While walking around Bunnings this weekend, I came across a plant I'd never seen before. It's called a Cape Goosebery or a ground cherry. From what I read it grows well in Sydney. So I'm going to give it a try in the new backyard that is sunny and bright and not shaded by huge gum trees.

This is what my gooseberry bush looks like after I brought it home and planted it into a larger pot.

I layered potting mix on top of compost. Hopefully that will give it a boost of nutrients to get established and produce an abundance of fruit. The plant is called a cape gooseberry as each orange coloured 'berry' is covered with a papery lantern like sheath.  It reminds me of a weed we used to have growing around the house when I was a child. I loved peeling the papery lanterns to pick the seeds within. There was no berry  as such in my childhood version.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this plant survives and that have something to show you later in the season.  I would love to hear from you if you have any experience with this plant. 

PS.  I have neglected this blog for more than a year but I am determined to be more active from now on!

There are a lot of articles about the benefits of including video in your marketing efforts and I don’t know about you but video marketing sure works on me.

I'll admit to being a person who is interested in art and craft – jewellery and beads in particular. As you can see from my profile, I work with resin and polymer clay primarily. What you may not know is that I really don't like sewing. Blame it on having to unpick too many of my sewing projects. I have never made anything where I haven't unpicked some or all the seams.

I came across an instructional video about beading on fabric recently. Love beads, not so sure about fabric as it’s associated with sewing but I brought it home anyway and watched it. 

It was a life changing experience craftwise. The presenter, Mary Stori, was amazing. She made everything look so easy. She showed the materials she used - naming specific threads and  bead sizes that she used in her projects, marking pens, the felt and embroidery hoop set up she used to carry her beads and stop them from rolling around (hallelujah!) and the fabric.

Then she started sewing. She demonstrated how to hold the project so that your hands don’t block your line of sight and so that you can always see what you are doing. She showed basic stitches and more advanced ones but always in small units. It was very easy to see how these could be combined to build a fabulous piece of clothing or jewellery.

She inspired me enough to try out a bracelet using beads and pieces of fabric I had lying around the house.

The end result wasn’t too bad if I say so myself. Not in her class but it’s my first attempt!

My first attempt at beading on fabric.

I guess it just goes to prove that a video is worth a thousand words. I have books that describe the same methods but I always thought it was too complicated. However, the video turned it into an exceptional learning experience. It made it look easy and extremely doable.

Just think, if this video had been released by a sewing and beading supplies retailer such as Lincraft or Spotlight, they probably would have a huge number of converts and a corresponding increase in sales. With services such as YouTube, they don't even have to invest in expensive distribution partnerships.

So you’ve seen those gorgeously styled black and white shots in those glossy mags and wondered how they get the effect where just the item is coloured and everything else is set in black and white? The instructions below will guide you through how to apply this effect to your photographs using Photoshop.

         Before                              After

First make a copy of the photograph you wish to use.  That way, you will always have the original if you don’t like the changes you made.

Open the copy in Photoshop.

 
Increase the zoom on the item that you want to remain in colour.

Fig 1

Select the lasso tool ( shown in Fig 1) in the tool bar on the left and trace out the outline of the item you want to remain in colour. 

  


















Trace the item all the way around until you come back to your starting point. Dotted lines will edge your selection.

Then inverse the selection to include all the area outside your traced item. Go to Select,  Inverse

This will select the area outside your traced item and you will see dotted lines around the outside edge of the photograph.

To make this selected area black and white, go to Layer , New, Adjustment Layer.

 

Select Hue/Saturation in the Type field in the New Adjustment box that appears.

 In the Hue/Saturation box that appears, move the slider for Saturation to -100 and hit OK.

And your new photographic effect is now done.

More before and after examples

I have been off the grid of late, busy with new creations and designs. One of my projects was to create a set of bangles and earrings to match a saree. The saree, which originates from India, is a lovely outfit that can be demure or vampish depending on the wearer. Modern sarees come embellished with embroidery, beads and sequins. My challenge was to create something to match a deep pink material with gold embellishments. It had to be resin and modern but still in keeping with the ethnic feel of a saree.

This was the result. Love to hear your comments and feedback.