CSN Giveaway

Last summer (July 17th to be exact) I won a $60 CSN gift certificate from Joy at Thrifty Parsonage Living.  I was thrilled to have won and started pouring over their website.  Every now and then I'd ask my husband if I should order a striped Dash and Albert rug, but then we would agree that there wasn't anywhere to put one in our house. Then I'd look around CSN some more and I would ask him about getting some red dishes to use at Christmas and Valentine's Day, but then I couldn't decide which ones to buy.  And so it went on....


I may be one of the most indecisive people in this world.  Months went by and I finally decided that what I needed was a clutch purse to use at our son's wedding in May.  So just before Christmas (and only weeks before the gift certificate expired) I ordered a stone-coloured leather clutch.  Not only did the purse arrive very quickly, it is lovely.  It is made of a soft leather and has a shoulder strap so if you are like me and can't coordinate a purse and a drink and a camera then this should help.   The clutch is big enough for my cell phone, my camera, my keys, a lipstick, money, and tissue. There are several pockets so it can all be organized efficiently.  One of the things I like best is the pretty lining.  I'm not benefiting in any way by giving you my honest opinion of CSN, but I just wanted to let you know about my experience with the online shop.  


I was recently contacted by CSN to sponsor a giveaway and I was more than happy to do that, especially given that it came close on the heels of my positive shopping experience there.  They have offered a $40 gift certificate (does not include shipping costs) to be used at any of their on-line stores.  


The amazing thing is you can buy almost anything from CSN, from adjustable bar stools,

to Dash and Albert rugs (swoon - I just can't get enough of these),

to red dishes,

Oh wait, am I listing all the things I would buy.  This isn't about me, is it?  You need to go to CSN and have a look for yourself.


The giveaway is open to residents of Canada and USA only.  Here are the details of the Giveaway:


1.  Leave a comment telling me what you would order if you won.
2.  Become a follower and let me know in a separate email (or let me know that you are already one).
3.  Post, tweet, or mention the giveaway on facebook (and leave me a separate comment letting me know you did so).


Please, please, please leave me an email address so I can contact you if you win.  Twice now I have had to re-draw names because I was unable to contact the winner.


The giveaway ends on February 14th at 9:00 pm.

Oh and just in case you are curious, here are a couple of photos of the purse I ordered:

The King's Speech Set Locations

I just saw the movie The King's Speech and loved it.  Not only was it a wonderful portrayal of the difficulties of living with a stutter, it highlighted my chosen profession, was historically accurate, and was visually beautiful.

The speech therapist worked out of run-down office with the most amazing walls layered with plaster and bits of peeling wallpaper. 

The walls had the most gorgeous colours of ochre, browns, greens, and blues - the same colours used in Helena Bonham Carter's clothes as the Duchess of York.

I did a bit of Googling and discovered where they filmed this scene (you can read the complete Guardian article here).  Apparently the actual rooms that Logue, the Speech Therapist, practiced in were too small for filming so they used a building just a block away at 33 Portland Place in London.  This lovely townhome was built in 1775 and was designed by Robert Adams, one of the greatest designers of the period.  The house retains many of its original features and is now used for parties and receptions.  Thirty-three Portland Place had an unused vaulted room with large leaded-glass windows at one end and sky lights allowing the room to have more light which worked perfectly as the Speech Therapist's office.  The room had an interesting wall covered in distressed browns and oranges and one area that was covered in partially removed oil-infused wallpaper.  The production designer loved the look and recreated it across all the walls.  

Amazingly, 33 Portland Place not only had the worn shabby room perfect for the depression-era Speech Therapist's office, but it also had many lovely reception rooms (eight in all) that were used in the film as the Duke and Duchess's home before Edward VIII abdicated.  You can see in the photos below the ornate rooms used as the royal residence and the room used as the Speech Therapist's office.   

 

Apparently Lancaster House was used as a subsitute for Buckingham Palace.   The overly ornate setting of Lancaster House worked well in the film as it contrasted with the scruffy, smoggy street scenes and the worn Speech Therapist's office.   Only a few scenes were filmed at Lancaster House, a couple of which you can see below.

Cinema Style

Cinema Style

One of my favourite scenes was the party at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with all the dark wood and browns and blues and tartans, but I was unable to find any photos from this part of the film.  I did find a picture of the gorgeous tartan worn by the King at the party.

X Marks the Scot

Anyone else see the movie?  What did you think of the worn wall in the Speech Therapist's office?

8 Tips for Better Food Photographs

While I enjoy taking pictures out-of-doors and even around the house and am often pleased with the results, I've been stumped by taking pictures of food.  It may be that I lack practice as I certainly never took pictures of food before I had a blog.  However, I also think that food photography is fairly tricky .  So I thought I would look online for some tips and ideas on how to improve my pictures - and I'm going to share what I learned in case some of you are interested as well.   I need to say right from the beginning that I only have a point-and-shoot camera and I don't have any fancy lighting so I'm just working with what I have.  I will never have professional photographs, but I just want better ones.  Ones that make my mouth water - just a bit!

One of the best sources was this article I found - Digital Food Photography Tips (Part 1 and Part 2).  He had some great ideas which I thought I would summarize with photos that I found online to illustrate his points.   Some of his tips were for professional food photographers so I'll only include ones that I would actually use at home.  You really should read the original article to get the full idea.   Although I want to improve my photographs of food in general, I thought it would be easiest to compare photographs of a single food item - so I've chosen cupcakes. 

1)  Shoot from a low angle.  In general between 10 and 45 degrees above the table surface is ideal.  The angle you want to avoid is the one we usually see the food at, as then the food doesn't look as interesting.  This photo is taken at an extrememly low angle.

Cupcake Project

Of course, the author did admit that rules can sometimes be broken to good effect, as in this gorgeous photo of banana cupcakes taken from overhead.

Martha Stewart

2) Crop in tightly.  This highlights all the details and textures of the food so you start to drool.

Cupcake Project

3) Use a shallow field of depth.  Or in layman's terms - have something in the foreground in focus and the background out-of-focus.  This next photo does this so well with the row of three cupcakes.  I love the simple styling in this picture.

Martha Stewart

4)  Light from either 10:00 or 2:00.  If you think of the food item as being in the centre of a clock and you are at 6:00, then have the light source at 10:00 or 2:00.  While I don't have any photography lights, I can move myself around so the natural light from the window is approximatately at 10 or 2.  The strawberry cupcake in the next photo seems to have the lighting at 10:00.

Martha Stewart

5) Scrape the light.  This means to have the light just hit the edge of the piece of food so you can see all the texture.  Now I'm definitely no expert, but I think that is what you can see in the next photo - the ridges in the icing and on the cupcake liner both seem to have the lighting hitting so the ridges are highlighted.

Style at Home

6) Keep the main light source low.  This may be tricky when I'm dealing with the sun. There were actually three more tips all pertaining to fill-in lighting - that you should light with fill in lighting; add the fill in gradually; and you should use mirrors to backlight the piece of food.  I think it will be interesting to try the mirror tip.  Again I'm no expert, but the lighting in the next photo seems to be so bright that I'm guessing there is a lot of fill-in lighting to make it look so cheerful.

Eddie Ross

7) Don't overprop.  The focus should be on the food not on all the things on the table.  While I agree, I do love it when the dishes and linens create a mood or add charcter or even tell a story about the food.  Even with the use of some props, simple is still usually best.  This next photo is a good example of not overpropping.  While it does have some props, they are simple and don't take away from the cupcakes.

 

Martha Stewart

8) Watch the background.  This is something that I've struggled with when taking pictures of food for my blog.  Several articles suggested using scrapbooking paper, hand-made papers, or textiles as backgrounds.  I will definitely give this a try because so far I've relied on my backsplash as my background.  For a look at one food stylists props, read here.

I love the blue and white and candles in the background of this photo.

Kraft

A lovely simple white background.

 

Country Living

In an interesting article about styling your food photos (which you can read here), it was suggested that you incorporate elements from the food you are shooting in the photograph.  So you might use one of the ingredients as a garnish or, as in the next photograph, as a prop.

Digital Photography School

Is anyone left reading this, or are you all off baking cupcakes?  I have to admit my mouth is watering. 

I hope to be making cupcakes in the next week or two and I'm going to give some of these ideas a try.  If anyone else takes some food photos inspired by this post, I would love to see them.

The Best of February

My list of things I was looking forward to in January included things like enjoying a fresh snowfall, examining the beauty of snowflakes, crunching ice and snow, and seeing snow-covered evergreens.  Well the good news is that I was able to enjoy all of these things - many times over!  We have had a lovely snowy January, and I do mean lovely.  When it is winter it is much nicer to have snow everywhere than just frozen dirt or worse still, slush.  I also appreciate that for the most part the snow has fallen on weekends or in a big storm so school and work were cancelled - all of which means we didn't have to get up early and go out and shovel the driveway first thing in the morning and then drive on snow-covered roads to get to work.

Winter is beginning to wear a little thin, but there are still lots of things I'm looking forward to in February.  I've interspersed my list with photos I took of the snow in January.  Here's my February list:

1.  My birthday.  It's always a nice February diversion.  I mean who doesn't like cake and a few prezzies.

2.  Our 30th wedding anniversary which just happens to be on February 14th.  We're planning on going out to dinner with the whole family and some friends and then coming back for dessert and champagne. 

3. Trying the cupcakes we will be serving at our oldest son's wedding in May.  This is the dessert we will have after we go out for dinner for our anniversary (see above).

4.  Working on my food photography skills.  I have in mind to try playing around with the cupcakes and taking some photos.  I've been studying photos of food and there is a real art to the composition and lighting and I'd like to improve mine a bit.

5. Valentine's Day - which just happens to also be our wedding anniversary (see above).  We are just that romantic (haha)!  

6.  Chocolate.  This has to be one of my favourite things about Valentine's Day.  I adore chocolate.

7.  Enjoying the form of bare branches on deciduous trees.  They really are lovely against the winter sky and look absolutely gorgeous when each branch is highlighted by a trace of snow.

8.  Having a long weekend.  Monday February 21st is Family Day here in Ontario so we are all off school and work and can hang out and ... be a family.  Sounds like fun!

9.  Going skating.  I only got out once in January so I'm looking forward to going out a few more times in February.

10.  Getting over the adenoid infection which has plagued me since the first week in January. Sigh!

15 Sunny Yellow Rooms

I'm feeling like it is time for a bit of yellow in my life after all the white we have seen (out the window that is).  I know most of North America is being hit by a mega winter storm right now so I thought it would be fun to check out some yellow rooms.  For some people yellow is an intense colour that they only want in small doses, while others enjoy the cheerful bold look it gives a room.  I've collected rooms that go all the way from accents of yellow to attention grabbing yellow!


Some have a little yellow

Martha Stewart

and some have a lot.

Bandanamom

Some have yellow painted walls 

Country Living

and some have yellow wallpaper. 

Decorpad

Some are an intense lemon yellow, 

Martha Stewart

some are a soft butter yellow, 

Decorpad

and some are a rich golden yellow. 

Canadian House and Home

Some mix yellow with citrus colours, 

Canadian House and Home

some mix yellow with pinks and reds, 

Canadian House and Home

some mix yellow with blues and turquoises,

Canadian House and Home

and some mix yellow with neutrals. 

Country Living

Some have yellow accessories, 

Decorpad

some have yellow appliances, 

Bandanamom

some have yellow art,

Bobbie Burgers home via Canadian House and Home

and some have yellow flowers and fruit. 

Bright Bold Beautiful

How much yellow can you handle?


And if you want to see some inspiration photos for other colours, check these posts out.  You can see what colours go with red in this post here.
And check here for aqua/seafoam room inspiration photos.
And here for green rooms.
And here for orange rooms.