Wednesday, December 7, 2011

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday

I recently posted a question in the Etsy forums asking whether a single or a bulk picture should be used first in a listing for one bead with more available.  The majority of the responses critiqued my photographs and as this is the first time I've ever received constructive criticism on my shop,  I really appreciated it!  

So this week I've been working on retaking the pictures for all 152 of my Etsy listings.  At 4-6 pictures per item that's over 750 pictures!  Considering that I haven't found a reliable light source that's anywhere as good as natural light for showing the true colors on beads, this is going to take a long time. I have about a 1 hour window of time when the sun is up but not blocked by the fence or the trees in my yard at this time of year so I just have to hope that happens to be the hour there isn't any cloud cover! Anyway, here is a comparison

New picture

Old Picture

There is a HUGE difference!  I didn't realize how bad my pics were before and I'm extremely grateful to the people who took the time to critique me.

As to the original question: I decided I had to do what felt right to me, which is to use the single bead as the first picture.  It's not as dramatic, but I also don't feel like I'm being deceptive.  In the end, being able to sleep at night is more important to me than the number of sales.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Motivation Monday

Motivation Monday

It's Monday again already ~ where did the weekend go?  It's cold out there this morning!  22 degrees and I am in need of some warmth!  So today's motivation is going to be flowers.




There!  That makes me think of islands where it's warm and sunny every day!

And now for a little warm music: Michael Franti - Sound of Sunshine


One of my favorites, and I just made it my alarm clock ring tone. For the three minutes I lay in bed, snuggled in my blankets, I can pretend it's going to be a sunny day!

Thanks for checking in ~ and stay motivated!!



Friday, December 2, 2011

Featured Friday

Featured Friday

I have a very special featured artist today ~  My daughter opened an Etsy shop!  KTBelleCrafts  She does a variety of crafts including some incredible paintings with spray paint, recycled glass crafts and blown eggs.  She opened her shop on Tuesday and she's already had 2 sales.  Congratulations KT!!!  This is one of the eggs (it's reserved but she'll be listing more in the next day or two)

These are so cute!

And here's one of her spray paint paintings:

                            
Can you believe that's spray paint?  I love it!

Thanks for taking a peek ~ and check back next Friday for more fun, handmade finds!