The other weekend, my fashion journalist pal Laura asked for a hand with taking some outfit pics for her blog, as her boyfriend just doesn’t have the patience. You can’t blame him! However, I was only too happy to help, particularly as she was travelling to me for a day o’ fun in my local Brockwell Park, and she could act as my excuse to buy a lamington from Blackbird Bakery down the road.

While she somehow cajoled me into stepping in front of the camera (more on that later, once I finish editing the photos), I felt far more comfortable behind the camera, shooting her dress fluttering in the late-afternoon sun, or dodging passing cars as I sought that perfect shot.

You can check out her post on the first outfit here, and on the second outfit (shot closer to Brixton, against a gritty “urban” brick wall) over here, to find out where each item originated from. But if you’d rather know about the actual kit used during these “photo shoots” (god I feel like such a wanker writing that), it was just my Canon 500D with EF 50 mm f/1.8 II lens, with editing done in Photoshop.

The full photo-set is over on Flickr too, if you’re really getting into all of this.

Vegas is a real mish-mash of other cities — seen here is the Paris hotel

Every year, the world’s tech press ravages Las Vegas like a virus. No hotel, bar or convention centre is left untouched from the masses of nerds that assemble to see the following year’s gadgets get unveiled.

It’s my fifth time out in Vegas for CES, but I still walk around like it’s my first time, marvelling at how big everything is, and saying things like “oh wow, they built that hotel really fast!” and “my god, I’m dying for something not deep-fried!” It’s the kind of city you feel like you know really well, yet because it’s constantly redressing itself and evolving, you can never truly know it. It’s a special kind of beast.

Back to the reason I’m out here, it’s rather funny seeing companies try and outdo each other not just with their products, but the conferences they put on. So far Sony has wheeled out Will Smith to shill TVs for them, and Panasonic threw some big bucks at Justin Timberlake so he would make an appearance onstage. Later this week, Justin Bieber’s meant to be unveiling a personal entertainment robot (yes, really) and Snooki from Jersey Shore is apparently announcing a new audio range. A company even brought a live kangaroo on stage with them for some reason-or-other.

Thankfully it’s not all work work work. Long hours are spent at the bar, or walking up and down the strip between hotels. I plan on doing a bit of shopping later this week before flying back on Saturday (Bloomingdales and Kate Spade better re-stock their shelves in preparation, is all I’m sayin’), and enjoy Jim’s and my lovely suite at The Palazzo hotel, which is one of the newer and fancier hotels on the strip. As much as us tech journos like to moan about CES, I’m feeling very grateful to be here again.

Eating in Vegas is one of my favourite activities. This Italian meal at D.O.C.G at The Cosmopolitan was pretty healthy, but since then I’ve managed to check off pizza and a burger on the To Do list.

The Bellagio’s infamous fountains, which are synchronised to a different song every hour. We were lucky enough to see them dance around to Elton John’s Your Song on Saturday night. Bonus info: Jim and I met in The Bellagio’s baccarat room five years ago this week (aww).

One of the newest hotels, The Cosmopolitan, is probably one of the gaudiest too.

…I do like the lights here, though.

The Cosmopolitan has a pop-up wedding chapel called iDo, which is designed to look like an Apple Store. Check out more pics and info on it here.

iDo from outside.

Some of the views from our suite window, with one of The Palazzo’s seven pools seen there.

The Palazzo’s suites ain’t half bad, right?

A gorgeous sunset, glimpsed from our suite window. Doesn’t Donald Trump’s hotel look nice bathed in orange rays?

Jim and I peering into a bauble

Did you all have lovely Christmasses? I hope so! There’s nothing worse than a disappointing Chrimbo. Though I’m pleased to be safely ensconced in our London flat once more, so I can pour over photos from the past week’s gorge-fest and get back to this blogging lark.

We did our usual schlep to Wiltshire to visit Jim’s family, driving down with them to Jim’s older brother’s house in Devon on Christmas day. It’s always rowdy with three young tousle-haired boys running riot, so a few days’ sofa-relaxing is the perfect dish to serve up directly after. Though I can hear the sales calling my name once more, for tomorrow…

Jim hiding behind some of his mum’s freshly-picked holly

Our two youngest nephews, Johnny and Ed, larking around on their brilliant Playsam Roadster Saab

My sister-in-law Sarah’s homemade mince pies

Every year, Jim’s dad makes everyone a custom calendar. Next year’s has a great pic of Jim’s two brothers from 2010′s Christmas, which was very snowy — a huge contrast to this year’s mild winter.

Sarah and Johnny, who was born four days after we got married

Christmas lunch has got to be everyone’s most-loved meal, right?

Whoever gave Ed a set of fake teeth definitely struck gold there, as he provided plenty of laughs with them

Jim’s favourite present from me this year was an old leather workman’s bag from a local antique shop

My favourite present from Jim? That Rust Jewellery opaque diamond ring I blogged about! He’s far too nice to me…

Me, standing beside Nick and Sarah’s Christmas tree in Devon

I loved this little handmade Russian decoration, which Nick and Sarah brought back from Moscow (where they live most of the time)

Lovely plum pudding (and champagne, mmm…)

It wasn’t just Dora the cat who needed a nap after all that eating…

Having squirrelled a dog-eared copy of the Observer Food Monthly away the other week, last Sunday seemed like an opportune time to try my hand at baking some of Trine Hahnemann’s traditional Danish Christmas biscuits.

Unfortunately I didn’t clock exactly how many biscuits the recipes yielded, so I ended up with a couple hundred; keeping me extremely busy for seven long hours in the kitchen. That was a lot of painful cookie-cutting, needless to say.

I chose to make some pepparkakor (iced pepper cookies); vaniliekage (vanilla cookies), and brunkager (brown cookies.) With the brunkager still chilling in the fridge several days later, and destined for my in-laws’ house over Christmas, I decided to make little parcels of the 300 or so pepparkakor and vaniliekage to give to colleagues and friends.

The lighting in our kitchen is very poor; please excuse the above photo. I tried going for a messy (or “home-made”) icing style for the pepparkakor, with the vaniliekage thankfully being easier to make. A light dusting with edible glitter on some of the pepparkakor finished them off nicely, before they were wrapped in baking paper; tied with string, and attached with small luggage tags to give away.

You may be surprised to hear that the seven packs of biscuits below were less than half of Sunday’s yield! If you do follow any of the recipes, I’d urge you to halve them (at the very least). Unless you don’t mind being chained to the kitchen for seven frickin’ hours…

When my favourite Edinburgh shop Hannah Zakari tweeted a few months back asking for submissions for their second zine, I raised my hand but never expected such a cute little package to land on my doorstep. With a cover acting as an advent calendar (hiding cute items from the indie designers Hannah Zakari’s founder Rachael hand-picks for the shop), it was brimming with short stories, interviews and gorgeous illustrations which made me proud to be amongst them.

I contributed some tips and tricks for getting the most out of film photography, with Ashley Tierney’s lovely hand-drawn image of the Diana accompanying it.

Sarah Drinkwater penned a short piece titled £795 Worth of Apology, with Kate Wilson’s Mulberry Alexa drawing alongside it.

Aren’t Naoshi’s sunae (coloured sand) drawings terrific?

I think I spy something from Gemma Correll…

On another note, notice the material in the shots above? Yep, Liberty’s bought back my favourite print, Ianthe, after they lost the rights to use it a while back (according to “someone in the know” who answered my tearful inquisition recently.) Even better, they’ll apparently be bringing it back with a vengeance across a range of products — it all spells bad news for my bank balance, needless to say.

Decorations from top: Robin & Mould 2011; bird from East Dulwich 2009; skinny reindeer from Lille markets 2010 and potpourri glass bauble from Lisa 2010; robin from Monsoon 2010.

I may not have posted my Christmas cards yet, but at least the flat looks festive with our twinkling tree and hand-printed piled-high gifts. Jim and I got busy last Tuesday night reacquainting ourselves with all our favourite decorations (is it wrong that I still remember every single decoration’s origins?), and Effie-cat tested our patience by hiding behind the tree and crawling up it. Some things never change.

Like last year, I lino-block printed metres upon metres of brown paper, and made matching Christmas cards (which will hopefully be sent out before the 25th!) Has anyone else put their tree up and blogged about it? I love checking out other people’s trees!

Decorations from top: white dove from Selfridges 2010; birdy mushroom from Liberty 2009; red berries from Selfridges 2010; snowman from Selfridges 2010.

Kam, Laura, Laura and Petah. Shot on the Canon AV-1 with Lomo’s 100 ISO film

Several weekends back, five of us girls jumped in Laura’s little car and hotfooted it down to my in-laws’ beach house in South Cornwall for a long weekend. Amongst several nights of mayhem (all I will say is never play a drinking game while watching Spice World; you’ll always lose), we found time for clambering around the clifftops to a nearby village four miles away.

A wild mushroom we dared not pick; shot on the Canon AV-1 with Lomo’s 100 ISO film

Laura Silver and the giant mushroom; shot on a Canon AV-1 with 100 ISO film

Petah and the wind beneath her cape; shot on a Canon AV-1 with 100 ISO film

Furry Laura LaRue; shot on the Canon AV-1 with 100 ISO film

Rock ‘n rolling in Gorran Haven; shot on the Canon AV1- with 100 ISO film

Quaint town of Mevagissey; shot on the Canon AV-1 with 100 ISO

Driving back to London, we detoured to (the rather grim) Weston Super Mare for a fish ‘n chips beachside pitstop:

Weston Super Mare; shot on the Canon AV-1 with 100 ISO film

Laura LaRue, Laura Fleur, Kam and Petah made a new friend; shot on the Canon AV-1 with 100 ISO

A giraffe ride; shot on the Canon AV-1 with 100 ISO film

Kids on the pier; shot on the Canon AV-1 with Fuji Velvia 50 film

Laura LaRue, Kam, Laura Fleur and Petah; shot on the Canon AV-1 with Fuji Velvia 50

A foggy Weston Super Mare almost resembles Thailand; shot on the Canon AV-1 with 100 ISO film

A Weston Super Mare sunset; shot on the Canon AV-1 with Fuji Velvia 50 film

Outside Aldwych exit; shot by Andrew on the Panasonic LX3

I was so excited to get my four rolls of photos processed from yesterday’s tour of the disused Aldwych station tour, that I held my breath and went for a Snappy Snaps’ one-hour jobby, instead of doing my usual and going to the LomoLab. Never have I been so saddened, disappointed and embarrassed by some film photos before — they are TERRIBLE.

I don’t know what’s wrong — I guess it was a combination of packing foolishly and only carrying slow-speed films (two rolls of Fuji T64; one of Fuji Sensia 100 and one Fuji Velvia 50); the artificial and dim interior lighting, and my own novice shooting. I wish I could blame Snappy Snaps, but I really don’t think I can in this case — though I must say, seeing the normally purple-tinted T64 pics shift to lurid green really wasn’t ideal.

Infuriatingly, TFL had banned digital SLRs from the tour because they don’t — and I quote — want any high-res photos of the tour being online, to deter future bookings. Which meant any camera with interchangeable lenses. So, instead of using the Canon 500D or Olympus PEN E-P2, Jim made do with our crummy Panasonic TZ7…a camera which he didn’t bother taking off the automatic setting, nor turn the flash off. He also only took around 10 photos. Had I known all this while crawling around on the floor for the “perfect shot”, I would’ve manhandled it off him and shot the equivalent of the four rolls I shot on film, but I thought he wouldn’t let me down. Sigh.

My cousin Andrew at least had a better camera (a Panasonic LX3)…but only took five photos. Men! I tear my hair out because of you!

Anyway, take a look at some of the few digital photos from yesterday below, plus the “better” (if “better” means “less shit than the other ones I shot, but still pretty shit”) photos from my Canon AV-1, or have a look at some much better ones from the likes of Stavioni; Pencefn; Andy Broomfield; Carlbob; JPG-Photography, or some LC-A+ photos from M+B (really, in my head I was shooting pics as gorgeous as his are. Dammit.)

The second Aldwych platform; shot by Jim on the Panasonic TZ7

A replica Aldwych roundel; shot by Jim on the Panasonic TZ7

First Aldwych platform; shot by Jim on the Panasonic TZ7

Aldwych’s second platform; shot by Andrew on the Panasonic LX3

Trapezoid-shaped Aldwych elevator; shot by Jim on the Panasonic TZ7

Me against a manky wall; shot by Jim on the Panasonic TZ7

Kat and Andrew prying open an old tube carriage; shot by Jim on the Panasonic LX3

Madame Tussaud’s advertising; shot on the Canon AV-1 with Fujifilm T64 film

Tickets and trains sign; shot on the Canon AV-1 with Fuji Sensia 100

Tickets and trains sign 2; shot on the Canon AV-1 with Fuji T64

Train platform 2; shot on the Canon AV-1 with Fuji Sensia 100 film

Lurching tour guide looks like a zombie; shot on the Canon AV-1 with Fuji T64

Exit; shot on the Canon AV-1 with Fujifilm T64

Being a south Londoner, I was only too happy to hop, skip and jump over to Tooting Broadway yesterday to meet a friend Salome and her pal Louise for the Got Craft? fair, held at the Tooting Tram and Social. For those uninitiated with the former tramshed, the pub has a 75-foot high glass ceiling and eclectic mix of furningshings. In short, it was the perfect place for London’s first Got Craft? event.

While I didn’t go wild with the pursestrings at this fair (my spending was rather out-of-control at the Renegade market), I did buy a few things, including some Christmas tree decorations from Robin & Mould.

It may’ve been too early for us to take advantage of the bar (we settled for a cuppa each instead), I know I’ll be making my way back there soon. Sadly not this Saturday for the next craft fair, Crafty Pint, but if you’re free I definitely recommend it.

Colourfully-printed gift wrap on BHMakes‘ stall…

Buttercupcakes‘ spread looked divine, but I was saving myself for lunch…

I’m pretty sure this was Sannapanda’s stall…or maybe I’m wrong? Halp! UPDATE: Sannapanda tells me the brooches are from Crumpettytree.

Avarae17‘s jewellery was a real treat, with the Tim Burton-esque (or Marimekko-inspired, as she says) birds calling my name.

Nadia Sparham had a real mix of hand-painted china mugs and plates on her stall, with the doggy-print ones proving popular. I liked this milk jug the best though.

I do love Robin & Mould‘s cushions, and after seeing them at several craft fairs previously, I decided to indulge in some of their birdy tree decorations this time.

I think this is the third time I’ve spied Superfumi’s cute deer, but they never fail to tickle me pink. UPDATE: Argh! I meant Forgotten Stitches! Not Superfumi.

I know a certain someone who would love Charlotte Farmer‘s sausage dog tote.

Justin Ellis‘s bird decorations were so sweet…

Stephanie of Petit Plat had travelled all the way from France, bringing along her tiny artisan earrings and doll-house creations. How gorgeous are those gingerbread men?

Oh, I do like Anna Wiscombe‘s birdy brooches and necklaces. One day the Reef necklace shall be mine.

I gave my festive Dorothy Perkins batwing jumper its first outing, along with my trusty Cos leather necklace.