Sphaerophoria scripta

Sphaerophoria scripta, originally uploaded by ~ Maria ~.

Macro shot of a tiny european hover fly

FlickrStackr - nice iPad app

Nice Flickr iPad App - FlickrStackr

Hey you all, this is a sporadic post from me. I just want to recommend a nice iPad App for you flickr users out there that I really like. I have tried a few and this is the best one so far and I do not miss anything at all with it.

Here are some screen shots and explanations of what you can do.

The home screen

Recent from contacts screen

You can watch the photos on full screen on your iPad, it is soo nice

Dealing with my photos, reading comments etc

Other things/actions you can do with the photos

Browse through your favorites

Other things I like about this app is the easy way to overview your contacts photos, and to see your own style in a nice way that you do not even get to do in flickr itself. I bought this app today and I am sure I will explore a lot of new ways to use it in. It is a nice app and very well worth the money.
Here is the link to the apps homepage: FlickrStackr

* Please let me know if you want me to take away an image with your photo in it, and I will remove it immediately.

Hugs from ~ Maria ~

Lovely Lilac

I am not sure I will be able to keep my blog up to date, I think I am not a blog person. But I will post news occasionally and I am very grateful for you who follow me - thank you!



Lovely Lilacs - I really love the scent and of course the colors :) A beautiful spring flower, one of my favorites (as I say about almost all flowers ;-)) The photos above are processed with my action called "Violet Love" and which you can download here in my blog.

xoxo,
Maria

Treasury List - Contrast

Black, white, red & green are so fresh together, I really like this color combination, so here is a treasury list with some lovely items :-)





I hope you are having a wonderful day, the time really flies, I can not believe it is May already.

Captures from my walk yesterday

I was out walking all day long yesterday and saw so many lovely things to capture with my camera, here are a few for you. I hope spring has arrived at your place by now and that you are enjoying every moment :)


And yaay - by the way, I have a free shipping worldwide coupon code for my etsy shop (valid until the end of May) - just use the code YAYSHIPPING when checking out.























Isn't spring so beautiful? I just LOVE it so much.


Have a wonderful day!
xoxo,
Maria

Spring happenings

There is a lot going on outside right now, it is spring happening :)
The snow is gone, the birds sing and build nests, the ants are repairing their anthills, the earliest flowers are in bloom and I even saw two butterflies today.



Glory of the snow (Chiondoxa forbesii baker)



Glory of the snow and Hoverfly



Fresh green grass



European Peacock Butterfly (*yaay* my first one this year :))



Ant with Isopod



Wood Pigeon building nest


Oh, how I love this, everything is awakening. And it all happens so fast. It is hard to understand that there where a lot of snow just two weeks ago.


Happy spring to all of you!


xoxo,
Maria

Chocolate Butter Cream Macaroons

Recipe (about 30 cookies)

CRUST
400 g of Almond paste
2,5 deciliter of sugar
3 egg whites

BUTTER CREAM (FILLING)
300 g unsalted butter or margarine
2,25 deciliter of icing sugar
3 teaspoons of vanilla sugar
3 egg yolks
1,5 tablespoons of coffee (instant coffee is fine)
2 tablespoons of cocoa

GARNISH
225 g of chocolate (I used dark 70% but you can pick which one you like the most)
30 g coconut butter

CRUST

1. Grate almond paste on a grater. Mix it with sugar and egg whites. Whisk until creamy, preferably with an electric beater.
2. Pipe the batter into flat round cakes, about 4 cm in diameter on parchment paper. Let them stand on the plate about 30 minutes at room temperature.
3. Bake cakes in middle of oven at 175ºC (347º F), for about 15-20 minutes (they will be golden brown). Allow them to cool on the plate.

FILLING

1. Let the butter/margarine stand in room temperature for 10 minutes. Stir butter/margarine with the icing and vanilla sugar until creamy. It is best with an electric beater. Add the yolks, one at a time. Season with the coffee and cocoa.
2. Spread the cream on the underside of the crusts.
3. Place the cakes in the refrigerator (30 minutes) or in the freezer (15 minutes) until the butter cream hardens.

GARNISH

1. Melt the chocolate and coconut butter.
2. Dip the creamy part of the cake in the melted chocolate once or twice. Let the chocolate harden in between.

STORAGE: Refrigerator 6-8 days, in freezer about 3 months.

Finished already? Then enjoy - yum!

Signs of spring

Finally some signs of spring here, oh how I have been longing for spring this year, the winter have been too long and dark. But now the birds sing, the sun is shining most of the days and the snow is almost gone. How can you be anything else than happy this time of year?



Spring is getting closer each day...



The snow is melting



The tulip leaves are coming up in the garden *yay*...



...and the pussy willow - these are so soft and cute like little kittens :)


Happy spring hugs from me!


xoxo,
Maria

Wonderful spring flowers

The spring flowers is still far away here in Sweden but I am so happy that we are able to bring some of them inside anyway. So here are some Ranunculus and Tulips. They make me happy :)


And now to something more deeper *lol*: I was thinking the other day (duuh), it seems like everyone loves flowers of all kind, including myself, but I was wondering why that is? It is kind of strange, we are like obsessed with flowers. Why is that? Please share your theory, I am curious of seeing what you guys think.











And I want to wish you a wonderful weekend!
xoxo

Indulge Yourself

Now is the time to enjoy life, to have fun, to eat good, to take care of yourself, to get some everyday luxury into your life. Why not buy yourself some flowers, some nice expensive chocolates or somethings else that you like? Indulge yourself. Because YOU are worth it (as they say in the commercials)...








xoxo

New Free Photoshop Actions - Enjoy!

New Actions for free - Dreamy Actions. Made in PS CS4.
Actions is so much fun, both to use and to create. There are three actions in this Set.


Examples below:






Download the Set "Dreamy Actions by Maria Kallin"


Please enjoy!
xoxo

Congratulations to Isabel and HA...

..you are the winners in my giveaway - yaay - congrats  to the both of you =)

Isabel you won the Lavender photo and HA you won the Purple Flowers photo.

Please e-mail me your post address (mariakallinphoto@hotmail.com) and I will pack and post your prize asap.

Giveaway

Allt du behöver göra är att tala om vilket av dessa två foton du vill ha i kommentarerna och jag kommer slumpmässigt att dra två vinnare som sedan meddelas här på bloggen om en vecka.


All you have to do is to comment and let me know which one of these two fine art photos that you would like and I will randomly draw two winners that will be announced here on the blog in one week from now.



1. Purplish Peek-a-boo (6"x6" - 15x15cm)



2. Dreamy photo with Bumblebee and Lavender (6"x6" - 15x15cm)


Lycka till! Good luck!

Tuesday Treasury List : Pink Desires

Vad mer finns det att säga? Jag älskar rosa just nu :)
What else is there to say? I love pink at the moment :)

Inspirerad av Karin A : Inspired by Karin A

1. Two!, 2. Prettiness (overload), 3. Jacques..., 4. Ranunculus in a vase

Karin är en fotograf med sinne för det stilrena och eleganta som omger henne. Hon inspireras av små enkla vardagliga ting, älskar blommor och det mesta som är retro. Det är lätt att drömma sig bort när man tittar på hennes vackra foton i dessa underbara pastellfärger. Karin bor i Göteborg.

Karen is a photographer with a sense for the stylish and elegant things that are surrounding her. She is inspired by the simple little everyday things, she loves flowers and things that are retro. It is easy to dream away when you look at her beautiful photos in their gorgeous tones. Karin lives in Gothenburg in Sweden.

Här hittar du Karin online : This is where you find Karin online

Karin's Flickr Photostream
Karin's Blog
Karin's Etsy Shop
Karin på Signerat.se

Vårfoton : Spring Photos

Jag längtar till våren så otroligt mycket just nu, åh vad jag saknar lukten av gräs när man ligger och fotar blommor och annat :) Eller doften av regn, fåglarnas kvitter och solens värmande strålar. Var tvungen att drömma mig bort och leta fram lite vårfoton från förra året som jag kan titta på under tiden...

I miss spring soo much right now, oh how I miss the smell of grass when lying and photographing flowers and other things :) Or the scent of rain, the sounds from the birds and the warming rays from the sun. Had to dream away and look for some spring photos from last year that I can look at during the time...

And the winner is...

Susanne[Snusans Inredningsblogg] - Akvareller : Watercolors
Mary [simple things] - Gräs : Grass
Li + Belle [Li + Belle]- Maneter : Jellyfish

*jippie* Grattis och lycka till till er andra på min nästa utlottning som kommer starta nästa onsdag :)
* Ni som vann, mejla mig er postadress och namn på mariakallinphoto@hotmail.com så att jag kan skicka er vinst!

*yaay* Congrats and good luck to the rest of you on my next giveaway that will start the next wednesday :)
* And you who won, please e-mail me your post address and name so that I can send your prize!


Såhär gick dragningen till:
1. Jag skrev upp alla namn i ordning under just det foto ni var intresserade av.
2. Sedan gick jag in på Random.org och skrev in antalet och fick fram en randomsiffra vilket är samma som vinnaren av just det fotot :)

This is how I did:
1. I wrote all the names in the order you have been commenting under the photo that you where interested in.
2. Then I went to Random.org and told the numbers and got a random number which is the same as the winner of that photo :)


Ha en underbar dag!
Have a wonderful day!

Tuesday Treasury List : Organic

Denna vecka har jag valt ekologiska produkter därför att jag tycker det är viktigt och för att jag också vill visa att det finns alternativ till och med på Etsy :)

I have chosed organic and eco-friendly items this week because I think it is important and I also want to show you that there are options even at Etsy :)




Vad tycker du? Den gör mig glad :)

What do you think? It makes me happy :)

Kärlek från mig : Love from me

Glad alla hjärtans dag önskar jag alla er ♥ Jag hoppas ni alla får en dag fylld med kärlek (men självklart tycker jag att fler dagar än just denna ska vara fyllda av kärlek och passion). Jag gjorde ett kort till min kärlek och köpte en liten present som du kan se här på bilden nedan - allt i svart och vitt :)

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you ♥ I hope you are all having a day filled with love (but of course I think that more days than this one day should be filled with love and passion). I made a card for my love and bought him a little gift as you can see below - all in black and white :)



Massor med kärlek från mig ♥
A lot of love from me ♥

My first Giveaway : Min första utlottning

Allt du behöver göra är att tala om vilken av dessa tre konstfoton du vill ha i kommentarerna och jag kommer slumpmässigt att dra tre vinnare som sedan meddelas här på bloggen om en vecka.

All you have to do is to comment and let me know which one of these three fine art photos that you would like and I will randomly draw three winners that will be announced here on the blog in one week from now.


1. Akvareller 13x13 cm Konstfoto : Watercolors 5x5 Fine Art Photo


2. Gräs 13x13 cm Konstfoto : Grass 5x5 Fine Art Photo


3. Maneter 13x13 cm Konstfoto : Jellyfish 5x5 Fine Art Photo

Lycka till! : Good luck!