Inspiration!

I was Convoed about a Treasury today and was told that my print was the inspiration for the whole collection! How nice and it's a real beauty too.

Love in a Mist
by Monarch Dancer

Photobox again

After my whinging about Photobox yesterday there have been some developments, first the sales info is up and I've sold quite a few cards, but made a pittance, and I'm wondering if it's really worth all the work. So that's something, but my cards all seem to not belong to me any more, which is a bit of a worry, unless it means that it's being sorted out. Then I got an @reply on Twitter referencing my whinging - apparently someone had found my blog and then my Twitter. The customer services people are going to call me and hopefully I can find out where my cards are and be able to delete the accounts which don't have any content and ask about changing the categories once they've been set up. I'm sure I'm a nightmare customer.....perhaps I should go into website beta testing!

More Romance and Photobox.

I made another Mills and Boon journal today, it turned out much better than yesterday's and I used nice cartridge paper rather than the bits and bobs which I did previously. The single type of paper made for a neater profile even though the cutting is still a bit hit and miss!






And there's a new viewfinder picture for Eyeshoot Squared. Still no sales, but the hearts are adding up slowly, helped by the Front Page yesterday.

lavender

I've been having more dramas with Photobox which really is the most dysfunctional site. I've pictures all over the interweb and of them all, Photobox is the one which gives me the most grief. I uploaded some really pretty Valentine's cards using my new TTV shots and some type and when I checked later, they weren't in my list of cards. So I checked in some round about devious way and found out that those and ten others were live on the site, but weren't associated with my account, and instead were linked to 'undefined'. So I phoned the help line and no one had a clue until I got a call back and apparently the 'tech guys' sorted this out a few days ago when it happened previously and they're due to sort it out again. The young lady couldn't tell me when this would be and more disturbingly couldn't tell me if any sales on those cards while they've been 'undefined' would be credited to my account. Talk about unsatisfactory answers. Also they've been promising a reports page to view sales, reports and earnings. I was told via a personal email that it was due at the start of last week, then while on the site it said that today was the day and actually quoted today's date. As I write its almost the end of the working day at 17.28 and still no reports. I have a sneaky feeling that I've sold quite a few cards via this dysfunctional site but I'd really like to know for sure before I start uploading more.

New TTV Shots and a new romantic journal

I've uploaded a few lovely new pictures to Eyeshoot Squared....

pick and mix

green on white

red winter berry

spin and soar

And here are a few pics of my latest Mills and Boon journal bound with my new toy:

Better late than never

My Bind it All V2 has just arrived after it was dispatched on 6th January!

It looks like a clever little device, it's certainly compact but has left me confused so far. I'll do some trial punching soon.....

Watch this space for updates!

Front Page!

Etsy Front Page 1/27/09 monkeysalwayslook, originally uploaded by Etsy Front Pagers.

Hurrah - I was tipped off by the 11 Hearts on my puff print.

Cool and British.

Ta Da! My raven print from my new shop has made it to a Treasury in it's first week. It stated off as an alternate choice then when something sold it was promoted and Rachel Lucie was kind enough to let me know.

Curiously Cool and British
by Rachel Lucie

It's a great selection, I adore the bunny it's too sweet and I've always found Art and Ghost's work fascinating and she's from Manchester - it's always cool to fiind an artist you admire is from your home town! And Smokey Jo, the beautiful cat is just gorgeous.

Rachel's got some lovely jewellery in her shop, I think that this one is my favourite:

North Sea Stones - Fluorite, Green Garnet and Freshwater Pearl Silver Earrings

Puff in a Treasury.

A first Treasury appearance with a print from my new shop Eyeshoot Squared!

The Grass is Always Green
by Monkeys Always Look

There are some lovely items here especially the earrings in the centre of the bottom row, I love the mossy, grassy green. The curator's shop is worth a look as it's full of a rather eclectic selection of goodies, from felt containers to plants. I particularly like the felt antlers which is such an odd idea but they look great, especially the cotton reel bases. And for the bargain price of just $23 - how can you possibly resist!

deer antler fabric sculpure softie pair

In the News

Well not really, but I do have a photo featured on The Guardian Website which is nice!

I submitted it ages ago and only heard from them today that it made it.

Welcome to eyeshoot squared!

I've started a third shop....I may be mad.

It's a second photography shop which will sell only square pictures - through the viewfinder, Holga and others. It's called 'eyeshoot squared'.

Here are some examples of what I'll be selling. I was never happy mixing formats in eyeshoot so decided to branch out and specialize. The prints will be priced lower than my main shop as an experiment, the first ones I'm listing are five inches square and I've cut the paper square and they look great! I'll be selling a range of images from nature and the city.

First Curated Treasury of 2009

Monochrome Marvels
By Eyeshoot

I know I've already done a black and white Treasury, but I just felt in the mood for it.

Let's hope it makes it to the sacred Front Page!

By some lovely coincidence, I'm featured in a very striking Treasury with Crosby Steps.

Black and White
by Squier

Monday recovery.

I ate all together far too much at the weekend and now feel heavy, fat and generally bleargh. But I'm off to the gym in 25 mins for a swift and efficient hours workout of an iTrain cross trainer 25 mins followed by 30 mins of hand held weights, Swiss ball, abs and stretches, which should help control it all a little! Then there's yoga tonight to further soothe and stretch my abused body.

Anyway, in my pre-gym Treasury trawl I found this lovely lilac one:

Provence Romance
by Tickled Pink Knits

I really like the Bridget Cowl from her shop, it's a seriously cosy accessory which would be perfect for keeping the back of your neck toasty warm on these dull wintry days.

In fact the whole shop is full of lovely items for the winter wardrobe.....

My Bind it All still hasn't arrived despite being dispatched on Jan 6th, so I suppose I'll have to brave the surly men at my local sorting office to see if it's arrived and is languishing on their shelves, I'm sure I won't get a positive response from them. Fingers crossed that it arrives while I'm out.

Then I've really got to get on with the marmalade making today, I'll do a double recipe quantity which is twelve small jars, which I can manage as I've rifled through my jar stash and I've enough decent ones for this quantity. For the rest, I'll have to raid the fridge and chuck out some dregs.

Treasury and Beef.

This to me is an unusual Treasury, it doesn't have that look that so many have these days with the soft, subtle, muted colours, it's good to see a blast of greens, aquas and oranges on these dull winter days.

Just Gorgeous
by Betty Death

There's some great stationery in her shop, I really like this set made of a cut up craft book:

Note cards and Envelopes Hardware Style

The lamb etc... was fabulous on Friday night and any minute now I'll have to start on the shin of beef for lunch. There's a bit of faffing and then slow and lazy oven work for about three and a half hours. I've an apple crumble to make as well, also red cabbage and something with spuds, we fancied jackets, but I think now that mash will be better as originally planned.

I'm trying to loose my Xmas excess weight....

But the season and having a life have got the better of me.

We're entertaining client's of Peter's tonight, there will be six of us which isn't to bad, but I don't like doing suppers in the week so if the occasion arrises, I always try to do something impressive but delicious. So this is what we're having:

Smoked salmon with cucumber and horseradish dressing.
Nice and simple, light and fresh.

Slow roast shoulder of lamb Moroccan style.
I love doing this, all you do is make a rub with butter, garlic, cumin seeds, ground coriander, hot smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Poke little slashes into the fat side of the lamb and using your fingers rub the lovely aromatic buttery mess all over the meat and savour the lovely smell. Cut up a couple of carrots and onions, squash some garlic cloves and fling into the bottom of a sturdy roasting tray, plonk the lamb on top and pour 500ml of boiling water around the lamb, avoiding the buttery dressing. Cover with foil and pop into your oven pre-heated at 150 degrees (for a fan) and set the timer for five hours. When it's cooked, leave to rest for 30 mins then shred all the delicious tender frangrant meat with two forks and your eager fingers. Arrange on a platter and rescue any juices which may be in the pan and cobble them into a sort of gravy, seive and dribble over each plate of meat. Yum yum.

Moroccan spiced courgettes and green beans.

Frozen berries with hot white chocolate sauce.
This is one seriously decadent pudding which has the advantage of being about as easy a pudding as you could wish for.
Melt equal quantites of quality white chocolate with double cream and serve in a pretty jug. Pour over plates of frozen mixed berries.
Enjoy and plan to get to the gym as soon as you can.

Then on Sunday we have Peter's aunt and uncle for lunch plus additional small child. Again I wanted simple and tasty and have gone for:

Shin of beef braised with Guinness.
A very slow cook for about four hours gives luscious soft meat with delicious gravy.

Spuds.
Probably mashed with some horseradish or grain mustard.

Red cabbage.
With apple maybe and juniper berries?

Pudding.
No idea yet.

Later
It's marmalade time!! Every year I really look forward to my marmalade making marathon and today in Sainsbury's I spotted the Seville oranges needed for the job and hauled them home along with a 5kg bag of sugar......

Here's the recipe I always use and my step by step photos of how it works. This is my most viewd and most 'interesting' picture on Flickr and gets tons of hits at this time of year.

Traditional Seville Orange Marmalade

Makes six 1 lb (350 ml capacity) jars

Ingredients
2 lb (900 g) Seville oranges
1 lemon
4 lb (1.8 kg) granulated sugar (to speed the dissolving, this can be warmed in the oven)

You will also need a preserving pan or a large, heavy-based saucepan; a 9 inch (23 cm) square of muslin (or gauze); some string; a funnel; and six 1 lb (350 ml capacity) jars, sterilised.

Begin by measuring 4 pints (2.25 litres) water into a preserving pan, then cut the lemon and oranges in half and squeeze the juice out of them. Add the juice to the water and place the pips and any bits of pith that cling to the squeezer on the square of muslin (laid over a dish or cereal bowl first). Now cut the orange peel into quarters with a sharp knife, and then cut each quarter into thinnish shreds. As you cut, add the shreds to the water and any pips or spare pith you come across should go on to the muslin. The pith contains a lot of pectin so don't discard any and don't worry about any pith and skin that clings to the shreds – it all gets dissolved in the boiling.

Now tie the pips and pith up loosely in the muslin to form a little bag, and tie this on to the handle of the pan so that the bag is suspended in the water. Then bring the liquid up to simmering point and simmer gently, uncovered, for 2 hours or thereabouts until the peel is completely soft (test a piece carefully by pressing it between your finger and thumb). Meanwhile, chill the saucers in the freezer compartment of the fridge.

Next, remove the bag of pips and leave it to cool on a saucer. Then pour the sugar into the pan and stir it now and then over a low heat, until all the crystals have dissolved (check this carefully, it's important). Now increase the heat to very high and squeeze the bag of pips over the pan to extract all of the sticky, jelly-like substance that contains the pectin. As you squeeze you'll see it ooze out. You can do this by placing the bag between two saucers or using your hands. Then stir or whisk it into the rest.

As soon as the mixture reaches a really fast boil, start timing. Then after 15 minutes spoon a little of the marmalade on to one of the cold saucers from the fridge, and let it cool back in the fridge. You can tell – when it has cooled – if you have a 'set' by pushing the mixture with your little finger: if it has a really crinkly skin, it is set. If not, continue to boil the marmalade and give it the same test at about 10-minute intervals until it does set.

After that remove the pan from the heat (if there's a lot of scum, most of it can be dispersed by stirring in half a teaspoon of butter, and the rest can be spooned off). Leave the marmalade to settle for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, the jars should be washed, dried and heated in a moderate oven for 5 minutes. Pour the marmalade, with the aid of a funnel or a ladle, into the jars, cover with waxed discs and seal while still hot. Label when cold and store in a dry, cool, dark place. Then hurry up and make some toast to try some!

Cubes of Colour

Cubes of Colour, originally uploaded by multum in parvo..

A bit of an experiment using these lovely perspex cubes bought at MoMa in New York about fifteen years ago. They were shot using my D300 in Live View mode which is the first time I've really used it. There was a light pointing at the back of the cubes and there were two being held by hand in front of the 50mm lens to make the reflections at the front of the image. There was a little tweaking of levels in Lightroom.

And there it is....

On the Front Page!
That was very fast, it only went live this morning....

I Love You II
by 5 Gardenias

Very Thursday

Here's a nice creative Treasury, I really like it when my prints are the only photography in a collection made up of a wide range of items, this one has a book, shoes and jewellery and they all work together beautifully.

I heart you II
by 5gardenias

5 Gardenia's shop is seriously ecclectic and full of wonderful and interesting things which she's photographed in one of the most striking style I've seen on Etsy. I'll certainly be having a look around in more detail! Here are a couple of items which really stand out for me:

Bailey Island Maine Souvenir Sachet Mailer

Baby Bird

I've got some real work today, real as in for someone else, but I won't be getting any real money for it.....It's a portrait of a young lady holding some graphics which will be printed onto some stationery and then photographed by me again and will then go on to the website which is run by the men of the family. More on that later when it exists!

It's horrid and misty murky today so I doubt I'll be able to go Christmas tree hunting. Mind you, you can never what the weather will do.

Five Treasuries, Dead Trees, Bind it All

It's been a bumper morning for Treausuries which started with an Etsy Convo in my inbox at the first early morning, bleary eyed check of email on the old iPhone while still warm and cosy in bed. Always nice on these crisp, white frosty mornings. This first Treasury here was the result of such a Convo this morning (I do like the trend of alerting shop owners to there presence in a Treasury, with the best will in the world, it's impossible to check them all). Anyway, here it is:

March of the Teddy Bears
by Baroness Bijoutery

Number 2 - a selection of lovely blues,

Color me Blue
by Tots Ta Teens Jewelry

There are some great pieces of jewellery in her shop, I particularly like this cute daisy ring for a bargain $8 - how can you possibly resist?


Number 3 - This one is really lovely and I'm no fan of pastelly soft pinks, but 3Fun has put together a splendid selection of items,

Peach Tree
by 3Fun

This ring from her shop is really fun Felt Ring with Message Box Charm for just $27



Number 4 -

Tell the World How You Feel
by Chicalookate

I've always liked Chicalookate's work, I think it's mainly because of the amount of graffiti images she has in her full to bursting shop, I've got a very soft spot for graffiti as you may have noticed and can't help be fascinated by the stuff. I love the selection she's put together here. I've a particularly soft spot for all of the Robot Pirate items, it's such a cute little figure and is on cards, costers, mirrors ........


Number 5 - This one is a stunner too, it's usually the reds and blacks which catch my eye and the print of mine that's in here is one of my favourites (mind you, I don't think I've sold one yet!), it's also my avatar.

Chiarouscuro
by Scrap Paper Designs

I love the Big Man Bag it's stunning! Scrap Papers's shop is full of great digital image sheets of many and various designs, but it was the pretty swirly leafy patterns which caught my eye



That's it for Treasuries for now - many thanks to everyone who liked my work enough to include it!

I was out and about in the very nice cold sunniness yesterday afternoon doing something that I talk about every year at this time. I've long wanted to photograph discarded Christmas trees as I find myself endlessly fascinated by them and how long they seem to loiter near dustbins, skips and front gardens. I was lucky as it was bin day in one area and there was plenty to photograph in the relative easiness of the dustbin area which was less awkward than photographing trees still on doorsteps or front gardens, I was half expecting to be challenged on several occasions by householders or passersby, but this didn't happen thank goodness. A mixture of walking and driving seemed to be the most efficient method, I only stopped when the light failed. I'll have another go today.

Here's a little taster:



Also, my Bind it All has been dispatched and should arrive by tomorrow!

First Front Page of the Year....

....and I missed it!

But thanks to the wonderful people at Etsy Front Pagers - Screenshots Group over on Flickr I've captured the evidence and to AMI Designs for including my work in her lovely Treasury.

So it's 2009.....

First post of the year - only five days in.

I've made and listed one print on Etsy from my recent trip to the Isle of Wight. We were mooching about a lovely old fashioned toy shop with masses of second hand/vintage/antique stuff, the place was packed and a glass cabinet of toy cars caught my eye. I behaved myself and asked the chap behind the counter if he minded if I took some photos and thus my print was born.

Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry.

So here goes another year which hopefully will bring new bursts of creativity for everyone who dabbles with such things. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Bind it All 2 and a few different wires to have a play with. I can't wait to get out to search out some lovely old Mills and Boon books to turn into a variety of journals, mind you, my old Snoopy and Mad books won't be safe either.

A very happy and creative 2009 to everyone who pops in here now and then and may all your clever and creative wishes come true for you!