new way to view blogger blogs...

found via How About Orange.

Did you know about this?  Dynamic views for readers.

For a flipcard view simply add /view/flipcard to the end of a blogger blog address...

http://www.fionacupcake.blogspot.com/view/flipcard

Just click on the blog title to view another blogger blog

A good way to get an overview of a new blog...

testing resized photos...

how does this look?  I've reduced the file size....

wow

St Michael's Parish Church, Linlithgow

Taken by my brother

colour

I'm currently on the look out for inspiration for The Woolly Brew Felt Flower Kits.

So I sat down with a stack of magazines and pulled out 3 pages.

Some paper weaving and a bit of photo jiggery pokery and I got these...

random photo effect = pretty picture

 

pages cut up and woven together

lovely blues and greys with red & tan

 I really like these greys, greens & blues, especially the khaki & turquoise

I couldn't resist some black and white

To follow this exercise through properly I should really make up some little felt shade cards...

Lanwei

My brother and I visited the Lanwei/Decaying End exhibition at St Andrews Museum.

Its the first solo photography exhibition by Stanley Wong (anothermountainman). The photographs are part of an ongoing project documenting abandoned, incomplete building projects from across Asia; building projects aborted when the frenzied property boom in China and surrounding countries collapsed in the late 1900s.

The photos are big with differing style - some with staged figures - but my favourites were the huge tattered buildings...

image from Chinese Arts Centre

new camera

I've been cutting felt flowers for the The Woolly Brew Felt Flower Kits.  I took a photo to post on The Woolly Brew website and used my camera.

on the view screen all the colours looked very blue - not surprising as the sky was snowy grey and the conservatory roof (my photographic 'studio') was partly covered in snow.

the camera battery died quite quickly (too many photos of Four Year Old's snowman) and then I remembered...

I have a new camera!!!

old camera, not as blue as seen on its view screen

new camera copes better with clashing colours?

both taken in auto mode and no photoshopping (not even an auto correct).

new camera

 

courtesy of brother.

I WILL learn how to use this camera to its full capacity!

Studio Journal - another colour pile

Trapped indoors on a very rainy day E and I did some cutting and pasting.  I ripped out some cold blue and juicy orange pages from a glossy magazine.  A popular colour choice in the June issue of Marie Claire.  I cut the pages into strips then squares and spread them out on a page.  I took a photo then did some 'manipulation'...

The original

 

I really like how some of the detail of the original squares shows through in the black and white versions.

Pom Pom - Samples

I'm revisiting my scattered pom pom idea.  I first blogged about it here in May 2009.

Ideas I've considered include embroidery stitches (long, short, knots, seed), fabric (applique?), fabric paint and stitches, and combinations of all of them.

I'm going to start with felt circles...

As I was laying these out I imagined a meandering black line doodling over them, circling round the shapes.

But first I played around with a photo editor...

Using the last layout I did some doodling with a pen...

snow post sampler

a work in progress inspired by this

2 previous samplers cut and pasted together...

another pile of colour

I had a subscription to Gardeners World magazine.

They were piling up.

So ahead of the recycling bin I cut them up - looking for inspiring colours, structures, textures.

I photographed some of the best clippings (scraps?) and I've used them here and here.

I'm not sure what to do with all the other bits but I created a quick colour wheel as a start (not much blue!)


and of course some photo editing (with an eye on fabric scraps and stitching marks...)

Sketchbook - 30 minutes with a glossy magazine

I don't buy many magazines nowadays, lack of time and lack of interest in the glossies has put me off. But every so often I indulge and ignore any feelings of inadequacy and all the ridiculous claims...

On the left are the ridiculous claims, the right is what I NEED.

no really I do!

I also glued down some 'stripes'.


Which of course after a little photo editing produced this...


and this

Painting

Whilst painting with Big Girl (who is currently fascinated by colour mixing) I knocked up this little masterpiece...

this is the best thing I have ever painted. EVER. Usually when I paint the colours go muddy, my use of colour is predictable and its all very flat. But I love this picture, painted on copier paper using poster paint and a crappy brush.

in a few minutes!

I'm not entirely satisfied by the quality of the materials used (painted on copier painting using poster paint and a crappy brush) so I used my current favourite tool (Microsft Picture It!) and applied some effects...

this is one of my favourites...

inspirations in nature - part 14

inspirations in nature - part 13

Exhibition 2008 - Through Miller Terrace (2)

a bit more manipulation...