Things

I wanted to share a few of the beautiful and thoughtful gifts I received for Christmas. I know it might be a little out of season now, but it's been snowing for a week and I needed something to focus my energy on (seriously, with this much time off you would think I would be getting all kinds of stuff done, but mostly I'm just worrying about how I'm not getting anything done).

Clockwise from the bottom: 

Gorgeous handmade paper from my mom. Deckled edges make me swoon

Absolutely beautiful 150 year old edition of the complete works of Robert Burns from my grandparents.

Ceramic leaf plate, a lovely edition to my plates shaped like leaves collection (yes really) courtesy of mom again. 

A pair of pretty vintage pearl earrings from my sister. 

Handmade glass(!) knitting needles from mom.

A newer edition of Robert Burns from my grandparents (they remembered all the way back to this post and thought since we're part Scottish I would enjoy reading the work of one of Scotland's most famous countrymen). 

And a hundred year old edition of Oliver Twist from mom. She bought this one because it has an inscription in the front and she and I share a love of old books with handwritten inscriptions.

Sharing my Christmas gifts was also a great excuse to practice some still life photography and experiment a little with lighting. I'm trying to be more conscious of lighting in my photographs. Not that I wasn't before (every time you take a photo you have to think about light) but now I'm trying to control it a little more. I've been reading some about lighting techniques and the amount of information out there is overwhelming! It's easy to get sucked into the gadget vortex, but I borrowed this idea and made a couple of homemade soft boxes and they're serving my purposes really well for now.

PS: I started an Intrepid Hermit tumblr. It's mostly things I run across that catch my eye. If you're a fellow tumblr-er check it out and follow if you like what you see.