Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Over the years, my mom and began collecting bird ornaments here and there. Eventually, we had so many that we had a separate bird themed tree for Christmas! This year I celebrate Christmas with my very first tree and I have continued the tradition in my home.
I bought a plain snowflake tree topper, but it just didn't fit into my bird theme. So.....I challenged myself to create a fanciful tree topper that suited my bird ornaments using only what supplies I already had around the house.


Before: A NEST



After: A pefect tree topper for my BIRD TREE




 Sparkle, shine, and lots of whimsy are the only requirements to make it on my tree and maybe a bird or 10!

 Take a look closer and you'll find friends of a feather

Lady Ostrich
 

Mr. Cardinal

A royal peacock

and one of many bird houses


Kissing fish are welcome too 

and the sea horse


I can't forget about the little Santa Dachshund

 and some of Santa's helpers too!

Sampson is on the left and Mia is on the right. Samp is mad because the tree skirt can no longer serve as his napping area due to wrapped presents!


Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I'll be back refreshed and ready for the new year....lots to do and a little relaxing too!


Saturday, December 18, 2010

My Sweet Savannah Ring Giveaway

Thank you My Sweet Savannah for the nest ring giveaway! Check out this blog from a wonderful lady named Melanie. I appreciate it!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Can you guess the theme of my Christmas tree this year?

Here's just a tease of my tree topper this year!  I'm going for the enchanted forest on Christmas morning look.

 A little colorful owl living in my tree.

More to come on my tree topper....there's so much more to share! 

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Vintage Dish Collage

Over the years, I've collected several decorative plates, both antique and new, from my grandmother, my mother, and I've bought a few myself. Instead of hiding my beautiful mementos in a closet somewhere, I decided to display them where all (who come to my apartment) can see. There are several ways to hang decorative dishes: regular wall mountings, stands for individual dishes, china cabinets, and heaven forbid....to use them for serving food! That's too boring for me!!!!

A few years back, I saw a magazine photo that displayed dishes in a bold way. There was no measuring or perfect alignment, just fantastic dishes of all sizes hanging in harmony as a real statement piece. It appeared as art rather than plates hanging on a wall...I had to do it with my very own dish collection!


How to do it yourself:

1. Get some dishes in all different sizes and shapes:)
2. Use the floor to arrange how you want your dishes to look
3. Take a picture of your desired look as reference
4. Get plate hangers (so cheap) and begin hanging. You can perfectly line things up and draw exactly where you want the dish to go, but I like to do things a little haphazardly. Just approximate and start hanging!

Can you guess which dishes are vintage? There are 7!

When we buy a house (hopefully in 2011), I will reserve a wall in my kitchen or dining area for this dish collage! At that time, I hope to have some color on the walls instead of the boring "rented apartment off-white" color that's in the photo.

I still have several vintage teacups and beaded purses from the 1940's locked up that I inherited from my grandmother. One day, I'll find a creative way to display them too!

Faded Notions SALE

There is a 20% off sale on my Faded Notions Copper Charms collections! The collection contains pressed copper images of fleur-de-lis, dragonflies, flowers, birds, and leaves....40% off on all leaves!







Thursday, December 2, 2010

WINNER of Of the Earth Jewelry Giveaway!

We have a winner of the FREE Robin's egg nest ring! Congratulations Christy Marrone!


Also, I've reached over 100 orders! Thank you to my 101 customer who will receive a free nest ring!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Help tip the sales to over 100!!!

I'd like to announce that I've almost met my goal of 100 sales on Etsy! However, I'm only at 97 sales. I'm offering a free gift to my 101 customer! My 101 customer will receive a Robin's Nest Ring of your choice. I hope it's you!

Randee

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Setting up your Macro Photography Studio

I don’t know about you but when I first started with my Etsy shop, I was a little….wait…very intimidated by the other shops’ photos. How could I every make a sale over all of these other fabulous shops? Their photos were so clear, the colors were fantastic and most importantly, how did they get so close to the image? How did the camera get so focused on the item and the background was blurry? Were they all professional photographers?  I wanted that, but how!? I didn’t have a fancy camera and I didn’t have the money to get one.  I had to stick with my borrowed Canon Powershot SX110IS. So, I began researching photography and discovered macro photography.



After my research, I discovered that macro photography requires a few things that are not hard to find:

1.       Camera set-up:
·         A digital camera with macro mode (the setting with the tulip)
·         aperture mode
·         low ISO setting (200 or so)
·         AWB (auto white balance) mode to make your images white and not so yellow or you can use Tungsten {see your camera’s manual for AWB}

Before White Balance
After White Balance
·         Camera dock/stand to prevent your camera from moving and getting blurry
2.       Lighting, lighting, and more lighting:
·         Lighting is the second most important thing after your camera settings.
·         I’ve learned through research and trial and error that you need as much light as possible focused on your image  at all angles (diffused lighting works best…more on that later) to reduce shadows. Oh and turn off all other light in the room when your studio is in use. Photography at night or in a dark room works best for me!
·         Clip desk lamps are perfect to attach to your table top and bend into the direction you want (cost $5-$10 at Wal-Mart)
·         I like to use natural white light bulbs opposed to traditional bulbs that can make your images look yellow….anything to get your image looking whiter is best.

3.       An actual macro “studio” (see below for instructions):

4.       A good photo editor
·         I use Picasa because it is free and easy to use.
·         I like to use the “I’m feeling lucky” mode to make my images brighter, tuning with shadows and highlights, crop, and sharpen my images.

 
Before Editing

After editing in Picasa
How to make your macro studio box:
Materials:
·         Box large enough to fit your item to photograph
·         White Velum or white cloth
·         Scissors/box cutter
·         Tape
·         White paper that isn’t shiny big enough to fit in the bottom and back of your box
·         Background paper—this is the paper that will be shown into the photo
1.       Determine how you want your box to be positioned; open one end to use as your photo dock station where you will be situated to take the photos
2.       Using scissors or box cutters, cut rectangles 1” smaller than your velum paper size into the top, left, and right sides of the box (and back too if you want to add extra light). My velum is 8”x11” so I cut the rectangles approximately 7”x10.”
3.       Tape velum paper to the outside of your box.
4.       Place white paper into the bottom and back of your box. If you are not using the back section of the box for extra light, be sure to get a piece of paper that slides all the way into your box and covers the back section. It’s best to use one long single piece of paper so that you can slide it in and there will be no seam of where the papers meet showing in your photos.
5.       Place your desired background paper on the bottom and begin using your macro studio using all of the above tips!

And at last you have your professional looking photos ready for your online shop!

By no means am I a professional photographer, but I just thought I’d share my macro research with others in hope that I can save you time and frustration when you are starting your own home business journey! There's always room for improvement. I'm still trying to update all of my old photos in my Etsy shop with my new techniques. Please feel free to leave me suggestions and tips to improve macro photography or if you have any questions!

BIG THANKS to fellow bloggers

I have to give a special thanks to three ladies who have displayed my Robin's Egg Nest rings on their blogs. Thanks for bringing business my way girls and doing a nest giveaway! They are:

Go to Rachel and Jenilee's websites to register for a nest ring give away!

Friday, November 26, 2010

~*~HOLIDAY SALE~*~

~*~HOLIDAY SALE~*~ Of the Earth Jewelry

All items are 20% off starting Black Friday (11/26) and ending Cyper Monday (11/30).

Enter the code BFCM10 at the time of checkout and receive an additional 20% off....that's 40% in savings plus FREE SHIPPING!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thankful

Welcome to my first ever blog post! Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Let me start by giving thanks to my wonderful boyfriend, Laurent, for seeing me for who I am and to my family for always supporting my creative spirit.

I'm starting this blog in an attempt to share my creative insight to those in need of a little artistic guidance. What can I offer you may ask? I can offer project ideas for your home, yourself, and others with a whimsical flare and a handmade touch. I like to invent in many mediums like jewelry, painting, interior decorating, and floral design to name a few.

Recently I've really jumped into pursuing my jewelry line, Of the Earth Jewelry, while holding down a full-time job as a Speech-Language Pathologist. There's not much time for anything else, but I manage. I just keep looking at the BIG PICTURE...happiness. I take it one day at a time and continuously ask myself, "what makes you happy?" Being creative and sharing my ideas with others makes me happy (among other things like my cuddly little doggies sitting in my lap). More to come on my pursuit to happiness....

Happy Thanksgiving!

~Randee