Hiya! Thanks for visiting my blog! Feel free to have a look around and if you have time why not visit my Etsy Shops and my Blog Garage Sale to check out all my goodies that could soon become your goodies :)

If there are any photos you like on my blog but can't find in my shop just send me an email or etsy convo and we can work something out!


Wednesday 26 March 2008

Handbag Wish List

I have been dreaming about a nice nice bag for quite some time now. I have always wanted to splurge but always got caught up in the price of it all. I do at times ofcourse convince myself - the usual 'it's an investment', 'you use it everyday' 'it's leather and good quality'... i'm sure you know how it all goes but when it comes to the crunch i just can't fathom parting with so much $$$ for a handbag.

Although when I think about how many cheaper handbags have a I bought over the years (prob too many!) they would probably add up to one beautiful, well made, good quality handbag if I thought about it (no, stop I don't want to think about it!)


But now that '
PPDesigns' has been established there is some (ok maybe teeny tiny) hope that it will make it BIG one day! And when it does i'll be ready to go shopping for my that ever important accessory ..... a womans must have staple HANDBAG.

The question of to buy or not will hopefully be irrelevant when PPDesigns make it big (!) and instead it will be Flashy or Practical?? :)
Although flashy bags are very drool worthy I admit I would probably get much more value out of a traditional practical bag. A few of my picks for whenever I can afford it (hopefully before i'm 80!!)

Saturday 15 March 2008

Oops....

Um, maybe I shouldn't have started my blog this week. It's only 3 days in and I have to take a week hiatus already!

Stay tuned, i'll be back soon...

...but in the mean time go 'awwww so sweet' with me at these cutie pie toys i've come across (from some lovely etsy sellers) as i've been searching for something ultra cute for a friends (newish) bubba.

Friday 14 March 2008

Russian Inspiration

You may have seen this at my indiepublic blog (which i've now retired due to this one) but it is too cute not to share to everyone else in the blogging world (well i think so anyway!!)

When I make earrings I look at my beads and then look around my flat then look around outside for some inspiration.

One day I was looking up at my bookshelf and sitting there was my little russian matryoshka doll. I looked up at it, then looked down at my beads, then all of a sudden this teeny tiny little earring was born.

I kept one pair for my shop and then had to go and make another pair straight away for myself! They are so teeny and tiny that I couldn't help looking at myself in the mirror (ok i'm just a tad vain!) going 'awww so cute!' every couple of minutes. My husband rolled his eyes after about the 5th 'awww it's so cute' and just says 'yes dear' with that look on his face.

Here they are, and just below was my inspiration - u can just see the tiny baby to the very very left of the photo.





Thursday 13 March 2008

TTV Experimentation

Since joining up with Etsy I have 'met' some wonderful new people. In particular I have joined the POE (Photographers of Etsy) Team and have been in awe of the amazing talent there is there. I spend lots of time on the POE Promo threads each week and reading up and learning great stuff in the Poetic Pixels Forum. One new technique I was introduced to from POE members is TTV (Through The View Finder). This is basically where you take photos through your digital camera looking through the lens of any older camera. You get square images and an old nostalgic feel to your shots.

I had seen photos that were TTV (though at the time i had no idea what they were just thought ooh pretty!) but never really considered how it was done. So after reading up about it and asking lovely fellow POE members I thought I'd do a bit of experimentation.

I searched ebay, bought myself an old Kodak Duaflex (first ever experience on bidding - i learnt all the tricks of the trade after losing my first few bids), waited a few days anxiously for delivery and then when it arrived scrambled around for something to build my 'contraption' (this is to block out the light between your old camera and digital camera). I took my first few photos with the inner core of the toilet roll (see how desparate i was to use it!) and later tried an old cracker box.


Because i didn't have a macro lens for my big camera I tried it out with my baby compact canon on the macro setting. I was so eager I basically ran around the flat taking anything and everything. It was all very exciting!!! Here are my very first shots.

They were quite dirty as you can see. So off I went on the net again to find out how to clean these old timer cameras. Finally after screwing the lens off and on again to clean it I tried it out again. Much cleaner.


I'm still undecided as to whether i like the 'gritty' or 'clean' look. Maybe somewhere in between. After all this playing I really wanted to try it out outdoors. So I took it out on a day trip to Richmond Park and played around. I looked pretty silly with my make shift 'contrapation' (u can see it in the pic above - oh sorry thats my ugly hand in the shot), got lots of funny stares but was still a fun day out! Here are a couple that I took:


As you can see I still need loads of practice and a better contraption i think to block out the light properly!

More exciting news is that I've just received my close up lens set (cheaper version of macro lens as u need the macro to take the shots) so I can try to do the TTV technique with my proper camera rather than my compact. Now just gotta build another contraption to block out light for my big camera! Will keep u posted on how that goes.

Wednesday 12 March 2008

PPDesigns - Up & Running!

PPDesigns has finally taken the plunge and is about to embark on the blog world. PPDesigns is run by moi (Jen), a Sydney girl from Oz currently residing in London UK. I've set up a little shop on Etsy at www.ppdesigns.etsy.com (you can see some of my stuff to the right there) but just incase you wanted to know a little but about me and etsy i've naughtily (and lazily) cut and paste from my etsy profile page the bits about me and etsy:

ABOUT ME (& ETSY)
To be honest, I set up this etsy account so I could go crazy buying all the great stuff here on Etsy, but thought since I'm setting up an account why not post up some of my own items for sale, in the hope that it may support my etsy purchasing habit :)

Why PP Designs? Well I let my husband come up with the name. It's actually a nickname he has for me and has come to mean lots of things like Pretty Princess (when he's feeling nice), Precious Princess (when he's feeling sentimental/romantic), Porky Princess (when he see's me pigging out....er quite abit), Pee Pee (cause I seem to have terrible bladder control and am always on the look out for the nearest bathroom) and so on and so on.

THINGS I MAKE
EARRINGS: Making earrings has been a bit of a hobby of mine for the last few years but I've ended up with so many unworn earrings that have never even seen the light of day.

Even so I still keep making them because I can't resist visiting bead stores (even while i'm travelling!). Everything just looks too pretty!

So I'm hoping someone out there in the world wide web might like them too and give them a chance to see the world :)



PHOTOGRAPHY: I have been interested in photography for quite a while now and took a short course while starting out to learn the basics. Now my time is spent having fun clicking away and trying out new things.

I have been fortunate enough to do a bit of travel after leaving my hometown of Sydney to London, and so have been having great fun taking lots of pics along the way. I hope looking at some of these pics will either remind you of your great travels, get you geared up for some of your own travels to come, or just helps you relax and feel happy when you look at them.



Well that's about all there is to know about me & etsy. If you want to know more just convo me or email me for some chatting :) Otherwise hope you will come back and visit this blog to see what PPDesigns has been doing!!