Panduro's Box

From October 2nd I'm taking part in Habo's konstfest, a local show where the region's artists and crafters get to display their work for a week. The venue is perfect - Spinnet - a revamped disused factory where wool was once spun. I'm so excited about this and am busy preparing my jewelry and my photographs.

So when I found out that Panduro, the art and craft suppliers, had a major sale on, I couldn't resist stocking up. I bought some lovely cultured pearls and hammered metal rings which I know I will be incorporating into some new designs. I also couldn't resist Panduro's fyndlåda, or bargain box, a box filled with mystery items for 99 kr, but apparently with a value of at least 400 kr.

While I was pleased with my other items, I was less than thrilled with the contents of the 'bargain' box. It included many of my pet hates in jewelry supplies: wooden beads and my number one dislike - tacky gold-colored acrylic beads. Yuck.

But as Alice pointed out, these boxes are probably filled with items that haven't sold. i.e. stuff nobody else wanted or liked. So now I know.

My morning spot

Working irregular shifts in community care, I often leave the house early in the morning. So on my days off, I like to start the mornings on my veranda with a cup of coffee and the newspaper close by.

PS. These polaroid-type photo layouts are done in picnik.com, which Alice introduced me to.

Blueberry cupcakes

We've recently had a new addition to our little family, Bella the cat. She's come from a rescue centre and to be quite honest, this cat has issues. I won't go into them here, but let's just say she manages to redeem herself by being sweet and affectionate.

What was not popular however, was her nibbling the edges of almost ALL the cupcakes made with the wild blueberries Alice and I had picked in the forest, which were left out to cool. Or dragging one down to the floor, which she ate up in the course of the morning.

My first photo exhibition

The part-time course in black and white photography and darkroom techniques that I've been taking at the University of Jönköping has now come to an end. Our group is celebrabing this by exhibiting at Jönköpings gamla rådhuset, the old town hall in Hovrättstorget on the main shopping street of Jönköping. It's a great central location for us in an interesting building built in 1699.

Each member of the group has chosen 2 photos each to display, which in some way should compliment or support each other - a so called diptych. We had the opening on 29 May and the exhibition is on until June 10. See a few shots from the opening day here.

Such a cool photograph of my father, taken on the RAF base in Sudan, when he 24 years old. Restored using photoshop.

Virtual framing

Frosty berries, taken in December 2009 and framed in Photoshop

Back in the day

The snow is finally melting, but this was a winter that is going to talked about for a long time. But today my thoughts turned to summer when I was playing around with a few photos that I'd taken a couple of years ago on a beautiful June summer's day. Alice and I had taken the ferry over to the island of Visingsö on lake Vättern and had rented bikes to cycle around.

My digital SLR was still a new toy, and very few minutes I'd had to stop and take a few shots. Unfortunately, as is the fate of many of my photos, they have ever since remained unseen on my hard drive. That is until today, when I decided to play around in Photoshop to try and give a few of my snaps the vintage feel that is so popular at the moment. I saved them as photoshop actions which I can then apply to other photos in the future, but there are many available for download on the net. The site moderskeppet explains them here, with some links.

These are the results of the morning's endeavours:

New Year, Fresh snow.......

I really do live in a winter wonderland. Views from my veranda and front garden taken at 7.30am this January morning.

P!nk

Tuesday night A and I went to see Pink in Stockholm at the Globe arena - which had been spectacularly floodlit in pink especially for the occasion. The concert was fantastic - a carnival theme, not as in Mardi Gras, but more vaudeville and burlesque. I never actually realised Pink had such a great voice until now - she was pretty spectacular live. My favorite number had to be "So What", while Alice liked the low key acoustic version of "Mr President".

This was one of the occasions where I was reminded that I live in Sweden (if I should ever forget!). The Globe was full to capacity at 14 000 people and everyone seemed to be having a great time watching Pink. However this didn't manifest itself in the audience reaction, which at times was reminiscent of the polite applause the principal might get after the end of year speech in the school auditorium. I know that Swedes in general don't often raise their voices and are not prone to outbursts of excess emotion, but this was in fact a rock concert and shouting, cheering and screaming yourself hoarse are usually obligatory.........

September

....... in Sweden has been gorgeous so far. I've been out into the countryside of Habo to capture the mellow evening light.