Summer Scavenger Hunt 2014 - My Photos

For the last few years, Rinda, of Gallo Organico, has hosted a Photo Scavenger Hunt.  I have tried to join in, but somehow Life has always taken over and my collection of photos has been pathetic.

This year I have had more success! Here are the photos I have managed to collect for the Challenge:

SCAVENGER HUNT LIST 2014

1. A sign welcoming people to your home town (or a nearby town)
* Oh dear... there's one just up the road - I just forgot to photograph it!  Not the best start... 

2. A garden gnome

We had a week away in Cornwall, at the start of July.  I couldn't resist these lovely Gnomes that I found outside a great little shop in St. Ives - one even has a surfboard!

3. Birds on a wire

Alright, I admit it is Bird (singular) on a Wire... but he was just so cute!  Besides, he was about the only wire-perching birdie in the whole of St. Ives! (I think they generally prefer safer perches, where they won't be hassled by sea-gulls)  

4. A group of tourists

This is a boat that takes tourists along the Cornish coast, to see the seals which feed in the water at a nearby rocky island.  We had just returned from our own trip and I couldn't resist taking a snap of those who so eagerly took our place - complete with the ubiquitous English Tourist collection of sandwiches, sandals and raincoats! 

5. A rack of post cards

I did photograph a "proper" rack of traditional seaside holiday postcards... But then we went to the Yellow Canary Cafe in St. Ives.  They had two of these fabulous postcard holders, filled with cards depicting the cafe - and made specially by the painter of that picture, to display her work to its best advantage.  I couldn't resist! 

6. An urban street scene

I suppose this could also qualify for Item #17 - that is quite some lamp post!  But I like this view of a street in our nearby town, so here you are - a shopping street in Bedford, UK. 

7. A rural landscape

James and I had a lovely walk, out to the edge of our village and across the fields.  He showed me some places I had never explored before.  We live in an area where countryside is frequently interrupted by people-stuff. Like the railway, which runs South to London and beyond, as far as Brighton on the South coast or - as you see here - North to Leicester and on to Nottingham, Derby, Durham, Newcastle... all the way to Edinburgh in Scotland.  But the lovely viaduct, carrying the railway bridge across the River Great Ouse, just seems to add to the atmosphere of our rural landscape.  We can hear the trains on rainy days and they give a feeling of being near to Life, but sufficiently peaceful and remote, to feel that we "live in the countryside".
I like our village and the country round about. 

8. A tattoo on a person
* Another "fail".  I had a couple of chances, if I'd been brave enough to ask...  

9. A bakery

A real Cornish Bakery, claiming to be "The Oldest Cornish Pasty Maker in the World".  I'm not certain whether that applies to the Bakery itself, or to the Baker! Either way, the pasties were very good. 

10. A photo bomb (someone found lurking in the background of photo; the lurker may have intended to disrupt the picture or may be doing it unintentionally, but the background lurker is a surprise to the photographer) 
* It's a matter of chance - and the chance never occurred! 

11. A horn

The pace of life "Doown yer i' Coarnwaall" is somewhat slower and more leisurely than at home in Bedfordshire.   The horn was attached to a small street barrow, owned by a local artist.  The stall was filled with postcards displaying his lovely illustrations of the surrounding town and countryside, which he offered for sale.  However, he didn't feel the need to hang around his stall, looking hopeful and guarding his goods.  He would wander off and buy a coffee, or a pasty, trusting his potential customers to notify him with a loud "Parp" on this horn, should they need his attention! 

12. A mascot
*We went to Norfolk for a holiday - and arrived on the last day of the Carnival, when they had a parade. Unfortunately, we were held up in traffic and when we arrived at Wells, the traffic was all stopped - to wait for the parade to go through.  So, we didn't arrive until after the parade was over - and missed both the parade and all the exciting people in it.  So, no Mascot...  and I didn't see anything that would qualify anywhere else this summer! 

13. A sunrise

The North Atlantic Ocean, in south west Cornwall, England.  Next stop, Newfoundland! 

I got up Early on July 9th, to take this rather magical shot - the photo history says this was taken at 4:09am. So worth the effort - but I did go back to sleep for a couple more hours! 

14. A parade
15. A juggler
* As mentioned before, we missed the Wells Carnival Parade by just a few minutes - our arrival coincided with the traffic being stopped for the parade to pass through the town.  We were stuck on the main road and missed it!

16. A sign in a language other than English

Well, we were "abroad" for our week away in July - we went all the way to Cornwall!  So, we were well placed to find a sign "in foreign"; so I thought... In fact, Cornish is still a near-dead language and although many are now trying to revive it, it's not used in the wide and regular way of Welsh in Wales.  There, we would have found many, many signs, notices, road signs etc, all in Welsh and English (if we were lucky!).  

I had to hunt quite hard to find anything in Cornish.  This little house sign simply translates as "Morvah's House".  I don't know if the owner is called Morvah; I did a little research and found there is a village near St. Ives, called Morvah, which is named after a local early-Christian saint.   

17. A lamp post

I found plenty of lovely lamp posts while I was on holiday.  However, in the end I have settled on this quirky little example.  It's in the garden behind our village pub.  I know it's a bit wonky, but I like it so much.  Its Edwardian appearance does rather remind me of Narnia.... 

18. A water fall

I live in Bedfordshire. It's pretty flat.  What we call "a hill", people from elsewhere in Britain would call "a small rise", or worse, "a mere pimple"!  

So, it was lucky that we were on holiday in a land of cliffs and caves.  We found this little, trickly fall at the beach in Carbis Bay, where we were staying.  It was a good height - about twenty feet - and made a great splashing as it fell onto the seaweedy rock below.  In winter-time, I should imagine this would be something more like a torrent, as local winter rains swell the ground-water by several hundred percent.  So, this is a photo of a "resting" waterfall - waiting to be replenished by the seasons! 

19. A public garden

A Cornish Cliff-top Garden, St. Ives, Cornwall.  

Such exotic planting could never survive our chilly, damp and miserable winters.  In Cornwall, the climate is generally far more temperate, so that they can grow plants that would otherwise be found only in the Mediterranean and further south.  Palm trees jostle with succulent desert-loving plants and exotic flowers.  A lovely place to sit and watch the boats go by. 

20. A bus (not a car, truck, lorry, camper or RV) with a picture painted on its sides.
*No luck here.  Some of the large buses in town have painted pictures, but our local ones are smaller and they don't! 
21. A photograph of you with something representing the season (recognizing that the season will be Winter for our friends in the southern hemisphere). Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.
* I don't believe that I don't have this photo! I have looked and looked, but it just didn't happen!

If you find something on the list too difficult, you may substitute one of the following items for anything on the list, except for Item #21:
Alternative A: A kite, hot air balloon or blimp
Alternative B: A bird house

So, I got most of them... It was fun - in fact the whole family joined in this year and it was a joint effort!

The New Camera

After a lot of deliberation, thought and considering... I have finally bought myself a New Camera!

It wasn't an easy decision.  I knew my old camera wasn't really good enough.  I need something that will take decent photos of my books and other makes, so I can make them look as good as possible for my online shops.  My photos just haven't been up to scratch - not enough contrast, no depth, no sharpness... 
The "Old Camera" was doing a much better job than "The Previous Old Camera", but it was still only a "point-and-shoot", with the various limitations of its kind. 
Yes, it was 8.2 megapixels. Yes, it had a good macro feature.  Yes, it was neat, small and easy to operate.  No, it didn't do a good enough job.

The Old Camera

I needed Something Better.  However, there were several problems/issues that I needed to consider.  Firstly, I was never particularly clever at operating a Real Camera.  I took photography as an option at art college, but wasn't very good at the technical side of working the camera.  When I took a good photo, it was because my messing around with "f-stops" and "apertures" and all that stuff had just turned out a happy accident.  I could frame a good shot. I had an eye for a decent picture. I couldn't work out the hows-whys-and-wherefores of the actual machine that took the photos.

After college, my boyfriend, who was a photography enthusiast, bought me a nice little SLR camera.  Nothing very posh or expensive - just a decent little second-hand camera (Film, of course - digi was only a dream at that point!).  He was patient and explained all the techie stuff to me.  I always understood it when it was explained, but, like mathematics, as soon as I tried to Use the information, I got in a terrible muddle.  No idea why - I'm not stupid and should really have been able to cope, but I simply never got the hang of it.  My photos were always mediocre... with the occasional "quite good" one.  That's why I've stuck with point-and-shoot since then - it's easy! 

 

I have developed a better knowledge of how to make the most of lighting, how to frame a shot, how to position my items / subject for a half-decent photo.  I even have a little pop-up light box and a mini-tripod, to make my photos easier to take. 

They are still not good enough.  They're too grey, even if I try hard with the lighting.  They're not sharp enough, even if the light is good and I take the shots with a tripod.

So... A New Camera had to be bought.  Scary thought!  I put it off for months... and months.... After all, a DSLR was what I needed, wasn't it - and they cost Hundreds of Pounds!

But I still needed something better.  Another point-and-shoot, only better? Blah! I didn't think that would do.  Friends recommended a few DSLR cameras which would be good.  They all cost £400-£700.  I didn't have that sort of money to spend.  And I was saving up for a Plan Chest. And a Book Press. And a Relief Printing Press.  So I really didn't want to spend £400. 

A bit of Research was required.  I discovered Bridge Cameras!  These are designed to "fill the gap" between the little point-and-shoot snapshot cameras and the large, heavy, sometimes unwieldy - and sooo expensive DSLR cameras, with their special sets of interchangeable lenses, super-powered image sensors and amazing processing power.  

 

A Bridge camera has a single lens, which is designed to be versatile, so it will take good shots across a wide focal range.  So, you can take "normal" range photos - shots of a room, portraits, pictures of the garden from your window - that sort of thing; then you can also get fairly decent close-up (macro) photos and also good distance photos. 

Many of them have a long zoom distance (a lot of point-and-shoot cameras have stuff like 10x zoom - but that is Digital Zoom, which is actually done with the camera's internal software, by just framing the shot "close up" in the viewfinder, but not actually magnifying what the lens sees - so those shots are grainy and lose definition). 
A Zoom Lens uses Optics to magnify the image - so it really does give a closer-up view and you get a more crisp and well-defined image.  A point-and-shoot may have an optical zoom lens feature, but it won't be able to give the magnification available on a DSLR camera, as the lens is too small and the zoom too short. 

A Bridge camera has a larger lens and can have a much longer zoom lens too, so it gives far higher quality images, although they won't match up to what's possible with a good DSLR, which could even have a huuuuuge specialist zoom lens fitted and get mega-magnification (at a cost of hundreds, even thousands of pounds!).   

 

Bridge cameras often use the same, or similar sensors to their more fancy (pricey!) DSLR cousins, which means that potentially they can be very good cameras for many types of photography.  Unless you really want/need a professional standard of camera, you may be able to manage very well with a good Bridge camera, rather than paying out for a DSLR.  Of course, it is all down to choice, as well as pocket money - some people would far rather pay the extra and have that super-duper extra special DSLR quality.  I don't see the point in my paying hundreds of pounds for a camera, then more money for a special macro lens, just so I can shoot most of my pictures on Auto; or get myself all worked up and miserable trying to crack the puzzling f-stops and things, so I can take decent pictures for my shop.  I am hoping that I will get a good enough improvement in image quality, without the expense of DSLR!

So there you are - that's what I learned about Bridge Cameras vs. Point-and-Shoot and DSLR.  Follow the link above, if you want to read what Wikipedia has to say about them!

After some more Research, I came up with a short list of cameras that had good reviews overall, seemed to fit my requirements and also came within my budget. 

And I bought this:

The New Camera: A Nikon Coolpix L820. (In Plum!)

 

It's not top-of-the-range. I couldn't afford the hundreds of pounds.  Neither is it cheap - it's in the middle, had very good reviews and sounded as if it would do what I need it to do.  I am hopeful!

It arrived this afternoon and I've been trying it out.  The photos above were taken with The New Camera.

This is what it did:

Self-Portrait: "Lizzie-in-the-Mirror, with New Camera!"

Our (messy) new room, on a dull day...

Portrait of Tom-the-Cat 

- see his whiskers?!

 

(by the way, Tom did not wish to smile at the silly, shiny new camera... he wished I would go away and stop disturbing him)  

All these were taken on the standard Auto setting - point-and-shoot.  Minimal photo editing done - just a bit of colour correction or brightening, as it was a dull day for indoor photos. 

I'm not sure yet, whether the quality is any better than The Old Camera, but I think it must be - I don't think I could have got all that detail in Tom's fur, with the little Fuji camera - not in a dark corner of the room.  Certainly, the original SOOC files are twice as large as the old camera files - which means that when they're condensed down, the detail can be retained more easily.  (I think?)   Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have got much more detail in these shots - especially the two portraits - than I could possibly get with my Fuji camera. 
So, next I have to set up a Shoot of some of the books in my stock, then replace the photos in my shop listings.  We will then see how good this camera can be!

Yay for the New Camera - watch this space!

 

 

Paaaarty - No Sleep 'til Bedtime!

Okay, for those of you who are too young to recognise the reference... Beastie Boys!

Meanwhile, I have managed to snatch a couple of hours in a busy weekend, to join in with Shimelle's great Scrapping Party.

So far, I've managed to do a few of the photo challenges, make one layout and do the "Scrapping with whatever you have left" challenge too.  I'll post that one first...

Scrapping With Whatever You Have Left

I had some bits of burgundy cardstock and some little shreds of paper lying about, after the scrap page I made. There was also an assortment of ribbons and lace, in a couple of little boxes, at the back of my table, plus a small scratch-pad that I had been using to make notes about the challenges etc. So....

 

I made a mini note-book!

The book measures just over 3" square. I took a few pages from my scratch-pad and cut them to fit inside the folded cardstock. 

I used a piece of burgundy ribbon, threaded through some broderie-anglaise tape, as the fastening.

The cover is decorated with a strip of B.G. floral paper. I then added a bright pink organdie ribbon, under a strip of white paper, from which I had cut some butterflies and flowers for the scrap page. I added a couple more punched flowers, to balance it and trimmed it to fit. The ribbon shows through the cut-outs as a shimmery layer and looks very pretty.

back view

The binding - stitched onto the back cover, with waxed pink crochet cotton.

I'm so pleased with this little project. And it only took me 20 minutes!

Then I managed a couple of pictures for the photo challenges:

Photo Challenge: At Home

a quick snap of those ribbons and lace, perched on my laptop keyboard!

Photo Challenge: Craft in Progress

Scary shot of my desk, while I was busy with the scrap page. The bit of green space is where I tidied up a few messy bits, ready for the next stage. I hadn't tidied up all the clippings yet - see that tin can in the background? That is my dustbin! All my tiny trimmings, clippings, shreds etc get put in there, then I can empty it later.

Last Wednesday and Thursday, I bought and fitted up my new shelves.  I've put some of my stuff on the shelves now, but the room is still quite a mess. Tomorrow's job is definitely, really definitely, to tidy up my workspace!

Lastly, my Scrapbook Page.  The only one I have had time for this weekend - even though I love some of the challenges set, I just haven't had time yet!

Scrapping Challenge : Scrapbooking with at Least a Little Pink

Perfectly Pink - all about my new clothes!

I read Shimelle's challenge and immediately thought of the small heap of pink papers that were sitting on my desk. 

I had a custom order for my shop, which was to make a dozen little notebooks for a lady's wedding (for use as mini-guest books).  She wanted them to be in shades of pinks and browns, so I dug out various papers that were lurking in my stash.  In the end I used six different Basic Grey papers, along with pink and brown ribbons. 

The whole set looked lovely and I was very pleased with it.  However, there were still lots of bits and pieces of pink (and brown) papers littering the top of my crafting desk (my book-binding table, on the other hand, was clean and shiny!).

Then, as I was going to bed last night, I looked at my new blouse and jeans... the blouse was found in a little shop in Wells, when I was on holiday.  The jeans were bought yesterday, during a shopping trip in Milton Keynes (while I waited for the Boys, who were very busy in the Games Workshop, playing battles with J's Warhammer set!). I hadn't bought any new clothes for months and months, so I'm very pleased with this new outfit. I didn't wear pink for a long time - until J. persuaded me to buy an amazing little cardi, in shell-pink lambswool, embellished with beads. It has been a favourite for about 4 years now (though it's starting to show its age!). Since then, I've been braver and bought a few carefully chosen pink items.  This blouse is perfect, as the pinks are rosy and warm, but the pattern is bright and summery. It goes so well with the soft blue of the jeans.

Which is what the journalling is all about:

journalling...

So, this layout was born. It's an absolute plethora of pink really. Veeeery Pink for me! I did have the paper with blue and pink leaves on a brown background, which softens the blow a bit. And I kept the background paper darker, to make an impact. The blue note-paper that I used for journalling just happened to be in my notes-tray (with notes on the back of it!). So I cut it up, as it matches almost exactly with those blue leaves and brings out the blue jeans too.

A bit of messing about was needed, to get the photos to stand out from the hugely busy background. I've never done such a very busy layout before - it was really quite a challenge. I cut the photo corners from dark cardstock, then used a fine pen to draw round the edges of the photos. It's not quite perfect, but it looks good. 

I'm actually pretty pleased with the result! I think it met the challenge alright - there is definitely "at least a little pink" on that page!

I might get time to try another challenge tomorrow evening; but Monday is always a busy day and J. wants to go to another Warhammer event in the afternoon - that'll keep me occupied (sigh...).

I hope you all had fun, if you tried any of Shimelle's challenges this weekend. I've really enjoyed myself, even if I haven't had much spare time. 

And now it really is Bedtime and I am off to get some of that sleep!

Finally Finished!

At last I have finished the Wedding Guest book for my customer.  I am so relieved that it's done.  So many silly little things went wrong - I suppose it was just "one of those" occasions...

Still, it looks quite good.  There are a few things that I would do differently "next time", but I think she will like it and be pleased with it.  I just hope it holds up to handling at the wedding and comes home with the Bride & Groom, looking fairly unscathed.
I have made some cellophane sleeves for each cover, using A4 greeting card presentation bags (like you get things in when you buy them in a shop), and they are fixed together with removable adhesive (not stuck to the book!).  The Bride and Groom can decide if they want to leave the sleeves on the book until after the wedding, so that the book covers are protected from sticky paw prints. 
I did give the ivory satin two coats of Scotchguard protector before I made the covers, but I'm still a bit unsure - all it would take is a little bridesmaid with chocolatey fingers, or someone eating crisps... AAAAARRGH!

Here are a few shots. It's just my luck, that after several days of brilliant sunshine, we have had a dull, grey day today - just when I would like to take great photos!

Wedding Album in Ivory Silk Satin and Moss Green Silk Dupion fabrics; with a Coptic Binding; embellished with a hand-made Silk Tassel and hand-printed lino-cut of Wedding Rings.

Closeup of the binding and the tassel.

Inside the front cover. Showing the binding stitches, folded page spacers and hand-torn pages.

I think it has turned out pretty well.  As I said, I'd do a couple of things slightly differently; however I am still learning and my prices are still low because of that. The customer is happy to accept the minor imperfections that result from hand-made items and I hope she'll be happy (even if I am a perfectionist!!).  The book is a gift for her son and his new wife - so I hope they love it too!

I like the Coptic binding method. It looks lovely and is not too difficult to do, so long as I take my time and take care.  I think I will take advice from some of my fellow (more experienced!) book-binders - I will look out for a set of curved needles, as it would make the process a lot easier and quicker.

More of these to come, I think. With improvements!

Now I hope to have more time to spend on Shimelle's great Love Your Pictures class.  So far I have only had time to take a few shots and try one of her lessons on adding text to a photo:

 

I want to catch up a little and try to complete the rest of the challenges, or most of them anyway.

Just one more thing to complete now... I have made the little hand-cut stamps for Stacey and Jacky, who won my Stamp Giveaway, oh-so-long-ago; except for one stamp in Stacey's set of 3. I will do it tonight. 

Stacey and Jacky - I have not forgotten you.  Your stamps will be in the post this week!

Treasure For My Studio - What Price Art?

Warning! This post contains lots of pictures (and lots of writing!). Cup of tea and a biscuit is recommended!

This morning I'm stuck at home, because of more snow (well, there's a surprise!).  The up-side of this is that I can have some time in my studio/workroom, sorting things out.  I decided that, as the light was the best we've had in a few days, I would update the photos for some of my Etsy Shop items. 

While I had the light-tent out, I took some snaps of my Art Collection, that I have bought and been given, for my new studio.  Doesn't it sound ostentatious "Art Collection" - but that is what it is, even if it's on a simple scale, as I'm not wealthy enough to buy big or expensive art.

It made me think though, about the value we place on art.  I am delighted with my modest purchases and presents. I think that, once they are mounted and framed up, they will look fabulous on the back wall, above the soon-to-be-brought-upstairs-sofa-bed!  For me, these pieces represent many things, not least because I chose all of them myself and paid for many with money I have earned by selling my own work. 

A number of these artists produce original art on a larger scale, which they exhibit in other locations. Several of them sell items for far more than I paid for my pieces.  Yet, they are happy to offer simpler, inexpensive items - and I am delighted to buy them!

What price Art?

So, here are my pieces of art-work, which I am storing carefully, waiting for the chance to get them all framed and put on that wall: -

Firstly, three lovely items from our wonderful Blog-Friend, Rinda

During December, Rinda was following the Tim Holz prompts to make "Twelve Tags of Christmas".  She was experimenting with various ideas and made some additional tags, two of which she offered as a Giveaway on her blog.  I was lucky enough to win these and they arrived at the weekend.  I am so pleased with them (and wish my photos could be better to do them justice).  The item in the centre is a lovely hand-made card that Rinda sent to accompany the tags, with a friendly greeting inside:-

 

I think this is a piece of art in itself. The work that went into it is obvious and it's just lovely.

Look at the detail, where it's been stamped and embossed with crackle ink or powders. And the inked edge, to give it definition, and the sweet little stamped girl. Add that to the misted or dabbed background, with its lovely textural look, all placed on a very soft eau-de-nil card... it's just a great little item!

Here are the tags, a bit more in-close-up.  Again, there's all that work on the background, the edges, the stamping, splashed-on snow, embellishments, layered papers.  They may be simple little tags, but they are definitely pieces of art, that I will treasure, especially as they were a little gift from a relative stranger, who took the time and trouble to be friendly!

You know, since I started joining groups, forums, Twitter, Etsy, my blog etc on the internet, I have "met" so many lovely people.  The Crafting Community is, in general, comprised of so many generous, friendly people, who don't mind sharing their knowledge, experience, time and even their work, with others who share their interests.  There's such a support network out there for an aspiring artist or crafter! We are so lucky. Why can't the rest of the world get on as well as we crafty lot do? 

I think we need a new slogan - "Make Art, Not War!"

So, that's Rinda!

* * *

Second, is this wonderful lady, Keri-Anne Pink, alias GingerLillyTea :-

This is a photo of a photographic print, so it's not very good - see it at her Etsy shop for a better idea!

 

This set is extra-special, because I was at the fairground when the pictures were taken! We were at the local kite festival, to celebrate my birthday and we had a lovely day!

Again, my photo does not do these justice - see them here!

Keri-Anne has been learning photography for about six or seven years.  She has progressed to the point where she has had work published in a number of online magazines, she has made sales in her Etsy shop, published a book of her work and has recently done a couple of shoots for clients. Our family are all very proud of her achievements and she continues to get better and better!

The reason I like her work though, is not because Keri-Anne is my niece.  Her work is popular because of the story-like, fairytale treatment she gives her subjects and the dreamy, soft, muted colours and old-fashioned quality of the images she produces.  Take a look at her shop and follow the links there to her Flikr site. You'll see what I mean!

* * *

Next is this great little item, which is already hanging up above my desk, helping me to count the days...

This calendar is by the fabulous Australian watercolour artist, known as Tummy Mountain. I follow his blog and it's my favourite - I love to read of the goings-on at the other side of the world, where the Little Ones have such great adventures!

I've been looking at his Etsy shop for ages, wondering if I could/should buy a piece of his work.  Another big problem was choosing which one! Now I have twelve (in fact thirteen, as there was a bonus piece of art on the page before January - see the pics in his shop!).  I can have a different piece of art in front of my desk every month this year. Then I can put my very favourites on the wall. And I may even have enough saved up to buy my own special, original piece of Tummy Mountain for myself!

* * *
And now for Melanie Ann Green, known by various types of alias, but in this incarnation, she is InkMeUp Designs!

Melanie does lovely bird illustrations, which she prints in beautiful ways.  Her shop offers prints of a bird, placed on a page from an old, vintage book about birds.  She prints her birds onto pieces from an old map. Or you can buy a notebook with a bird or mouse printed on its cover, or the same mouse print on a piece of sheet-music, a blue-tit on handmade paper... her ideas are great and the presentation is lovely.  Go and see her shop, for some real inspiration.

My four little pictures are printed with her gocco, onto stiff paper, cut to postcard size.  There are a few different sets of these available in Melanie's shop and they are not at all expensive!
As well as her lovely bird and animal illustrations, Melanie produces fabulous birds and monsters, from felted wool, in bright colours.  They are lovely and would make wonderful presents too!

* * *
Next is Lori Dean Dyment, a Canadian artist, who shares a studio in British Columbia with her husband, painter Jean-Francois Dyment.

Lori produces a range of prints, using different printing methods, including linocut, collograph (a printing plate is made by sticking a variety of items to a base, producing a raised, textured surface), monotype (where ink is laid down on a metal plate, then an image is produced by marking the ink base with a variety of tools, fingers etc. Paper is placed over the plate, which is then put through a press, producing a one-off image - hence "monotype"), hand-tinted monotype and other prints, also original paintings and reproduction prints of her original pieces.  She also offers a range of fun pendants, using her images reproduced on art-glass mini-tiles. 

This set of three prints were produced as a limited edition linocut.  I have been admiring them for some time and finally decided to treat myself, after a few good sales prior to Christmas!

* * *

Also,  I have this print, by the artist Nina Moscrip, an artist based in Hampshire, England.

This is a print of a drawing, called "Dandelions".  It was given to me by Keri-Anne, as a present.

Again, this is not a good photo! See Nina's Etsy shop for a better image, also a better idea of her range and versatility!

Nina's work includes delicate pen and wash drawing, but also more robust pieces of ink and watercolour, including many wonderful studies of buildings and street scenes and her interpretive illustrations of stories, such as Little Red Riding Hood. She offers prints and original pieces, which means her work is very affordable. She even offers a custom service, producing an illustration of someone's home, using their photographs.

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Finally, I wanted to show you this:

This is obviously not going to be hung on the wall of my studio! It's a pendant by my friend, painter and sculptor, Sue.  She lives in the Rocky Mountains, Northwest USA and has a shop on 1000Markets.  She is a wonderful artist and a truly interesting person, who I have got to know over the last year or so.  I just love her work, which is full of colour, texture and detail. 

This pendant was part of a range of  "wearable art sculpture" that she made from polymer clay.  I really wanted to buy it but, as 1000Markets doesn't accept payment from UK cards, or paypal, I thought I couldn't.  Sue was happy to come to an arrangement over payment, took the pendant out of her shop and sent it to me, along with another pendant, just because... It is one of my favourite pieces of jewellery and I wear it often. 

Do go and see the variety of Sue's work in her shop, or here at her blog.

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Well, that is my little gallery of artwork! I am excited to have all of it and can't wait to put it all up in my room!

Made, Listed, Sold - all in one day!

Well! Talk about speedy turn-round! I made the second of my funky "Nonsense" paper mini-books this morning.  After lunch I set up my little white photo-box and took pictures of it, then I listed it on my Etsy shop in the afternoon.  I spent some time updating photos in my shop, as some were really rather rubbish and my new box means I can replace the bad ones with better quality images (yay!).

I went down for tea at about 6pm, with 29 items for sale in my shop.  When I came back and logged on to see my e-mails at 7pm - the book was Sold! Amazing! That is definitely my quickest sale ever.  It's really rather exciting.  So I now have to package it nicely and head for the post office, to send it on its way to Wyoming in U.S.A. I hope its new owner will be very pleased with her purchase (as pleased as I am to sell it to her!). Cheers, lovely customer!

I think I will make another of these tonight. I still have enough papers to make at least one more, with a few modifications to the original design.  The nice thing about making books is that each one is different, even when I make several "the same"!  Every person who gets one of my books has a unique item.  I really like to think about that - it makes me feel special! I also love to give my books to people, especially ones I have designed and made specially for that person.  I made several as presents last year and it gives me a great feeling to make someone a special item, just for them. I get the same feeling if I make someone a scrap album or layout too.

I need to get organised, as I have loads of book ideas buzzing round my head! I'm also going on a course in 2 weekends' time. I need to sort out what I want to take with me, in terms of materials to create my book. It's so exciting!

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Other Stuff from Today

I was logging on with the intention of posting about my day.  I took a couple of photos of the garden birds, which are quite nice, so I will post those. 

Our garden has been thronged with birds this week.  We put out seed, mealworms and fresh water, which they appreciate very much.  Yesterday and today I also grated a chunk of cheese (cheap cheese!) and put that out as well, to give the poor chilly birds a bit of energy value. 

We have watched in amazement, this last week to 10 days, as the number of Blackbirds in the garden has gone up, and up, and up... Usually, the most Blackbirds you'll see in the garden will be two, except when there are fledglings being fed in Summer.  They are very, very terratorial and will chase other blackbirds - in fact any other birds at times - and even fight them, to preserve their territory.  They will only tolerate a mate, during the time they are starting and raising a family. Then they go back to the "one bird per territory" rule!

Well... about 2 weeks ago, Mr. Blackbird began to court a lady Blackbird.  She was a bit unsure at first, but soon came round to the idea that he might be her Ideal Husband.  She was further convinced when a couple of other females came hopping around and chased Her Mr Blackbird round the garden! She chased them away very fiercely.  We watched all this with amusement. 

So 10 days ago, there were up to 4 blackbirds in our garden - three females and one very harrassed male! 

Then it snowed. More birds came to the garden to feed and we put out more food for them.  More blackbirds appeared - mostly females - and were chased by Mr. & Mrs. Blackbird.  However, they stayed around and Mr & Mrs were a bit more tolerant.  It's interesting that the birds do share more when the weather is bad - so long as there is plenty to eat anyway!

Gradually, over the last week, the number of Blackbirds has gone up... two, four, six, seven, nine... yesterday there were 10 and we were amazed. 

Today I counted 18 blackbirds, of both sexes, eating seed and drinking water, in our garden!  It's almost as if the local Blackbirds have decided to host their annual conference on our lawn! We are gobsmacked! 

Sadly, I haven't been able to photograph this amazing thing. Firstly, my camera battery ran out when I did try.  Secondly, they just don't keep still!  They hop and flap all over the place, chasing each other away and dodging about.  They sit in the trees, watching for a chance to nip down and snatch a quick snack..  But they do not all sit nicely, waiting for me to say "Now then, Group Shot, please.  Say 'Birdseeeeeed'!" 

Maybe they will tomorrow.... Meanwhile -

A starling and a greenfinch snatching a few snacks at our seed feeder.

These two lovely goldfinches were eating Niger (thistle seeds) as fast as they could, before the starlings chased them away.

We are so lucky with our bird visitors.  Yesterday there was a Blackcap in the garden! We have never seen one before.  We think it has come South because it's so cold further North just now. Or else it lives quite happily in some local woodland, but was hoping to find a few snacks in the village gardens.  They do live all over Britain - according to our RSPB Birds book - but we have never seen any before.  There was also a Pied Wagtail (one of those cute little black, grey & white birds, with long white-barred tails, that they waggle up & down).  They don't come very often either.

The Redwings are still regular visitors.  There are usually four now, who we think must have decided to stick around for the winter. I did take a couple of photos, but they never come close enough to the house and the photos are too blurry to bother with really.  Just a brownish blob on the grass or tree!

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J's school was closed again today.  He was less pleased about this when we got a text message from school, to say the children could pick up some Maths, English and Science work from school, or the school website!  He was quite good about trying to do some work this morning though, then he went out to play snowballs with some friends.  He came back for lunch, then was off again, with his sledge.  Later on he turned up, all tearful.  It seems that he and the other boys had piled snowballs up on the sledge, but some other boys had ambushed them, stolen the sledge and thrown all the snowballs at them.  J. was pretty miserable about it, as they were hurting him and wouldn't stop.  He had managed to retrieve his sledge, but obviously felt that home was the best idea.  Poor man! I gave him a warm drink and a pep-talk and he was soon okay again.  His dad was home by that time too - supposed to go to a meeting in London, but no trains for his colleague and ours were all delayed. Dad gave J. some moral support and he's fine now.  I suppose the other boys were a bit over-excited.  They probably didn't mean to hurt anyone, but it was a bit much for J. to handle. His two friends arrived to check he was okay and then they went off home too (D. had bumped his nose on the slide - unrelated incident - and it was growing a fine bruise. I sent them in search of a parent with an ice-pack!).  So, J. and his friends have all had an exciting sort of day!

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Sherlock thought his day was looking up too....

"You got a new Cat-Tent!"

I had to tell him, kindly, that this was not his new bed, but an Important New Piece of Business Equipment.  He wasn't impressed by that - cats don't care about business. He doesn't even care that I sold a book today, in record time. But we love him anyway.

He has just come into my room, to ask what I'm doing... he has found the photo-box, partly folded, under the desk and has sniffed it hopefully... Now he's having a wash - I expect he'll settle down on my "guest chair" and go to sleep.  Love that daft old cat!

I'm off to cut the men's hair... D. starts his new job on Monday and wants to be presentable. Just now, if he's not careful, he bears rather a resemblance to the Boss in the old Dilbert cartoons!  (In case you don't know what I mean, you can see Dilbert and his Boss here). J's doing a good imitation of Cousin It just now too... so the clippers are comin' out! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Bye all! Mind the Snowballs!

Kitties, Cupcakes and Christmas Presents.

Well, today was a nice day.  This morning was spent on the usual "Monday Jobs" that I always have, but after lunch we went to Northampton, to see my niece, her husband and the baby.  Other niece was also there with her bf, so it was a real family afternoon.

This is Tilly the Kitten.  She is about 4 or 5 months old now and is getting very tall and long.  She's a really beautiful cat, with amazing markings and some wonderful red and orange colours in her fur.  Some of her markings remind me of a leopard or a tiger, she's got such lovely stripes and spots.  I couldn't resist taking a few shots of her, though only the last one gives any idea of the gorgeous colours of her coat.

The baby had a ball-pond as a Christmas present from her uncle and auntie.  Her daddy put it together this afternoon, as she'd been playing with the balls with him and J. She loved it. 

Here are our two girls.  The colours are a bit washed out, but they are lovely girls and we are proud of them.  C's baby is due in about 8 weeks now.  It's getting very exciting!

K. Showed us round their new home, which is a lovely Victorian house and quite a bit bigger than where they were living before. They moved here in November, but we haven't been able to go over there til today.

K. had made us all vanilla cupcakes, with pink icing.

 

Aided and abetted by a certain young lady...

We were also given lovely stew and dumplings for our tea - I haven't had stew for ages and it was a real treat!  We came home feeling very well fed!

And can you work out what this is? It's the Christmas present that K. ordered for me online, which only arrived on Saturday. I had it to unwrap this afternoon - I love extra presents!

It's fab! I really wanted one of these, as the light is often very poor here and I hope this will help with taking pics for my shop.  I'm so pleased with it!

Lots of space inside for my books and stuff.  It even has a front that velcros on and has a little gap to put the camera lens through, so you can make best use of all the available light inside!

I had to try it out.  These were various settings on my camera.  I don't think the flash version is very nice - obviously the trick is to switch off the flash, which I did for the second version - it's the "Portrait" setting.  I also tried the "Baby" setting, which is designed to use natural light with no flash.  I use it a lot, as it takes very good pictures - so long as the light is okay. The colours are always very true to life with that setting.

So here's a cropped-up version of the "Baby" setting.  These were all taken in my workroom, with artificial light and with the layout set up inside the new light-box.  I think the results will be even better in natural light. Better colours I should think.  Anyway, I'm very pleased with this and will be experimenting with it a lot in the next few days.  I may be able to re-shoot some of the pictures for items in my shop. 

Happy, happy...