Friday, June 22, 2012
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Spring Desires
I am taking a break from listing...phew! I have decided to peruse some of my faborite shops on Etsy, and have found some delightful pieces I am drooling over!
The Becky Cosmetic Case
This lovely cosmetic case is made by by MaryJMaalouf. I search her page often, and am always inspired by her beautiful handbags, and by the gorgeous colors she selects.
Blueberry Patch Soap with Sweet Almond Oil and Shea Butter
DressGreen has amazing handmade skin care products. I actually have several of their bath soaps, and adore them!
K I N D L Y. E A R T H... Emerald green quartz and gold earrings
Lastly, I am drawn to these gorgeous earrings by CrowandIris. Gorgeous gorgeous color, perfect for the spring.
The Becky Cosmetic Case
This lovely cosmetic case is made by by MaryJMaalouf. I search her page often, and am always inspired by her beautiful handbags, and by the gorgeous colors she selects.
Blueberry Patch Soap with Sweet Almond Oil and Shea Butter
DressGreen has amazing handmade skin care products. I actually have several of their bath soaps, and adore them!
K I N D L Y. E A R T H... Emerald green quartz and gold earrings
Lastly, I am drawn to these gorgeous earrings by CrowandIris. Gorgeous gorgeous color, perfect for the spring.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Spring Creations
You may be aware, the last 6 months of my life has been turned upside down (in a good way). My family sold our house and moved in with my brother, aaah:), while we waited for our new house to be built. That means that I no longer had an office space, and was trying to keep on top of Fable Bay orders, and to continue to create. That was the hardest part. My brothers house was 20 miles from my kids' school, and I drive a gas guzzling monster. So most of my days were spend driving them to school, and waiting....not exactly delightful. This meant that creating was done in late evenings, if I had the energy for it, and photographs were taken about every other weekend. I listed very very little during that time. I let a whole lot of old pieces expire, and I had a few burnout moments, where I considered whether I wanted to keep doing this.
Ultimately, the answer was YES, I love being creative, and I adore making things with my hands, especially beautiful things. We moved into our house about a month ago, and in the last month I have been able to build my office space, and get myself setup. I still have a long way to go before I am fully used to the place, but already, I feel like my life is getting back on track.
Long story short, expect new things from Fable Bay! I have been working like crazy, and am listing often now! in the same respect, expect things that have been in the shop for a while, to go bye bye:) once they sell, or expire, some of these long term items will not be returning.
Tomorrow I am updating (although i did list a couple today, i just couldn't wait:))
Fable Bay
Ultimately, the answer was YES, I love being creative, and I adore making things with my hands, especially beautiful things. We moved into our house about a month ago, and in the last month I have been able to build my office space, and get myself setup. I still have a long way to go before I am fully used to the place, but already, I feel like my life is getting back on track.
Long story short, expect new things from Fable Bay! I have been working like crazy, and am listing often now! in the same respect, expect things that have been in the shop for a while, to go bye bye:) once they sell, or expire, some of these long term items will not be returning.
Tomorrow I am updating (although i did list a couple today, i just couldn't wait:))
Fable Bay
Friday, August 6, 2010
Photo Editing
Probably one of the most challenging parts of listing new jewelry is capturing quality photographs. Viewing items online is not as personal as shopping in stores, and having beautiful photographs can often tip the scale, to really capture the attention of a client and entice them to buy.
I have no professional training with photography, and have basically been lucky to have a really brilliant camera. I have learned, over time, some techniques that help capture the colors and give a photo an eye catching angle. However, editing seems to be the tool that truly differentiates a fabulous photo from an average one.
Often for one piece I can take up to 40 to 50 shots to get just a couple good ones to work with. This is a lot of work! I have recently started playing around with Photoshop, to be able to perfect color and hue, and today I stabbed at altering one photograph to suit a listing for 5 different colors. I have a pair of Czech glass poppy earrings, available in a multitude of colors, I literally took 30 different shot of me wearing each color, and came up with only ONE outstanding shot.
Here is the original photo. I like the feel of this photograph, but wasn't sure I could reproduce it for each color, as it is difficult to photograph myself with my DSLR camera. So I turned to Photoshop for some editing help. Below you can see that I have switched to black and white, increased the brightness and and contrast, and then adjusted the hue to match each color that I have to offer.
I have only attempted this because these earrings are all identical in size and proportions. I have also been very careful to modify the hue to resemble the color I have available, to make it an honest interpretation.
I have no professional training with photography, and have basically been lucky to have a really brilliant camera. I have learned, over time, some techniques that help capture the colors and give a photo an eye catching angle. However, editing seems to be the tool that truly differentiates a fabulous photo from an average one.
Often for one piece I can take up to 40 to 50 shots to get just a couple good ones to work with. This is a lot of work! I have recently started playing around with Photoshop, to be able to perfect color and hue, and today I stabbed at altering one photograph to suit a listing for 5 different colors. I have a pair of Czech glass poppy earrings, available in a multitude of colors, I literally took 30 different shot of me wearing each color, and came up with only ONE outstanding shot.
Here is the original photo. I like the feel of this photograph, but wasn't sure I could reproduce it for each color, as it is difficult to photograph myself with my DSLR camera. So I turned to Photoshop for some editing help. Below you can see that I have switched to black and white, increased the brightness and and contrast, and then adjusted the hue to match each color that I have to offer.
I have only attempted this because these earrings are all identical in size and proportions. I have also been very careful to modify the hue to resemble the color I have available, to make it an honest interpretation.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
My Poor Blog;)
My poor neglected blog! I always think of great things to write about, but somehow never make it there. OY;) I am full of ideas, but never fully prepared, LOL.
Last weekend, for example, I went to my very first Gem Show! So excited to go. I packed my daughter up to go with me (she's 4, but already obsessed with jewelry). We took a 4 hour drive to Seattle, and had a super great time. I found lots of stunning, beautiful gems, although many were still just too pricey for me, YIKES $800/strand made me scared;).
I had great plans to document the whole adventure and write about it here on the blog, but....I forgot my camera at home! Me! The lady who basically has a camera attached to her body 24/7, forgot the camera. seriously, i need more sleep, lol.
I got a few after the show, in the Seattle Center Fountain, with my daughter, but failed to take any cell phone shots inside. Sometimes I wonder about myself, lol!
Adyson at the Fountain. At first she was terrified of falling down into the pit.
But eventually, I couldn't keep her out of it;)
and to not disappoint, here are a few shots of the gems I did get.
AA grade Peach, White, and Grey Moonstone: So lovely!
AAA grade Mystic Mandarin Quartz: OMG!
Moss Amethyst
The rest is viewable on my Facebook Fanpage. Stop by there, become a fan, and take a look! :)
Last weekend, for example, I went to my very first Gem Show! So excited to go. I packed my daughter up to go with me (she's 4, but already obsessed with jewelry). We took a 4 hour drive to Seattle, and had a super great time. I found lots of stunning, beautiful gems, although many were still just too pricey for me, YIKES $800/strand made me scared;).
I had great plans to document the whole adventure and write about it here on the blog, but....I forgot my camera at home! Me! The lady who basically has a camera attached to her body 24/7, forgot the camera. seriously, i need more sleep, lol.
I got a few after the show, in the Seattle Center Fountain, with my daughter, but failed to take any cell phone shots inside. Sometimes I wonder about myself, lol!
Adyson at the Fountain. At first she was terrified of falling down into the pit.
But eventually, I couldn't keep her out of it;)
and to not disappoint, here are a few shots of the gems I did get.
AA grade Peach, White, and Grey Moonstone: So lovely!
AAA grade Mystic Mandarin Quartz: OMG!
Moss Amethyst
The rest is viewable on my Facebook Fanpage. Stop by there, become a fan, and take a look! :)
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Clowning around with Kidlets;)
I had just wanted a photo of me wearing my snazzy newly embroidered jacket, but somehow it turned into the fam clowning around with my camera. I nearly had a heart attack a couple of times, but my 3 year old loved taking pictures of the rest of us;)
Here are the kids and I together, we set the 10 second timer for this one. Obviously 10 seconds has surpassed my daughters patience threshold;) either that or she's competing with Zoolander for model of the year;)
Adyson took this one;) She wanted to take one of Daddy, so I am not in this picture because I'm having a mini panic attack standing next to her, since she's less than careful with my camera;)
Just the girls;)
Here are the kids and I together, we set the 10 second timer for this one. Obviously 10 seconds has surpassed my daughters patience threshold;) either that or she's competing with Zoolander for model of the year;)
Adyson took this one;) She wanted to take one of Daddy, so I am not in this picture because I'm having a mini panic attack standing next to her, since she's less than careful with my camera;)
Just the girls;)
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