{nikon junior}

What better way to distract Tilly from our new camera than making a version just for her? Please welcome the T90 -- a stuffed felt copy of ours, for little fingers.

Nice bright buttons to control all of her settings, stitched and glued on as I have a feeling Tilly might still think of buttons as a tasty treat.

And, on the back, her very own screen for viewing her shots! With a plastic cover, the photos are protected from being scrunched and dribbled onto.

The screen is open along one side to allow you to change out the photos and keep it interesting.

I flipped through a couple of magazines to find pictures of dogs to add. Tilly loves these. I imagine, if she had a real camera, she would only use it to photograph dogs!

It turns out this cheeky little Westie, from a dog food advert, is her favourite!

The flash on top serves as a little handle, so Tilly can happily carry her camera around. Perfectly lightweight for little hands!

If you've got a camera-grabbing little one, too, and are interested in making your own version, I've put together a kit, including all the felt, stuffing, buttons and instructions you need to whip one up in no time. You can find it over at my shop.

Now, Tilly and I are loading our pockets with dog treats and heading off to search the neighbourhood for friendly dogs to snap!

{a new lens on the world}

Yesterday, our new camera arrived. Tilly and I were so excited, tracking it every hour, and we vowed not to leave the house until it came, for fear of missing the UPS man. We waited and waited and waited, afraid even to go in the back garden, in case we didn't hear the knock. We weeded the front garden, though, and read every single book we own at least twice. And went a little crazy.

And then, at 4.45pm, when we'd just about given up hope, our little D90 came. We raced to get it charged and formatted and all put together, and then hurried out for a walk before the sun disappeared (we needn't have rushed -- around here, it gets dark at about 9pm these days!)

How velvety Bella's ears look now!

What fun to experiment with depth of field and blur.

It seems even heavy-duty machinery and tarmac look soft through a 50mm lens!

We are thoroughly enjoying learning how to work the camera, and have thankfully passed through the initial stage of not being able to get anything in focus! Now, to see what all these little buttons do...