Cold Weekend for a Photo Shoot

Earrings on Etsy

Most of my jewelry photos for Etsy are taken outside. Partly because there is no need to set up a special backdrop, it’s easy to hang pieces on braches, flowerpots, wooden boxes, wind chimes and more. Also, since I’m not skilled with setting up the right lighting inside, its much faster to utilize natural sunlight outdoors!

This past weekend proved a bit difficult to shoot photos, but I did get most of what I needed…

Saturday I convinced my boyfriend, Scott, to help out with a shoot where I needed to play the part of “model” to show off some new necklaces. Standing outside in a tank top and cardigan was a little chilly, but not nearly as bad as I had expected!

Sunday I worked on my own to photograph some earrings. The wind blowing earrings around made it take a bit longer, which led to very cold fingers, but I was able to get seven pairs shot, edited, and up on Etsy.

Enjoy these photos, along with a few silly images of the process, and don’t forget to check out more on Etsy and Facebook!

Heart Necklace / Colorful Hand painted Necklace (top right)

More photos on Facebook

Western Necklace on Etsy

Earrings on Etsy

Earrings on Etsy

Inspiration: Petroglyphs

I love the landscape here on the east coast (especially this time of year!), but once in a while its nice to pull inspiration from a place you're not so used to. I freelance for a company in Utah, and while out there for work was lucky enough to do some hiking and exploring. Among my favorite sites were rocks covered with petroglyphs...

Petroglyph: "a drawing or carving on rock, made by a member of a prehistoric people."

These shapes look simple, but are actually very complex. The combinations of graphics were an early form of communication and all tell a story. I'm really inspired by the fact that these petroglyphs are a form of communication, but even if you don't know the "language" they are still beautiful to look at. It really ties into why I love typography, words literally tell a story but they can still look beautiful doing it!

Tuesday Tutorial: Eco-friendly Autumn Wreath

I’ll admit, I’m a little early with my autumn excitement, but the moment it gets even a little cool I automatically shift into gear wearing sweaters and drinking hot apple cider!

If you can’t wait to start getting your place looking festive for autumn, what better way to start than a welcoming wreath at the door (and an eco-friendly one at that)!

These flowers can take a long time if you decide to make a lot of them, so it’s the perfect project to slowly chip away at while winding down at night or something. With any luck you’ll be done before autumn ends!

Materials:

Wreath form (not pictured), or branches to make your own

Old magazines

Scissors

Needle & thread

Buttons

Glue gun with glue sticks

Ribbon (optional)

Instructions:

1. Choose a color theme and pull those pages from your magazines. I chose pretty traditional warm and neutral autumn colors, but you have endless possibilities! You can choose to be inspired by fashion trends for fall, warm cream colors that can transition from autumn to winter, etc.

2. Cut circles in varying sizes out of the pages you pulled. My circles ranged 1”–4” in diameter. Experiment with different edges on your circles; try things like points and flower petal shapes. Each circle will make one flower, the number you need depends on how much of your wreath you want covered. I used over 50 to really cover most of the wreath, but you can choose to use them more sparingly.

3. Pinch and fold the center of each circle to form a flower—there is no right or wrong way to do this, just trial and error until you get the shapes you want.

4. Sew a button to the center of each flower. This is where you can fiddle with the shape to be sure the flower stays how you want it. Remember this is paper not fabric, so it will start to get fragile if you poke too many holes, you really only need to sew the button 2–4 times.

5. Glue your flowers to the wreath form. Use a small amount of glue on the back of each flower. You can cover the entire wreath, spread the flowers sparingly throughout, or do a more asymmetric layout like I did.

6. Tie a ribbon to the top of your wreath for hanging. This is optional; you can always just hang the wreath itself right on a nail or hook.

So have fun and start crafting! As always, post any questions in the comments, along with links to photos if you do the project yourself!

Inspiration: Flower Garden

The end of the week is upon us and you may be running out of creative steam. In that case, here is some colorful inspiration to keep you going!