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Thursday 16 February 2012

Mahoosive catch-up post of mahoosiveness!!

Oh dear. Oh my. I'm *really* behind now! I have utterly failed to keep up-to-date with uploading my daily pics and now I have a ridiculously large amount to upload. So once again it's time for a catch-up post.

Also, I have a confession to make. I did actually miss a day here and there - things have been busy here lately and also I was away from home for 3 days (and without my DSLR) which made things more difficult. So one or two of these pics are retrospective ones, taken on a later day. And one is deliberately so... ;)

Day 30 - Collection

I thought long and hard about this photo and actually took a couple of photos of other items... but let's face it, the one thing I really collect is... stamps! :lol: (And boy did I have plenty of choice of piles of stamps to photograph! ;D)

Day 31 - Wheels

With a toddler and a baby, there's always a buggy of some description folded up in the hallway, so the perfect opportunity for a shot of some wheels! :lol:

Day 32 - Accessory

I had a bit of a mini shopping spree for my pre-Valentine's weekend away in London with DH and actually bought myself some new make-up! Oooh pretty.... :D

Day 33 - Button

The buttons on the cordless house phone - of which we have several (big house!) and which I keep losing!!

Day 34 - Interaction

A rare moment of interaction between my two girls. Okay, I'll admit it, also a staged one - I asked Aimee to give Mia a kiss. But she did. And that's lovely. They get on mostly okay but they don't really interact a huge amount atm - Mia's still too little to play nicely and Aimee gets grumpy about it!

Day 35 - Liquid

Bottles of milk awaiting washing.

Day 36 - Rubbish

Hee. I rather like this shot. Look how pretty the bottom of the recently-emptied bin in my craft room is! Splattered with paints and inks and with an inky baby wipe lurking in the corner. :)

Day 37 - Packaging

Ahh. Good old Sainsbury's. I really must try and remember to leave some carrier bags in the boot of my car instead of collecting new ones every time I go shopping!!

Day 38 - Damaged

A pretty little crack in the wall/ceiling of the snug. Well, hey, the house is over 70 years old so the odd crack is inevitable. ;)

Day 39 - Fence

A recent acquisition. We got fed up, in the recent cold snap, of not being able to put the gas fire on in the lounge, for fear of the kids getting too close. Therefore, a big old fireguard was acquired!

Day 40 - Compact

This is one of the days I missed. Mostly because I was running around like a mad thing prepping for my trip away but also because I wanted to take a picture of my old Panasonic Lumix compact camera, which had been my pride and job until DH got me my DSLR. But... I couldn't find it anywhere. But DH found it for me the other day... so here it is. :)

Day 41 - Heart

This was the other day I missed. But thanks to my lovely DH, on Valentine's day I got the most perfect thing to photograph as a retrospective shot for this prompt. :)

Day 42 - Portrait of a loved one

This one was taken with the camera on my Galaxy Tab. And the lighting wasn't great... cos DH and I were at Jamie Oliver's Babarcoa restaurant having a very yummy meal as part of our pre-Valentine's weekend. :)

Day 43 - From your past

Bit of a bittersweet one this. This is a frame that sits on the mantelpiece in my lounge. The photo in the frame is my Great Great Aunty Mabel and my Great Uncle Tommy (her nephew), both sadly no longer with us. The small photo tucked into the frame is one of my older sister, also sadly no longer with us. So. People from my past. :(

Day 44 - Friendship

My two girls may not always get on great but they both love bathtime and when they do play together, it's lovely. :)

Day 45 - Candle

This candle, stuck into an empty wine bottle, was my sole source of illumination for about 2 hours when we had a sudden power cut a couple of weeks ago!! The lights went out just as I was taking the kids to bed and I had to leave the baby crying in the dark while I went to rescue the toddler, who was half way up the stairs, and then take the baby downstairs with me, in pitch black darkness, where I managed to find my phone and use its light to find and light this candle! I put both the kids to bed by the light of this solitary flame and then sat in the lounge with my one candle and my laptop (running on battery) until the power came back on!!

Day 46 - Bloom

I didn't get flowers for Valentine's. And, in fact, I rarely have them in the house as DH's hayfever is sensitive to most kinds of pollen! However, I did very well for gifts this year so I can live without the flowers. ;) So instead I'm sharing a pic of a scrummy piece of floral patterned paper (by Kate Knight) that came in a freebie pad with a craft magazine and that I am just itching to create something with.

Right then. That's me caught up. Off to take today's photo... and hopefully get it uploaded in less than 2 weeks this time! :lol:

Ali xx

Sunday 29 January 2012

Mahoosive catch-up post!!

Oh wow, I am SO behind in posting my pics! I have been taking them though... just not getting around to uploading and posting them. So rather than spamming this blog with multiple posts for each day I have missed, I'm gonna just do a big fat catch-up post and bring it all up to date in one go. Are you ready? *deep breath* Here we go...

Day 19 - Bad For You

I love these crisps a bit too much. Especially as they often seem to sell them on 2-for-1 etc offers! :lol:

Day 20 - Sign

A sure sign that I need to a) put my shopping away (before hubby gets home and sees it! :lol:) and b) stop buying more crafty stuff! Argh!! ;)

Day 21 - Fire

Mmmm. Creme brulee. Yummy dessert plus the entertainment factor of playing with the kitchen blowtorch. :D

Day 22 - Glowing

The familiar sight of the glow of DD2's baby monitor.

Day 23 - Hot

A bit of an experiment, this one... but I rather like how it turned out...

Day 24 - Motion

My two little menaces in motion, chasing bubbles. Love how the bubbles have been captured, floating in the air, in this photo.

Day 25 - Motionless

My beloved double pushchair, all folded up, motionless, nevermore to be used... cos we've put it on eBay (and some lucky so-and-so's just won it)

Day 26 - Free Choice

What's that you say? No prompt? Argh! But what should I DO?! :lol:

I opted for a rather funky shot of my Nestie storage in my craft room... I like how the set in the foreground is in focus and all the rest out of focus.

Day 27 - Amazing

Soppy I know, but the first thing that came to mind when I saw this prompt was my lovely hubby. So when he got home on Friday night, he got snapped. :D

Day 28 - Fluffy

Meet Fudge, definitely the fluffiest of my two cats (and named for the colour of her nose). :D

Day 29 - Kitchen Utensil

Love how the light shines off my lovely cheese-grater. :)

Phew! Done! Right... must try and upload more often in future....

Ali xx

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Day 18 - Pleasurable

There is one thing that gives me PLEASURE right now... the gas fire in my living room!



I'm fed up of being cold and I just want to huddle in front of the warm fire until spring comes! :lol:

Ai xx

Day 17 - Naughty

I left it late to take my photo again today.. partly because I've had to move my camera out of the living room as a certain naughty little baby has worked out how to pull herself up to stand at the sofa and hence could reach the strap of my camera and started trying to pull it onto the floor! Gah!

So I missed the chance to photograph said baby for the NAUGHTY prompt. Bah. Instead I went with a close-up of the very pretty box full of very NAUGHTY Thornton's chocs that I am currently ploughing through.


Diet starts next week, honest! ;)

Ali xx

Day 16 - Snack

The SNACK that I decided to photograph today was anything but healthy... but oooh it was nice! :)



A cheeky slice of apple and cinammon cake and a nice, hot cup of tea. Mmmmmmm.

Ali xx

Day 15 - Generous

My initial thought for Sunday's GENEROUS prompt was to go with a photo of the generous box of Thornton's my hubby got me for Christmas... but I did them just yesterday! :lol: I also have a confession to make... I was so wrapped up in pre- and post-Sherlock excitement on Sunday that I completely forgot to take my photo until well after midnight! :lol:

But I've always been a nightowl and as far as I'm concerned, it all counts as the same day until you actually go to bed and go to sleep. ;)

So here's my photo:



A view of the Welsh dresser in the snug, which contains what can only be described as a generous selection of single malt whiskeys (and a sneaky bottle of v expensive brandy)! :D

Ali xx

Saturday 14 January 2012

Day 14 - Guilty Pleasure

I like today's prompt - GUILTY PLEASURE. I was briefly tempted to go with a photo to do with the BBC's Sherlock as that is my current over-riding addiction... but you know what? I have no reason to feel guilty about being hooked on Sherlock - it's awesome! :D :D

So instead I went with a long-standing guilty pleasure of mine... Thornton's Continentals. Mmmmmmm...

This photo comes to you courtesy of hubby who, knowing very well what side is bread is buttered on, bought me a *humungous* box of these babies for Christmas (104!! He claims he's economising cos I'll still be eating them by Valentine's Day - hah, he wishes! :D).

Ali x

Friday 13 January 2012

Day 13 - Inside Your Fridge

This is what the inside of every fridge should look like, surely? :D

I must be honest here... we have two fridges. When we moved house 2 years ago, this house had a small built-in fridge in the kitchen island but we also brought with us our large American-style fridge freezer. Sooo... the smaller fridge kinda got designated the "booze fridge". :D So it's pretty much full of bottles of beer, wine, sherry, martini etc.

I figured that would make for a much more interesting picture than the contents of the desperately-in-need-of-clearing-out-and-reorganising main fridge. :)

Ali x

Thursday 12 January 2012

Day 12 - Translucent

Interesting prompt today - TRANSLUCENT. I considered various ideas for this prompt and then this item caught my eye in the kitchen:

It's a fancy bottle opener that my DH had left lying about on the counter and, lit from behind by the under-cupboard lights, I thought it looked rather pretty. :)

Ali x

Day 11 - An Item of Clothing

For today's ITEM OF CLOTHING prompt I tried to get a picture of my DD2 wearing the adorable new dungaree set that my grandma got her for Christmas. However, she's an energetic little thing and not prone to sitting still for long... so photographing her is something of an adventure!

This is one of the few shots that I got that isn't blurred from her moving right as the shutter clicked! :lol: I love the heart-shaped buttons on the dungarees.

Ali x 

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Day 10 - Metallic

For the METALLIC prompt I went with a (funky-angled) shot of the metal wastebin in my living room:

Part of the reason I was able to take this shot from below is that these days the bin pretty much permanently resides on the windowsill in the living room... as if it gets left on the floor, my 1 year old menace likes to tip it over and play with any contents! Argh! :lol:

Ali x

Day 9 - WATER

Day 9 kinda got away from me a little so I ended up taking my photo last thing at night, just before heading to bed:

It's a photo of the nightly ritual - the washing of the baby's bottles ready for the next day! :lol:

Ali x

Day 8 - COMFY

I'm rather behind again... I've been taking my photos each day but not had chance to upload them! So it's time for a catch-up.

Day 8's prompt was COMFY and I went with a shot of my lovely, snuggly dressing gown:

This photo came out... interesting. The dressing gown is actually a very dark blue but somehow the lighting in the room (and perhaps the fact it was lying on white sheets?) made the colour come out very light in the photo. And interesting, if unintentional, effect.

Ali

Saturday 7 January 2012

Day 7 - Drink

I was going to go with my morning cup of tea for today's DRINK prompt.. but after this afternoon with two whingey kids, I decided instead on a photo of this evening's snifter of rather expensive brandy. ;)

Ali x

Day 6 - Frost

I'm catching up again as I didn't get chance to upload yesterday.

Day 6's prompt was FROST. If I'd known that at 9am, I could have taken a photo of the windscreen of my car - except actually I couldn't as I was in a rush, dashing out to DD1's Rhythm Time class! :lol:

So instead I went with a shot of the inside of my freezer... well, one of my freezers! :lol: Good job there was a small built-in freezer in the kitchen when we bought this house as my large American fridge/freezer apparently does exactly what it says on the tin and is frost-free! :)

I really like how this photo came out... I had to use the flash and it's really caught the sparkle of the ice crystals.

Ali x

Thursday 5 January 2012

Day 5 - Exciting

I'm gonna admit this right up-front... I'm cheating a little with this one. But as soon as I saw that today's prompt was EXCITING, I just knew I had to go with this photo... even though I actually took the photo yesterday.

I took a trip to my local Hobbycraft yesterday, to cast a quick eye over the sale, and while I was there I happened to see this:

I took the photo as a way to remind myself of the advertised date! :lol: You must bear in mind here that I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old and, as such, I end up watching a lot of cBeebies! And Mister Maker is one of my favourite cBeebies shows... firstly because it's not insanely annoying (unlike some of the other shows!), secondly because it's arty and crafty and teaching kids to get creative, which is no bad thing (can't wait till mine are old enough to start crafting with me! :D) and thirdly because it's silly and fun and Mister Maker himself is entertaing... and, okay, you got me, not too hard on the old eyes either! :D

So I am EXCITED that Mister Maker is coming to town and I fully intend to take the girls to Hobbycraft to go and see him in February! :)

P.S. This photo was taken with my Galaxy Tab, rather than with my DSLR, hence the difference in picture quality.


Ali x

Day 4 - Pretty

Didn't get chance to post this yesterday. Not even a week in and already I'm running late! :lol:

The prompt for Day 4 was PRETTY. I was very tempted to go the "traditional" route with a pic of one of my gorgeous girls... but as it happened the postie was good to me yesterday and, as we crafters all know, there's nothing quite as pretty as new stash! ;)

These are some rather yummy lace edge embossing dies I ordered off QVC. :)


Ali x

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Day 3 - Ugly

Today's prompt was an interesting one. And a difficult one. UGLY.

I went with a shot of my feet. My feet are ugly. My little toes are an odd shape and the left one is all bent from childhood arthritis. My toenails are small and oddly-shaped and further mishapen by psoriasis. Blech. Ugly.

I've also been having a play today with editing photos in PSE 10 and messing about with some of the special effects. I thought it made a nice contrast to give my ugly feet photo a glamorous camera flash effect. :)

Ali

Day 2 - New

Day 2's prompt was NEW.

With two small children, one of whom turned 1 on Christmas Eve, and Christmas just gone, there are an awful lot of new toys in the house right now. My photo is of one of DD1's favourite's... her brand new wooden play kitchen that her grandma got her for Christmas. :)

Ali

Day 1

I uploaded the first two days' photos onto my craft blog each day but now I've got this blog up and running I shall do a couple of catch-up posts so that I've got everything all in one place.

Here's my day 1 photo:

The prompt was CELEBRATE (in honour of our host Suzie's 40th birthday!) and I chose to go with a photo of the remnants of DH and I's celebratory midnight drinks from the night before.

Ali

365 Photos - 2012 One day at a time

I've signed up to take part in Suzie's 365 Photos challenge for 2012 - the idea being to take one photo every day (based on a prompt provided by Suzie) and upload them all (not necessarily every day, though I'm going to try to do that).

I decided this project warranted a separate blog where I can post all my daily photos without spamming the life out of my craft blog, so... here it is!

Photos - and a little bit of the story behind them - will be posted if not daily then as close to it as possible.

Let's see where 2012 takes us! :)

Ali