It’s been a long, but good week.  I got to wear my Banana Republic suit to a marketing conference and I found out that the area I live in has been coined “Grads and Pads” by Environics (a market research company). One of the traits of this segment?  Shopping at Banana Republic.  Nail.on.head.

I have my last wedding dress appointment today to get the bustle.. bustled.  I keep worrying that I’m not going to like the dress since I ordered it nearly 10 months ago.  Styles change so much in that time!

On a sad note, I’m afraid that I’m going to have to break up with the Paper Source.  Since they switched their shipping method to FedEx, the brokerage fees have gone sky high.   On my last order – the taxes, brokerage and “disbursement” fees added 50% to the total cost of the package.  $71 dollars on a $138 package.  I nearly cried.

I thought it would be fun to have an album with some our our childhood photos at the wedding.  So, for the last few months, we’ve collected photos.  I spent last weekend scanning, cropping and colour correcting the images before taking them to be printed.  It was satisfying to see it all come together.

I used one of my accordion albums – covered with opal brocade paper and a swishy green ribbon.  Handmade.  With much love.

I just returned from picking up a new batch of prints for my photocards.  I realized this week that the Ladyfest Craft Sale happens the day before Mothers Day!  So, I created some new cards for the occassion.  I haven’t assembled them yet, but they’re going to look great! (toot toot!)  I’ll post some photos soon and hopefully you’ll consider buying your Mothers Day card from me at the show!

There’s still nothing quite like getting a *real* letter in the mail and I think it’s even nicer when the letter bears a pretty stamp.

This is my second time ordering picture postage and I still think that for a few extra dollars, it puts shame to normal stamps.  I don’t want to say that Canadian stamps are ugly – not at all.  But the selection when it comes to special occassions = limited.  These new lilac ones are very pretty (I almost bought them!) but it didn’t say “wedding”.

After seeing the US love bird stamps, I think Canada is really missing out on some cute wedding-invitation-mailing stamps.

The best thing about Canada Post’s picture postage is that it’s printed here in Ottawa which makes for really short delivery times.  Now, lupins may not say wedding to anyone else, but it’s one of my themes and will make much more sense once I post a photo of the final invitation package.

Plus, I LOVE seeing my photos in print!

The SPAO is offering a Holga workshop in late July here in Ottawa. I *heart* my Holga – everytime you see an image appear on the film negative, it feels like magic. How could something made of plastic and wrapped up with tape to keep out light leaks actually produce “nice” photos??

I ended up modding my Holga a bit. I used to shoot mostly black and white film, so with a simple lens adapter, I could use my red filter. Once Spring actually arrives in Ottawa, I think I’ll get back in action.

The Holga is so light, it’s perfect for travel. As seen above – I have taken mine to Banff and to Toronto.

This course sounds like a great way to learn about the Holga and darkroom techniques.

The MOO cards are here. Wow. That was fast service. It was a good idea to order a pack with lots of different photos to see which printed the best. Some photos definitely looked better in print than others. Overall, I’m really happy and can’t wait to order more.

After three years, I finally sorted through all of my Australia photographs and had them printed. A full Saturday was dedicated to cropping and sticking hundreds of photos in a big red Canson scrapbooking album. Purchasing this type of album apparently qualifies me for Loomis and Toles’ “scrapbooking club”. The words ’scrapbooking club’ really frighten me. I don’t do brads and stickers.

I got really inspired with the spring photo cards this weekend.  I’ve created six new cards – perfect for any spring occassion (Mother’s Day, birthday, Easter, Ooops…, anniversay, etc)  Cards are blank inside.

Here are the six images:

I’ve missed putting together photocards, so I thought I’d get a head start on some spring cards. The first two feature pussy willows and come with an envelope embossed with a leaf motif on the flap. I’m thinking about setting up an Etsy account to sell them.

One of the newest additions to my blogroll is Jen from Simply Photo.  Almost everyday she posts some beautiful, moody still life photos and links.  So nice.  (And she has a marmalade cat as well.)