Quick Update About Photo Crisis!

Reading the lovely comments about my new hideously bright orange backgrounds I used for a couple of my photos and thinking about it, I've decided that the orange is just too much!
After two further trips to my local ESK and ferreting around their background papers (I was in there nearly half an hour one day and almost missed an appointment!) I now possess several more neutral coloured backgrounds and some shiny new pebbles. I'm still having problems using my camera in manual as altering some of the settings affects the sharpness of the photo, so even though it's brighter it's not properly focused! So frustrating!

I'm hoping to start redoing them tomorrow as the weather is supposed to be better - fingers crossed. God, I hate taking photographs!

~♥~♥~♥~

Got all excited this morning when I checked my emails as I had another sale in my Folksy shop and thought it was my 50th. Alas it was my 49th ~ I sold two lots of earwires yesterday and hoped they would count as two sales but they didn't (bum). The reason I was excited is because I'm planning a Giveaway when I reach 50 sales. I've got the earrings all ready for it and I'm going to treat myself to a print from Folksy shop Sascalia. I guess I'll just have to hang fire for a while..........

 I want this! ♥

 Flowers 5 from Sascalia

Photo Revamp ~ Opinions Wanted!

Selling my jewellery online means I have to take photos of it and I can honestly say that this is my least favourite part of the whole process! I just don't have the patience for all that fiddling about trying to get the perfect picture and I always look at the end result thinking it could be better.

I generally just switch on my camera in Auto mode and let it do it's thing, however the other day I actually switched it to manual and played around with the settings. I changed the white balance, (I think that's what it's called) and it has made a difference, the photos do seem brighter. Taking the photos in Manual mode however wasn't very successful, even though it was in Macro mode, the camera didn't want to focus every time, so I went back to Auto mode. I didn't need as much light as normal, meaning I didn't have to pull the curtains as far back as I normally do, so altering the white balance has improved things.

I normally use white as a background but recently have been thinking how boring my photos look! So this morning I took a trip to my local ESK where there's a brilliant craft section. I found some plain paper in various colours, green, grey, more green and then I spotted some bright orangey~browny~pinky~purple ( I said it was bright!) patterned paper that I thought might work. It's a bit vivid and colourful but I like it because it's very me and I hope fits with my style of jewellery. I gave it a try earlier and here's the results. Before and after!

Before

After

What do you think? I'd really appreciate some opinions! I'm planning on redoing all my photos, starting with my Etsy shop, but thought I'd do just one before I got carried away and wasted LOTS of time incase I didn't like the end result! 

Top Tens!

I love making lists and making lists of my top 10 "things" seems like a good idea to me. It makes me think and gives me a break from eating chocolate for a while.
I've decided to start a regular (I hope!) feature of top tens.......they could be anything from my ten favourite words to my ten most embarrassing moments (if I can bear to remember them!)

I'm starting with my ten favourite songs, although one look at my CD collection made me realize that there's no way I only have 10 favourites! Anyway, these are my ten favourite songs today..........

1. Song To The Siren ~ This Mortal Coil. Once heard never forgotten.

2. Freebird ~ Lynard Skynard. Just so cool.

3. Stockholme Syndrome ~ Muse. Played very loudly in the car. Could have a top ten list of their own.

4. Statesboro Blues ~ Taj Mahal. Dig those Blues.

5. Slide Away ~ Oasis. Before they lost it.

6. Love Spreads ~ The Stone Roses. Northerners. Enough said. (I'm a Northerner)

7. Sugar Hiccup ~ Cocteau Twins. Whimsical lyrics and beautiful melodies.

8. Gimme Shelter ~ The Rolling Stones. Classic.

9. Tears ~ The Chameleons. Whatever happened to them?

10. Waiting For My Man ~ Velvet Underground. The 9 minute version gave us enough time to go the the loo, get a drink at the bar and still get to the dance floor in time to dance to it.

They say you can tell a lot about a person from their taste in music. I wonder what this lot says about me?! (Never heard of half of them, you weird Northerner, probably!) I hope this inspires you to make top ten lists of your own :D

Folksy Friday! ~ Water ~

I managed to miss doing a Folksy Friday pick last week so made a supreme effort this week.

This week my Folksy Friday theme is Water!

My first pick is an illustration print from Marmalime and is called "Seahorse"

Gorgeous refreshing Cool Water Natural Soap from Saffronbarr

A contemporary Sterling Silver & Copper Pebble & Water Ring by NRJewelleryDesign

A striking Maldon Water Stained Glass Panel by AmyOrangeJuice

A dazzling Frosted Lake Wavy Bowl by Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics

And finally a vibrant original watercolour "Fire And Water" by Dick & Franny

Hope you've enjoyed my wanderings in water!

Introducing New Folksy Seller.... Joelleabelle!

Meet Joelle Poulos, owner of Folksy shop Joelleabelle.
Joelle recently opened her shop selling kitsch, retro and kooky jewellery. I found those words in her keyword list and they describe her style perfectly!


How would you describe the jewellery you make?
I would describe my Jewellery as: 'Quirky Handmade Jewellery'

You Colour My World Earrings

How long have you been making jewellery?
Not long at all! I started selling it to my friends little over 2 months ago.

What made you start?
My friend sent me a link to a site selling charms, this made me think about making some extra money selling jewellery. This then expanded to selling on my website!

P.S. I Love You Necklace

Have you taken any jewellery-making classes or are you self-taught?
I have never taken jewellery making classes, I am completely self taught!

What made you decide to make your style of jewellery rather than the more classic type?
My style of jewellery is based on something I would like and buy! I do think about the fact that 'It's not what you want, its what other people want' but I have a very quirky sense of fashion (and jewellery!) and this is what came out of it!

Where do you buy your jewellery-making supplies? Online or locally?
I buy my supplies all online.

Chocaholic Pendants

Where do you sell your jewellery? Is it just online or do you ever do craft fairs, sell locally?
I sell my jewellery online at Joelleabelle and am yet to do a craft fair and I haven't yet found a local one, although I would love to do one in the future.

 Do you blog?
I do, and love it! You can find my blog Here

Builder's Breakfast Ring

If you were given your own body-weight in chocolate would you...... 
a) Squeal with delight?
b) Grab a Ginsters pasty and run away screaming?
a) I would looooove it!

Who would be your fantasy date?!
Hmmm.. Aaron Johnson (Angus Thongs And Perfect Snogging) :)

You Spin Me Right Round Earrings

Thank you Joelle, I'm pleased to say you answered the chocolate question correctly :D

See more of Joelle's funky jewellery here 

Join In The Easter Egg Treasure Hunt On Folksy!

Starting today there's a fab new competition on Folksy! Devised by the lovely Fee of Folksy shop Niche Handmade, the competition runs until Easter.

How to enter ~

There are 33 Folksy shops with either a pink, blue or yellow easter egg added to their shop banner. All you have to do is find 11 shops with the same coloured easter egg, make a note of the shop names, then send this in an email to folksytreasurehunt@gmail.com. You can enter three times by finding all 33 shops increasing your chances of winning!

The three winners will be announced on April 5 and will win one of three goodie bags packed with gorgeous handmade items donated by the participating Folksy shop owners!
Hint ~ "easter" and "treasure" may help you find what you are looking for :D

Good News From Etsy

I wrote a while ago that I'd been neglecting my Etsy shop in favour of my Folksy shop. Anyway I've been busy lately making and listing jewellery on Etsy and today I had another sale! I still have a lot more to do as I only have 12 items on Etsy but at least I've made a start. It's amazing what a sale does to get you going again and believing in yourself and your "creations!"
I was also featured in an Etsy Treasury ~ alas not on the front page though :D

~♥Sold!♥~

Read This!

I found a great blog via Etsy too called The English Muffin Blog. Bess Callard has written a great piece titled "small business, small steps" about what to do during those "down-times", i.e. when sales slow down or stop for a while. It's worth reading plus read the 30-odd comments, as it makes you realize everyone feels the same when our shops go through a quiet period and suggests ways to use this quiet time to improve our businesses (and mood!)

~♥♥♥~

New items on Etsy

I also want to thank Creative Genius for featuring me this week in their Folksy seller interview ♥ which reminds me I have another load of questions waiting to be answered..........................

Louis Meets........

Say Hello to Louis, my very cute sock kitten from Folksy shop Pussy Galore!
Louis now has pride of place on my computer desk but before he settled there I introduced him to my furry trio - no, that's not a strange body part, I mean my cats ;D

"But darling, you're gorgeous! Now let me get back to sleep"

Charlie was pretty laid back at meeting Louis and quickly went back to sleep

"He's not having my dinner" said Tuppence

"Mine, all mine! Can I eat him now?"

Eddie has a rather robust character and I had to rescue Louis from a fate worse than death shortly after taking this photo. Put another way, if Eddie was human they'd have slapped an ASBO on him years ago

The perfect friends ~ generous, attentive and calm........ they don't move much though

A Jewellery School In Eastbourne?!!

Imagine my delight when looking through the latest issue of Making Jewellery magazine I noticed a small article on The Sussex Jewellery School. Ooh, I thought, I live in Sussex, I wonder where................  then I noticed it was in my hometown of Eastbourne! I don't believe it!

I checked out the website and contacted them to ask if they minded me doing a blog piece about them. They were quite happy, so here's a bit of info for any fellow jewellery makers in the Eastbourne area!

The Sussex Jewellery School opened in January and is situated very close to the railway station in Commercial Road, Eastbourne. The school is a mews-type premises over two floors with a 400ft studio, kitchen and common room.

Classes are available in PMC (Beginners and Advanced), Resin Jewellery and from Autumn they are starting classes in enamelling on silver. They will also be running advanced courses on adding gold to PMC and making silver boxes.

Tempted? I know I am. I've wanted to learn to make PMC jewellery for a while now so was thrilled to see they ran classes in just that. Most of the classes are held at weekends from 10am to 5pm, although there are also some classes on a Monday and Friday.

 They also offer one to one tuition by the hour, a kiln firing service and studio sessions where you can work on your own pieces in the studio after you've taken one of their classes.

At the moment my job clashes with the class times (bum!) but as soon as it's possible I will be booking a Beginners class in PMC. The price is £105 (correct at time of writing) which I don't think is bad for seven hours of learning something new and making up to three items of beautiful (hopefully!) jewellery. Watch this space!

Visit The Sussex Jewellery School website

Transformation!

Before Christmas I felt the urge to do a bit of stringing and made a couple of bracelets including this one made with Crazy Lace Agate and Freshwater Pearls. Pretty enough I suppose. However it just didn't satisfy my obsession with wire so a few days ago I took it apart and decided to get the pliers and the hammer and bench block out and transform it into something else!

This is the result ~

I took this photo this morning when it was nice and bright but looking at it now I think I'm going to have to redo it tomorrow! It looks kind of dull compared to the top one. At least it's going to be bright again in the morning so I'll be there with me pebbles and me camera doing my David Bailey again!

♥♥♥

I've just listed these on Folksy. I took them at the same time as the bracelet yet they are much brighter........ curiouser and curiouser!

Cherry Freckles

RockPools

And The Winner Is.....................

The winner of my blog Giveaway for a pair of Gelert Design Brass Resin Earrings is.................... (fanfare of choice in your head, work with me!) ..........................
Dottie Designs! I used a random number picker and Dottie was the one! Congratulations Dottie!!

Here's what you've won!