why hello, I am tripping on by here today to get back to normal and do what we love doing…ogling vintage goodies…
I would like to introduce you to a German friend of mine…Vron
like her?
isn't she cute?
I found her at the weekend, on the way to pick one of the Beach Cottage Kiddos up from sport, happily minding my own business I saw one of those garage sale signs strapped to a lampost..well what's the harm, I can fit it in and still get there in time…
Now I have to tell you, this was not looking like a garage sale where one might find treasure and there wasn't anything…apart from this old beauty and it's partner.
I have had old camera on my Beach Cottage Most Wanted List for ages. Mr Beach Cottage informed me later that you can pick up old cameras just about 'everywhere'. I am not so sure about that so I snapped this one up, calling my name was she, as I was about to retreat.
Contrary to my regular reason for buying old things (find more Show & Tell at Cindy's), just because I like their vintage-ness, I actually wanted one of these to play around with photography, a past-time I continually find myself enjoying more and more.
I had seen the TTVF (ha if you are not in the know that is Through The View Finder) images everywhere on the internet and rather than use the software that can turn a regular photo into one made to look like it's been taken through the lens of a scratched old thing, I wanted to try it for myself. The real McCoy.
And I have been doing that with this little beauty. Look at that lense, the lovely chunky old detail, the lettering, the precision…all wrapped up in a delicious case of chocolate leather…really makes the mass-produced, digital ones with their velcro nylon bags all a bit run-of-the-mill. Know what I mean?
For sure this is opening up all sorts of creative doors for me. There is something deliciously creative, while not having to fiddle about with bits of craft glue, about pointing ones digital camera through a vintage lens…everything takes on an obscurity…a new foggy life…things are enveloped in a scratchy haze of yesteryear…
This is a dangerous thing to do though, I do not recommend you find yourself an old vintage camera if you don't have much time on your hands…it also makes one look a little strange with digital camera around neck/in one hand and leather bound 60 odd year old vintage one in the other… you getting into strange positions so you can get said digital camera into the vintage camera and then hold this position until you click (350 comes in handy here).
So far I have taken pics of
Miss BC's scruffy old tennis shoes
the white spheres we know and love
a beer
the wharf
myself
a can of coke in my hair while trying to emulate Lady G
(not really that was a joke!)
my bedroom
next door
my phone
Mr Teenage BC's watch
the bath
and the list goes on…& you know there was eye rolling from males don't you
it is so very addictive to shoot and see the misty vintage results
Anyway girls, I am off I am meeting lg at the beach and we are sneaking off for a Friday lunch
Of course, I am taking Vron to find some candy
Enjoy the weekend we have friends Sat night, I'm looking forward to cooking
menu is cheese & quince, lemon chicken wings a la Nigel Slater, Chorizo Stew, green salad and Peroni
See you later besties
don't forget the ANTHROPOLOGIE + REAL LIVING PRIZE I am giving away closes end of play
**…comment to win, more than once if you like too easy Tweet/Facebook to double up**
blogged for the Inspiration event here and Wendy's here
I love the feel of old cameras, but compared to these new things, they can be an expensive hobby. However, selecting the black and white or sepia feature from a computer isn’t quite the same, is it?
OK, I have googled TTVF and I just don’t understand. . . Do you shoot with your digital through the lenses of the old vintage camera? Maybe you could illustrate this? What will they think of next? I love all this, but I don’t understand.
p.s. I bet there are others who don’t understand, but are too shy to ask. LOL
What a great post! Collecting cameras is one of the “many-s” that I need a 10 Step program for! I dropped in from “My Romantic Home” and am so happy that I did. Please accept my invitation to drop in at my place one day soon when you get a moment. until later…
I too am a little confused with the TTVF, and I went to photography school!
I’ve managed to cabbage on to all the old cameras in my family. Most of them don’t work, (or I wouldn’t even know how to go about getting them fixed/get film for them) but I do so like them sitting on my desk or hanging from a door knob. I’ve even got a ‘Brownie’ and an old ‘Super Eight’ video camera.
I wonder, have you ever made a pin hole camera? Or played with sunlight prints?
Hope you had a great lunch, gotta say I LOVE Nigel Slaters food. I’ve been watching his latest offering on Foxtel. Would love a veggie garden like his, just a bit pushed for space here what with the trampoline, swing set and various skate ramps dotted about the place!!!! Might try some stuff in pots though ;o)
hey sarah can you hang the oars out on your lil beachy deck/ porch area??? or over the slider door just thinking lol! i bet they would look super fab out there!!!
There’s something special about old cameras. I bet you will have so much fun exploring the world of photography with this little beauty.
Hugs ~ Kerryanne
G'day! I'm Sarah, I live in a tatty old cottage, near the sea in Australia with a battered old deck & a big old fig tree out the back...stripped wooden floors, old sash windows & a jumble of vintage furniture. [Read More …]
Well G’day Beach Cottage ladies. Of course some of you guessed correctly, no flies on Beach Cottage gals are there? A Summer House window dressing, beach vintage style. One that I got very wrong. I’ll keep this short and sweet The vintage crochet patchwork curtain? Love. Pure love. But, put it this [...]
G'day ladies, let's have a Too Easy Beach Cottage recipe yeah? The original place for Too Easy Recipes on the web ;-)
So, after my last salad went down a storm in my inbox, that's here if you missed it, I had to do this one seeing as I make it most weeks.
There is a problem with this salad and kiddos though...it looks, well, it looks, kinda yucky...but once they try it, they'll ask if and when they are next having it....at least that's what happens in this ratty old cottage...but I must interject here that my kiddos are 'good eaters'? ...they didn't get a choice in that ;-)
Now, stop, don't start running and hitting that next on your blog reading list, pulses are your best friend in the Too Easy Dump & Go kitchen for the busy mum, or busy anyone for that matter...that reminds me I must blog the garlic canneloni Go To for when you forgot to do dinner, feel like a bath but have three ravenous young Beach Cottage Kiddos on your hands...another day.
I am almost embarrassed to tell you how easy this is, we have it so much that I always have a couple, make that six, cans of lentils around and a jar of goat's cheese in the fridge...the great thing about this is that it's all too easy to get ready in just a few minutes, but it looks, tastes and seems like you did oh so very much more than that.
You can obviously too change it up a bit depending on what you have to hand in your kitchen, and I must say that is how I settled on this version...because one day when I made it I didn't have enough Parsley in the garden and so I chucked in some basil too, and liked the Summer feel it added.
I think of this as being a rather posh salad, not sure why, because it couldn't really be further from the truth...the great thing is that it works so well for an average run of the mill day, (when I did this for this blog post, it was a hot Sydney Sunday and I did it just simply to go with Rosemary & Garlic stuffed pork, you can see that pork here),
...but just as easily it works on a regular old Wednesday night when you have lost all enthusiasm for rustling up yet another meal, or indeed on Saturday night, when your friends are on their way over for dinner and you my friend, are in your new vintage inspired clawfoot bathtub (that's me in a few weeks time, k?) without any clothes on, a tipple and no idea what to cook for dinner...
I have a complicated and ever-changing relationship with goat's cheese...it never fails me in its performance and it never fails to impress me (you can find out a bit more on what I like in food here if you like) and I kinda collect it...because it's very easy to collect and has a fairly long fridge-life, I love trying out different ones and there's not many things I love more than goat's cheese on sourdough...but I think the best thing about it is not thinking about it exclusively in the toast/salad department...I've stuffed it in chicken and all sorts of things as a last minute and it's been fab.
But let's get down to the nitty gritty of this super salad that makes you look like an angel who has been on her knees all day scrubbing the front step when really you are in the digital world and spent most of ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, howdy, howdy howdy today for a Beach Cottage Too Easy recipe.
If you like cake, cream, sugar and chocolate, make this.
This is, rather than a recipe, a putting it together...as you know I am no dessert maker, but, I do make quite a few sweet things, because, somehow I have ended up with kiddos, who in their roles as offspring, believe that part of the deal, is that not only do I feed them a home-cooked meal with a few homegrown ingredients in there, yes, they also believe that dessert and not the kind that comes out of a packet is included too in this All-Inclusive Deal they call Parenthood.
So, this, for sure, is no culinary masterpiece, but if you are looking for something that is so very easy, dump-able, uses everyday ingredients and at the same time makes you look like you spent hours pulling things together plus tastes good....well, then this is for you.
Best though, you don't make this for yourself, if you have spent the most part of your week sitting on your derriere reading blogs...this my friend ain't low in the calories department...if, however, you are treating yourself to a delight in a mason jar, this is so for you.
I first had a version of this when at dinner back in Old Blighty with a girl, I once, in another life, caught the train up from our village to London with...she was a funny thing really...I am not quite sure how we got on...she was kinda prissy and a bit bothered by too much...I would run to the train flustered, having got up late, and she would have a spreadsheet on the train times, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, a few years later when we both had bambinos, I bumped into her again and we met up for playdates and dinner sometimes....this particular night, after a lovely meal she served up little bowls of creamy, cakey fruity stuff topped off with chocolate flake...it was delicious!
She didn't serve hers in little jars like this, hers were in a champagne glass and not quite so layered as these ones, plus she used tinned fruit not fresh or frozen.
Years later when said offspring kept requesting dessert, one day I wangled together somehow these from what was around in the fridge and they've been with us ever since.
Most likely, if you ever come here for dinner, and shock horror, you dont' bring the dessert with you, this, if you are lucky, will be what you will get.
Throw it all together, sprinkle a lil bit of chocolate on the top and the blog reading past-time you so rudely left in order to make this, is my friend, your oyster.
Beach Cottage Too Easy Layered Raspberry, Cream & Sponge Dessert
1 small maderia or butter cake or a pack of cupcakes (or of course make your own)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
8 tbsp fruit
1 x chocolate Flake or chocolate bar for grating
1. beat the cream cheese until it is soft
2. whip the cream until soft peaks form
3. combine & add the sugar through
4. cut your cake into portions
& layer into the bottom of your jar
5. add a tablespoon of fruit
6. layer on top the cream combo
7. repeat
8. grate chocolate or Flake on top
*Beach Cottage Recipe Notes : this is just a guide really, you can use any cream that you have on hand...I have made this with clotted cream (don't even go there unless you want to seriously get these babies on your thighs), with double cream and I have even, in desperate times squirted in that, ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, well I thought it was time for some blogging tips here today, alongside a few nice flowers and shells ;-)
I was recently part of a blogger discussion group over at Kidspot and a couple of hours later had a few questions from girls who couldn't make it to the live chat, one was on my Facebook page and one via email, the Facebook one I will deal with in another Real Girl Blogging Tips post...the email one asked me what essentials do I think every blog needs?
Well I have been around here for a while now doing the blogging thing, so I should know this, yeah and I mused this on my walk by the sea this morning I thought well what do you only need?
...I think it is really very easy when blogging, whether or not you are blogging up there in the lofty heights of the Super Bloggers or you are just dipping your toe in the water, to get side-tracked by 101 million different things that are 'essential' to your blog and if you are someone like me who actually gets a thrill from reading blogging tips then you are in an even worse place because you will find yourself literally buzzing with these essential things to add/do/implement on your blog.
However, walking along, gulping down that brisk sea air today (no sunshine & clouds) I thought you actually don't need any of that professional blogging stuff to be successful...but there are a few things that are pretty much crucial ...and once I started to think about it I got it down to about 5 - these are the only things that you need to concentrate on...once you have read through take a look at some of the big girl's blogs...you'll see that actually they don't have bundles of stuff on their blogs...but they do have all of these...
So here are my top things that your blog must have
1. About Page
There are all sorts of About Pages out there, and if you search on it there are many different tips and ideas for what to have on yours
Whatever blogging platform you use, adding an About Me Page is easy, quick and simple and will do everything to grow your blog.
I like a long-ish About Page, I am inherently nosy and I like to know a bit more about the person but at the least you should have on it your name and where you are located. I also think a photo is good too...over the last year or so I think this has become more important in blogging - if you are hesitant about that as I was, you can try using sunglasses or a behind shot until you get comfortable.
There is nothing worse than stumbling upon a new blog and going to find out more to only be faced with a piddly little one liner About Me Page...well there is something worse, not having one at all!
2. Contact Page
The chances are someone, somewhere will want to contact you and you will be surprised what lands in your inbox once you put yourself out there on the world wide web with a blog.
Many bloggers also use this page to include details for PR's/brands that may want to contact them and some bloggers put their stats on there too.
A short, to the point and simple Contact Page works really well...whenever I have wanted to contact another blogger I am often very busy and have limited time so I don't want to hang around sifting through information looking for an email address, so concise and clear ...
G'day lovely Beach Cottage lovelies.
So, yeah, so on a roll people, so on a roll.
I feel kinda home accessory wired right now.
I am always telling people, if anyone ever listens, that blogging is all about passion, not that sort of passion, but about passion that makes one tick.
Things like this make me tick tick boom.
I love finding things that suit my budget and let me treat my home but look amazing too.
So without further adieu I introduce you, ladies of the beach, to the blue vintage glasses that I have been stroking for about a week or two now...
These glasses are from a little boutique I sometimes happen upon, this boutique sells also pet accessories, carpet cleaner, bras and compost...it's quite unique though.
And, thanks to my friend Marnie (she blogs over here, go take a look at her praying position, interesting), who just so happens to be one day having me over for a lil' Greek dinner, has let me in on the fact that we call Kmart....The KMart...with an accent ....as in 'I love The KMart'...just like her MIL does. Oh yeah. Love that.
So I have had my eye on reproduction vintage glass blue wine glasses and being trying to find real true vintage blue glasses for like ever.
Oh yes I have spied them in Frenchy boutiques, I have lusted after them in stores that I shouldn't even enter and I have put them back pretty quickly in those shops with the hand-written price tags. C'mon, you know the ones.
And, though all of the above have tempted me, muchly, really, even with my wardrobe stashing skills I just thought that, actually, I'd rather be saving that casherooni for our next trip overseas..
Hello The KMart.
Tick Tick Boom
Vintage style blue wine glasses.
Do not come to my old place and think you might pick up one of these and smile with pleasure at their handblown quality, their weight, and be secretly jealous that my wine glasses cost more than your car...friend, that would not happen...these do not feel like that...indeed these in a funny way reminded me of my baby girl, she was a tiny little thing, with stick legs, the tinsssssssiest ankles and wrists you ever did see, she slept sideways in her cot wedged in between rolled up blankets and would only settle attached to Mr Beach Cottage or I or a (dirty) pj top of mine scrunched up under her nose...the first few times I picked her up to cuddle, being used to Honeymoon Baby who weighed in at 9lbs at birth and has never really stopped growing, I nearly threw her little bird-cum-rat down covered body over my shoulder.
These glasses are like that...be careful or you might lose your wine down the front of your shirt.
But oh baby, we are not talking picking up here, we are not talking quality, we are not talking house accessory snobbery.
Beach Cottage ladies, we are talking aesthetics.
And this is what I need in my cottage.
Blue vintage style glass, paired with coastal / nautical / beach stuff on my deck.
It's The KMart.
Tune in tomorrow, tomorrow, I have more budget foofing for your home, or maybe it will be the dress that wraps me up in supermarket-chic and makes me feel like me again.
Good Day to you my friends, wanna come hang out on my deck, talk house accessories, The KMart and drink some wine from blue glasses?
Sarah
Yeah, the good old white spheres
Well-done, Sarah, it’s lovely to watch you fulfill your vintage dreams. And now I’m going to facebook it 
A great find! I see lots of creative days ahead for you and he…hope to see some of those old/new photos soon! Have a great weekend.
I love the feel of old cameras, but compared to these new things, they can be an expensive hobby. However, selecting the black and white or sepia feature from a computer isn’t quite the same, is it?
Love the camera and the pictures it takes…hopefully we will see them soon.
Cindy
OK, I have googled TTVF and I just don’t understand. . . Do you shoot with your digital through the lenses of the old vintage camera? Maybe you could illustrate this? What will they think of next? I love all this, but I don’t understand.
p.s. I bet there are others who don’t understand, but are too shy to ask. LOL
What a great post! Collecting cameras is one of the “many-s” that I need a 10 Step program for! I dropped in from “My Romantic Home” and am so happy that I did. Please accept my invitation to drop in at my place one day soon when you get a moment. until later…
What a wonderful find! One question: Will you develop the film yourself or take it in to be processed?
Hello. I’m de-lurking, finally.
I too am a little confused with the TTVF, and I went to photography school!
I’ve managed to cabbage on to all the old cameras in my family. Most of them don’t work, (or I wouldn’t even know how to go about getting them fixed/get film for them) but I do so like them sitting on my desk or hanging from a door knob. I’ve even got a ‘Brownie’ and an old ‘Super Eight’ video camera.
I wonder, have you ever made a pin hole camera? Or played with sunlight prints?
Love her my friend! I want one!!
Can’t wait to see all the fabulous photos you’ll be taking with her.
Sally
xoxox
She’s a beaut! Makes me wish I hadn’t dropped and cracked the lens filter to an old camera of mine.
Love Vron, she is just so classic and stylish.
Hope you had a great lunch, gotta say I LOVE Nigel Slaters food. I’ve been watching his latest offering on Foxtel. Would love a veggie garden like his, just a bit pushed for space here what with the trampoline, swing set and various skate ramps dotted about the place!!!! Might try some stuff in pots though ;o)
Cant wait to see your snaps
c xx
must know what the flowery goodness next to the awesome camera is!
is it shells? do tell!
hey sarah can you hang the oars out on your lil beachy deck/ porch area??? or over the slider door just thinking lol! i bet they would look super fab out there!!!
Gorgeous new camera! So jealous of the good find
There’s something special about old cameras. I bet you will have so much fun exploring the world of photography with this little beauty.
Hugs ~ Kerryanne
Once again you show that you have the eye for just about everything!
Really enjoyed the mirror photos and your good posture,
Cheers
Frannie