New Years Sale

Happy New Years Everyone!!!

I am having a sale of 20% off your entire order in my Etsy Shop Just enter COUPON CODE: cc2011

Sale will be from Dec. 31- Jan. 2

Happy Holidays To All!

Newbies

So I really have to say that I am a very sporadic blogger:o( I guess I just get busy with life and the day to day things and forget to pop in and jot them down. So...................

Here are a few new pieces that have been added to my shop.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/63173219/sterling-silver-necklace

http://www.etsy.com/listing/63174597/spinner-ring-necklace

Coming Soon

Stay tuned....I will be launching my Black Friday Sale in my Etsy store in a few hours!!!
Please use the coupon code CCBLK20 when checking out to receive 20% off your entire order.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thankful, have a wonderful day.

It's Cold Outside

 I awoke this morning to a snowy morning.

I always feel so bad for the horses.

I wish I could bring them in and warm them up by the fire, but I think they may take up a little too much room.

Feeling Uneasy

I sometimes get this uneasy feeling, like someone or something is watching me. It only happens when I'm sitting on the couch watching TV or scoping the web on my laptop.

What I saw today

I happen to look outside this afternoon, it's been cloudy and threatening snow all day. Well this is what I saw. I am always amazed by the beauty of a rainbow.

I have a confession........

So I have a confession, I love this creamer! I purchase 2-3 at a time because it is only available during the holiday season. My family knows that I love my coffee be it flavored, regular you name it, I love it.
But I get so excited during this time of year when my Pumpkin Spice flavored creamer is out. Ahhh, the little things in life:o)

My Oldest

I can't believe my oldest son turned 18 yesterday!!! I can so vividly remember the day he was born and now eighteen years later, he is a senior in high school and planning on going to Montana University in the spring to study medicine. Wow, they grow up so fast.

Week End Sale in my shop! Buy three items get 25% off your entire order.

New Items In Shop

Some new items in my shop.


                                         http://www.etsy.com/listing/60615994/sterling-and-labradorite-ring

                                          http://www.etsy.com/listing/60617050/sterling-oxidized-spinner-ring

I hope you enjoy the new items.

Casper Update

I can't believe how much Casper has grown in just 7 months. He's gonna be a big boy!!!

There is light at the end of the tunnel..........

Okay, I am so sorry I have not posedt in well over a month!

I have been going through a rough patch in my life (I really don't want to get into the details at the moment) and have just not felt like blogging. I know this trial in my life will make me a stronger and a better person eventually.

I just wanted to let all my followers know I am still here and will get my butt back in gear shortly.

My Dirty Little Secret......

So I must confess I have a dirty little secret. I didn't know I had this secret until I looked out my front door this morning and there it was. Right out in plain site, I was so embarrassed.

I think he was too, he tried to run away and hide, but he just wasn't fast enough!!

I'm Dull.......???

So I made the mistake of joining a critique in the Etsy forums and was told that my shop is kinda of dull and boring:o(
Now I know not to take it to much to heart, but it does make a person step back and take a second look at their shop. So I have started to try a few different backgrounds and am trying to make my pictures POP a bit more.

Let me know what you think.

I Didn't Know

I was pleasantly surprised when I received this email this morning, how nice!!
Have a great weekend everyone.

This Sums It Up!

No Words Needed.

Shop Sale

Today marks the 3rd year of my Etsy Shop being opened.
So what better way to celebrate than to have a sale!

Happy Friday!

I just love waking up before everyone else (of course I have two teenage boys, so that usually isn't a problem) and the house is quiet. It is especially nice in the summer out in the country when it is nice outside and you hear all the activities of the day starting.

Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend.

Lovely Blog

I got a convo from a lovely lady, letting me know she had featured my Spin a Name ring on her blog.

Marvelous Monday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. Here are a few of my favs for the day.

I just love MixBaby's Headbands.

These shirts are wonderful,  from Ellembee.

Photo Tute From A Plain Jenn

Okay, first let me say, I am not a professional photographer. I really don't even understand half the settings on my camera (which is a Kodak MD863/ 8.2 mega pixel) here is a picture of it. The one thing I do know about my camera is the Macro Setting (this setting is a must for jewelry photos, in my opinion) mine is on the top of my camera and is a little tulip icon.

I have two places I take pictures of my jewelry. The first is in my studio, I have a photo tent (I purchased mine at Sportsman's Guide, I do not use the lights that came with the photo tent, I just didn't think they were bright enough, so I have a few different ones which all have daylight light bulbs in them, I got mine at WalMart. This photo area is in a corner of my studio near a window. I use scrapbooking paper for my back drop and for under my jewelry, I also use a brown paper bag which I have torn and then stamped an image of handwriting that I got from Lisa Palvelka's shop.

The second place I take pictures is on my front porch on a chair. I use my brown paper bag background on top of the chair. I do not take pictures in the direct sunlight, I feel the light in the photos is just too harsh (just my opinion).

So now here is my sequence for taking my pictures.
1. I make sure I have my camera set on Macro (sometimes I forget), when taking a photo with my camera a hand will show up after I shoot the picture (red=bad photo, delete; tan=kinda bad photo,maybe delete; green=good photo, keep!). At this point I don't worry about size or shape of my photo, I just point and shoot, I will crop and adjust it in my photo shop program, I'll give you the link a little further down. So at this point just worry about how your jewelry lays, take a few pictures at different angles, turn the jewelry a few different ways. I also take a few pictures from above, to the side and straight on.

2. Okay, now here comes the important part, notice the photo above is a little dark and you can see the edge of the papers and the back of the photo box, so now I edit in my photo editing. I use Picasa, this is a free editing software and I really like it (I also make my banners for my Etsy shop using this photo editing, that tute is coming soon). First I crop my photo. I use the Manual option (not a certain size) for the cropping (choose the crop section and there will be a list to choose from) and I only eyeball the squareness of the photo, I don't worry about the actual number size of the photo at all. I just make sure I crop it nice and close and sort of square.

3. Now the photo above is nice and close, but still a little dark. I now go to the Tuning tab and adjust the Highlighting and Shadows (there is a little feature on the right on this part that you can click and it automatically adjusts it for you,  I like this sometimes, but sometimes I just like to do it myself, just play around and see how you like it. After playing with the highlights and shadows I then go to the next tab which is Effects and I choose the Soft Focus, this puts a nice blurred edge around your photo.

Now this is the final picture. Tada!!

On my next post I will show you how I take pictures outside, this tutorial was done in my inside photo area.

I hope you enjoyed it and it has helped. I am not a very technical person and really learn by seeing and again this is just what I do and what I feel works for me:o)

Marvelous Monday!!!

A few of my favs from Sundance catalog.

Ketchup...It's not just for frenchfries!!

Here is a little tutorial on cleaning your brass jewelry. Here is a picture of a pair of tarnished or dirty brass earrings. I have been wearing them for a couple months.

Take some ketchup (that's right folks, Ketchup) and squeeze it in your hand along with the earrings.

Then rub the ketchup on the earrings for a few minutes (sorry it looks a little yucky, but it works).

Rinse with warm water and then dry with a clean cloth, a T-shirt or a worn pair of jeans works great.

Voila!! Beautiful shiny new earrings! This also works on copper, but not silver.

If you like these earrings, you can purchase your own pair at my Etsy shop.

Flowers $22.00

Mulch & Top Soil $10.00

Rock Garden $0

Playing in the dirt & creating something beautiful...... Priceless!!

Company

We had some comany last nite. They were polite, quiet and left in the morning. Now that's the kind of company I like.

Lazy Sundays

Sundays are suppose to be a day of rest. Well for me that is not so true. I have gotten 5 loads of laundry done, dinner is being made, I have listed new items to my Etsy shop, finished an order and made a few new items, vacuumed and dusted. But as for the rest of my family it is definitely a day of rest!!!

As for my human family they are pretending to be very busy lounging!