Rain and clouds

Well well well... Turns out I had forgotten even more than I thought about my camera. I had problems getting my images lighter (they kept turning out rather dark), even when adapting the diaphragm and shutter time over and over again. That was, until J. ('zee boyfriend') figured out I hadn't been adapting the shutter time but the light balance instead, which doesn't do anything when zooming manually. Oh.

You'd thínk that realisation would leave one with lots of motivation and inspiration to take lots of pictures, but unfortunately the weather forecast for this and next week has basically been rain and clouds, accompanied by a rather grey and dark sky and thus bad lighting. Maybe I should take the opportunity to practise working with a light box and maybe even separate flashes, but, well, yeah... I'm dreading that. Time will tell if I'll ever have the courage to start with it.

But fear not, I've gotten several fantastic crafting tools as birthday gifts, so I guess I'll be able to keep myself busy for the time being *grins*. Among these, pictures will follow later:

...lino cutting tools (Dutch: linoleumgutsen) for making custom stamps, I've already made a few
...thick high-quality colouring pencils (my fingers get cramped when I use regular ones, so I'm really happy with these)
 ...a wood-cutting knife
...an ironing board (already had a small tabletop one, but using that was annoying the living daylight out of me), great for my sewing projects
...and THE most awesome sewing book ever, "Allemaal rokjes" (all kinds of skirts, only available in Dutch yet) from Mme Zsazsa, and everyone who knows me in real life knows I never even wear skirts but I really wanted the book anyway. Because it's so awesome. And because I do want to make skirts, even though I might not wear them that often, as they are much easier to make than pants or shirts.

And I've found another song I really like for practise, but I'm still pondering which one I like better, the original or Joe Cocker's version:

Oh so unfitting with the current weather here, but hey, hopeful thinking never hurts.