Let's give bokeh a go

We put our Christmas decorations up on Sunday although by Christmas decorations I just mean our tree, stockings, a wreath and a few ornaments that sit on the fireplace. I don't go overboard with the decorations, but this is mainly because we spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day at other people's houses so nobody really gets to see them except us.

Our tree is not decorated with perfectly matching baubles and tinsel, nor does it have a colour theme allowing us to change the whole set of decorations every few years depending on the new season's fashionable colour. It has an eclectic mix of baubles that have been collected from our travels, and given to us for special occasions.

For example, below are three ornaments given to us by our friends JC and Fiona, Tess and Paul and Ron and Eileen to mark our first Christmas as a married couple:

And this year we have three new ornaments for Grace as it's her first Christmas. One from James' step-sister Georgia, one from Tess and Paul and one from my parents:

The tree is decorated with LED lights which I love because they make it look all twinkly but because the lights are set to intermittent flashing, it can make taking photos very difficult because no sooner have I focused on the tree and the camera has adjusted to the lighting, the lights will change their flashing pattern.

Well thanks to Rachel Agusti's blog about photographing your christmas tree I thought I'd have a go at the bokeh technique. Here's the result. Not bad for my first attempt.

I took all of these photos during the day with no flash so I might try them in the evening with the electric light and with the flash to see what different effects I can get. I'll be sure to upload them if they are any good.

Quick tip: Hair straighteners

After I'd put my daughter down to sleep last night I managed to get a couple of hours of scrapbooking done. I got two pages finished because I had done most of the background work in advance and all that was needed was for the elements to be arranged and stuck down. This was due in large part to the fact that I now do most of my scrapbooking in batches. A lot of blogs I subscribe to recommend ways to scrap when you only get 15 minutes here or there. Since I had Grace I have taken full advantage of this as and when I get time I do little bits here and there so that I can put together a few pages at a time. I know it's nice to sit and make a page from scratch but at the moment I wouldn't get anything done if I stuck to that method, so this is the way it has to be done. This way I feel a sense of acheivement when the page is finally put together.

So my reason for posting today is to tell you quick tip I used last night. If I am using ribbon on a layout, more often than not the ribbon is a crumpled scrap taken from an old bag or off a piece of packaging. It will therefore need straightening out before it can be stuck on my page. In the past I would get the iron out and flatten it that way but I realised I have a much smaller convenient iron - my straighteners. So here I am straightening out my piece of ribbon and it took just a few minutes - brilliant!

Hello and welcome

This is it then, my first foray into the world of blogging. I wonder if there is an official way to begin a blog. Do I begin by telling you a bit about myself? How about an explanation as to why I'm doing this? Ok, well I guess this is an early new year's resolution - to write more. The advice people give is that the more you write the easier it becomes and the better you get so that is my goal. I'll mainly be writing about my scrapbooking projects but I'm sure other things will creep in now and again.

Along with this blog I will be keeping an offline journal to record some of the little things that happen in my life. Some of the things that I know I will forget once I'm back at work and not on maternity leave any more. Some of the little milestones in my daughter's life, as well as the big stuff.

I'll write it as if someone were actually going to read this even though, in reality, I doubt anybody will. Nevertheless it will be a valuable record of my life at this moment in time and I'll hopefully get some enjoyment from it.