Thursday, April 30, 2009

Paris Chic Afternoon Tea Vignette...


Paris Chic style is truly one of my favorites... although these Harmony Pink Butterfly Art Stickers would be lovely for many different occasions or handcrafted pretties, I couldn't help but make a vignette about Oo La La Paris♥





I've posted before about how much I love digital collaging and altering butterflies and I must say, that little passion is not waning as I've made more and a couple of them will be featured on Art Cards I've made for my Etsy Shop.

I remember when my girls were little, we'd have tea parties with their miniature tea sets and we would invite their favorite stuffed animals of course! Both of their Nana's enjoyed many tea parties with the girls too. I didn't have the extra time back then to make little place cards, invitations and cup cake toppers to make it extra special. Hmmm... maybe it's time for a Big Girl tea party with all the trimmings♥

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Birthday Party Vignette...

Well, James and I did indeed 'build' the light box. We sort of modified it a bit in that I chose not to glue it together so I could change the length of the legs depending on what I'm shooting. I need lots of practice and I've discovered too that I need much brighter lighting, but Victoria and I had fun playing with different shots.

I did 3 different vignettes that I'll post over the next few days. The main purpose is to feature the Art Stickers I offer in my Etsy Shop... I love it when sellers add pictures in listings of their items in use, so I wanted to create my own suggested ideas for the use of my stickers.


Here's the Birthday Party Vignette using the Shades of Blue Butterflies Art Stickers. Victoria set it up and took the pictures, I think she did a great job. Funny how ♥pink♥ always plays a big part too, lol.



I just received treasures in the post, scrumptious colors of vintage seam binding and glorious other ribbons... sigh, I'm in my happy place! Off to finish some tags now ;o)

Hope you all are having a lovely day♥ xo

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I've been Featured!...


Oh my goodness, 2 posts in 1 day? Something must be going on here... Yuppers!!! I got a message through my Etsy shop that my Upper Lane Personalized Labels have been featured along with some beautiful labels made by other fellow Etsians, at FoundHandMade.com Yippee! Click here to see my feature.



Here's the Site I've been featured on... click the banner and it will take you there. It looks like a wonderful venue featuring many artists and shop owners that sell hand made or vintage. Have a good look around while you're visiting, they offer some other information categories to peruse too. Particularly interesting to me, was their page of Alexa Traffic Ranking stats on lots of different on-line places where hand made is sold - all on one page for easy reference. Very informative.

Happy Sigh... ok, back to work I go now ;o) ♥xo

Make a Light Box for Great Photos...

Well, I've been a busy girl lately doing digital art for my Labels and Art Stickers for my Etsy Shop. I've also been doing some Art Cards and Gift Tags to add as well, but since I've mostly done digital on the computer for quite awhile now, I'd forgotten how tricky it is to get the 'perfect' shot of an item close up. So, I've been playing around with light, different locations in my house to shoot, set up, etc. I finally decided that perhaps a Photo Box or Tent would be in order because I just am not happy with the results I'm getting.

I decided to do a search on line to price one out or learn how to make one myself. Now, I've seen lots of suggestions on making these before, but I haven't been inspired enough to try it as the directions are not very clear and I just can't find the 'stuff' to build one.

I found this link today and am absolutely thrilled, so I thought I would share it with you♥

Bill Huber has done an amazing job with detailed instructions and photographs on how to make an excellent, inexpensive light box. He's even given examples of photos taken in the finished box with different backdrops and lighting, etc. Click here to go to his instructions.

On that page, there's yet another link to Kevin Criscione who has also done this light box and offers even more suggestions and photo taking tips. Click here to go to his instructions. Once there, just click on the Welcome button to get the tutorial started.

I can totally see this as a plausible project and it sure beats spending big moola for a professional tent! So... I hope James doesn't mind giving me a hand this weekend, cuz I have a light box to build with a whole lot of pictures waiting to be taken! ;o)

Maybe you take amazing shots already, or have done this research yourself and built your own... but if you're like me, *pulling hair out - trying to find just the right lighting, just the right setting, etc., etc.* then perhaps this little bit of info may be useful for you.

Have a wonderful weekend lovely Sweets! ♥xo

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Yay, A Blog Party!...


Blog Parties are so much fun - it's great meeting new lovelies♥ from Bloggieland too!

I'm taking part in the Etsy Cottage Style Blog Blue Party. What's it all about? The yummy color Blue of course ;o) Participants are asked to simply post about anything related to the color blue. One of the suggestions was to share some of our latest creations. Since I haven't had time to prepare anything else for you (the real deal - my camera battery is dead and it's late and there's no way I'm going to capture some Sweet Blue images for you at this time of night anyway, lol ;0), I'm going to share some of my latest creations.

I've added a new line of Personalized Labels in my Etsy Shop and these are among my favorites.






This one is called Upper Lane. Lots of scrolly lovelies on this one.









LOVE this poshy one, that's why I called it Truly Posh.









This one has Blue in it and I call it Cottage Chic, so I thought it would qualify ;o)











How about some more Blue... Heather Blue Scroll






I guess it's pretty obvious that I like the color blue, it's such a lovely color with all of it's varying shades. Even my Blog Banner is full of blue!

You know what's funny? I always thought I loved the color Pink the very most. But, when I look at a lot of the digital collage work I've done, I have more Blue than any other color.

Ok, I think I've covered my fair share of Blue here, lol. My goodness - I think most of my entire Blog set-up is Blue! Sheeesh - It's true - Blue has replaced my Pink... sigh.

Thanks so much for visiting and I'll be popping in to your Bloggieland homes to see your lovely Blues too. xo♥

PS: While you're here, please help yourself to any of the images I've posted in past posts - they're labeled 'Free Image'. Perhaps you'll find a little something you'd like to have♥

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Sweet Bloggieland Awards...


A while ago, my sweet friend from "Mana Moon" gave me a Karma Award. Then just recently, another lovley from "Shhh...Confessions of an Artist: Lunatiger" gave me a Sisterhood Award. Isn't Bloggieland a wonderful place? I am so honored that these ladies chose to give me these awards and I thank you both very much.

The rules for these awards were very similar, so I decided to just post the ones that came with the Sisterhood Award.


The rules for this award:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate at least 5 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.


So I have chosen to pass on the ♥love♥ to:


LuLu from LuLu Kellogg (aka Coastal Sisters)
Catherine from La Perle Jewellery
Sharon from Mana Moon Studios
Angie from Art Angel Studio
Abbie from Down Abbie's Road


Go have a look at the blogs of the incredible ladies I've listed above♥

So Sweets, pass on whichever or both of these awards you want to. If doing so isn't your thing, then no worries - just wanted you to know I think you're wonderful!

The truth is, I've come to love Bloggieland and have read some fantastic blogs. I'm also grateful for all of you lovelies that follow me here, so here's some big "Karma" and "Sisterhood" Love from me to you too♥ xo

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter Sweet Friends...

Happy Easter! However you spend your day today, I hope it's wonderful for you. ♥

Can you believe my girls still love an Easter Egg Hunt? Yup, they certainly do. They told the Easter Bunny that now that they're older, he could take them off his list under one condition... that he would pass on a few Egg Hunt secrets to Mom so she could carry on hiding yummies for them.

So that's exactly what I do! It's quite fun - I make riddles and clues and they have to solve each one to find the next. Our favorite treats include; Reese's Peanut Butter Cup minis, Robbin Eggs, Cadbury Mini Eggs and yummy flavored Jelly Beans. Of course, the treasure at the end of the hunt always includes a solid Bunny. Yum.

Hmmmm... I think I hear the stirrings of waking family upstairs. I'm off to have some fun ;o)

Will you have some treats today? If you were here, I'd share mine with you♥ xo

Sunday, April 5, 2009

It went too fast...

Spring Break is almost over - the girls are back in school tomorrow... sigh. We had such a wonderful time together! James took the girls skiing, they had such fun. We have enjoyed Mini Golf, a movie at the theater, shopping, Wii, looking through old family pictures, and crafting among other things.

I was looking at my last post and laughed as I had hoped to accomplish some things around the house as well. Not one single thing on that list was even thought of, lol! Oh well, the basement and sorting, etc. will still be there to do. A week off with the girls was way more fun!

Back to routine tomorrow and a whirl wind of work to do to list new goodies for my Etsy Shop. I need to catch up with my Bloggieland list and visit all of you lovelies too! ;o) See you soon xo♥