Fifteen minutes of frock fame

Mark and I took some time-out after moving. We needed it, the process had made big demands on us, both emotionally and physically. Thankfully we were able to take our time over things. 

When we first moved up we went straight into hyper-drive trying to find a flat. 

I'd trawl the net in the evening, Mark would arrange viewings in the morning and then off we would go traversing Glasgow, on the hunt for our new home. 

Our budget was quite low so the quality of what was on offer was very often hugely disappointing. 

Damp damaged buildings with signs reading 'No Loitering' nailed up above the entrance. A plethora of claustrophobic boltholes, riddled with mold, ripped woodchip & stained carpets.

After three stressful weeks we finally found a place that we could see ourselves in, it's not quite the five bedroom Victorian  townhouse that I cosmically ordered but it's definitely the cream of the crop in our budget category.

I will give you a tour of the house at some point, just need to don a pair of marigolds first and get it up to Hello Magazine standard.

Over the past few days the wheels of productivity have slowly started turning again.

We've booked a market for Frocktasia's relaunch on the 9th of February . It is called Little Birds Market and it is a monthly do held at an amazing venue here in Glasgow called Sloanes.

We've applied for a stall at another market called Granny Would Be Proud but it's yet to be confirmed. Today Mark and I took a little research trip to check out Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair that was in Glasgow for the day and both of us agreed that it would be a great one to get in about next time it is in town.

So it's back in the saddle for me and to be honest, after all this "time-off" I'm feeling well and truly up for it.

In my last post I promised that I'd share the pics that Mark and I took on our micro roadtrip to Largs. I played around with them on PicMonkey (that I still use religiously). As a complete Jennie Pinchpenny I still haven't upgraded to Royal but I have to confess, that of late I have been sorely tempted. For some reason the wretched skin under my eyes has decided to not just puff  but also wrinkle up and some days it looks as if I've super glued skincoloured  raisins underneath my eyes. I feel the need for some PicMonkey surgery. Are any of you lovely peeps using PicMonkey Royal and if so what do you think of it?

Anyroad the pics...these were taken en route from Largs to Greenock by the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire. We shot two frocks, the first one is an Indian dress that I picked up from Holloway market a few years ago and the second is a stunning 70s Jean Varon frock that I scored at a car boot sale last year.

Hope you liked them? We are hoping to do plenty more of these wee photo sessions in the future. There are so many stunning backdrops to take advantage of  nearby to us and so many frocks yearning for their fifteen minutes of fame here on the blog.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend.

Loads of love,

Jennie

xXx

On the Buses

I am most definitely a cloud spotter, one of my favourite things to do in the summer is to wander up to the park, sprawl out on the grass and just lay there for hours watching the clouds drift by.

Today we went along to Selfridges to listen to Gavin Pretor-Pinney who is the founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society. 

The hour long talk was both entertaining and enlightening but I would have loved for it to have lasted longer. I think Mr Pretor-Pinney would be the perfect dinner party guest cause he is funny and engaging in equal measures.

The talk was free and if you could guess the different cloud types featured in the presentation, you were given a little badge.

After the talk we browsed the book section of Selfridges but perhaps needless to say we didn't buy anything.

Years of car boot sale buying has made it quite impossible for me to pay more than a fiver for a book, unless I'm buying it straight from the authors website or amazon.

Selfridges' prices are simply not compatible with my thrifty nature but it's nice to have a wee look.

As we were making our way back home we came across two old buses and a whole heap of bus enthusiasts taking pictures of them.

Such a retrotastic backdrop seemed too good to miss out on, so we joined the throng of "bus spotters" and quickly snapped a few pics ourselves :)

H&M tiger stripe coat, vintage 60s Chinese sign print dress, vintage 50s booties, layered tights, self-made necklace, velvet gloves and my Stockholm syndrom wiggy-woo.

I do have a black and white setting on my camera but these pics had the effect added on PicMonkey.

I think B&W is the perfect tool for enhancing the whole retro vibe.

We had to be super quick when taking these photos cause the "bus spotters" weren't really that interested in having a dolly bird in their pics ;)

Hope you have all had a wonderful weekend.

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Sweet dreams are made of cheese

Today I've been busy taking product pics for the shop.

It's been absolutely freezing in the flat, so in a fair few of the pics I look decidedly peeved.

Today was also the first time I used my new camera remote control.

Before I had to go back and forth to the camera to press the button in-between every photo, which was a complete pain in the backside plus quite often the camera wouldn't be in focus when I got to my place in front of it, which needless to say was also a huge big pain in the booty region.

Now I can simply press the remote and hey presto...click, click, click!

I'm loving the fact that it's sparing me a whole heap of faffing about but there is one small problem, the concealment of the remote.

It is nigh-on impossible to strike the 'hold your waist' pose, cause you have to use your fingers to press the button.

It does have a timer function, so I suppose I could slip it on the floor after I've pressed and then strike a pose.

So many things to worry about, world poverty, corruption, deforestation and how to look natural when using a bleeding camera remote control.

I can just feel my life spinning into a vacuous abyss of triviality here, och!

Anyway, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it :) 

I messed around with PicMonkey when I was having my hour off in the afternoon and here's the result... 

The three frocks and the tie-dye top are all destined for the shop.

Not sure when cause I've got a fairly jam-packed schedule this week already.

Because it was all work and no play for me today, I just wore a comfy outfit in a style I'd describe as 'tatterdemalian'...

"Tatterdemalion: A person wearing ragged or tattered clothing"...that'll be me then ;)

When I wasn't taking product pics, I changed into my comfy slippers because... 

 - I tend not to wear outdoors footwear indoors.

 - I'd probably fall down and break my neck if I was to race up and down the stairs in these bad boys.

...but perhaps most importantly,  I'm getting to that stage in my life when I'm really starting to appreciate sensible footwear, in particular slippers ;)

I've had two very odd & inexplicable cravings today; at one point I was gagging for a cheese and onion pasty (I'm vegan) & then I was struck by an insane craving for real ale (I knocked the booze on the head over four years ago).

I'm not sure what is going on, maybe it's the cold weather making me want to pig out on cheese and get drunk (sounds like heaven right now).

Watch this space, there may be a "pickled post" in the near future if my craving have their wicked way with me ;)

Thanks for all the lovely comments you've been leaving, you ROCK my little world!

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx  

Easy peasy lemon squeezy layering

After waxing lyrical about the overlay function on PicMonkey earlier, I decided to go one further and do a basic tutorial.

It really is easy peasy lemon squeezy ;)

I chose a photo of my mum from her modelling days in the late 50s & a photo that I took in Eastbourne last year.

As they both have a neutral & uncluttered background they are easier to blend together.

I also used a plain white base image to layer the pics on but you don't have to, I just like doing it this way cause it offers more scope of movement.

So here's my little tutorial...

Find two images that you want to merge together and a plain white base image  if  you want. 

Go on to PicMonkey and click the 'Edit a Photo' option. I chose to work on a white base image but you can just open one of your photos instead.

Now I have opened my base image and I want to add my two pics onto it. I do that by going to the 'Overlays'  tool, fifth icon from the top on the left hand side of your screen and click the 'Your Own' option at the top.

Here I've added my two pics to my base image and now I can start  having some fun with them. 

In order to really blend the two images together, the best course of action is to  tweak around with the  fade slider and the blend modes. There is also a handy eraser tool.

Lined up and blended to my liking. With some images it is quite difficult to completely get rid of the seams where the two images overlap.

Now I want to crop the layered image , so I click the top icon, then simply adjust & apply.

If you want to add more effects to the image, you can do so by clicking on the second icon from the top to access some awesome  stuff. Not all of the effects will be suitable for your new image cause they make the overlap seams show up again...play around with it :)
You can also add a frame to your image by clicking the sixth icon from the top to access frames. 

As a final touch you can also add some text by clicking the 'P' icon to access loads of cool fonts. 

When you are happy, save your masterpiece by clicking the 'Save ' button above your image and save photo.

All done, now you can make someones day by posting your good work onto their FB page or sending it to them in an e-mail ;)

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Praise PicMonkey

I'm sure most you clever cookies already know about PicMonkey but just in case there is still someone out there unaware of its awesomeness, I thought I'd better do a quick blog about it.

I've been using the same antiquated photo editing software that came with our very first scanner for years; I'm actually too embarrassed to tell you how many, it's that long.

I just got used to it (read:LAZY) and thought that learning anything new would be a complete hassle, so I didn't.

I was always admiring photos on other peoples blogs, convinced that they had all been edited by Photoshop wizards using mega expensive software.

Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon PicMonkey which is a partly free photo editing website.

The service is a so-called 'freemium' with a whole bunch of ad-supported features that you can use to your hearts content at no cost and some premium features that you can only access though paying a monthly membership.

So far I have only used the free stuff but I have to say that I am very impressed with how the pictures are coming out and needless to say my old editing software has finally been retired....and there was much rejoicing!

I have been playing around with it for the past few days and my favourite feature is the 'Overlay' cause you can add your own.

So now I can finally create those dreamy layered pics that I've been hankering over.

It's pretty straightforward, even I (a complete cave dweller when it comes to stuff like this) was able to get a handle on it after a few hours.

So if you haven't used it before, pop over and have a play around, I'm sure you won't regret it.

Just in case you are wondering, PicMonkey did not give me a bagful of cash to sing their praises (if only), I genuinely want to spread the word about this service cause it ROCKS & a lot of it is FREE which in my book makes it even better!

Are you using PicMonkey already, if so for how long have you been using it and would you recommend paying the monthly $4.99 for the Royale membership?

One of my layered images ;)

HAPPY FRIDAY everybody, I can almost smell the weekend ;)

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx