WOYWW Week 897/117 - On Photography and Cameras

Hello Everyone, 

Happy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. Hope you have a lovely day - whatever the weather.  

On my desk is the scrapbook world's newest recruit! (Photo taken yesterday), She's a quick learner.

This has now become a bit of a change for me - a layout with just one photo! It's of my only niece and I just have this one photo of her from that time, about 1984/5. This page just had to have flowers, butterflies, hearts and the colour pink - all so appropriate for such a pretty little girl. The spending freeze is still going surprisingly well and I've not felt the need to buy anything except the essential adhesive tape runners. The oldest supply used is the alpha set for the title - Dear Lizzy's 'Serendipity' foam letters from 2011!

I'm finding it increasingly wasteful to create a page with a single photo. Mainly because, as I may have mentioned before, living in a small flat means there is so much less room to store scrapbook albums, but there's also the inescapable fact that I have hundreds of photos to deal with. I've been sorting through all those photos, binned the ones that are no longer relevant for one reason or another, e.g. if I don't recognise the subject or it's yet more of the many beautiful plants in the beautiful gardens we visited. There's only so many pages of flowers anyone needs in their albums!

So, knowing this, the aim from now is to get as many photos on one 12x12 page as possible. I've completed Shimelle's 3x4 Photo Love class which has helped enormously. This page is an example of what I've learned. The photos are all of my late husband's mother holidaying on the Isle of Man. To make scrapping them easier, I used my camera to photograph the original, very old photos and printed them all out in 3x4 size. Much easier than trying to work with the variety of sizes of the originals. 

This page is going into an album I've been putting together for Alan's nephew. It's one of several I'm putting together for various members of my family, like my niece in the page above. Another way of dealing with the limited space I have for my own albums. 

Of course, I wouldn't have this problem if I wasn't such a keen amateur photographer. I just can't help myself. Ever since I watched my father taking snapshots with his old Kodak Box Brownie, I've been interested in all things to do with photography so found this exhibit in Callender House, Falkirk, fascinating. 

The photos are a record of the people and industry that were once seen in the area. 

Most of the pictures in the exhibition were taken with this Mamiya 545 from 1975, using the Kodak Tri x 400asa film. I believe the film is still available today.

It's totally different from this, my first camera bought in 1964 - an Ilford Sprite. I remember being so thrilled to have saved enough from my job in the bank to buy it before I went off on my first solo holiday that year. It's a world of difference from the digital cameras I have to choose from today - either my Nikon D3400 Digital Camera, or even the one on my mobile phone. 

As Silver has taken the starring role already today and after that trip down memory lane, I think it's time I left you with my usual message. If you don't already do so, I urge you to join in with WOYWW. You can do this by clicking on this link, Sarah's Craft Shed, where you will be made most welcome.

Take care and have a fabulous week.

Elizabeth

WOYWW Week 896/116 - Trip to Callender House & The Falkirk Wheel

Good Morning Everyone,

Happy WOYWW to you all. I hope it proves to be a good day for you wherever you are, here in the south west of Scotland it's cool and damp after the storms yesterday. Just how I like it. :) 

Correction. The heavens have just opened!

On my desk today are the supplies together with a selection of photos for the next layout. I'm trying to decide which photo(s) to use for my niece's album. Decisions, decisions! On the back to the left is a wee pile of scraps and a very scruffy stamping block. I intend to punch circles out of the scraps. Circles often come in handy as the base for clusters and it's so much better than tossing them in the bin. The block will get cleaned. 

Oh, and I've just notice on the far left, by the table lamp, is a tube of Nippon ant killer. There was an attempted mass takeover from a nearby nest of flying ants last week. I've nothing against ants when they are outside but to have them swarming all over my home, that's entirely different.

I've had less time for scrapping this week but here's one of the last pages made.

One of my niece for her album. The inspiration for this layout came from a sketch by one of my favourite YouTube scrapper's, Moira O'Reilly. I think she might have said it was her first attempt to create a sketch. Of course, I tweaked it a bit - I always do. The supplies were all I found in one of my kits - not a lot, but enough. 

What kept me from the craft room was that my daughter and son-in-law decided it was time to make the trip to Falkirk that had to be abandoned a month or so ago when the car broke down. That episode was recorded in this page. 

This time all went well and we were able to not only visit the beautiful Callender House in Falkirk, but also visit the Falkirk Wheel - a fantastic feat of engineering that might just be the eighth wonder of the world! I took 'hundreds' of photos of course. Here's a just a very select few,

I could post so many more from Callender House but best I stop now. Here's a couple from the Falkirk Wheel.

All such a brilliant experience and one I can heartily recommend to any of you planning to visit Scotland one day. 

I almost forgot, here's one for those of you over the pond. Smores cake on sale in the cafe in Callender House. It is the first time I've seen it outside the US! 

Note: I did not try it this time. Next time, for sure!

Finally, here's Silver keeping an eye on me in the craft room. 

That's me for this week. As usual, if you don't already do so, I urge you to join in with WOYWW. You can do this by clicking on this link, Sarah's Craft Shed, where you will be made most welcome.

Take care and have a fabulous week.

Elizabeth

WOYWW Week 895/115 - New Desk Shelving

Hello Everyone,

Happy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday to you all.

I've been busy changing things around on my desk this week. 

I even managed to overcome my dislike of flatpack furniture to make up the shelving you can see at the back there. I was so fed up with the decreasing size of the area I had to work on. Something had to be done and this is it. Look at all that space! 

All I have to do now is keep it that way. 

With all that clearing and reorganising I haven't had much time to do any scrapping but I did manage to create just this page. 

The photos are of Rothesay Castle on the Isle of Bute taken just a couple of weeks ago when we visited the island. It's a ruin but it is still possible to cross the moat to look inside. 

Yet more lovely old stash and leftover scraps were used in this layout. The base paper came from a very old collection from Craft Sensations, 'Capture This Moment'. It's another of my 'so old it's not dated' supplies. 

Most of the embellishments are from Simple Stories collections, 'Simple Vintage Meadow Flowers ' and 'Take Note', and one of the sets of Alpha letters from Alison Kreft's 'Sprinkled With Love' is also undated - purchased years ago from an online store now closed. 

There's been a lot of changes in the scrapbooking world in the 30 years I've been scrapping. It makes me sad to think of all the lovely makers and suppliers that are no longer operating. 

It's just as well I have this little one to make me laugh. She's got no sense of modesty!

That's me for this week. As usual, if you don't already do so, I urge you to join in with WOYWW. You can do this by clicking on this link, Sarah's Craft Shed, where you will be made most welcome. 

Take care and have a fabulous week. 

Elizabeth