Happy Friday: Cute puppy pics and some stamping

This week I needed to sort through my dog pictures to pick one for a competition in one of my Labrador groups on Facebook. This is quite a task when you have thousands of photos of your dog - I'm sure I'm not the only one! - and you're asked to pick the cutest one, so took quite a while. In the end, I narrowed it down to these three.

On the mat - this was Lucca's first day at home.

Waiting to go in. This one really melts my heart!

I love the expression in his eyes here! 

Now it will be interesting to see if you think I picked the right one. Which do you think would get the most likes on Facebook?

On another part of planet Alison, as well as sorting some sales from my shops, I've been enjoying some stamping with a new font. 

I'm now working on a range of dog-related sayings for bag charms and key rings which is keeping me busy. Perhaps next week I'll be ready to show them.

What have you been making, or enjoying, this week?

Alison x

Handmade Monday Long Necklaces

Apologies for the gap in blogging. I've been busy, both with crafting and with other less fun stuff including poorly relatives. I always find crafting relaxing, though, so even if I'm a bit stressed, the Blue Forest Jewellery production line is never quiet - in fact, it often gets more efficient!  There is so much jewellery in our house now, I have to look through my photos before I make something just to check I haven't done the same thing before!

One thing I really love is a long, tassel necklace.  So I've made a lot, but it always seems wasteful to be using so much chain. I've tried to solve that now by using a large textured ring on a long chain and adding the bar of a toggle clasp to the dangle so as to make that bit interchangeable.  I made a long version of the chain, and then an even longer one so I've got a choice to suit whatever neckline I'm wearing.

It took a while to convert all the ones I'd already made...

And some of them are not quite tassels either...

And a slightly different toggle clasp used on some of them...

Anything that saves room in my clutter is a good thing, IMHO. This one is my favourite...

And it's nearly Christmas.  How are your preparations going?  I haven't done as much as I should, probably because I've been messing around with necklaces!!

Here's a link to see what other crafty folk have been making this week. http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk

Happy Christmas in case I don't get chance to blog again before.

Alison 

Handmade Monday: More poppies and Autumn colour

As it gets closer to remembrance day, I keep getting new ideas for poppy jewellery.  This week it's chain maille again.  The little poppies that make up the links take a while to do, so getting seven together for the length of the bracelet and earrings was quite a challenge.  In a way, it's a good job it was quiet in the shop this week, despite me listing a few new bag charms.

Apart from that, we've had this stunning Autumn weather, with the colours so fabulous and the sun shining on them like the middle of the summer. The park looked amazing the other day.

 Christmas themes are starting to creep in to my makes:

Isn't he cool?  I added the little daisies because the contrast between his size and theirs just seemed right!

and the stars always remind me of singing children's carols at school.

I've been working on my website too.  All will be revealed soon...

Here's the link to see what others have been making this week.

Have a great week,
Alison x

Wordless Wednesday: What on Earth is that?!

The dog's blog: All four paws in the air

This may be my last jump now that I have been diagnosed with arthritis.  I'm trying to get used to a quieter life!

Wordless Wednesday: The dog's blog: What I did mostly on holiday

Folksy Friday: Walking

A crisp Autumn day is the perfect time for a walk, in my humble opinion.  Now the leaves are swirling down, and I have some time between jobs, the dog and I are making the most of it and having lots of long rambles.

Found these beautiful images on Folksy.  Click on any of the pictures to be taken directly to the shops

1. Sunday papers by iolaire

2. Girl and scarf lino print by holly prints 

3. Together fine art print by Bridget Wilkinson 

1. Walking the Dales Way by John Robinson Photography

2. Walking the Dog by Paul Watson Photography 

3. Small World #4 by Beanphoto

See more beautiful images on this Pinterest board

The dog's blog: In training

This is me at the end of the Pennine Way in Scotland.

Just a quick blog from me - I've been in serious training since I got back from holiday for my assessment tomorrow and not had time to blog much.  I've never had an assessment before and tomorrow someone will decide if I'm suitable to be a Pets as Therapy dog - there's a link there if you've not heard of the charity which arranges for dogs (and cats) to visit hospitals, hospices and care homes.  Mum thinks I might be suitable, and that having a 'job' would be good stimulation for me.  I don't mind at all, especially if it involves more fussing and petting and lots more people giving me treats. 

So wish me luck.  I've been practising the tasks really hard and the only one I'm really struggling with is not mouthing my brush.  It would just be so much fun to get that brush in my mouth and run like the blazes away from mummy and have a really good chew of it...

Love Lucca  x

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: The joy of weeds and wild flowers

I know the gardeners won't be pleased with me celebrating weeds and wild flowers, 

but the colours here are beautiful!

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/

BESTeam weekly feature: RaeoLight on Etsy

Raeolight from Joplin, MO, is a shop dedicated to fine photography, converted into prints, cards and magnets, calendars and jigsaws and other great gift ideas.  There are some great photos, all taken by Rachel, who despite having no formal training, uses the power of photography to really offer some really stunning images.

I'm going for a spring, summer, autumn and winter collection to show how all the seasons of the year are captured by this talented young photographer.  Click on any of the pictures to go directly to the shop.

Spring and Summer





Fall and Winter







There are some seasonal items too, and a special section of gifts under $20 - perfect for this time of year.

You can catch up with Rachel and see more of her work here:
www.facebook.com/raeoflightphotos
or
www.raeoflightphotos.blogspot.com

Size matters revisited

Rose quartz earrrings

Do you remember this blog post?
 
It caused a lot of interest, and there were a lot of great comments, 26, made at the time. The issue of size in photographing jewellery is a big one for sellers I know, and I've seen it discussed in lots of the handmade forums. A friend of mine in the Lonely Jewelers Etsy team recently did a great blog post on a similar subject, how to make sure you bought the beads and findings that you wanted in the right size. 

Tree of life earrings

Green glass bead necklace

A lot of people commented on using the golf ball as a comparison, but not many thought it enhanced the jewellery!
 

The suggestion I liked most, and the one I'm trying out with all my new listings now, was from The Crafty Bride. The idea of using 1 cm squared paper, which is not intrusive, and enables you to take another shot that shows the intricacies of the piece in question, I thought was really inspired. 

Turquoise and white agate earrings

Here are some examples from recent listings. What do you think? It would be great to hear your views. And The Crafty Bride should win a prize for having such a great idea, and sharing it. What prize do you think I could award?