The Luckiest

Just wanted to share a few pictures of some lovely surprises I received in the last couple of weeks. The post title is also the name of a Ben Folds song I love, and kind of sums up how I've been feeling this week - so grateful for having the most amazing family and friends who make me feel so very loved.

My sisters went to the London Comic Con the other weekend and came back with a little surprise for me, which they even wrapped up all pretty! For those of you who don't know, I kind of collect pez, and I am also totally in love with The Wizard of Oz.

polka dot paper = favourite

ignore the dodgy photo of me - but LOOK AT THE PEZ!

there's a full set of all the characters!

And my Mummy found me these amazing vintage books at the school where she works. Totally in love with all of them, though I think the illustrations in the book of nursery rhymes makes it my favourite.

all four of them together; Nursery Rhymes, School Atlas, The Practical Householder, and Vogue Knitting Book.

vintage Vogue knitting patterns

Practical Householder guide from the 1950s (love the cover image)

school atlas from the 1960s with an embossed cover

book of nursery rhymes from the 1970s

my favourite page

inside cover = LOVE!

And last week Miss Rachie gave me the most awesome set of postcards each with a different illustration from the cover of Little White Lies, the film magazine. I have some photos to share, but am saving them for a post of their own as they are so cool.

ACTION!

Last week I resolved to finish the test film from my action sampler camera, as it had been lying dormant for the best part of a year. Well, to cut a long story short I finished it up, got it developed, and here they are. Or at least here are some of the photos. There's a reason why I run test films through cameras when I first get them. Lessons learned with the action sampler include; don't put your finger in front of the lens (this applies to all cameras), only shoot when there is a lot of light (considering buying the newer version which has a flash, and therefore will make this point moot), get close to what you're photographing, and things with bright colours look way better than trees and grass on this baby.

run Jasper run

possibly my favourite photograph of all time - taken in Thailand

pool in Thailand

attack of the thumb

love those shoes

Christmas at Carnaby Street (see what I mean about colour?)

Japanese lanterns

Graduation jump outside the Barbican

jumping at the bus stop - check out the height I got!

Miss Rachie is coming over this evening for a sleepover/Wii dancing/Indian food/gossiping so am busy tidying, cleaning, and generally organising myself. If I have a spare moment though I plan on blogging some of my Diana Mini photos. Keep your eyes peeled people. xxx

Another Catch Up Post

Somehow I am still playing catch up on uploading photos of various days out to my blog and Flickr, and this falls into that category. About a month ago me and my fellow adventurer Kate went on yet another trip to East London with the intention of going to a jewelery exhibition at the Museum of Childhood. However it turned out not how we expected, and we didn't stay very long, so to make up for it we had ourselves some good old fashioned fun as depicted below.

ogling pretty bunting

yummy drinks from Leon

self portraits as usual

finding a new fave t shirt

looking for cute doors

looking for nice grafitti

the somewhat ill fated museum trip

nice typography makes everything better

staring at pretty clouds for hours because we were too hot to move

finishing the day up with dinner at Wagamamas

I also have some film photos to share over the next couple of days, which I am very excited about as I am just starting to shoot more on film and am pretty pleased with how most of them have turned out. Oh, and my sister and I did a mini mini shoot a while back and I just remembered, so I'll be blogging some of those too! xxx

Bournemouth

A couple of weeks ago me and the family (my Ma, Pa, two sisters, Nanny and our pup Jasper) went for a day trip to Bournemouth. Cue lots of listening to the Glee soundtrack with my sister, laughing at my Nanny's funny sayings, drinking Shakeaway, hitching rides in the pup's wagon, LOTS of walking, taking photos of beach huts, and sitting in deckchairs.

the beach: early morning

blue beach huts in a row

lonely deckchair

Diana mini: favourite

fish and chips sign

tempted to buy this: ZOE!

slightly terrifying zombie teddy

hot air balloon and sun glare

Sammy the seagull (purchased whilst in Bournemouth and dropped and smashed 7 hours later)

Sammy (RIP) and the Diana mini

And of course, as always, there are more photos on my Flickr. Check them out. Anyone else heading to the British seaside this summer? xxx

101 Things About Me (Part 3)

Right, here is the (I like to think) highly anticipated third and penultimate part of my 101 things about me. Oh and I thought I would add, seeing as lots of the people who read this blog get here through my Facebook rather than through blogs or blogger, if you fancy leaving a comment please do. You don't need to have an account or anything, you don't even have to leave a name, but please do as I love to know how is looking at this little blog of mine.

51. I hate karaoke.
52. However I love singing in the shower. I sing show tunes. Current favourites are 'Don't Rain on my Parade' from 'Funny Girl' and 'Defying Gravity' from 'Wicked'
53. I can't write in blue ink. It looks really weird. Black ink all the way.
54. I have about 20 different types of black pen on the go at all times. I ALWAYS have some in my bag, by my bed, in my pockets, and generally secreted around the house. Nice pens are my addiction.
55. I am obsessed with New York City. I hope to live there at some point.
56. I have weird fixations with colours. It mostly manifests in terms of clothes. I can't wear certain colours together because I think they don't 'go.' It's only things I'm wearing though - I often see other people wearing mismatched colours and love it. Must be a psychological thing!
57. I used to want to be a Forensic Scientist because I was obsessed with CSI Las Vegas.
58. I still crack the same jokes as I did when I was 16. My sense of humour definitely hasn't changed!
59. I can really hold a grudge. My parents never taught me to forgive and forget! It takes a lot to make me really upset, but if someone does I will pretty much never speak to them again. So don't cross me. Grrr.
60. I secretly LOVE really trashy 'reality' shows. The Hills, Hogan Knows Best, My Super Sweet 16, Brooke Knows Best, Rock of Love, Simple Life. Basically everything on MTV or TMF.
61. My dream is to have a super cute house and fill it with vintage tat (as my mother likes to call it), to the point where you can barely move because there is so much stuff everywhere. One day...
62. Dogs are better than cats. Always.
63. You would hate me if you met me when I'm tired. I'm a serious grouch if I don't get enough sleep.
64. I plan days out around what food and drink I want to have.
65. For about 8 years I didn't own a watch, and now I feel naked without one on!
66. I don't own a hairbrush. Well, not one that I use anyway. They make my hair static and horrid. Although if I could afford a Mason and Pearson one I might be tempted to start using one again...
67. People watching is one of my favourite things to do in the whole world.
68. Every night before I go to bed I read. Even if it's just a page or two, I have to read something to clear my mind.
69. When I was younger I got hit by a car. For real.
70. I hate tourists. All of them. They make my life miserable.
71. If I could go anywhere in the world right now it would be to Japan.
72. When I like a boy I HAVE to tell them. It's an overwhelming compulsion, and I just figure why not?! Unfortunately this usually ends badly. Stupid boys.
73. I am useless at estimating distances, weights, measurements, and people's age. So please don't ever ask me how old I think you are, as I will probably offend you.
74. I was born 6 weeks premature, and I nearly died. But I didn't, obviously.
75. I used to be in love with Enid Blyton books and always prayed I would be kidnapped or shipwrecked on a remote island and have to forage for food and make a house from heather and bracken. I still kind of wish that actually...

Phew, only one more part to go! And I am so excited right now because my brand spanking new glasses come tomorrow!!! I will take some photos and post them asap. xxx

Bargain Bin

I promised a few posts ago to share some photos of the stuff I bought at the last boot sale I went to, and here it is. I'll keep it short and sweet as I have a ton of fairy cakes to make for my Mum (she's a teacher and it's her last day at school tomorrow before summer, so she wanted to take in some cakes for her class.)

this is the second of these I have found, but the colours are different

vintage 80s rub on transfers (pretty sure I used to have identical ones)

vintage poodle figurine

two more polaroid cameras to add to the family (both use 600 film so fingers crossed I will be able to acquire some soon so I can use them)

French edition of Le Petit Prince (with really beautiful illustrations, some of them are even full page ones)

vintage 50s pink poodle toy, and ceramic Minnie Mouse photo frame

a ton of vintage floral fabric which the sweet lady let me have for £3! I need some ideas of what to make with it... I might make some large bow brooches from some of it, but there's quite a lot of yardage to use up.

And possibly the best buy EVER. I found this Lomo LC-A camera for £2! I got a serious case of the shakes in my hands when I was paying for it, and had to resist the urge to do a little dance on the spot in case the stall owner suddenly realised his error and demanded I give it back! (For those of you not in the know these cameras sell on Ebay for about £150 to £200, and new models are on the Lomography site for about £250. Bargain.

Final Project

For our final project we had to rethink our definition of a 'book' and create a piece using the images and information we'd gathered during the week. Mine was mostly inspired by the trip to the Imperial War Museum (which I should add I'd never visited before, despite living in London my whole life, and which is an absolutely amazing place.) Rather than creating a bound book, which I felt was too restrictive, I wanted to make individual pieces and gather them together loosely in a box, like a collection of memories. In the museum there were lots of display cabinets were particular relics of people's lives were grouped together, and I wanted to recreate that feeling of seeing the remnants of someone's life before you in my piece.

I took the idea of a journey in two ways; both as a literal one, with the image of a plane, and also as a journey from childhood to adulthood, using the image of a young boy, and also using the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, a story of a literal journey but also a philosophical one. The colour palette and materials used were kept deliberately muted and limited to create and aged feel. I repeated not just images and words, but also materials, particularly masking tape, lined record card, brown paper and envelopes, and graph paper.

This beautiful tin was bought from a car boot sale, full of old buttons, for 20p.

Close up of the open box. The beige coloured tissue paper is actually a vintage sewing pattern (for a skirt in case you were wondering!) I lined the box with it, leaving the top long so you had to actually uncover the contents, sort of like opening a present.

Out of the box in a pile.

The objects part of my piece. Clockwise from the top they are; a vintage cotton spool with a length of paper wrapped round it with a quote from 'On the Road' on it. A vintage pocket watch case with an old black and white photo in it, tied to a tag made from music paper with the words 'I'm Late.' A glass slide frame with used stamps framed inside. An embroidery frame containing vellum paper and the words 'Change. Explore. Create.' in Letraset.

Experimenting with combining typography and buttons. Some embroidery on card. That recurring plane image.

Doilies, blue watercolour paint, and Regina Spektor lyrics.

Stamping, card frame mount, old road maps, vintage file dividers, and some very intricate typography.

Oil pastels on lined record card, brown kraft paper, stencilling, photo corners, black and white photos, and gold letraset transfers.

Vintage sewing paper, luggage tags, popper fastenings, vellum paper, white pen, photograph of a light switch, music paper, and some painting.

Masking tape, a cut out photograph, newspaper cuttings and typewriter font.

Pages from a children's book, a lot of patience, an old watch face, brown envelopes, and dymo labels.

Vintage negative, paper clips, squared paper, and painting on top of photos.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my work as much as I enjoyed creating it. Seriously, it was so much fun, and so inspiring. Do let me know what you think :) Oh, and pretty soon I will be posting my 100th blog post, and it's going to be pretty special, and will probably involve some sort of giveaway! xxx