Saturday 27 July 2013

Camera Talk!




One thing I really love is looking through charity shops, and in the past I have managed to find some pretty amazing gems in them. Today was no exception. One thing that I can't seem to resist doing is buying cameras, film camera's in particular. In the past I have picked up a lot and I mean a lot of camera's you could call it a hobby I guess. Anyway today I managed to pick up a beautiful camera  and this sparked the idea to do a little post about my recent camera purchases. 

 1. Minolta 404si with a 0.38m/1.3ft MACRO - £10 

Now I am very happy with this little guy. I found him today whilst having a look around and thought he looked too go to leave behind. Because I only got it today and I need to get it some new batteries, I haven't managed to test it out but I'm really looking forward to doing so.

 Sadly it didn't come with a book or anything so I don't really know much about it but I'm sure I can find something online.
Or if anyone themselves knows anything about, the best ways to use it I'd appreciate the comments.


2. The Quad Cam - £1 


This I got a couple of weeks ago from another charity shop in my town. This was very much a "awh this looks cute, I wonder if its real or just a toy" moments and once I took it up to the desk and the lady said it was a pound, I suddenly didn't care. I bought it. 
This I have managed to test out, or should I say my 3 year old cousin tested it out for me whilst out on a family day out. So excuse the pictures as there are a few fingers in frames and very wonky but I'm really happy with it. It works well, nice and simple,and great for just £1. I also love the tones and how it picks up colour well. I think this might be the kind camera that I just carry around in my bag with me at all times, see what cool images I can come out with. 





I think this post might be something I keep doing. I really enjoy collecting camera and testing them out and I hope you enjoyed reading about it too. Thanks! 

Cushion Crazy.


A couple of posts ago I did a picture by picture how to for making cushion covers and in the past week I decided to make a couple more. I've been really into patterns lately and when looking through the bag of material we have I noticed there wasn't really many patterned pieces that I liked very much and instead of going out and spending money, I thought about recycling old bedsheets, pillowcases and quilt covers. I came to this thought as recently as I had just purchased some amazing orange and white bedsheets from Ikea and wondered what kind of cool designs some of our old bedsheets had. Luckily we actually had quite a few and my mother was happy to let me cut them up and use them. 
I'm thinking about making a bunch of them and even getting some more cheap material to make a few more and sell some. My dad is thinking about a car boot sale later on in the summer and thought what better place to try and sell a few. Who knows, someone out there might actually like them enough to want some aha! 
It appears that at the moment we have only very old, retro looking sheets but I personally love them! The patterns and especially the colours in mish mash case (not sure what I would call that really). 





Let me know what you think, if you like the patterns, would be interested in buying something like this. Feedback is always great! 

Monday 15 July 2013

Holiday Snaps //Tunisia '13




 So a couple weeks ago I was in Tunisia, enjoying the wonderful sunshine, drinking cocktails, lounging by the sea/pool and just having one of the most relaxing weeks of my life. Although I did take quite a lot of photos, I honestly didn't really take much care and I mean that in the sense that they are mostly silly ones of us (Myself, Maria and Emily, the lovely ladies I went on holiday with) or the pool or just not very good photographs. I honestly was too busy being relaxed or having a nice time and forgot to try and get some really good photography but I though I would upload a few anyway just to share my holiday experience with you.


The holiday was lovely and relaxing as well as fun because of the excursions we were able to go on and explore the country a little more. The people working at the hotel were lovely and fun and there was never a dull moment. As much as this was a relaxing and wonderful holiday, I definitely learnt that I am more of an exploring/festivaly holiday kind girl. Never the less this definitely something that would do again, just maybe when I'm a little older. 


On our first day, lounging around the pool.

The view from our hotel bungalow.


Huts at the  Friguia Animal Park.

Me riding a camel! 

Zulu dancer at our dinner. 

Tunisian dancer. 
Authentic tunisian pottery. 



Market Fever: Africa's largest street market. 

If I had enough room in my suitcase one of those lanterns would have been mine aha!




The view at wine tasting, we may have gotten a little carried away!

Maria, myself and Emily.  
And thats all folks, I hope enjoyed this post. I am going to try and upload some more life and arty posts soon! 

Saturday 6 July 2013

Getting back into the swing of things.


I need to get back into the swing of doing things, creating and making and although these look like nothing and aren't particularly good it's a start.  I wanted to look at textures and layering, I'm really into collage work and mixing textures and medias and took this outside. I cut up a image found in a magazine and started placing it on different textures in the garden. Its rather odd but I personally really like how they look together and contrast of colours and textures. They aren't much but I thought I would put them up anyway. 

Thursday 4 July 2013

Emma Makes...


So today I decided to be productive, get the fabric box out and make a cushion cover. Now recently I become very obsessed and very interested in home interior and am constantly on the look out for something nice for my own room/house but being a student this is pricey and thought why not just make my own. So here we go, 7 basic steps to making my very easy cushion cover.  




1. Making the templates, I made mine just by sticking a couple pieces of paper together with tape, to make a 17inch by 17inch square piece of paper, this is so I have an inch all the way round to give room for sewing. (The cushion size is 16' x 16') 


2. This is simple, pinning together the templates to the fabric and cutting around them to get rid of any excess fabric. 


3. Pinning a fold for the overlap at the back of the cushion. (This is where you will put the cushion inside, this is optional). 


4. Pinning the two panels together leaving an inch from the end. 


5. Using the sewing machine and which ever colour thread you see fit, sew together the panels. 


6. On the overlaps sew 1/2 popper onto the fabric, this is also optional. This is just to keep the cushion inside the cover.  


7. Again this is optional, I just added a nice yellow button to the back of the cushion for decoration. Then all you have left to do is place your cushion inside the cover and your done. 


I'm planning to get some more material soon and make a few other designs and hopefully try and sell a few. I think something like this would make quite a cute gift or even just something nice to brighten a room. Nice, cheap and easy. Done!