiple images' thing FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! Not late to the party *at all*. Gonna be using it all the time now! Can I get a woopwoop for finally embracing this feature! I might even post a story now too cos I'm on a roll with keeping up with the times. Individual shots of my kimono print hair flowers because they look sooo pretty! These are also available as brooches and lapel pins.

Happy weekend merbabes! What one thing can you do this weekend to show yourself acceptance and love? I'm trying to drop into 'just being' which I find incredibly hard! I'm clearly not getting distracted from that by posting on social media. Oh no. I thought I'd also post a picture from a mermaid shoot I did that of me laughing naturally - I still sometimes slightly cringe looking at this photo because I think I look a bit deranged when I laugh (thanks ex-boyfriend who pointed that out!) BUT I know that I love photos of other people where they are doing their natural laugh and smile. I don't think we see the faces of our friends and loved ones as their component parts - we see them as one magical bundle, with our memories of them, and our feelings about them all bound up in it. When I look at my own face I find it much harder to 'see it all' rather focusing in on areas I have hang ups about and seeing them in isolation. I think women's magazines have a lot to answer for in terms of the way they get women to perceive themselves as a multitude of 'problem areas'. As I look at this picture now, I can almost flip between those two different perceptions of myself - as disparate faulty 'parts' that I can pick apart and one perfectly imperfect whole person. Whatever your perceived flaws, you are still as deserving of love, happiness and respect as the person you envy for their apparent flawlessness.

These kimono print cotton kanzashi were added to my Etsy shop earlier today in turquoise, black and pink colourways. They are an updated version of an existing style, now with little gold coloured plum blossom centres. I thought I'd run out of the red colourway but found a secret stash of the red fabric earlier today (I don't know *how* I could have mislaid it in my ...immaculately tidy craft room ...ahem) so a red version will be going up later this week. I'm totally in love with the new plum blossom centres, what do you like about them?

This is so exciting! I have actual dates available now so that you can book in with Sparkleforce over the Easter holidays, try on a mermaid tail, swim with it and learn to feel relaxed and connected to your body in water. The sessions will be in a small (8m), warm, private pool in Worthing and the dates available are: 1 hour 'Relax and Glow' session (1-1 session £120, group session £65pp) Tues 11th April 7pm Fri 14th April 9am Weds 19th April 10am 2 hour 'Relax and Glow' session (1-1 session £180, group session £120pp) Sat 15th April 10am Fri 21st April 9am Sat 22nd April 12pm Each session is for a maximum of 4 people, so spaces are limited. If you book onto a group session, you will be joining a small pod of fellow mermaids, unless you book out all four places. If you can see a date that works for you and would like to book in to relax and glow, comment "I'm in!" below, DM me your email and I will send you a booking form! Really excited about taking some people mermaiding over Easter! http://www.mermaidplayground.co.uk/packages These sessions are specifically for adults and you need to be able to swim 25 metres.