This Ain't No Picnik! Well Actually It IS! Picnik For Etsy!

How do you edit your photo's for your Etsy shop?

 I know some of you use Photo Shop, Gimp or even just Paint.  I am not lucky enough to own a copy of Photo Shop.  Gimp confused the heck out of me and made me want to pull my hair out.   And Paint? well lets just say there were tears. 

My first Etsy shop photo's were well ugh frightening!  I just could not seem to get the swing of it.  It kept me from posting in my shop for a very long time.  I built a light box, I bought special lighting, I scoured the web for answers.  Until one fateful day I came across Picnik.

It was the answer to my prayers.  It was simple to use. Easy to upload photo's and best of all it was free. 

After months of using it for free I did subscribe it's around 20$ for a YEAR!!   It opened up some member only features like I can upload 100 photos to edit at once and they have this handy clone feature that allows me to white out my background on especially difficult to edit pics!

This is my easy peasy picture routine.  I do my picture taking in the morning or on cloudy days.

 I get my tiny flexible tripod ( beetlejuice I like to call it) that I bought at Bestbuy for like 15 dollars.

I get my  Cannon Powershot.

I get my beads.

I get several sheets of white printer paper. ( yep white printer paper)

I go in my front yard where there is no shadows or direct sun.  I place my paper down and arrange my beads in a pleasing way.

I set my camera screwed onto its tripod looking down on the beads and set it to Macro, I set the lighting to +1 and I set the timer to 2 seconds.... and away we go!!!  It's picture time!!

Sometimes I need an elevated picture so I bring out a small box. I lay a piece of white paper over it and put up a white background behind it... more printer paper or whatever I have lying around.


Before!

It is simple and quick.  I load up my pictures and upload to Picnik and presto chango brilliant pictures that feature my beads and not some gray or grainy background. Here are some before and after pics!!

Wow what a difference!! 

In PicNik I crop it down.. 

Then I go to auto exposure where use the Highlights slider until I get the bright white background I love for my shop.  They have a shadows slider too. 

Now sometimes I can't get my background that bright white without washing out my lovely beads.  Never fear Clone is here!! 

Now I am pretty sure this is a paid for feature..  It is under the effects tab... then click on Effects and scroll down to clone. It may take a couple of minutes to figure this out but it is well worth it and after a couple of minutes you'll smack your forehead and say "Duh that was easy!"

 I re size it to fit how I like it to fit in my shop.

 To make things easier I make an "Edited" file so I can quickly find when I need to post in my shop... sometime the saved edited photo's thumbnails don't look edited which can put a hiccup in things if you don't already know about this bug.  I put up with it because I love how easy this program is.

Now that is how I edit my pics.. while written out it seems long... in reality it is not it was quick, easy and free!  Check it out especially if you are a new Etsian frustrated by the harrows of picture taking!

How's It Hanging Stud?

I made these for various shows I have done and as promised to my local customers I am finally putting them into my little etsy store . 

They are super cute! Super light Weight and Super affordable at $12 a pair!  I wrap them up nicely in a brown little box with hemp or cotton cord tied up with one of my sweet little ceramic charms.  Perfect of the up coming holiday season.

The Gnomes Have taken over!

So the gnomes have had enough of those noisy pesky fairies.  They kicked them out and moved in.  It's a much nicer neighborhood now.

I love how these little guys have turned out. I waited a very long time to put them in my shop because I wanted them for me!!  But if I kept everything that I loved  that came out of my kiln then I would have an empty shop tee hee.

I have more gnomes in the kiln as I am writing this so hopefully tomorrow after I take the kids to school I will have time to post them. Enjoy these cuties and head on over to my shop and check out some more!

Copper Diem

Amy  the super sweet blog host of the blog Copper Diem sent me a message yesterday that she wanted to profile my bead sets on her blog.  I am so super excited about how it turned out. Please go check it out there is a coupon for 15% off my shop, plus a giveaway of two of my sweet little amber bird beads!

While you are there check out her store Green Bead.  Her jewelry is colorful, unique and  beautiful! Her blog is exciting and fresh.  She has something different everyday with beautiful pictures, fun stories and lots of other interesting reads!

Bracelets and Bangles

I posted some Bangles and Bracelets that I made sometime ago.  I have local customers that have been asking me to put them in my shop... so after some procrastinating a bit I did it yesterday.  It makes me want to make more! So take a look :)

Posting Some Jewelry ... Finally!

I have lots of Jewelry that I have made out of my beads.  I have it stashed in little bags inside boxes and bins.  I have had people ask me to post my jewelry in my shop but for some reason I always get hung up on some detail. For example I have a ton of rings and bracelets but I worry about sizes and how to take pictures of them that would be appealing.. oh and about a thosand other details.

  This is exactly what happened to me when I opened my Etsy shop.  I got hung up on a thosand little details and it kept me from posting my beads forever.  I got over the fear and now posting my beads is a breeze.  So I am throwing caution to the wind and just doing it.  I am sure there will be a learning curve on how to present my jewelry but how will I learn if I don't just do it?

Here are some pictures of my new earrings I am posting and hopefully over the next few days I will be adding rings and bracelets too!

Tiny Turtles and Tiny Houses

So this is the fun stuff I have been making!  I love my turtles so much I can't wait to make more!  I my little houses are fun too and I did make some tiny little gnomes to go along with them but they didn't make this last glaze firing.

I have lot's of new beads that I am working on too. 

It has been a crazy summer so far. I am hoping to use these last few weeks will be more productive for me.