Katherine's Cross

This is my newest listing! Inspired by Showtime’s series the Tudors; this necklace has a distinct Renaissance feel to it. I also think that the filigree cross brings a Spanish feel to this treasure. In my mind I could easily see Queen Katherine of Aragon wearing such a work of art.

This necklace has a wearable length of 16.5 inches and contains 110 cultured potato pearls. The necklace is finished off with a sterling silver wire wrapped filigree cross. Truly this necklace was made for a queen!

Would you like to purchase this necklace? You can buy it here!

Time to stop and smell the roses

Sorry I have not posted much in the last week, life has been hectic. Last Tuesday, one of my cats had to have surgery to remove a tumor on her leg. On Thursday the biopsy came back positive for cancer. I have been spending time with her, working on getting her leg to heal. Logically I know that the cancer is probably still there and will likely kill her, but at least we (my husband and I) have made her life a bit more comfortable by removing the tumor.

On a happier note, my son will turn one in two weeks. I have been working on the plans for his birthday party. We also have been shopping for him. Lucky for us there was a hugh kids consignment sale this past weekend. Although we did not like the crowd, we did get some good deals.

Ok on to Etsy and marketing. To keep my mind off of the melencoly of my kitty's surgery I have been working on a new piece. I hope to load it on Etsy this week. I am going to call it Katharine's Cross. Here is a quick image of it, what do you think?

4 Quick Tips: Editing Photos in Photoshop for Etsy

If you have been following my blog, you will know that I have been working on my photo formats a bit lately. I thought it might be nice to create a quick post on editing your pictures in Photoshop. So here we go! Keep in mind, that I am in no way a professional photographer; these are just quick tips I use when editing my photos.

Tip 1: Using a color balance card
I don’t know about you, but I have a devil of a time getting my photos to echo the colors I see with my eyes. Even when I change the light balance, I still have red or blue overtones on my pictures. So I have found this quick little tip allows me to fix that problem.

When I take a photo now I place a tiny card on the edge of the photo display; I keep it barely visible in my viewfinder. This is my own version of a color balance card. It contains one stripe of black and one stripe of white. I also continue to set the white balance based on the lighting that I am using (I do have a light tent with professional grade high intensity daylight bulbs.)
Once I take the photo, I can use the card to set the true colors when I edit it later.

Tip 2: Using the levels tool.
This is one of my favorite tools to using in Photoshop. Once I import the photo into Photoshop, the first thing I do is hit the ctrl – L (cmd-L in Macs). This will bring up your levels tool. This tool allows you to specify what color is black, mid-point gray, and what color is white. Your tools should look something like this when you pull it up.

The areas I have circled in red are the samplers I use to adjust my photo colors. This is where the color balance card from tip one comes into play. I simply use the white dropper on the white stripe, and the black dropper on the black stripe. This tells Photoshop to use those colors as the set points, ie this is what white looks like and this is what black looks like.

Look at these before and after to see the difference.

Tip 3: Know when to crop it.
When I am done adjusting my color balance, I then proceed to zoom in a little more with my photo. How do I zoom in you might ask. Well I simply crop the photo. Yes this does actually make the photo smaller, but it discards all the unwanted parts of the photo, so you can center on the work in question. You will find your crop tool on the left hand palette. It looks something like this:

Again here is a photo after cropping.
Tip 4: Healing Brush Tool
If you have read my blog in the past, you will know that I recently rediscovered this wonderful tool. You use it in much the same manner as you would use the clone stamp tool. Unlike the clone stamp tool, the Healing Brush tool merges the textures, colors, and luminosity of both your sampled area and your working area. You can find your Healing Brush tool just below your crop icon. It looks like a Band-Aid.

You can remove scratches and blemishes with ease using this tool. Just be careful to choose a sample area nearby your working area. This will help to prevent noticeable smudges in the picture.

Here are a couple of photos before and after I repaired using the Healing Brush tool.

I hope you have found some interesting ideas in this blog post. Have a great day!

Figured it out!!!

Most of the people I asked yesterday preferred the old format. I do too. The only complaints I have heard about the old format is the reflections. I knew there was a way to get rid of them with Photoshop, but for some reason I could only come up with using the clone stamp tool to fix it. The problem with using the clone stamp tool is that it would leave a blurry mess in the photo.

I had forgotten about the healing brush tool in Photoshop. Unlike the clone stamp which simply clones your sample area and replaces it in the destination area; the healing brush clones the sample area and then merges it with the destination area. It creates a seamless looking repair without all the blurriness.

Here is the original picture.

And here is the repaired photo

Yeah, I think I finally figured it out.

Playing with photos

I am trying a new format with some of my photos. Here is the new format.

Here is the old format.

Just added a new option.What do you think?

Hello Sales Fairy/ Dynomite That Mountain

I think I found the dynamite to move that mountain.

After looking at all the suggestions I recieved yesterday, I decided to rename the collection "Reclaimed Stained Glass." I went into my Etsy store last night and removed all of my "Sea Glass" into the inactive listing. I then proceeded to create new listings for some of my collection, under the title of "Reclaimed Sea Glass." Afterwards I deleted the old listings. I realize that I am going to be charged for the new listing, but I figure that it is ok since I can get new feedback on the items.

Anyway, within 10 minutes of relisting my Aqua Blue Pendant as "Aqua Blue Reclaimed Stained Glass Pendant" it sold. I was also able to sell my Aquamarine Reclaimed Stained Glass Earrings that I relisted last night.

Thanks for all of your help and suggestions. Lets hope that I can keep moving those mountains. It sure does feel great when you do!

A quick aside, if you are on twitter and use twittermail. I have noticed that twittermail has not been working and have not seen an update as to what is going on. I hope it returns soon, since I send tweets via email while I am at work.

Time to Shake Things Up?

I have been posting new necklaces on Etsy a lot lately, but have not had a great many views. Even fewer sales (only 1 so far.)  To try to get more attention on my work, I have visited the Chat rooms the past few nights.

Last night I got brave and decided to ask the room why they thought my jewelry was not selling, specifically the "SEA GLASS" collection. I have been curious since I always sell out at my craft shows, but on Etsy I feel like the crickets are chirping.

One of my fellow chatters pointed out that they look like tumbled stained glass.  In fact that is exactly what they are, and I make note of that in my descriptions that they are reproduction sea glass.  He pointed out that not having it noted in the title may be why I have not had any sales. It makes me look like I trying to pull a fast one.

I was slightly affronted when I read that, but then I set back and thought about it for a second and realized that he was right. Even though I was being honest in the description, the title was a bit misleading. So I changed the title to reflect that it is reproduction sea glass. But now I have a feeling that there has to be a better marketing title for this collection. I just need to find it.  If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them J

Wish me luck, I have some homework ahead of me.

More New Jewelry!!

I decided to list some new items last night and thought you guys might like to take a look. These are listed in my Christmas in July special. Each one is only $6.00 and shipping is included! What a great deal.

Evening in the Desert is not new, but beautiful none the less. :)

XMAS in July: New Listings 7-14-09

In honor of Christmas in July, I have decided to add some stocking stuffers to my shop. I listed two of these fabulous necklaces last night. At $6.00 each AND FREE SHIPPING, there is no excuse why these beauties should not end up in your stocking this month! Look for more of these wonderful stocking stuffers to be listed soon. Buy them while supplies last, in my experience, they sell out fast!

Aqua Blue Sea Glass Pendant!

Cherry Red Sea Glass Pendant!

Craft Show Etiquette?

I had the opportunity to visit a friend who was particpating in a new craft show. As I understand it, the promoter has only put on one or two other shows before this one. I had heard about this show, had even been contacted about participating myself, but I wanted to check it out first.

My husband and I took off on Saturday and drove about 3/4 hour to attend this show. It was located at a sports and fun center in Wake Forest, NC called the "Factory". The venue definately has great potential for foot traffic, if the show is presented at the right time. Saturday was not the right time, some of the business were closed for holiday (no idea why), so there was not a great amount of foot traffic.

What bothered me about the show was not the traffic or the advertising (not great), it was some of the vendors themselves. My husband and I arrived in the last two hours of the show, and we got to view the wrath of several unhappy vendors. They were fussing the promoter out in public view over the lack of traffic and advertising. That really rubbed me the wrong way.

As crafter and a vendor, I always try to get to know a show before I participate. If I jump into a show without confirming advertising, show potential, cost/benefit, ect; then whose fault is it if I do not make the type of cash I want (notice I did not say expect)? Even if I needed to speak to the promoter about an issue, I think it is very unprofessional to do so in a public space with raised voices so everyone can hear.

Not all of our shows are going to be winners. Sometimes it is the venue, sometimes advertising, sometimes it is other factors. As vendors, we are responsible to determine if a show will fit our crafts, not the promoter. If we did not research the show, its following and the proceeding advertsising, the promoter is not responisble for that either. I am not saying the promotor is always blameless, however what I saw Saturday appeared to be more of a case that the vendors did not do their homework and took it out on the promoter.

When you are participating in a craft show, be considerate of your fellow vendors and your customers, take your issues to a private venue, do not yell them to the world.

A run down of my MIA..

I have not been a very good blogger the past week. I have not posted once. So here is a quick run down as to what I have been up to:

My son just broke through two new teeth, which has (of course) resulted in my husband I being very sleep deprived. The night before the teeth broke through, he was so restless that I was sure my son had an ear infection. So on Wendsday I took him to the doctor, just to discover that his new teeth had just broken the surface.

With a teething baby comes a clingy baby, so I had not been able to get alot done until the past day or so. I am finally back creating jewelry. I have created 15 or 20 new sea glass necklaces. I hope to get pictures of them and have them posted sometimes soon.

I have also secured a new wholesale supplier and drawn up some new designs. I am delving into the idea of wholesaleing some of my work. So I guess my next step is to order supplies for my wholesale line and create some prototypes. I think I need to create a jewelry line sheet with those prototypes.

Here is hoping that I am moving in the right direction.

Also a quick note: Monika Rose has posted her feature of my etsy store on her blog here.

Happy July 4th!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy fourth of July. I am enjoying my holiday by relaxing with my family.

I also wanted to share some good news with you. I have my first consignement agreement. One of my local stores has agreed to sell my sea glass earrings on consignement.

Last week, I bought two louvered shutters and have redesigned my earring cards to work with those shutters. So now I am working on re-carding my sterling silver earrings on new cards. I hope this new display will be more eye catching during my upcoming craft shows. Wish me luck!
I will post pictures and updates involving my consignment and the new show displays at a later date.

I recieved a conversation from MonikaRose last night that she is planning on featuring my etsy store on her blog next week. Stay tuned for more information.

My New Cards!!!

I have talked alot about marketing lately. I am looking for new ways to be seen, both online and off. I want to drive traffic to my website. Research suggests that we need business cards to give out everywhere we go.

When I first started my business, I created a logo and a business card. I have done little to update those, even though my business has changed somewhat since that time. Here is a picture of my old business card. (I have changed the email address in these pictures to prevent spam.)

^THE OLD ONE ^

As you can tell it is a little tired and plain. The colors are also a little hard to see. So yesterday I got a bee in my bonet and decided to create a new business card. Here is the new look!

^THE NEW ONE^

I am also creating a tear-off flyer to hang on local pin boards around town. If I am lucky, they will bring some new attention to my business!

So do you like the new business card's look? You can vote with the poll on the right hand side to let me know!