Why is it so difficult to get a good photo?

Why oh why is it so difficult to photograph jewellery? I really struggle with it, and when you're selling your heart and soul online those photos are what makes or breaks the sale.

I looked at tutorials which have in the first instance been really informative & helpful and I've even found out where the macro setting is on my camera!! Then I worked out WHY it was such a useful little button!!

I take my photos, post them up in the hopes of not making a mint, just funding my hobby and having the pleasure that somewhere out there, someone is walking round in a pair of earrings/necklace/bracelet that was handcrafted by me.

My latest craze is to 'stage' my pictures. I've seen other online sellers with tastefully placed items such as books and feathers and what you can see in these photos are the fruits of my attempts. I asked E to pass me the book, only to find it was 'Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl' and every page I opened was littered with, hmmm, let's say words of a sexual nature! Maybe that would have created more interest in my jewellery!

My most favourite and most visited website is http://www.piknic.com/ which will allow you to give you more colour, more exposure, crop, rotate etc etc on your pics. It's not that I want be fake in anyway but I do want to show what my lovely jewellery really does look like! Apart from going out and buying a light box or investing is a super-duper, top of the range camera then this is going to be as good as it gets! For now anyway!

G & I moved in together almost 4 months ago and I have to say, it hasn't been as challenging as I thought it could have been. Anyone who knows G will say whilst he is the loveliest, kindest, sweetest, generous man, his levels of patience leave something to be desired. And that was my biggest worry. Would he shout at me? Would he suddenly notice at I wasn't the person he thought I was and would he ask me to leave our new home? As it's turned out, we've rubbed along together quite nicely. When he stresses over things, I calm him down. When I'm being stunningly stupid, he explains things in the way you'd explain to a 4 year old. I guess it's just good old fashioned ying and yang.

We went out for dinner last night in the village and walking back he turned to me and said, 'I love living here with you'. Now you can either want to throw up into a sick bucket, or you can join me in saying 'Ahhhhhhhhh'.
Charlie is all settled and is taking ownership of every available comfy space; silk cushion on the sofa; window ledge; garden table & chairs; my craft room chair..........and the list goes on!E & I potentially have some BIG news. We have been offered a pop up shop in Portsmouth for a song. We can have for a week in December, which of course, would be our most opportune selling time. We're buzzing with ideas already but our attentions really have to focus on advertising and having enough stock. AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH creation stations ready!!

Glass glass glass glass glass

E & I had a great day with Kate O'Connell http://www.kateoconnell.co.uk/ at Making Space http://www.makingspace.org/ on saturday making fused glass jewellery.

Imagine....3 women, 1 ipod, & a loads of glass! It was such fun. It was an open access day which means which there isn't any specific tuition, a specialist is on hand to help. Poor Kate must have been fed up with E & I saying....'And Kate, what happens if.....' or 'And Kate, will this work if I do that.....' Amazingly, I only cut myself once and it was only a tiny little one. I thought I had made loads of things, and then I looked at E's outpouring of creativity. She made at least double what I had! Sheesh, and she's so creative! Hate her! (no, love E-bird!)The thing with glass is that when you put it together in your mind, it looks fab! It's this amazing creation which is fab and funky. Unfortunately, more often than not when you get it back, it just hasn't turned out as you had planned. I'm guessing you lose about a third, if not more, of all your work because it looks naff. It also doesn't help that some glass changes colour, so you THINK you've overlaid clear on your stunning creation, when in fact, it's a milky white. So your beautiful pendant suddenly looks like a cataract! Let me tell you, it ain't pretty!

Grumpy Face

It's been a funny old day in the office. E came in with a face like thunder, which is really unlike her. 'What's wrong?' I asked.......Do you sometimes wish you had never asked?!!!

The last time I asked that question we ended up booking a holiday in Madrid to cheer her up. Unfortunately, we are all out of Bank Holidays this year (which is the only time we can go away together) as I am away with G on the August one. We have had to make do with any wheat free treat we could find....'have a bit of my Kitkat', 'no, it's got wheat in'.....

We took our trip to Madrid in May and had a fab time. The only downside was the constant threat of pick pockets. On the Metro on the way in a girl tried but I noticed her, and then again on the next day actually on the Metro train a young spanish guy in a group tried it on but I felt the zip go. No need for any alarms, just use rent-a-gob here! 'Pickpocket, pickpocket, he tried to pick my pocket!!!!' Amazingly they scarpered. We went onto the Sunday market and noticed that all the ladies held their bags close to their bodies and also the zip itself.

But the architecture in Madrid is superb and we also saw flamenco. Lots of laughs were had.

Looking forward to my extra day of glass fusing on saturday too. I am half way through a 5 week course but I couldn't resist a full day solidly making jewellery. I love the other ladies in my class but I seem to spend most of the time showing them how I made things and helping them so I don't get as much done as I'd like to. Results coming soon!

Catch up

It's been a long time, I know, but I have been very very busy!

First, G & I moved in together on 1st March. G bought a lovely 4 bed house in a small market town in Hampshire. With a garden big enough for Charlie cat, a study, a craft room for me & a garage which I intend to turn into a craft studio....ooooooooooooooooooooohhh! How lucky I am!

We moved in on the same day, so we had 3 vans at the house with men running in and out. We unpacked quickly and managed to get settled. I'd like to say the house was all sorted, but not quite. We're getting there. There's a bit of manueourving about to do, but on the whole most things have a home.

The garden is beautiful. There are roses of all colours, clematis, honeysuckle to name a few. I would like to plant a magnolia tree and I've bought a olive tree to sit on the patio.

We've both had birthday's in the house and it feels like home. I'm very happy there and I know G is too.

So what's been happening on the craft front, I hear you scream. Well, after a distarious May Day Fayre where we sold hardly anything (and it was blinking freezing) E & I decided that we would stick to jewellery parties initially. They work for us, we have a good time, have a couple of drinks and if anyone buys anything, that's great, if not, well we've still had a good time. In saying that we have been asked to host a table at a Ladies Night at the Grosvenor Casino in Southsea. Fingers crossed for a successful selling night.

E & I have also had a chance to start doing some fused glass jewellery. We started by doing a saturday course at Making Space http://www.makingspace.org/ I absolutely love it! It's amazing that you can slap a load of dodgy cut glass onto another dodgy piece of glass and when fused it comes out wonderfully smooth. That's not to say it's not without its cock ups and disasters, but that's all in the learning curve I guess. I'm also waiting to get my bulk fuel adaptor sorted out (when the garage is sorted) so I can start doing my bead making again. I've had a go again at E's house and we also had a road trip to Flame Off 2010 where I realised how crap I am and how much I need to learn. E & I also had a road trip to Madrid. Amazing place but I had run ins with 2 pickpocket attempts....more to come of these subjects as I've rambled on far too much. Guess that happens when you don't write for 7 months!!!!

I will be back, I promise!

Newcastle is a loooooong way away

It really is! It's just under 400 miles from G's front door to his parent house (which I may add is beautiful) and takes about 6 hours to drive....except of course if you're stuck in the traffic on the M1. There seems to be 2 mile stretches of roadworks with speed limits of 50mph but odd 1 mile stretches of 70mph thrown in for good measure. Of course I hate roadworks but appreciate that the surface needs to be renewed and maintained but what does frustrate me is work that's almost completed and say just needs the white lines painting but they keep it shut with nothing happening. Needless to say, it's annoying but then you see signs saying 'respect for road workers'. I never appreciated that road workers were 'disrespected'. Do people open their car windows and shout abuse about the amount of bum cleavage on display?

Anywhooooo, we were going to our 3rd wedding this year and 2nd at the same venue at The Grand Hotel, Tynemouth. A blustery & wet day but that was ok as we were inside and I had to meet G's extended family. I'm pleased to say they were lovely to me and made me feel especially welcome. His Mum was wonderful and told me how lovely it was to know that her son had found someone so lovely (now I'm blushing) as I'm so wonderful, kind and generous! It's not a wonder that I'm so modest!!!

We had a lovely day and the wedding went off without a hitch. G's second cousin who is only 3 stole the show by laughing especially loud at the Best Man's speech. I'm convinced she'd been paid.

If there was a small moan to be had, it was that our room was quite small and had lots of pine furniture in it. And the bed was solid! Whilst getting up in the middle of the night to regain some of my circulation I managed to stub my little toe on this little coffee table. You can only imagine me trying to muffle my cry and swear words to try and not wake G up. Fortunately, he sleeps like his had about 15 pints and is out like a light.

We drove back the next morning. I was negotiating the Tynemouth Tunnel when I saw a flashing safety sign. Getting closer, and closer it read.........'X Factor, Vote Joe'. That's where your road tax goes to people!!! :0)

G & I are now house hunting. Fortunately we are singing off the same hymn sheet as far as requirements go. We want 4 bedrooms. G wants a study, a spare room, our bedroom and then another room. G has hinted I can have it as a craft room, but he's secretly harbouring hopes for a pool table!

Life Is Good

When I made my last post I'd completely forgotten to tell you about G & I's trip to Italy in September. How could I forget! This was my third visit to Italy this year (Milan, Venice & in the middle of no-where but vaguely near Perugia). We had an amazing time. We chilled out by the pool, we ate well, we slept well, we ......, well you get the picture! Apart from the mad drivers, and I'm discounting G at this point everything was good! Those Italian drivers, sheesh, they are loco! They just drive in the middle of the road & completely ignore the speed limits even though there appears to be speed cameras everywhere. Probably just for us Johnny Foreigners.
Anyway, we visited Siena, Lake Tresimeno & did a spot of wine tasting at Montepulciano. Mmmmmmmmmmm, except, we could see the grapes, we were almost within touching distance of them but the wine cellars were few and far between. The scenery was breathtaking and seeing as I bought a calendar, I can re-live it every day next year. Oh yes, the calendar purchase....when I had viewed nearly every calendar in Siena G lost the plot and said in a slightly loud voice, 'JUST GET ONE, THEY'RE ALL THE SAME!!' Ok ok, keep your wig on! Probably the only downside was that at the house, a Belgium family had the most adorable Old English Sheepdog puppies, yes, two bundles of fun. G has a phobia of dogs to the max, which I really feel for him about. Luckily after G explained to them the problem they ensured the dogs were always restrained. But I so desperately wanted to play with them! It was difficult but I knew I couldn't do it. Ah, but now my big news......drum roll please! G has finally asked me to live with him. I say finally because we've been talking around this subject for some months now. I knew he wanted to but G is ultra cautious and he wanted to be 100% certain, which is fair enough. He is going to buy a house for us & I will let mine. So we are going 'area shopping' at the weekend, and I'm very excited! I love moving house, I'm a freak, I know.

Poor Charlie who is already jealous of G will have his little nose put out of joint, but hey, he's a cat, he'll have to get over it. And yes, G has agreed to let me have a craft room, I know, MY OWN CRAFT ROOM!!!!!!!