Photo Walks & Camera Bags

Last year, after I was given my Canon Rebel Xsi, I quickly decided I needed to be able to tote all my camera related things with me. I did some quick online shopping and bought a Canon bag, that holds my camera, lenses and all of the accessories I have so far.
But, what I really wanted was a bag that I could put just my extra lenses in, with easy/quick access. I do a lot of photo walking in the country, city, wherever possible, and I like to take more than one lens with me when I head out. So, I began looking around on the internet for something simple for just a lens or two. Then I found it. The Shootsac. Perfect. 

Then I saw the price. {$175} Whoa sister, that’s a lot of cash for a bag. I could get another lens for that amount. I’m sure it’s a great bag, and well made with great materials, just not in my budget. I don’t make money with my camera, and I can’t justify that kind of cost. What I really liked about the shoot sac is the way it rides behind you, out of the way when you shoot. So, I continued to look around on the internet and brain storm. I did find a few tutorials for making a shootsac-type bag from a laptop case, and other ideas. But, it still wasn’t going to be a frugal project. I kept thinking and looking. Then I remembered this place, it’s an online Military Surplus store, and I found this.

Cute, yes? And the price? $7.99, now that’s more like it. This military surplus store happens to have a brick and mortar store near me, so I was able to go in person and check out all of the bags. Oh, my, they have tons of canvas bags, different colors, sizes, you name it. The $7.99 cutie came home with me. Then I set about figuring how to construct a liner for the inside to hold my lenses.
This is my first bag (that I still use to store everything) and my new quick grab bag.

I purchased about a third yard of cute fabric that coordinated with the bag, gathered up a few old computer mouse pads, and started playing. This is what I ended up making.

I cut the mouse pads into four pieces the size I needed, then measured and cut the fabric to cover them. I essentially made a large casing from the fabric, and slid the pads inside it. I covered another small piece for the middle divider, and hand sewed it to the two pieces. Once completed, I hand sewed it inside the bag so it would stay put. I also covered a pad to line the bottom of the bag.

Now the bag safely holds two lenses with room left over for a water bottle or whatever else I might take along. My camera body will also fit in the space.

The two pouches on the front can hold my lens cloth, and lenspen, my cell phone and car keys. I can wear it over my shoulder like a purse, or cross it over my chest and wear the lenses behind me out of my way. It works perfectly for me.

I also made a matching camera strap cover from the same fabric. I had it autographed by Ree when I met her when she was in town on her book tour. 

If you are looking for a sturdy bag, for almost any purpose, try a military surplus. I was surprised by the huge selection of bags at our local store.

Linking up here Creations by Kara for

and linking to Funky Junk Donna

 

Before & After a Photo Edition

Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.

- Al Bernstein

These photos are from a photo walk I did a few weeks ago at a local park. I finally found time to work with them.

~ After ~

Before

~ After ~

Before

Perhaps one day I'll master that cool mouse-over technique.

Have a great weekend.

Edited to add: Thanks to Kim Klassen for continued inspiration and wonderful textures.

Summer Browsing

A bit of what is left of my collection.

One of my favorite pastimes is to page through my collection of my favorite home decorating magazines. In my lounge chair, in the shade, with a cool breeze, and a cold beverage in my hand is my favorite way to enjoy them. In the recent Flood of Twenty-Ten I lost over half of my collection of 10+ years of decorating magazines. Mostly Country Home, Country Living and ME Home Companion. *sigh* I also lost ALL of my home decorating books collection. I’ve simply told myself that it’s all part of my journey to simple living.
Yes, well . . .
Soooo, I’ve been getting my vintage decorating, eye-candy fix from some decorating books. I work in a library, and on occasion I’ll have a look in the on-line catalog to see what new decorating books have been added. Do you use your library? Do you take advantage of inter-library loan? You should it’s an amazing resource and for most people it’s free.
So, let’s get to it. I thought I’d share some of my recent favorites, I began to write a bit of a review of each book, but honestly, you can read all about them on Amazon if you are so inclined. So, I’ve settled on a simple listing of my favorites I’ve checked out this week.

At Home with Country Bringing the Comforts of Country Home, 2010, by Christina Strutt.

Ms Strutt runs Cabbages & Roses, a fabric company based in London specializing in rural printed {think to die for linens} fabrics. Gorgeous country linens are featured in almost every photo in the book. Ms Strutts previous books include Vintage Crafts, Vintage Chic, Cabbages & Roses Guide To Natural Housekeeping and Home-Made Vintage.

The Comforts of home. Thrifty and chic decorating ideas for making the most of what you have, 2010 by Caroline Clifton-Mogg.

Another book full of country/cottage style, lots of white with vintage goodness featured. The rooms featured are full of ideas for incorporating the very best of what you already have, keeping it simple and making your home a welcoming refuge.
Ms Clifton-Mogg has additional decorating books in print: All In The Detail, Tuscan Escapes, Provencal Escapes, Italian Country Living and French Country Living.

French Country Style at Home, 2010, by Sébastien Siraudeau.

My oh, my. Page after page overflowing with photographs of interiors “where contemporary comfort blends with vintage flair.” Mostly simple, uncluttered vignettes featuring items and materials that have that aged patina we love. And French. Did I mention it’s full of interiors of French homes?
Mr Siraudeau is a photographer who also has a number of other books in print including French Style at Home and Vintage French Interiors.

I highly recommend checking out all of these books, lots of inspiration to be found. What about you? Have you found a new book or magazine full of vintage goodness?  Share it with us.

Is it Summer yet?

Summer heat is finally here in full force in the Midwest. And just in time for another surprise from the Cottage – no central air conditioning. That’s right peeps. I tried to dial up the cool air on Friday. Nothing doing, not having it. After a stifling hot weekend of no air, the repair man informed me today it looks like it’s the A-coil. {as if I know exactly what that is}

Good news? It looks like it will be covered by my home warranty.

Bad news? It looks like it will be five days before he can put it in.

Did I mention it’s hot here?

I’ve been trying to keep up with Creativity Boot Camp this week. Here are a two of my recent photos.

Fluid

Fluid – Having the property of flowing; consisting of particles that move freely among themselves, so as to give way before the slightest pressure

Drizzle

drizzle - very light rain; stronger than mist but less than a shower

~ and that's what you get nearly every day in the summer in the midwest 

 

Hope you are catching some cool breezes in your neck of the woods.

Thrift Store Shopping & a French flower bucket

I haven’t had much time for yard sales or auctions lately, but I did manage to pop into the thrift store a few weeks ago. I picked up a pretty little white creamer & sugar bowl and a milk glass mixing bowl. I have taken the doors off a number of my kitchen cabinets and am looking to replace some of my less attractive dishes with white dishes. This little bowl fit the bill perfectly.  The creamer & sugar bowl matches my white Better Homes and Gardens dishes I found on clearance. I love them, but there are no extra serving pieces for the set.

And after seeing this project on the Graphics Fairy blog, I had to grab up the flower bucket to try my own. Karen gives step-by-step directions for creating this cute flower bucket.

Have you been to the Graphics Fairy Blog? Oh you really should. Karen has the most wonderful graphics. FREE. Yes, free. Just grab them and get crafty. And too? She has a Brag Monday link party. Other crafty ladies post their creations using her graphics. Oh, the inspiration!

I used the same graphic as she did, and I printed it out on regular computer paper, then I used a ColorBox chalk pad to age it. Once it was on the bucket I lightly sanded it.

Now go grab a graphic and get crafty! Leave a link in the comments if you create a project using a graphic from the Graphics Fairy, I'd love to see it.
Have a great week.

CBC Day Two

Okay, so yesterday was day two of Creativty Boot Camp. Yep, I'm a day behind. Day two random word prompt was Picnic. Oh, that’s a good one. Seeing as I have an obscene amount of vintage picnic baskets.  I’ve always loved picnics. From spur of the moment throw something in the bag picnics to elaborately planned with plates and napkins and tablecloths and the food, oh yes, the food kind of picnics. And a bottle of wine or two thrown in for good measure.
If I’m going to shoot out of doors for the CBC assignment, I have to accomplish it in the morning before I go to work. So, quickly I grabbed a favorite vintage basket, rummaged around for some things in the fridge, grabbed up a quilt and into the backyard I went.
These are my two favorites from the shoot.

I added a layer frame to this shot today for a little fun. Wouldn’t it be fun to be in Paris having this little picnic? Yes, please.

If you are interested in seeing what other Creativity Boot Campers are submitting, you can have a look here.

And did I mention that this two week e-course is free? I know. Crazy right? And it’s just day three, you can easily join in the fun. And? You can choose any medium to work in. It doesn't have to be photography.

Working on this assignment help me to slow down and think about lighting and composition while I worked. As I was rolling around in the grass trying to get just the right angle, I was thinking I was glad I was in my backyard with a bit of privacy. And then I saw Jenn’s submission and read her description. Too funny.

Off to work on todays assignment.

Creativity Boot Camp

Somehow, in the course of my blog travels, I happened upon this Creativity Boot Camp e-course. I’m so glad I did. It just began today, so it’s not too late to join in. Our Coach for the course is the uber talented Madeleine Bea.

From the blog:

Creativity Boot Camp is a two week intensive e-course designed to take your creativity to the next level. The course will consist of daily creative conditioning exercises to shift your life patterns allowing for a full embracing of your creative selves leading to higher levels of creativity.

Each person chooses one artistic medium to work in for the duration. Each day there is a creative word and journal prompt. It is recommended to have two notebooks, one larger one for daily journaling, and a smaller one to keep with you to record creative ideas when they come.

Journaling is always a struggle for me, so I decided to make my own notebooks. Perhaps I’ll be more likely to use them regularly. For the e-course my chosen medium is photography. I have been lazy about using my camera and am looking forward to an inspirational push to get it going again. I found some Bo Bunny photography related scrapbook papers and covered inexpensive composition notebooks with them. I’ll continue to embellish them as I go through the course. I love the papers, they have a cool vintage vibe with a photography theme.
The note books are easy to make, and the small purse size notebooks make great gifts. Last year I did a whole basket of them for favors for a bridal shower.

I used my paper cutter to cut the papers the size of the notebook covers. Since I don't have a fancy adhesive machine (I'm not even sure what they are called) I used my favorite spray adhesive.

It's easy to apply, just give your paper a light spray, and it holds great. You can also give a light spray to the cover of the notebook, for extra hold. Just make sure you have newspaper or something under the paper when you spray it. This stuff is seriously sticky.

After the paper is adhered, I sanded around the edges. Then I used a small Color Box chalk inkpad to ink around the edges for a bit of color. These notebooks are so fast to do, and you can embellish them with ribbon, buttons, rubons, stickers, anything really.

Finished notebooks.



Today’s word prompt for CBC is Ivory. My first thoughts went to all of the vintage ivory colored items I have around me. I grabbed up a few that are meaningful to me and had a photo shoot.

That's a photo of my Dad, and I think it has a lovely faded ivory color to it. On the right you can see part of a shelf that belonged to my Mother. It hung in her room when she was little.

This old shoe button hook belonged to my Grandfather. The ironstone platter is one of my favorites. It has aged to a beautiful old crazed ivory patina.

Have a great week.

Gypsy Caravan

The Gypsy Caravan, a flea market of over 300 vendors, is held annually on Memorial Day in St Louis. This year was the 38th annual and was held on the grounds of the University of Missouri – St Louis.
The weather was hot and sunny and as usual, there was a big crowd. Since I was still recovering financially from the flood of twenty-ten, I didn’t have much of a budget for shopping. If I hadn’t previously asked my son and his Fiancée to go along, I would have just stayed home. So off we went. I had a small amount of cash in my pocket and The List of three things I was hunting for. If it wasn’t on my list, no matter how much it called to me, I had to pass it by.

The List:

• {cheap}Vintage cameras
• Shelf / coat rack (or vintage woodwork that could be made into a shelf/coat rack) (similar to this one)
• Chair (s) for my dining table. I have one pressed back chair at the table. That’s all. One chair. I would like to eventually find more, similar, chairs and paint them all white. I’m patient, finding one at a time is okay by me. After all, there is the thrill of the hunt.

I wasn’t able to get many photos of the booths, it was just too crowded.

I liked this large chalkboard, but also? Check out the furniture behind it.

I really wanted to get a pic of a booth called the key of A, her jewelry was fantastic. She makes them from actual keys from old typewriters. Oh how I wanted a piece like this,

but, not on The List. She does have an etsy shop, check her out.
I wanted one of the galvanized buckets this dealer had. Not on The List.

And what about this pretty? I could think of so many used for this. Nope. Not on The List.

I did finally score a camera. Another box camera, an Agfa.

Usually you can do a little fiddling with these old cameras, and actually shoot film through them. Okay, my nephew can do a little fiddling, and set it up so I can shoot film through them. I have an old Brownie on my shelf, that he fixed up for me, loaded with film, waiting for me to be inspired.

Lots of walking in the sun, lots of looking, looking, looking. Finally I saw what I was hoping to find. Just look at this little pretty. Perfect vintage patina, worn with generations of use.

The kind of patina you can’t fake. There’s even a little repair that makes it totally unique, gives it personality and a history.

Look at the finish on the paint. Here.

And here.

Oh my, just look at the color peeking out from the layers of white.

And the best part?
The dealer didn’t have just one of these little beauties, not two, not three, but FOUR matching white cottage chairs. Good thing I put one blank check in my little travel wallet, just in case I found that one thing I couldn’t live without. In this case it turned out to be four things. The dealer agreed to drop the price by $5 per chair, and they came home with me.

They really are perfect for my table and space. And I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been thinking about painting my table, at least the pedestal, and maybe the top. Now that I have the chairs, I really want to paint it. What do you think, paint just the pedestal or all of it?