Handmade Monday Flowers and more flowers

Perhaps it's something to do with the lovely sunny weather? Some of you might know I often demonstrate a bit of obsessiveness in my crafting life. At the moment, and for about eight months now, it's been chain maille that I've turned to in every spare moment, and for the last few weeks, since discovering the inspirational work of Scott David Plumlee, I've been making chain maille  flowers like there is no tomorrow. Some of them are quite dainty like these Celtic flowers:

Some are more robust like these Byzantine flowers:

And then there are real whoppers like these 11 bead flowers. When you put them together in a bracelet, they are a real statement! 

Some might prefer just one in a watch-style bracelet:

I'd love to know iwhich you like best?

Here's a link to find out what others have been crafting this week http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/handmade-monday-179.html

Hope you're enjoying this lovely summer,

Alison

Worldless Wednesday: Such a good holiday

Here I am digging a moat for this great castle!

Wordless Wednesday: The dog blogs again

Just look at the size of this!

Photography tips from a non-professional: Making your product photos stand out

This blog post on photography was so popular, I thought I'd dare to venture down that road again and show you my tips for post production, or making your product photos really pop after you've taken them.

I use Gimp but I'm sure the instructions are pretty much the same for other photo manipulation software.  Gimp is my choice because it's free and there are bits of it I can understand.  If only I had more time to work with it, I'm sure I could do some pretty cool things.  But I'm a confirmed amateur, and I'm deliberately avoiding any technical language here because I just don't understand it. 

Anyway, here goes!  Hope it's helpful.

Open your photo in Gimp - you perhaps want to make a copy to work on.  Here's some tigers eye and carnelian earrrings looking a little grey and flat.  What I'm showing you here is how to get a white background and make the image stand out but without distorting the colours or contrast of the product.

 Choose the 'colours' menu, and from that 'levels'

You get a graph - don't panic!  You are going to manipulate the graph, but it won't be like maths in school, honestly :-)

 Locate the little triangles underneath the graph at either end...

 ... and simply grab them and drag them to where the black shape on your graph starts.  I've started with the right hand one and pulled it over to meet the end of the black blob graph shape.  Note how this has already lighted the background from grey to off white. ('grab' and 'blob' are technical terms, honest!)

You can experiment with moving the triangles further, but you'll see once you are in the zone of the black shape of the graph, you'll start to distort the colour and contrast.  Keep the triangles right at the start of where the graphs start at either side, and you'll generally get the clearest image.

 You can save now, or alternatively, you can pick up the 'dropper' icon on the right....

 ...and pop it anywhere on your background.  With a bit of luck, it will give you a snow white background too!  Combine the two approaches and your product should really start to stand out.

 You've done it!  Any problems, you can always use 'reset'.  Don't forget to save before you quit. 

Phew!  My first tutorial with screen shots.  Let me know if it's useful, and if I've made any mistakes. 

Alison

Wordless Wednesday: Duck!

After half a mile, you're probably safe!

Wordless Wednesday: Roots

These fallen trees in a very old wood we visited are amazing.  The root systems are as tall as a man in diameter.  And the trees are still alive.  Nature is so resilient.

BESTeam feature October54Gallery on Etsy

 Winter Trees

Beautiful, isn't it?  This is an example of the stunning photos you can see at October54Gallery on Etsy, this week's BESTeam featured shop.  Anne from Whispering Pines, NC (I bet that's a lovely place!) is responsible for these works of art, and it's no surprise to learn that her work is on display at many local venues too.

I've chosen just three of my favourites from this shop, so as to have them shown to best advantage.  Regular blog readers will be able to see the themes of nature in the ones I've picked.  Click on any of the photos or captions to go directly to the shop and see more.

 Live Oak

Anne says that art has always been a part of her life, and living all over the USA as well as time in Costa Rica, has also influenced her artist's eye.  Anne also makes block prints and writes. 


Anne's work has a strong positivity for me, so it was a pleasure to find this quote from Walt Whitman in one of her listings:

Happiness not in another place, but this place...

not for another hour, but this hour.

 The Beach, South Carolina

I love this quote too from Anne's blog:

"The afterthought is good, but forethought is better."

(Norwegian saying)

You can visit Anne's blog here:
http://october54gallery.blogspot.com/

A dangerous start to the year!

Walked the coastal path today - or perhaps the correct term is 'slithered' the coastal path, due to the prevalence of very slippery mud. 

We liked these warning signs - so reassuring, not!

OH points out that viewed upside down the message is 'beware of strange men scrabbling up the cliff side'!

Fabulous views can be had from risking your life on the coastal path.  It was quite a busy New Years Day on Broadhaven beach.

The sea was quite a nice shade of turquoise - odd because the sky was very grey and it was sort of raining at the time.

The dog has a tendency to go flat out after a couple of seaside walks!

Happy New Year, blog followers :-)

Folksy Friday: Shops you should visit Part Two

Here are some more undiscovered shops nominated by lovely Folksy sellers.  There are links back to some great nominating shops as well.  Enjoy!





1. Laura Groom Jewellery nominated by starsNscars
2. Bear Graphics nominated by amyorangejuice





3. Cinnamon Hill nominated by jkj
4. Stitches by Emmy Lou nominated by Lauras Little Lovelies

Let's face it treasury

These are a few favourites from my new treasury east collection called Let's face it.  I think these pieces are really beautiful, don't you?

Click on the picture to visit the shops represented.

You can see the full treasury here