By No Means Am I A Photographer....

Welcome!

What have I been up to the past few weeks you ask?  Trying my best to be a photographer...

So as I was checking my shop stats on my iPhone one day I noticed some photos of listings that had been viewed looked a bit strange...

I guess because each device displays colors differently it was really obvious to me all of a sudden... some photos were quite dark while others seemed to have a pinkish hue to the background...

I have no idea why, I take all my photos against white background, even added a spot light lamp to brighten things up a bit...let me show you what I'm talking about:

Bangles Photo Comparison

 HOW did I not see this before????? I use pic monkey for editing my photos to the proper size dimensions but I always worry about being true to the color of the pearls, gemstones, feathers etc. but I mean, come on!!! The photos on the left are completely pinkish in the background!!!  I went back and adjusted the "temperature" but then they look a bit blue so I added "brightness" and SO much better!  I think the color of the pearls is still very true to in person and look much better than what I had before!

There is so much to learn with running a shop on Etsy...

So I was curious... were my other photos this bad?....

Pendants Photo Comparison

 Yup, kinda pink and dark...oh but it gets worse...

Feather Earrings Photo Comparison

 EEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!! So devastated when I saw how bad they were, I was in utter disbelief that I somehow thought they looked good.... thank you little iPhone...you really saved me!

So that is what I have been doing for the entire two weeks... going through all 600+ items in my shop, section by section, re-editing photos then re-editing each listing one at a time to upload the better photo...did I mention there are 4 photos per item???

On my wish list is a new camera (I'm still using my Kodak easy share that I bought 7 years ago) and also maybe a light box...I have seen lots of do-it-yourself instructions on how to make one...but with my luck it will make my pictures even more pink!  I just need to find one that is tall enough to fit my mannequin bust inside for my necklaces.  I think it's important to show the length and how they fall when worn, not everyone does it but I would like to continue to do so.  

Apparently photographing on a white background is the most difficult, unless you are a professional, but I will give it another shot once I get a proper light box, if all else fails I may go with a light grey fabric as my backdrop, trying to keep with my Litva's brand colors, I just don't want to distract from the beautiful little subjects I am trying to capture...If I've learned one thing through all this it is that I love to make jewelry, but by no means am I a photographer!  :)

Preparing For My First Holiday Season On Etsy...

Welcome!

So...I did not get accepted for the Etsy wholesale... a little disappointed but I suppose it just wasn't meant to be for now.  I'm hoping that means something better will happen...like an amazing first holiday season on Etsy!

I have been working on photos of my wire wrapped freshwater pearl pendants, and with the big gold trend going on I made some in gold wire also.  I was saving them as draft listings to publish closer to the end of October (hoping to be seen by shoppers looking for Christmas gifts) but on one of the listings I accidentally hit publish!  So I decided to have a few of them go live and be available right away.

Wire Wrapped Freshwater Pearl Pendants

 I have to say I love these pendants! They are so simple, classic and elegant.  And my little joke about pendants is that "they make perfect gifts...no sizing needed" and it's true!  Most everyone has a silver or gold chain that they love to wear, and this is such a beautiful pendant that will never go out of style.

You know... let me touch on that for a minute... if you have been reading my blog for a while, seen my Instagram, Facebook page or my Etsy shop, you may have noticed I don't really follow the "trends".... I tend to just make what I receive inspiration for and what I find beautiful...if there is a big popular trend going on that I don't foresee going away anytime soon, I try to adapt it to my style of creating, to make it my own in some way.  There are a few ideas that I have that I still have to hold off on due to the cost of supplies, but I look forward to when I can make these ideas come to life, maybe after the holidays if all goes well!

Back to what I wanted to add to my shop...

I made these thick gold chain and leather double wrap bracelets a bit ago but I never listed them in my ArtFire shop and have been looking so forward to listing them on Etsy!  I just photographed them today and will be working on listings now, as well as I decided to make some rhinestone single leather wrap bracelets with my metallic white leather that I had tons of!  The white and what I have left of the black leather versions will also be listed in the next few weeks, but here is a sneak peak!

Preciosa Rhinestone Single Wrap Leather Bracelets and Thick Gold Chain With Leather Double Wrap Bracelets

 As I'm sure you have already figured out red is my favorite color so I used the red versions of the double wrap bracelets to show here, but they do also come in other fun colors as well as neutral tones!

My rhinestone single wraps are beautiful on their own as a delicate bracelet but also pair well with other bracelets for stacking, mixing and matching!  I had quite a bit of the smaller 2mm chain that I used with the black leather previously, so I went ahead and made white leather versions of them.  I loved these so much and knew I would make more so I had ordered more rhinestone cup chain a while ago...I didn't even realize that this was a larger 4mm size (they are the left stack in the photo)....quite a bit more bling!  But I have to say I love them both!

I hope you will visit my Etsy shop and take a browse though while checking off your Christmas lists (it's never too early to start) and don't forget about yourself!  If you haven't been over already, I would appreciate some feedback on what you think of my new space, you can leave me a comment here or on my Facebook page, whichever is easier! 

Now off to work on those listings...  :)