dottery mugs, pens, flower scarves & a new lens
November 6th, 2009
I’ve been on a kick of painting these round little mugs lately, they feel really nice to hold. This one is in my Etsy shop for anyone who wants it.
This one, I painted for my friend Jen as a birthday gift.
Annalie and I were sitting outside on the patio today and Katy was sitting at the door, yowling to be let out. Poor cat. She really wants to be an outdoor cat, but when we got her from a shelter in Phoenix she was already declawed, so we don’t feel right letting her outdoors.
Took our Day 98 photo for Troy while we were out there. I keep accidentally taking these off-center self-portraits. I kinda like them.
Not long ago, Brenda introduced me to her favorite pen, the Uniball Signo DX 0.38mm. They’re Japanese gel pens with a really nice stroke and a fine-but-not-too-fine line, and they are awesome. Brenda had only ever been able to find them at a local Japanese bookstore for about $4 apiece. Then we found the fabulous Tokyo Pen Shop, where they sell our favorite pens for half the price we’d been paying at the Japanese bookstore.
We ordered a dozen to get free shipping, and then I noticed they had an offer on the homepage for a free orange pen if you ordered a certain amount of merchandise, which we had. So I wrote a quick email explaining that my friend and I loved the Uniball Signo DX pens, and we’d love a free orange one. I got a really nice email back from one of the website’s owners, saying that she probably would have included that brand, since that was all we’d ordered, but that since I’d written now she knew to include two orange pens. How cool is that!? I will definitely be patronizing their shop again.
More flower scarves! I keep making these because people keep asking me to crochet them. Whenever I start another one I groan a little bit because in my head these are a pain to make, but once I get started I remember, oh right, these are actually pretty fun!
I’ve been thinking about writing up a pattern for a flower scarf and putting it in my Etsy shop, along with the spiral squares and snowball crochet patterns. It wouldn’t be exactly the same as the scarves I make because I make up the patterns for the flowers as I go along, but it would be similar. What do you guys think, should I write up that pattern? Would you buy it for a couple of bucks? (Oh, and these particular scarves are in my shop waiting for OneScrappyGal to go buy them.)
I got a pretty exciting present earlier this week: a new lens for my D40! (Pardon me while I geek out just a little bit.) I’d been wanting a lens with a better zoom, so when my friend Joe (my camera teacher) saw a good deal on a 55-200mm VR lens he told Troy about it. Troy bought it for me, and told me he’d bought me a present that would be coming in the mail, but he didn’t tell me what it was. I truly had no clue this is what he was sending me. I might have actually squealed a bit when I opened the box. Today Annalie and I went to the park, where I tried the new lens out.
It’s much bigger than my other two lenses, but it’s not much heavier thanks to being made of plastic. It’s easy to use, thanks to the autofocus.
I love my new lens! Yay! Thank you so much, guys, for your conspiracy in making me a better photographer. Or at least an amateur with fun photography toys.
This park has a new, modern, colorful playground with deep mulch all around it. Annalie went down one of the plastic slides and then made a beeline for the 30-year-old slide and monkey bars sitting in hard-packed dirt.
These mystery fruits (nuts? seeds?) were on a tree in the park. They were about the size of walnut, maybe a little smaller. I have no idea what they are, but they’re a really pretty shade of reddish-orange.
This photo pretty much sums up Annalie’s attitude about the tall slide. It also makes me laugh.
Love that light, and the girl. And my pens and my new lens. To sum up, we’re all good around here, good and happy.
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Ooo. I have lens envy ;)
As for the playground- my kids always liked the old, metal slides and monkeybars, but all of them around us have been removed for fear of lawsuit happy parents :(
That berry/nut thing is very interesting Let us know if you find out what it is.
I have a random idea for your kitty- may not work, but you could try a harness or collar and a leash if you wanted to take him/her outside while you guys are out there. My roomie puts her cat on a collar leash to take hers outside sometimes. She’s been using it since he was a kitten though so he’s somewhat comfortable with it.
I love the photos with the new lens. I just got a Rebel earlier this year and haven’t gotten any other lenses yet. I will probably look into getting one other one for Christmas this year.
Love your photos and the dottery. :)
That is some gorgeous light (and girl!) that you captured there. The fruit looks like a lychee nut.
Yay! So glad everyone is happy and healthy! I might have to track down some of those pens. I love gel pens, but I like mine to have a thick line. But I always like giving new pens a try, so if I see one of these around here I’ll snatch it up. :)
Love those pics on the old playground equipment. The one where she’s looking up at the monkey bars is my fave. Yay for fun new toys!
your mystery fruit looks like a lychee. if that’s what they are then you’re lucky – they are delicious!
All I can think is, wow! Annalie is tall!
Oh, wow! Thank you for introducing me to the Tokyo Pen Shop site. I have to special order my favorite White Signo gel pen and they are way cheaper on this site. Now I want to get all the other colors too!
I have the same lens! It’s a good one and you definitely can’t beat it for the price :)
Glad to hear you are all well!! YEA!! Love the dottery!! Is there a painting place like that here? If so maybe we can do that next time you are in town. It looks like fun!!
I was also going to say that Annalie is getting so tall and the fruit looked like a lychee. But people beat me to it.
Ahhhhhhahahaha… Scheming is what I’m all about! great shots Betho!
Wow, Annalie is getting tall! And those pictures are fabulous. She about gave me a heart attack on that slide last spring when we went to that park – she wanted to walk down part of it or something that had her almost go over the side. It all turned out okay, but it really freaked my freak.
Thanks for the e-mail about the lens Joe!
This post made me happy. :)
yay for new lenses!! *love* those pictures on the slide…
If only I could crochet, I would say yes to the pattern. I would love to make a flower scarf for my girls. Unfortunately I can’t crochet. Ah well.
Love the last picture, the light is as beautiful as the girl.
A lychee!! While at our uncles house in Nor Cal my kids were throwing those all over and asked me what they were. Now I can answer them.
I love pens too. I get mine from the Sanrio store.
Wow! So jealous (but happy for you!) of your new lens!! I love your dottery mugs. Actually, all your dottery. And I’m glad you two are feeling better and that all is HAPPY!!
What a fun post! Love the photos…that lens does seem awesome! The pics of Annalie are great, her smile is contageous!!!
Make that contagious…the minute I hit post I knew it was wrong! Argh…. :)
Thank you for my mug :) I’m in a lot of danger now that you posted that pen site. I hoard pens in a bad way. Pens and spiral bound notebooks. It’s an addiction.
I’m going to have to pick your brain on photography stuff because I really don’t know how to properly use my camera.
Ugh! I so want to try one of those pens now, but I’m sure I can’t find one without paying shipping. Make sure you have one in your purse next time you visit so I can see if it’s as awesome as it sounds!
Congrats on the new fancy lens. Glad to hear you are all good. Maybe you could just bring Katy out on a leash for a bit in the yard on a sunny afternoon. My friend Chris used to bring her crazy cat out on a leash all the time. I just know how stir crazy I get being at home for one whole day, poor Katy.
We love it when people get to try Japanese pens for the first time! Here’s a free shipping code good through November 14th. — ACTUALLYFREESHIPPING
( Just enter when checking out at http://www.tokyopenshop.com )
[...] people on the internet. Kimberly from Tokyo Pen Shop saw that I mentioned buying pens from them in my last post, and she also saw my friend Bekah’s comment that she would love to try the pens but [...]
I was drooling over a new lens a few days ago. It’s not in the cards this year, but hopefully soon. The photos all look so great.
Troy and Joe are great guys for conspiring together. :)
Fabulous photos. I’m a Bethany and love pens too. Your mugs are amazing. I LOVE them. So fun.
Great shots with your new lens! I have the same one for my D50 and loved the fact that I could take photos without others knowing because I could be further away. Have fun playing with it.
Oh yes, and Troy is awesome. Sorry I missed meeting you Troy. Next time…
First, I can HEAR Katie from here.
Next, off-center, and slightly-kiltered photos rock.
Then, AN ORANGE .38mm PEN! GAH! HEAVEN!!!! Must go shopping.
Finally, old slides with wax paper beat plastic slides EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK!
Oh, and a finally x 2 – lovely lens and FABULOUS shot of Annalie with tongue out and to the side.
I’d pay for a pattern, I’ve always loved your flower scarves.
The photos with your new lens are beautiful. What do you do with all your photo gear now? Alan tells me to buy a camera bag but if I’m just going somewhere close I can’t imagine dragging a camera bag with me. Right now I just throw the Nikon into my purse.