Pretty new things

Yay! The Lumix is back from the hospital! I was very pleased to get it back until I noticed it was leaving a dark spot in the bottom right-hand corner of all the photos as you can see from this un-edited photo. I checked the lens to make sure it wasn't something that could be wiped off. Unfortunately not. Looks like I'm stuck with editing out the spot in photoshop for the time being. Damn.

So if you're not familiar with how much of a different editing photos makes, you can see the difference between the top photo and the next one (post-editing). I didn't do anything fancy (apart from getting rid of the spot, which wasn't all that fancy anyway). You don't realise how big a difference a bit of editing makes until you look back at the original and go "Er, yuk! How did I ever think that looked nice?"

Basically the thing that made the biggest difference to these photos was warming up the tone, followed by upping the exposure a tad, plus a tiny nudge up in saturation and contrast, and possibly a touch of brightening (depending on the need).

I'm beginning to feel like I'm starting to get the hang of this photo business. Still have to improve on consistency a bit, and definitely learning that the more shots you take, the better. Sometimes you think you've taken pretty much the same photo, but the difference can be subtle enough to matter.

So the next few are shots of the new laptop sleeve colour-scheme. I think I almost like this one better than the first one. It's a bit sunnier and brighter.

I think I liked how I did the photos a little better in the first one (in red and navy blue) though.

I need to get cracking this week and get some new stuff into the shop before my review on the NurseryLove facebook fanpage. It seems like a pretty good fan page, so hopefully I might get a bit of through-traffic to my shop. I want to have plenty of things for them to look at!

It's in the genes

I just received a really cool email from my aunt. Apparently my interest in sewing and fabric addiction is in my genes!



She said:

".....I don't know if you realised ...but you have a fairly long family history of interest in sewing! Mum's mum [my great grandmother] was a tailoress in Melbourne!

I have often wondered what inspired me in my interest in fabric and sewing as mum didn't know how to sew...but was a fantastic repairer. I also don't know if you realised that I have a fabric addiction and have boxes and boxes!!! and I still can't stop buying fabric!"

Wow....

Sometimes I'm just blown away by how much genetics counts for how you turn out. I also really love finding these things out about family - it's such a great link to your past.

It's definitely something I'm becoming more interested in the older I get. I find myself curious about my great grandparents, and great-great grandparents. What were they like? Were they anything like me?

I'm actually lucky enough to have a family history book put together by an aunt (the sister of the aunt who sent me the email), which is full of personal accounts from the time of my great-great grandparents (most of which is recounted by their youngest daughter, who recently passed away, aged in her 90s). I only got around to reading it properly a few months ago. It is a bit strange looking at the book and all the black and white photos of people who have long-since passed away, and seeing parts of your own face staring back, and reading similarities between their personalities and your own.

It's something I've often thought about doing for future generations of our family - writing a series of personal accounts and memories of all the people in my family. I think it would be lovely for my children (if I ever have any) to be able to read about their ancestors, right back to their great, great, great, great grandparents.

Anyway, back to my aunt who sent me the email. It's funny because I've often been told that I look like her more than anyone else in the family, I have the same cooking style, interest in making things, and now apparently we both have a fabric addiction! I wonder how much more like her I'll become as I get even older?

The reincarnation of a Coles shopping bag

While out at a leisurely breakfast on Saturday, Ryan and I were chatting about laptop sleeves and designs of a more unisex nature. It was suggested that hessian might be a bit more of a manly fabric than cute floral ones, but I didn't really know what it would be like to work with, or indeed where to get it.

Well, we had to stop in at Coles on the way home for some dinner supplies, and on the way in, I happened upon exactly what I was after!

It was the perfect size, and not only that, the Coles logo was not emblazoned on the front, but only the sides, making it perfect for my new project!

Well, the shopping bag got well and truly destroyed in the process, but was eventually reborn as.......

Ta daa!!!

All I can say is that Coles had better not discontinue these shopping bags as I have absolutely no idea where to get the hessian from otherwise!

ambette - now with added facebook!

Just a quickie - I've just started up a facebook fan page, so if any of you are on facebook and would like to be a fan, you'll find it here.

I'll be updating it with new items in my shop, plus other new of what I've been up to with the shop, and whatever else I decide to add to it. It's a work in progress.

Anyway, it's good for those who want to stay up to date with what's happening without having to search specifically for my shop or blog. Any news will turn up in your facebook feed as a brief update - great for all you busy and important people!