MY GAL SUBU

I wanted to share the news and excitement about Subu.com and the wonderful blog Subu writes. ( http://suburose.wordpress.com/) Every Monday she posts a crafty giveaway that has been getting a lot of national attention and over a hundred (!) entrants to win. Last week a gorgeous necklace was featured; this week, an adorable wristlet. All the items are handmade by very talented crafters.

Not only does Subu write a terrific blog with posts about crafts, celebs (like Zac Effron!!) and wedding plans, but she also finds time to create some amazing handmade books which you can see here. My favorites are the earth-friendly recycled notebooks that can be customized with your very own colors and stamps. Inside the books are recycled papers with all different kinds of images on them. They are really cool! She recently completed an order for 250 of these great little books! Can you imagine! Here they are all ready to be shipped.

I also love her new folded travel notebooks with side pockets and room for a pencil. They are so new she hasn’t posted them on her Etsy site yet, but I bet she will soon. Actually, you can see some photos of them on her Flickr page.

She is a member of the Pittsburgh Craft Mafia and has been very involved in the Pittsburgh craft scene. Where does she get the energy, you might ask? I don’t know for sure, but maybe from her father. Definitely not me.

The photo above is of some of the buttons and doo-dads she keeps in a glass container to adorn those recycled books. Wouldn’t you know, the buttons are recycled, too. They are part of a collection she inherited from her grandmother (the original Subu) and great aunt. Some of them have also been rescued from old garments about to be thrown away.

Please check out Subu (aka Emily). She is a never-ending inspiration to me. Did I mention she is my daughter?

Content and photos copyright 2007 by Janet Towbin.

8 IN EXPLORE

I admit to being a Flickr addict. I spend hours looking at images on Flickr and making comments on them. If I don’t log on to my Flickr photo page every day (or is really 4 or 5 times every day?) I feel absolutely and thoroughly deprived. I love posting new photos, sending them to groups, and participating in a running commentary with some of my favorite contacts from all over the world.

I am mesmerized by the beautiful images I can see on Flickr–and the wealth of visual material available to me for free as an artist. If I want to have a photo of absolutely anything in the world I can find it there. It is a truly great visual resource.

There is a category of photos on Flickr that are purported to be the finest photos uploaded to the site. They are tagged Explore. I have no idea how photos are chosen to appear in Explore. No one offers any guidance or advice on what the criteria are for these photos or how to possibly get your photos on the Explore pages. A mere 500 photos are selected for Explore each day (182,500 per year). It is a very elite group of images when you figure there are over 3,000 photos uploaded to Flickr every minute.

As far as I know, I have had 8 photos in Explore…and even though I have no idea how or why they got there, I am darn proud of it! You can see all my Explore photos here.

The orange and blue photo you see at the top is one of my most recent Explored photos. It is a picture (taken in the evening) of the restaurant China Grill in South Beach, Florida.