Handm@de Craft fair - Cambridge, UK - tomorrow

Four of the lovely ladies that I've met through Etsy have organised a craft fair in Cambridge and it's all happening tomorrow. I bottled out of having my own table but the Etsy UK Street Team is having a team stall so I'm popping along to give support and man the stall for a little while. Judging by some of the posts on Twitter and Flickr, there is a fair amount of last minute panicking going on which is one thing I'm not missing after all the stress I gave myself for my initial venture into the world of craft fairs! LOL

I'm just going to enjoy myself - talking, eating and taking sneaky candid shots of all the lovely stalls and stallholders. The doors open at 11am at The Guildhall in central Cambridge, postcode is CB2 3QJ if you want to google map it. If you'd like a preview of some of the sellers, have a peek at their blog here.

More Squirrel Action!

This little fella made me jump out of my skin today! I'd just entered the park and stopped by a litter bin to scan the area for squirrels (it's very close to the duck pond) when he popped out of the bin. I wasn't quite quick enough to get a shot of him half in/half out of the bin but I crouched down and talked to him a little and he came almost within arms' reach before dashing off to the picnic table.

Another lunch break in the park

Such a lovely early Spring day today so out came the pocket camera and off to the park I went :) I spotted some early blossoms so it was time to try out the macro and super macro modes (always my first love) and I have to say, considering they are handheld and there was a hint of breeze, I'm actually quite pleased with these two.

I also spotted these willow shoots dangling in the river - I can't tell where the tree meets the reflection and I was there - love this in an abstract way!

And, of course, the cheeky squirrels were out in full force! I think I saw about 6 at various points along the path and another 3 or 4 down by the duck pond where some small children were feeding the ducks. They are mighty brave these little fellas but oh so cute too.

Grey Day, Camera at Play :)

So today was one of those grey days where you don't go out without a raincoat or an umbrella but even so, it was quite bright so out came my new little pocket camera and off to the weir I went.

Although the weir was running pretty fast, the river itself was almost mirror-like - reflecting the dark grey clouds looming over us.

I flipped this one over but I think it's quite difficult to tell that it is 100% reflection!

So how many people do you think are standing at the rail? Actually, it was just me. Used the colourise function in photoshop to give it a hint of blue tone - I was getting fed up with all the grey.

My Latest Addiction!

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a news snippet talking about a new website being launched. I noted it down to have a look-see as it is the sort of thing I am curious about and I thought my nephew might like it too. Last Sunday, I finally got around to having a look and was instantly hooked! What is this amazing website, I hear you thinking. It's called GalaxyZoo2 and it's basically an online database of thousands of images of the galaxies out there in our night skies. They are asking for people to help them classify the galaxies as it seems the human eye is a better judge of the subtleties than a computer program.

Here are a couple of beauties I've been asked about this week.

Yes, there are a lot of images of blobs but believe it or not, even they need to be classified because as technology improves, it may be possible to get a closer look at them. The site is huge but interesting. The sign up form has a tick box to say you are over 5 years old (!!) so pretty much anyone can have a go. There was one young man on the newbies forum this week who 'found' this one - how exciting would that be?

Apparently it's a planetary nebula called PN G164.8+31.1 - rather boring name for such a wonderful thing. Anyhoo - go have a look and take your kids with you - it's interesting, educational and pretty much child-safe from what I've seen. Click on the pictures to take you to their info pages - you can zoom in and out and have a look around if you'd like :) Have fun!

Spring is coming!

I can tell! The trees are beginning to bud, the daffodils are getting going and my mood is lifting. Over the last couple of winters, I have really noticed myself 'switching off' during November-February. Last year I spent the best part of 3 months playing an online game called Toontown rather than do anything with my photography, my online shops or even my stock portfolios. This year, it's been The Dog Whisperer on TV and stupid games on Facebook but we've had 3 days of sun this week and already I'm beginning to feel more awake. Hopefully the longer days and warming temperatures will wake me up a bit more so I can get on with doing stuff.

In the meantime, here's a couple of little cheeky guys who cheer up my lunchbreaks - captured on my new little point & shoot camera which is small enough to keep in my handbag or pocket at all times.

Being a 10mp camera means that not only are the file sizes huge in comparison to my older cameras but I can also crop very hard and still have a good size shot. It only has a 3x zoom so although I was only a few feet away from the squirrels, they were still quite small in the image so 1 hard crop later and it looks like I was much closer :)

Having said that, these little critters are so tame (or brave perhaps) that I'm pretty sure with a bit of patience and some tempting food, I could probably get them to eat out of my hand. That's a project for some warmer, drier days though when I don't have to dash back to the office.

Craft Fairs - I must be mad!

As you can see from my previous post, I was prepping for my 1st craft fair. Well, the day before the fair, I went for a job interview - really good timing with all my stuff everywhere, all the last minute bits running through my head and then having to be 'professional' for an hour. It seems I can multitask because I did get the job and started the next Tuesday after the fair.

Anyway, so, how did the fair go? Pretty well I think, for a 1st attempt. I managed to find Debsmuddles' house to pick her up en route which was just as well because she knew the area and got us to the Community Centre on time. We went in and found the lovely Trish from Re:form, one of the organisers of the event and a fellow Etsy seller. Set up didn't take too long because I'd done the sensible thing and had a practise at home the day before.

Then the doors opened and I pasted a smile on my face and prepared to meet my first ever face to face customers. There was a fairly constant flow and after a while, I relaxed and just chatted to anyone who stopped long enough to look. I sold about 30 cards over the course of the day which covered my table fee, fuel and snacks but it was fun so that was OK.

One thing I did discover - people didn't seem to want to rummage or flick through the prints in the basket or the cards in the card stand. But that was OK - I also worked out that neither the basket or the card stand was going to fit in my suitcase for the next craft fair in London anyway!

Photo of me at Handmade, Leigh-on-Sea, courtesy of Reform ©

So I started a new job and had to print a few more cards to replace the sold ones, ready for my next outing to We Make. This time, Debsmuddle came to me and we caught the train together. My case was fine for wheeling around but I hadn't taken into account all the stairs on the Underground and we hadn't checked on maintenance problems. It worked out OK though because the train terminated at Stratford which also has the Central Line tube station - just the one we needed - straight through to Tottenham Court Road. Ten minutes walking later, we found a Starbucks next to the American Church where the fair was being held. Grabbed a coffee and went to set-up.

We Make was organised by a lovely group of ladies who happen to be fellow Etsy sellers so it was with lots of squealing and many air kisses later that we got going. Debs was at the far end of the room from me so I just quietly got on with it. No basket or card stand meant that I had to rethink my display - luckily I had asked for a wall behind me so I blu-tacked a few of my larger prints up there and leant one very large print against the wall from the table. My magnet displays fitted in between and I laid all my cards out on the table.

The carol singing started and the doors opened and we were ready to face the public. I stayed by my stall for a fairly long while before wandering round to see/meet the other sellers. I was really strict with myself and didn't splurge on anything even though I could probably have maxed out my credit card quite easily with all the lovely stuff on sale. I'd also borrowed hubbys' little camera so dashed round to get a few shots - I can't believe I didn't take a shot of my own stall though - I'm hoping someone else may have. so here they are - just a few of the lovely ladies selling at We Make - I haven't put them all here but there are more on my flickr stream if you would like to have a look :)

All in all, a fun day out, meeting lots of lovely Etsy sellers but very tiring and boy, do I know how heavy that suitcase was - here I am two days later and I can still barely lift the kettle, my muscles are aching so bad!