Photo Scavenger Hunt 2011 - May

 

:: a butterfly ::

in the tattoo studio

:: a bicycle ::

planted by the Scavenger Hunt Gods

:: a red door ::

on the Waterloo to Southampton train

:: a cartoon character ::

dangling from Jasmine’s bracelet

:: an emergency vehicle ::

plenty to see outside St Mary’s

:: think vintage! ::

a gift from Emma for hosting the jewellery workshop

:: something blue ::

what’s not to love about a blue sky?

:: a street light ::

outside Kew Gardens station

:: texture ::

not a great photo, but this bronze fennel adds an amazing texture to my back border

:: a sign of the zodiac ::

my sign, Gemini

:: an interesting local building ::

am I cheating? It is in London and I do live in London, so kind of local, but definitely interesting!

:: a portrait in black and white ::

my favourite of me and Tom, propped against the mirror in the hall

It rained…

…at last

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It probably wasn’t great that I was walking back from the station in it and got soaked to the skin, in spite of having an umbrella.  But at least I haven’t got to do my watering tonight! 

Craft and cake…

…is a regular feature at my house on a Tuesday evening. I just realised that I have never blogged about it!  Probably because the ladies who come don’t blog and don’t know that I blog either.  For ages I had been asked to set up a craft club and so I made it my resolution for the new year and five months later, it is still going strong.  Personally, I think it is the cake that keeps them coming!  My promise to my ladies was that for their commitment, I would bake every week.

Yesterday, we had an extra-curricular workshop, hence the early morning baking.  Following the on from the fun I had at Kristina’s with Ms Silverpebble herself, I knew my ladies would love it too.

The concentration around the table was a living thing! And four hours later, there were five very happy bunnies all proudly wearing their own creations.

 

 

This was the table as I lured them away from it with the cake I had made.  A fabulously creative mess!  And here they all are, scoffing the cake to get back to the task in hand! I have never known such a short cake break

 

 

Emma has such a wonderful selection of goodies to choose from, the hardest part is picking out what to incorporate into your design.  I just couldn’t resist this beautiful button.

 

 

I also spotted two of Emma’s tiny, tiny silver clay flowers which I snaffled to add in too.

 

 

I spent most of the afternoon crafting a choker with it, offset from the centre, and I love it!  I know I will be wearing it throughout the summer.

 

 

Emma – thank you so much for such a fun afternoon!

 

There’s baking…

…being done so there must be crafting…

 

…back soon!

Hey You…

Eleven months after buying the tickets, the day finally arrived.

 

Last night I saw a 67 year old man perform The Wall.  He hadn’t performed it for nearly 30 years and his voice finally fitted his music.

I saw Pink Floyd in 1994 at Earls Court and this felt like the missing link.  Aside from the music, the show was fabulous – an absolute treat to the senses.  The iconic Teacher was menacing, as he was lowered down on to the stage.

 

 

As the show progressed, a wall was built, hiding the musicians, onto which projections added to the visual impact.

 

 

The finale was the wall coming crashing down.

 

Finale

 

Given the chance, I would go back for every night of the tour to hear my favourite song ever.

 

 

Faded…

As I predicted, the bluebells had largely faded from the woods I visited on Sunday. The air was still heavy with their scent though.

 

 

 

Somebody had been busy building in the woods!

 

 

Luckily, there were still some drifts of blue on the roadside and they seemed particularly vivid.

 

 

 

From the garden…

It’s been sporadic, but I am still trying to avoid buying cut flowers, choosing to find things* from the garden to bring inside instead.

 

 

I have been collecting interesting jars and bottles to put them in.  It hasn’t gone unnoticed either – a friend popped in the other day with three little glass bottles saying that she thought I’d like them for flowers!

 

 

It seems that I enjoy finding wild flowers just as much as things I have intentionally planted and this green alkanet is spreading around the garden at the moment (warning! it stings like crazy!)

 

 

Then, I have to confess to stopping in the lane that leads to my local nursery to pick some cow parsley to add some frothiness.

 

 

 

Add a couple of bluebells that are wasted growing in the tiniest of gaps along my drive and my kitchen windowsill is looking good.  In my opinion.

 

 

And so does the table. (The eggs have long gone…)

I’m going on my annual bluebell walk tomorrow, but I think we may be disappointed as everything has flowered so early this year…

 

*scroll down to the end of the post!

Make a wish…

Close your eyes… blow the dandelion clock and make a wish…

 

 

…I wish I could sit amongst the buttercups more often…

 

 

 

 

The Secret…

…to hanging perfectly straight photographs (or any other type of pictures)…

I promised I’d share my secret and so here it is:

 

:: the ingredients ::

 

no more nails and some 1” x 1/2” batten

a level, preferably a long one!

 

:: the method ::

I cut the batten into roughly 6” pieces (making sure they would all fit behind each of my different size frames) then drew a level for the top line of my bottom row.  Using the no more nails, I stuck the batten pieces roughly in place of each photo – I lined them up on the floor below to give me some idea (plus I’d laid them out previously to get my final layout).  I had to wait patiently for 24 hours before I could then hang my frames on the battens.  They are literally just balanced on the batten!

Then I drew another level above this row (I balanced the level on top of the frames and drew along it!). I then rested each of the top row of photos on top of the level and marked it with a pencil to show where to stick the next bits of batten.  24 hours later and up they went! 

:: the result ::

 

I used what I had to hand (read, my camera memory card) to ensure an equal space between each photo and for the two lots of double height frames on the top row, I repeated the process of hanging the lower photo and then marking position of the batten for the top ones.

So, you see, nothing fancy, just good old display tactics! 

Thanks Allison, for the tip!