Whoaaaaaaaaa....

....I am in love - utterly and irrevocably in L-O-V-E

with my new 55/200 lens - just look at the difference and you will understand.
Sitting on the couch in our front room, zooming all out of the balcony window to the house opposite the other side of the street.

This is what my old and trusted 18/55 does:

And this is what my new best friend does:

How can I NOT be in love?!?? The possibilities - being able to take pictures of wildlife (and I am not talking of Mr P in the shower here) from a distance that won't disturb the animals was something I always wanted to do. But so far I just did not  have the money to spend around £300.00 ($457.00) on a new Nikon lens. Even the refurbished ones are around £139.00 ($212.00) - again, money I do not have lying around.

So, when I went into town and saw a used Tamron for the grand price of £39.00 ($59.00) - well, it was a no brainer, really. As I took my camera and checked the compatibility with the Tamron, I knew that it would work and the lens still has a six month guarantee. Not that I expect it to break, because quite frankly - if it works ok now, why wouldn't it in six months time? This is the first time I bought a used/refurbished technical item - something I never considered before. This wee lens may have changed my mind in that aspect.

Despite being snapping away like a mad woman, I still had some time to create a card for the recent {{ 2 Sketches 4 You }} challenge. It is also to be entered into the {{ Simon Says Challenge }} for "Things with wings". Ok, so you may say "but pigs don't fly..."well, uhm HE-LLOOOOOHOOOO, look at this cute stamp from {{ Some Odd Girl }} and you will learn different. With us, pigs ARE things with wings...

** Click on image to enlarge **

Ingredients:
Cardstock: Papermill
Papers: My Minds Eye
Stamp: Some Odd Girl
Stickers: Making Memories
Other: Embroidery Floss; Beaded String; Self-adhesive Ribbon; ProMarkers; Cosmic Shimmer

And I also managed to create two more pages for my {{ Rock Album }} and here is another first: I have started to take the pictures of these layouts in MANUAL mode...I know, I know...I kinda hyperventilates thinking about it but it has been a long time coming. Now I am learning about aperture, focus and all that jazz and it is really amazing to see the difference now when you shoot in manual mode compared to auto mode. I saw a difference in colours that I never thought possible. I was even cocky enough to do my focus in manual mode, which meant that after four years I found out that my lense has not just one but TWO rings I can twist...well bugger me!

So here are layout pictures in manual mode (as was the one above of the Flyin' Pig card but the window pictures at the beginning of this post were taken in auto mode)

This page shows a newspaper article and yes, that is me in the picture....my mum used to run the City Cinema in Hamburg and having a Teenage Daughter meant she was quite up to date with what the Youth wanted to see/hear. When AC/DC brought out the movie {{ Let there be Rock }}, mum was the only one who saw the money the movie would make. The article states that the 17 year old daughter of the cinema manager was looking forward to the movie as she is such an AC/DC fan and they asked me if I would wear my Angus outfit...of course I could not resist ;)

** Click on image to enlarge **

Ingredients:
Cardstock: Bazill
Papers: Making Memories 
Stickers: Pink Paislee; Rusty Pickle; Jenni Bowlin 
Other: Flat backed pearls; Cosmic Shimmer

And this one shows two members of {{ King Kurt }} and myself after their 1986 show in Hamburg. I saw them twice and loved both gigs, even though I nearly did not get home after the first gig. The bus driver was initially refusing to take me on, as I was caked in flour and coloured water....which was their gimmick all those years ago. All of a sudden they would throw flour all over the audience, followed with water. I tried to dodge it as best I could but I still looked like I stood next to a cake factory when it exploded...

** Click on image to enlarge ** 

Ingredients:
Cardstock: Bazill 
Papers: Scribble Scrabble; Teresa Collins 
Stickers: Jenni Bowlin 
Other: Flat backed pearls; Flowers