Feature Monday

Today - my feature images are taken from the RedBubble home page:

"_two sisters_" by Louise LeGresley"

"Stellar Sealions in the Mist" by underdoc

"Vague Horizon" by Silijo Selman

"A Walk through Paris #5" by Mike McGlothlen

and only because it seemed to fit the theme, "~ teacakes in the afternoon ~" by Adriana

Once upon a time there was a little girl who simply loved shoes. She loved high heeled shoes and flat shoes, sensible shoes and silly shoes. In fact, she thought all shoes were beautiful.
Then one day while out shopping, the most beautiful pair of shoes called out to her from the nearby shoe shop shelf.
“Hello little girl who loves shoes,” said the black shiny shoes (for everybody in the land knew that this was the little girl who simply loved shoes). Well, the little girl fell instantly in love with the black shiny shoes but alas she didn’t have a special occasion to wear them to and so couldn’t take them home with her, so she spoke kindly to the shoes,
“Oh, sweet little shoes, you truly are the most beautiful shoes I’ve ever seen, but I have no special place to wear you. The only way I can take you home is if the Shoe Fairy grants me a wish – if only I had a fancy-dancy ball to wear you to, then I would bring you home and wear you to the ball and we would dance, and we would be so very happy!”
That afternoon, when the little girl checked the letterbox, what should she find but a pink and silver envelope and in that envelope was a shiny pink and silver invitation to a fancy-dancy ball. The shoe fairy had granted the little girl her wish!!


The little girl was so happy, she rushed back to tell all her other shoes she would be bringing a new shoe friend over to meet them. So the little girl got into her shiny little car and drove back to the shops as fast as she could (without speeding of course, because that would be silly and dangerous and really not necessary). And there they were – her black shiny shoes with the most beautiful satin ribbon – waiting for her.
The little girl was so happy at being able to buy those beautiful shiny black shoes, that she celebrated by buying a new shiny red dress with the most beautiful shiny red satin ribbon. And they lived happily ever after.
And as she lay down to sleep after the fancy-dancy ball, the happy little girl who simply loved shoes was heard to whisper, “thank you Shoe Fairy, I love you Shoe Fairy,” which made the Shoe Fairy smile.

wall art print available online from RedBubble

Digital Photographs - To Print or not to Print...

We have well and truly embraced digital camera technology. It’s a technology that is not only affordable but also accessible to so many. We are in an age where it doesn’t feel right to leave home each day without some form of digital camera, whether it’s our cell phone or a small compact camera in our pocket. And it’s this portability that means that we’re taking more photos than ever before. And this is where it gets interesting – one of several common themes begins to emerge.

"Fae Whispers" by Jules Campbell

The first one is that many of us no longer bother printing off the photos we take. We store them in our hard drives, buy external drives to back up copies of these images and make yet more copies on cd’s and dvd’s. But we never actually print the images and place them in family photo albums. So does this mean that the humble family photo album is no longer needed? Remember cringing when the old family albums were pulled out and scrutinised whenever relatives and friends visited? Ducking for cover so that our dear old aunt couldn’t squeeze the life out of us and telling us how much we’d grown? Flipping the pages over ever so quickly, so that you didn’t have to see yourself in those awful purple velour bootleg trousers you wore to your best friend’s birthday party? Surely, we shouldn’t let the current generation miss out on this fun?! So – what should you do?

"Just for today I will not be afraid" by Dana DiPasquale

1. Choose a selection of images from the ever increasing digital image album on your computer. It helps if you work in themes, or events, or family members, or even months.
2. Images selected can either be printed on a home printer (and yes, we all have one of those these days, too) or taken to one of many instant print booths located in major retail shopping centres. These printing centres have become very inexpensive even offering discounts on quantities and sizes on different days of the week (so that photo of your Uncle Jim pulling faces at the camera can be printed into the largest of sizes for a very small price indeed).
3. Select photo albums that are acid-free, as this will extend the life of the photo – but heck, as long as you have kept copies on your hard drive, external drive, cd and dvd, this shouldn’t really matter too much.

"Self Portrait" by Peter Hill



4. Most importantly, record in the album the vital information of who, what, where and when. There really is nothing more frustrating than looking at old photos in family albums from long ago where these details weren’t recorded, and now those details forever remain unknown. It’s amazing what a few words accompanying a photo can do to jog the memory and transport you back to that place in time.



"Central Park" by Danielle Kelly



So don’t forget to bring out the family photo album whenever relatives and friends are over, so another generation can really enjoy that part of growing up!


Next: To delete or not to delete?