my notecards came!

When my Crane museo cards arrived late last week, I felt like I had just received a package from Tiffany. Look at those boxes! I'm just trying to think of what I'll store in them after I run out of cards. And of course the boxes are sitting on top of my gorgeous Rotatrim monorail, which cuts like a dream. While I was doing test prints a few weeks ago I was using my old scrapbook cutter that has a blade you need to replace often, and the edges were so uneven. But the Rotatrim makes perfect, clean cuts that make the paper look like it just came out of the package. I love supplies!

puppy play

Last weekend we pet sat for an 8 month old puppy named Nigel. This was the first time I'd ever done pet sitting, and it was a lot harder than I'd expected. Luckily, Jolly and Nigel got along like a house on fire. They played several times throughout the three days he was here until they both collapsed on the floor. I would then put Nigel in his crate and he'd sleep for several hours.


It was definitely a learning experience, but I told the boy not to book us for any more sitting any time soon. It's hard enough taking care of my own dog!

coffee film

Did you know that you can develop black & white film using coffee and vitamin C? Using instant coffee, vitamin C powder, washing soda, dishwasher liquid, and a few other ingredients, it's possible. There is a neat tutorial at Photojojo. Surprisingly, the results aren't bad at all, like the above photo. There is a group on Flickr called Caffenol that is dedicated to photos developed using this process. So if you're ever in dire need to develop film at 3am when CVS is closed, there is hope, still!

Via Geek Sugar.
Image by remediate.this.

starting the process again

I don't know what happened, exactly. We had decided that we were going to move to Brooklyn on June 1st, which means we'd have to begin looking for apartments in the beginning of May. But somehow I found myself on craigslist this weekend, and suddenly I'm looking for May 1st move-ins instead.

This will be our 3rd apartment in the city, but now we are specifically targeting the Park Slope neighborhood (or Fort Greene, but it's more expensive, if you can believe it.) Yesterday I looked at one apartment that was too small. Otherwise it was perfect - elevator, washer/dryer, dishwasher, shared roof and garden, on a nice street, not far from all of the subway lines and Atlantic Avenue. But it was advertised as a 'loft,' and the realtor said 'around 900 square feet.' Here's a tip, Property Shark is your best friend. The craigslist listing provided the cross-streets and a photo of the entrance to the building. That was all I needed to pinpoint the exact address even before the realtor gave it to me, and knowing the floor, and that the owner of the condo was a woman, I was able to see that there was no 4th floor apartment owned by a woman with more than 740 square feet. There was that one, and one that was 504 square feet. Guess which one she took me to see? Yeah, the one with less square footage than I have now. I told her it was 400 square feet smaller than she'd said, and she gives me the, "Oh, we thought it was much larger," deal, but come on. She's a realtor. She spends her whole day in apartments. That's why working with realtors is tough. They're like used car salesmen. Do your own research and don't listen to a darn thing they say, that's my motto. Well, it's fine that it didn't work out because it had a one month broker fee, and ideally it would be no-fee or through an owner or tenant instead of realtor.



The photos provided in the listing did the apartment justice (it was also in crummy shape), so I didn't take any more except for up on the roof deck, which had a 360 degree view of Brooklyn and Manhattan. It was awesome. But pets weren't allowed up there and the deck part was like a catwalk, very narrow and kind of scary, unlike other roof decks I've seen. Sort of a let down.

But hopefully I'll see more apartments later this week and into the next, and if nothing still, we'll just keep looking! Actually I really enjoy looking at apartments, it's just that I hate knowing I have to choose one of them and do all the paperwork to apply. But I cannot wait to decorate a new place!

it's beginning to look a lot like spring-mas!

The tree that was budding was totally in the shade, so I appologize for the poor photos, but look! It's blooming! I just had to show you. It's so exciting. I can't wait to see more.

artexpo photos

I was going through my iPhone today when I discovered these photos I had taken inside the Javits Center at the ArtExpo on March 1st. I'd never been to the Javits Center before so I was really blown away by the fact that the entire building is made of glass. And it's an expo center, mind you, so it's just huge.


Crazy, right? And the Art Expo was great, too! We saw the actress Jane Seymour who was there selling her art. All of the artists' work was a little out of my league, price wise, though.

photo of a photo

In each of my Etsy listings, I plan to have one digital image of the photograph and one photo of the actual print (as seen below), and perhaps also a framed version, too. So far there are two possible locations for taking photos of my prints. I'm also considering bringing them to the park and taking them in or around trees, and another option is to set up a clothes hanger on the wall and clip each photo to a clotheshanger. I love that idea, but the lighting in my apartment is so poor, I've been considering these other options.

Do you prefer either of these? These are just test shots, so quality will likely improve for the final version.

wake up and smell the clover

I know I'm just blogging about a little clover plant, but Jolly's been sniffing it ever since it came home, so I think it's quite cute. It also gives me the perfect oppertunity to plug the two framed pieces that the clover sits in front of. On the left is a photograph from byCole called "a bunch a bunch." On the right is a collage print by Swallowfield (a.k.a. Jennifer Judd-McGee), who is one of my very favorite artists. I bought this print from her at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn in 2007. I couldn't find the exact print on her Etsy shop.

alstroemerias

These alstroemerias were a gift from the boy. I love it when he surprises me with flowers, and he has such great taste in them. Actually, he surprised me twice because yesterday morning while he was walking the dog, he also bought a clover plant!




One of these shots came out more blue and one came out more red, I'm trying to decide which I prefer, how about you?

the last of the carnations

Here are the other three green (well ok, the one above is not green!) carnation photos, all through the viewfinder.



I also have two new TTV shots of alstroemerias that I'll show you tomorrow! Our apartment is overflowing with flowers at the moment, and it makes me so happy and feeling like spring is finally coming!

bird mobile

I was just over at the b-line, where I saw this mobile by Petit Collage, and I had to share. Yes, yes, I want it, and those little vases next to it, too! So adorable.

Also, here's a new blog I'm following, Dancing on Temple Tops, by Cindy, who lives in Kyoto, Japan. I love reading international blogs, so if you know of any others, feel free to send them my way!

the green carnations

Today I picked out some pretty green carnations. I must admit I really don't know a lot about flowers, though I love to photograph them, but green flowers seem really unusual to me! So as usual I had a ball with them.


Three more here, and I'll post the rest here, too, later on.

in the studio

I thought I'd share some pictures of my livingroom/studio space. I meant to do this earlier in the day when the light was better, but my apartment is so dark anyway. We're moving this summer and I swear, this is the last apartment I'll ever take that faces the back!




My favorite part of the room is all the tear-outs from magazines I have pinned up above my desk of rooms and products I like. They are so colorful and inspiring!

I've got two and a half weeks left until my shop opens, and I still have so much left to do. I puttered around all afternoon with some design stuff that turned into nothing! You know, I've always said I wanted to work for myself, and work at home, but it's difficult. The TV goes on, Facebook comes out, I start browsing design*sponge instead of working... what's a girl to do?

ch-ch-ch-changes

Just checking in to say that I'm working on renovating the blog, but it's not going to come all at once. It's going to be an under construction zone for a little bit, while I test out some font sizes and formats, impliment new stuff, etc. I don't tend to be the 'roll out the new layout all at once' kind of gal. So, until then.

love at first sight

My printer came! I killed myself lifting its 43 lbs. out of the box and onto the cart. My smaller HP Deskjet and my scanner were kicked out for this baby. Now they're in another corner on a wooden drink cart, ha! The printer is such a horse. It's huge. Especially when you see it in the living room.


Here's the first test print. And while I might have gotten still life photography down pat, I don't quite think I've gotten the whole picture-of-a-picture thing correct just yet! I'll work on that and get back to you. But, gosh, this printer is amazing. The quality is stunning, I am 100% happy with it, right out of the box. Oh, Printer, this is the beginning of a love affair.


This is a new print I just got in. Do you like it? It's Japanese. Just kidding. It's the test print the printer spews out when it's aligning its heads, but doesn't it look like a piece of graphic art? So I framed it. Maybe I will start a trend of framing print alignments.

Thats all for now, but in the coming days I will be perfecting my prints, deciding on a logo, and getting even closer to opening my shop. Today is a happy day!

still alive

Oh, I know I haven't blogged in forever, but I've been so busy, for I have an important announcement! On April 1st, I will be opening Alicia Hurst Photography on Etsy. Exciting. Check out some photos that might be sold here.

This blog will get a total redesign before April because it will serve as my blog to promote and talk about my photography. I have lots of time to devote to my business now because as of last week, I am only attending school part-time (9 credits) to pursue this, and I will graduate this summer or in December. No rush. I suppose that means I've got to update my bio!

Anyway, have a look at those new photos. Feel free to comment here about which ones are your favorites, and if you're feeling extremely generous, have a look through all of my Flickr and request that I offer certain prints. Who knows, I might even give you a freebie!