Bell Street Car Park Photo Shoot

Been trying to get in as much practice as I can with my camera when I find the time and have some more confidence after getting some of my photography work displayed in an Exhibition on the Unicorn in August. Here are some of the photos from a shoot I did back in October in Bell Street car park, Dundee. This was the first time I had done a photo shoot using a model, it was great fun and I'm hoping to do more like this in the future. Want to say a big thank you to Alan from ProjectA for showing me the ropes and to male model Orion. Cheers guys! :)

Friendship Cake Key Rings

Can't believe it's the first of December tomorrow already, the festive season is nearly upon us and there's lots of Christmas shopping to do for everyone, yikes! I have found in the past couple of years that my friendship cake key rings have been very popular with an increase in sales at this time of year. The customer can choose whatever type of cake they want and how many slices that they require. These slices are then attached to key rings (or necklaces if preferred) and when all the friends are together the cake makes a whole and when the friends are apart they each have a piece of cake with them. Customers also have the choice to have their cakes scented, to have personalised name tags put on, to have extra beads and charms added and to have them packaged separately or together. Friendship Cake Key Rings can be found here.

Here are some pictures of cake key rings I have made in the past.

A Murder of Crows

My very talented friend & published author Paul Kennedy has just had his book 'A Murder of Crows' re-released. And I'm very pleased to announce that it features photography done by myself, yay!

Paul is a Scottish author and poet from Dundee. We both met when we were studying media together at college 14 years ago (gosh that just makes me feel old). Paul then went onto to work in healthcare but never gave up on his passion for creative writing. In March 2014 his first book 'A Murder of Crows' was released which features a collection of his poetry and a dark, imaginary short story.

I have been doing a lot of freelance photography work recently so when Paul approached me and asked me if he could include some of my photographic work in his new edition I was very happy to oblige. I asked him specifically what pictures he would ideally like to be included in the book to which he replied; 'I would like a picture of a crow on a gravestone at sunset with a hospital in the background.'

After regretting asking him specifically what he would like I decided to give it my best shot so to speak. I spent a whole evening up at Balgay Cemetry which overlooks Ninewells Hospital in Dundee trying to get pictures of crows on gravestones. This mainly involved tempting crows with sandwiches and getting a lot of funny looks from passers by. In the end I got a few winning shots I was happy with which have now been included in the book. I will include one photo for a teaser but you have to buy the book to see the rest.

Want to say a big well done to Paul and a big thank you for letting me part of his new book, keep up the good work. You can buy A Murder of Crows on Amazon here and follow Paul on Facebook here.

Hallowe'en competition

If you follow me on Facebook don't forget to check out my page today. You could win a pair of pumpkin earrings just by sharing your favourite Hallowe'en story, simples! Competition closes at 1pm tomorrow so make sure you don't miss out!

Butterfly World

Spent my October break catching up with friends and family down in Edinburgh. Spent a day at Butterfly World with my mates and their kids or 'Butt-fly World' as my son calls it, haha! Had a great day out and the kiddy-winks had a ball. They got to walk around the butterfly area and then through to the reptile area. There was also the nocturnal area and the insect bit too. We got to see the animals getting fed at feeding time and also got to handle some of them too. The giant millipede felt very weird walking across my hands, it was almost like it's legs were made of velcro! Hoping to get more days out like this organised soon. Here are some photos for you meanwhile...

Hallowe'en range 2014

It's coming up for my favourite time of year... Hallowe'en!!! So to get in the spirit of things I am listing a few special items of jewellery up in my Etsy shop. Here's a few photos for you; my polymer clay hanging batty earrings, gothic charm bracelet, glow-in-the-dark ghost key ring and Hallowe'en cupcake necklace. Remember this spooktacular stuff can be worn all year round too!

Cael's 3rd Birthday Party

I can't believe it's been over three years now since my wee boy was born, how time flies! And that will be two years now since I did the post about about the Monster themed party I did for his 1st Birthday.

I've had such a lot on right now with work and starting college that I decided to just be really relaxed about the whole thing. I bought some buffet food, I even bought the cake this time as well. I was so tired on Friday night and I couldn't face sitting up all night baking. My friend Mandy (Face Painter Dundee) came round with her face paints and the kids all had a ball. It shows you don't have to have a big event that takes lots of planning and stress just so they have a good time. Still want to do my pirate themed party at one point though so watch this space! Here are some photos from yesterday...