Gift from the Heart

This is one of my favorite Christmas gifts -- it's a friendship bracelet, made for me by our granddaughter Z, age 9-1/2.

We gave her a kit to make such bracelets several months ago for her birthday, and she has been perfecting her new skill. When we visited her family in November, Z asked if I'd like her to make a friendship bracelet for me, and after my enthusiastic "Yes, I'd love that!" she invited me to choose the beads for it. I was pleased to find these pretty blue and green ones -- my favorite colors -- among her bracelet-making supplies.

I was thrilled to see this beautiful handmade bracelet when I opened the little box that Z handed me on Boxing Day! I would have had her tie it onto my wrist then, as is the custom, but I knew that I wanted to blip it first.

Not being as tough as some of the Yorkshire and Scottish blippers I follow, who seem to relish being out in torrential rain and wind, I thought that today's weather, as seen in this view out the guest room window, made an indoor blip advisable, and I knew just what my subject would be.

My first attempt to photograph the friendship bracelet in Photo Studio A (bracelet on the thank-you note from Z and her brother, balanced on a ginger beer bottle on the kitchen counter, with the kitchen sink faucet, a fruit bowl, and some plants out of focus behind) yielded this result.

I liked it well enough, but thought that the background was a bit distracting, so I set up my more technologically advanced Photo Studio B (bracelet on the same card, sitting on a soup carton on the stove, with additional light provided by the same little clip-on reading light that enabled me to photograph the famous bathroom spider mentioned in this blip). Once again, that little light made a big difference.

I hope Z is as pleased with this photo as I am with her bracelet!