Pairs: I Made, She Made

Today I have a couple of photos to contribute to Helena's weekly Pairs series. This pair is called "I Made, She Made" and it compares two very different tangled threads.

I had already been tying myself in knots, yesterday, over a promised parcel which didn't arrive, and some tedious form filling, and a dozen other annoyances you don't need to hear about, when I sat down to find this:

What? What? Alright, so I knew I had been living dangerously, but this was too much. I had knitted one sock of a man sized pair and, when I went to start the second, I realised that the ball of wool had been factory wound the other way round. If I knitted it the way it was, my stripes would be coming out in the wrong order. The answer is to unwind the entire ball and wind it back up again from the opposite direction. So that's what I did. But not properly, only on my hand, because I don't have a yarn winder. False economy. It was really quite tangled. 

So I made a start, untangling, and the sock wearer himself arrived home from work. "Never mind," he said. "That's exactly the sort of job I need for this evening. And while we're at it, would you like me to go and get fish and chips for tea?"

Which made everything a lot better. Just as he left, I turned to look out of the window. And this is what I saw:

Somebody else had been doing a bit of weaving; but with much better results. And then I had to laugh, and fetch a camera. I had to take the picture through the window. I hope she didn't mind my intrusion...because she has my admiration. These things can get away from a girl very easily.

More pairs over at Helena's Creative Maven here

Pairs: The Sublime and the Ridiculous

Every Wednesday I follow along with Helena's photo pairs project (you can find out more about it here) and by the end of the day, each week, I'm determined to be on the look out for a good pairing to contribute. I finally found one when I was looking over my pictures from that other great photo event of the summer: Rinda's Photography Scavenger Hunt. Find an ornate door knocker, she said. So I did. But I couldn't help keeping an eye open for any more examples. I found both of these in Norway

The sublime:

From the door of a traditional Stave Church. I don't usually take pictures inside churches, but this was on the way out

The ridiculous

Not a door knocker, you say? Well, it's hung on the front of the door where the knocker would be and he was just begging to have his picture taken. I'm sure he'd like to think his antlers were pretty ornate.

From the sublime to the ridiculous: my surplus to requirements door knockers. You'll find more pairs over at Helena's!

Pairs: The Essential and the Extra

Today I'm adding my two pictures worth to Helena's excellent Pairs photography challenge. I'm calling this pairing...

Essential and Extra...

...because when you go to order a needle in exactly the right size you need, you can't help but add a little something extra to your basket...

or is that just me?

With huge thanks to Sandie, who last week sent me the lovely vintage sock pattern you can see in the picture. It made my day.

Tagxedo: Making Great Cards Just Got Easier

This started out as an experiment and turned into a little project. Have you heard of Tagxedo (click here) ? It's a word cloud creator, a bit like Wordle only even more fun. As soon as I tried it out once I could see lots of possibilities.

You can paste in any text you like, choose a shape, colours, fonts, themes, whatever. I put in a few lines of "Jingle Bells", picked out a tree shape and came up with this:

Both photos today edited in RadLab

Then I gave it a bit of From High In The Sky and it gave me this:

which I'm pretty pleased with. Both of these are printed out at 7x5 and put into little Ikea frames.

But they would also make great cards or Christmas tags. And there's more: you can upload a photo and shape a favourite bit of text round it. I'm thinking of snaffling some schoolwork and turning it Tall and (Not So) Small shaped. That would make a different kind of birthday card next year. Or a poster..

I'm feeling RADical

Let's hear it for early Christmas presents! And for brothers who suggest them. Friday night, Uncle Dave dropped by to see if there were any Fajitas on offer. There usually are, Fridays, so he wasn't exactly taking a wild stab in the dark.

 "I'll just sit here quietly and not bother you til tea is ready," he said, "because I can see you are conflicted."

"How?" I asked.

"Because you've got your don't-bother-me-now-I'm-feeling-conflicted face on."

Of course. He was right, though. I was conflicted. Torn. Troubled. My free 30 day trial of RadLab was about to end. I had told myself I wouldn't get sucked in. That I would just enjoy it for a month, play around with as many photos as I had time for, and then walk away. But it wasn't turning out to be that easy. RadLab is a lot of fun. RadLab is photo effects made easy. Like this:

Macaroons made by The (Not So) Small One

or this

or this

I had just begun to explore what it can do with its "stylets" and "recipes", But I did have a plan. The Black Friday sale. And that's where Uncle Dave came in. I was still deliberating when he arrived, and eventually he said, "Would you like it as a Christmas present?" and I said "Yes, please," and hit the button. So now I'm posting pictures of girly macaroons in the hope that he will scroll past and not realise I'm using my present early. Do you think it will work?

If you have willpower (and Photoshop or Elements) I do recommend downloading the 30 day trial and having a play around. I think you'll like it.

So, all I have to do now is remind you that it's Storytelling Sunday next week. The final one of the year! We need to talk about what's next: I had wanted to finish it up on a high, but you have been telling me you would like to keep it going. Let's think about it - keep it the same? change it up? Let me know what you feel like doing..

The iPose page

 I know what you are thinking. You're thinking it's the beginning of September, so I'm is bringing out the school uniform photos. Actually, you'd be half right. If you have been hanging out here for a while you might remember the pictures from a post I did about taking iphone photos. The (not so) Small One and I had fun trying out some tips on posing and thses pictures were the results.

I have been meaning to put them on a page for ages. But the real reason for this page is that big embellishment. The over sized cream flower. It came with a kit from Midnight Rooster and I've been saving it up, wondering how best to show it off. It's something a bit different, isn't it? One of the nice things about getting homemade embellishments in a kit, I think, is that you can have a bit of a look and work out how they are made. So, you never know, you might see another big flower popping up on a page. Or two.

After all, I might have another iPhone page to make now that I have discovered The iPhoneography Blog. If you are a phone fan, check it out - every new app reviewed; advance news of new ones ("my week in pictures" anyone? I like the sound of that); challenges too. Definitely worth a look...

Don't forget! Storytelling Sunday this Sunday. Everyone welcome.



The Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

I can't help it. I'm ready for Autumn. It's my favourite time of the year and I'm not putting it off any longer. I've been out looking for blackberries:

and I've brought my purple boots out of storage

and I've even started knitting an autumnal coloured Professor Plum cardigan for Uncle Dave

What can I say? I fell heavily for Fall many years ago. It was my dad's favourite season too, so my Mum says. A couple of brand new sticks of blackboard chalk in his pocket and he went back to school after the Summer, ready for anything. I'm kind of feeling the same way myself this week. September, I'm ready and waiting..

You have been asking about the actions I used in Thursday's post. They are from Florabella's "Color and Haze" collection. I used "Milk and Honey" on Thursday and today I tried "Sweet Color". Any other recommendations now I know how to install them?

Work, Waiting and Winding Roads

The Summer holidays are drawing to a close here at High In The Sky. As the years flick past time seems to fly faster with every new school bag we choose. For the last week we've been in that in between state before the holiday ends and term begins, sewing on name labels and catching up with friends who have been away.

This morning we reached the last staging post before the new year. The Tall One received his exam results and he has done us proud. Very, very proud. All that work and waiting has seemed like a long and winding road at times

but now we know he has a solid foundation for his final two years. And we are off to celebrate!

Then we'll be coming home to finish up all the holiday projects we've been experimenting with. The wooden skeleton kit (Christmas present) is nearly done. The make-your-own-soap is more than completely done (don't overheat it - turns out like chewing gum). And the bedroom tidying is - ongoing. "There's a story behind every one of these things," said The Small One as she sorted. Oh yes. All that's left to do now is have another look back through the summer photos. There is an autumn of scrapbooking ahead...



The Summer Scavenger Hunt Part Two

I've been out and about looking for more photos, thanks to Rinda and her Summertime Photo Scavenger Hunt

Not quite a "roadside memorial" but certainly the most interesting roadside anything I've seen lately. I'd love to know more about it

A building made from metal or glass.  Airport at 5.30am - with a soft urban action to give it a bit of atmosphere

Cardoness Castle Scotland. Our first holiday stop



Driving down England on the way to our holidays gave us plenty of chances to photograph rain

person sketching

But at least the sun shone when we got there. We found this little graveyard tucked away on a quiet hillside. There were lots of "Dahl's" buried there:relations of Roald's, maybe? I've left a  corner of our ship (to the right) in this picture to remind myself how I wondered about the our intrusion in such a peaceful place

And that's as far as I've got. Still no sign of a unicycle yet, but I haven't given up hope!

Five Things Five Years From Now

Five things you know won't be around in five year's time, Amy said. Photograph them, blog them. whatever.

Mmm. For a whole pile of tricky reasons I'd need a day to explain, thinking about things not being around (especially at this time of year) would make me melancholy. Too melancholy.

I had to find another way. Fast. So, I offer The Accountant you five things I hope I still won't be looking at if he knows what's good for him five years from now:

The glass splashback in our kitchen. I don't like it, but it was a gift from the kitchen design company after things didn't go very smoothly with the fit so we kept it. I want to replace it with creamy brick shaped tiles. Soon.

An entire bed full of rocket? Please, I'm begging, grow something else. Anything else.

NOT AS DANGEROUS AS IT LOOKS. It's not connected to anything, it's not live. It's just a cable with no place to go, left by the builders. Usually hidden by garden seats, but it still has to go

I know. These are getting uglier. I don't want bins on view, sitting on mud. I want a proper fenced in bin store. Without the mud. Very soon.

I made a start on this one myself. I finally replaced our old bath mat. You don't want to know what the old one looked like.

So, that's my list. With a bit of luck it won't take us the full five years to finish up. And when we do you'll be the first to know.

Pass The Book: March Adopter And More

Wow, it's not much of a day here. It's bleak and dull. Exactly the kind of weather for staying in with  for books and blogging!

If you have landed here from Blogging For Scrapbookers - hello and welcome! Come on in and make yourself at home. Actually, make yourself known - I'd love to get to know you and return the visit.

It's Pass The Book day today - all the information is here if it's new to you. I'm going to be sorry (sort of) to see this month's Expressive Photography head off on its journey. There is still so much to learn! It has inspired me in a different kind of way than I expected. As soon as I started to read, I remembered a clipping I had which I'd meant to share with you before now. It's on tips for portraits with camera phones.

Yes, I'm going back to basics! With the help of my delightful assistant (who felt her maths homework could wait) I bring you our iphone portraits.







The BEFORE shot. Inside and without any thought or plan. Can we do better?



TIP ONE: Get the light right. A cloudier day gives a softer, more flattering light and stops squinting into the sun. If you are at a party - try beside a lamp which will light you side on



TIP TWO: With no variable focus you get no depth of field. As simple a background as you can find, then



OR get in nice and close (because iphone photos don't enlarge well anyway). Which brings us to TIP THREE - a bit of makeup! "I should be so lucky," said The Small One. So, moving right along:.



According to Cindy Crawford, you need big hair! - hair looks better bigger on camera, she says, so flip your hair over and ruffle it up a bit before you pose. I think I see what she means



Or, finally, failing all else, dress your shot up with an app. This is good old Hipstamatic once again.





So, what do you think? We have our favourite already picked out...



Which brings us back to the book. I've picked out the adopter for this month (I'm going to have to learn how to use a random number generator. I've just chased all the little bits of paper round the kitchen) and it's...



Deb from Paper Turtle. Deb, I'm glad it's your turn - I'll get it out to you just as soon as I can. In the meantime, lets take phone photos. Lots of them.



Pass The Book: The Seventh

It's the middle of March, there's a hint of Spring in the air and I'm looking outside, wondering if the daffodils need their photo taken.

Yes, I have a photography boook for you this month. It's a beauty:

Expressive Photography: The Shutter Sisters' Guide to Shooting from the Heart. If you are already a Shutter Sisters fan, this one really need no explanation. If they are new to you, then head over to the blog and prepare to be completely inspired.

Then come back and cross your fingers! I loved this book: it's definitely one I would love to see landing back on my mat when everyone is finished with it. I've been through it once, and I'm hoping for another read this week before I make the draw.

Same rules as always - it's all here. Newcomers are welcome. Oldtimers please continue to keep me updated when you send or receive a book. That way we can all track the ones we are interested in. So, it's over to you: leave a comment if you would like to be involved..

Bringing The Background Forward

It's Thursday again, and that means another new lesson up at Yesterday And Today. Wow, it has me thinking, this one. Backwards and forwards, the "then" and the "now". It's all good, though.

I've been taking a closer look atlots of older photos, even found some I hadn't scanned yet, and it has brought me back to something I wrote about here a year ago. It's that tension we have today: the choice between cropping a photo to produce a beautiful image; and leaving in the background.

Still, to me, the background can be the best bit. All those little details we thought we'd never forget - the colour of the front door, the crazy wallpaper - I'm glad they are still there to make me smile.

Not that I have a picture of everything I'd like. Think about it. You might have photos of the people you want to remember; but do you have a photo of the little things? Is there anything you conjure up with your mind because the photo isn't there? I have a few:

• My Grandma's kitchen. Her "scullery" with its proud collection of china teacups carefully displayed on shelves built by Grandpa
• My last schoolbag. Blue, roughweave army surplus. My mum hated it. I loved it, with its pin on band badges and scribbles marker messages from friends
• My cereal packet puppet theatre I made when I was six. ...

I've been asking the rest of the family for suggestions and The Small One brought out her very first pair of glasses and asked for a picture. That's exactly the kind of thing I mean. Let's see what else we can find..

Gotta Craft Sale starts today...Gotta Craft sale starts today...Gotta Craft Sale starts today..Gotta Craft

New Looks

Today I've got a favour to ask. From High In The Sky has got a completely new look! If  you are viewing this through your Google Reader, please, would you click through and let me know what you think? I'd love to know. Change is good; change is fun. But it can be a bit scary. I think I'm still waiting for the dust to settle..

While you're here, in honour of New Look Day I've found some different ways for you to give your photos a change of style:

funphotobox.com is the one to use if you've always wanted to see your other half look a bit more like Johnny Depp (and while you are there, you can see yourself in a whole new light too).

funny.pho.to has some nice montage effects, including a pretty heart

and

befunky.com has a staggering array of effects to get lost in. My favourite so far is "stencil" - give it a go and you too can Banksy yourself

So: New Look Day. Does it work for you?

Dumpr Fun

Although I'm always looking for ways to take better photos, it's true, I'm also always on the lookout for things to do with the (very) many poor photos I already own. I'm not good at deleting them (it's so final). I keep them, hoping I'll find a way to offer them a reprieve. And today I have one! It's Dumpr. I hadn't ever really played with silly photo effects until I found this. It's not a new idea, I know, but these are fun and quirky - and great for a disguise.

A very badly blurred shot in bad light?

Make it a sketch

A portrait with too much in the background?

Crop it tight and make him a star

A horse with an ego the size of a house?

Let him believe people really are looking

The very worst of the worst?

Little E, you've been papped

There are other things you can do too: I like Rubik's Cube and Christmas Ornament. But what I like best of all is that if you print them out, you have a story to tell. Maybe not the one you thought you had, but a story all the same. And you can scrapbook it.