Friday is my day: Anna Ruby King

Tooot toooot! Let's go to Greece and meet Anna. Or Lila...Which one was it..?Anyways, she has two shops on etsy annarubyking with sweet cards and paper goods and lilarubyking with cute and whimsical jewellery. I really recommend to take a peek on both of them!

(Click any picture to go to shops)

10:30.

I start my day with a glass of water and turn on the computer. It’s sunny, so I put on a load of washing. I turn on CNN and visit my Etsy shop. For the next half hour or so I answer convos, check my emails, chat with some friends at the European Street Team, read some other sites and blogs (most importantly: the Rainforest Site –must go everyday! www.therainforestsite.com

11:00

Getting a bit hungry, so time for my breakfast/brunch smoothie. Do you want the recipe? One banana, plus about a handful of frozen blueberries, a couple of big spoonfuls of yoghurt, some milk and some honey. Then blend it all together till it’s a pretty purple colour. Delicious! I have this every day!After this, I hang out my washing, get changed and do I little tidying.

While it’s early and the sun is still good I photograph some of the items I finished making yesterday, some earrings and some bird pins. This time of year the best place for this is on my bed.

11:30

I start setting up in my studio for the days work, coat some mandrels and tidy up from previous days work.My mum calls from Australia to tell me about a two faced kitten that was born in my home town. I miss all the good stuff since I left Australia!

12:00

I edit the photos that I took earlier and list them in my Etsy shops.
I also notice that the treasury will be opening up shortly, so I fill up my poster sketch and watch the countdown with a bowl of cereal. I never really know what to have for lunch, so I just tend to graze during the day. Lately I’ve been grazing on cereal.

While I’m waiting I pack up an order – some of my little sparrow pins are off to America- how exciting!

1:30

My treasury is caught and filled, so back to the studio.

Yesterday I constructed 5 pairs of my line studs, so today I need to finish them off. They all need to have their edges nicely neatened and then I paint on the chemical that blackens the little embossed lines. They need to sit like this to get nice and black for a little while, then the residue gets washed off, and I sand back the silver to create a nice surface. Yay, finished and packed away.

3:10

Some more cereal to keep me going, now I’m going to have a bit of a break and cut out some of my birds while watching an episode of Survivor. I love it, I don’t care what you think.

A few hours of bird cutting later, I lay them all out on my cutting board to get ready to make some more Birds in Lines artworks, some ACEOs and one or two full sized pieces. I always try and make a few of something at a time, it saves on time and also because I am short on space it saves me setting up and packing up so often!

6:30ish

I bring in my washing and start cooking dinner. Tonight I’m making spaghetti with a tomato sauce. This is one of my favorite meals, and it’s super quick and easy to cook so I end up making it at least once a week (I could really eat pasta every day! I love it!)

7:00

Husband is finally home from work, we eat dinner and watch some tv, chat about some random stuff like Citibank maybe being sold, two faced kittens…

I have a shower and tidy up some of my mess (I am responsible for about 80% of the mess in our house.)

A bit later I spread my supplies out further across the kitchen table, glue some pins to the backs of some sparrows so they can set overnight, and get back to making some more stuff with my fabric birds.

12:30

One last check of my Etsy shops, a little bit more chatting at the EST, answer any new emails and messages. The computer gets turned off, and I head to bed to read until about 1:30, lights out!

lilarubyking.etsy.com

annarubyking.etsy.com

Have a great weekend all!
And remember to buy handmade gifts this year...

Friday is my day: Frances Melhop

Today I am so proud and happy to travel to Milano, Italy, the center of Fashion and meet Frances Melhop aka Matchstickgirl aka enchantedpond. She is a professional photographer and her works has appeared world wide such as Italian vogue, Paris vogue, Australian vogue, Elle etc. And today we are all honored to take a peek to one of her days. Enjoy the trip and after that I am sure you want to make some souvenir shopping from her Etsy shops :)

(Click any picture to go to shops)

6.25am

the alarm goes off and the first words that run through my head are "oooooo nooooo i'm already late!"




first steps straight into a wall...klonk...groan... dressing gown ..computer on ...
and straight to the kitchen to set up a giant coffee ..
the only way forward
dazed wanderings for another 20 minutes check my emails and grumpily go back to get my coffee

6.50am

answer emails ... not sure how nicely ..
i so dont like early mornings ...but today is a shoot day so i must soldier on

7.00 am

jump in the shower

no photos no photos!!!

7.30am

scan the news items on the sydney morning herald and wish i hadnt

pass by etsy and check the forum and my convos ...much more positive vibe

look at my little nest ..it looks so cosy but i have to go out in the big grey world of Milan

7.45am

jump downstairs with my equipment to the taxi already waiting

the city is grey and it starts raining

i go to the studio early to miss all the rush hour traffic

8.25am

arrive at condé nast studios

i drop off my equipment at the studio and wander off to second breakfast

(i do come from the land of Lord of the Rings after all)

here i am in my favourite bar in Milan "liviing"

they tell me off for taking photos inside

i ask why its not allowed but they dont know

it just isnt... o well ... italian logic ...

8.50am

back to the studio to meet everyone arriving i brief them on the idea which today is "Glamour and Glitter"

theatre style

studio, model and makeup room ...before..........

my magicians start to work

the model reads while the torture her into a new character

my usual assistant is away assisting Deborah Turveville for Italian Vogue

so the new assistant and i start to build up the set and construct the lighting i want

its a spaghetti bomb...

health and safety....!!!

i tell the assistant to lock down the wires and make it a bit less of a death trap

11.30am

finally we are ready

, the model is dressed and we put her in postiion

its always a good picture :)

i tell my assistant to do crew cam and he comes up with a few awful photos of me

and alot of nice ones of the model ....hmmmmmmmmmmmm

half way through the day he falls in love with the model and loses focus on the world

he asks her to marry him ... i photograph the proposal on his cell phone ...hmmmmmm

2pm

we have 3 shots under the belt and go for lunch next door

its very sheeshee

nice food too

3pm

espresso coffees all round and back to work

makeup and hair retouched and changed

5.30pm

7 shots away and we are finished ,... one of the clients did not send their dress so we finish early ...

(there's a first for everything !)

we breakdown the set super fast and rush off to beat the milan deadly rainy weather rush hour traffic

unfortunately i cant show you the actual shots of the model as the magazine hasnt been published yet...

6pm

in the taxi its already dark

Milan floods when it rains...it is built on a massive system of canals designed by Leonardo da Vinci...most of which are still under the streets

the taxi driver thinks its funny me shooting blurry shots of lights through his window

6.45pm

arrive home starving

i eat some fresh handmade pasta (not handmade by me) and drink a glass of red wine and relax

checking my emails .. and my etsy pixie pals

10pm

my little brother rings from New Zealand and we talk nonsense and laugh for an hour

i go back to my computer world

nearly 12pm

my eyeballs feel like theyre about to fall out so i crawl exhausted into bed

and look at my palm trees in Fiji...

goodnight

zzzzzz

zzzzz

zz

www.matchstickgirl.etsy.com

www.enchantedpond.etsy.com

Have an enchanted weekend!