How to take lovely pictures…?

For the past week I have been busily working on bracelets, vases, necklaces and trying to keeping sane as I approach my goal; to have items listed on Etsy by this coming Saturday. So far I have nine completed bracelets and four that are close to completion, five vintage bottle hanging vases , and a couple of necklaces, but those are already sold… Yes, I had my first official sale over the weekend!!!! I was so over come with joy that I squealed like a little girl and did a little happy dance. Lucky for the hubby, he had just come into the room so he was able to share my joy and laugh at me all at the same time.

Now that I have these items completed it is time to write descriptions and start taking photos to share with all of you. While I have ideas for how to write the descriptions I am a bit concerned that I will not be able to express in words what someone would see and feel if they purchased my treasures in person. With that said, I understand that a picture is worth a thousand words so I figured I would just take several great photos and they would fill in any details I may have missed . Simple enough, right? Yea, not so much…

This weekend I staged all of the items I had completed and began clicking away with my trusty camera. Sadly out of the many photos I shot I only got a few that I would considered usable, and they were only of the bracelets. I did not get any of the vases that I considered useable.

Here are the bracelets. I really love the way they look on this starfish.

*Blue jasper with silver flower on hand knotted silk cord*

*Moonstone and turquoise accent bead on hand knotted silk cord*

*Red coral with turquoise accent bead on hand knotted silk cord*

*Red jasper with white skull and red glass flower on hand knotted silk cord*

*Turquoise with red coral accent bead on hand knotted silk cord*

*Turquoise with red skull and white glass flower accent bead on hand knotted silk cord*

*Yellow green jasper with silver flower accent bead on hand knotted silk cord*

So here are the hanging vintage bottle vases. I am not at all happy with these photographs. They don't seem to show the detail that you would see if you were actually looking at them..

*Vintage insulator hanging vase/lantern with red glass beads*

*Vintage bottle hanging lantern with red glass beads and crystal accent bead at bottom*

*Vintage green bottle hanging lantern with lavender glass bead*

I had this "great" idea to take them to the park and photograph them hanging from a tree. I love the way they look when hung together, it gives them a very whimsy feel. What I found was that they got "lost" in all of the greenery. Very sad :)

I have to admit that i naively thought taking the photos was going to be the easy part. Boy was I mistaken. I have a whole new respect for art of photography and the level of skill needed to take a lovely picture.

M.

Beading at the beach...

Hubby and I had a great time with the pups at the coast this past weekend. Check out this view as we walked down to the beach Friday night. You cannot tell from this picture but it was VERY windy down on the beach. It didn't take long to realize that the poor pups were getting sandblasted, so we cut our walk short and went back up to the room to watch the sunset.

*The veiw from The Ester Lee*

The weather Saturday was beautiful and hot, something that has been very rare this summer. My boss suggested we stop by Tiki's on 51st, in Lincoln City, OR for their Mojito's. So glad we did, they were FANTASTIC!!! If you find yourself in Lincoln City definitely stop in for one or three... :)

*Bob says, "it's hot i want a Mojito."*

We also found a great little bead shop in Depoe Bay, Roots, where I picked up some turquoise, coral and moonstone beads. I have to admit that it was difficult to restrain myself; they have such a great selection of beads.

*New beads from Roots, Depeo Bay, OR*

*The bracelets I made while relaxing on the Oregon Coast*

Surprisingly, I even managed to get a few bracelets made. These and a few other goodies should be posted on Etsy by the end of the month. So please stay tuned.

M.

A Pirates Life for Me…

So hubby’s birthday was last week and the theme for his party was PIRATES… Now before you go and get all, “OMG, how old is your husband? Why would you have a pirate party for him?” on me, let me tell you that it was great fun. With the help of my trusty friend Wabbit, we turned our back deck into a pirate ship/shanty town, complete with a scary skeleton pirate, cannon, treasure chest and piñata filled with booty and tiny rum bottles. Seriously who wouldn’t love a party like that? Here are some of the pictures taken by the lovely and talented Wabbit.

So in keeping with the pirate theme I am taking my dear sweet man and our two crazy pups to the beach for the weekend. Ok so maybe it is a bit of a stretch to say I am keeping the theme going but I have heard that pirates use to frequent the Oregon coast.

We will be staying at the Ester Lee in Lincoln City, OR. It is a great little place with amazing views of the ocean. I am very excited to not only have a long weekend away with my man but I plan to get up early for some beach combing. Maybe this will be the weekend I find my very own mermaids purse or even better, some buried treasure. Wish me luck!!!

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Side Tracked or Flora & Fauna...

Today I would like to share one of my most recent obsessions: terrariums…

I am soooo in love with this art form I cannot even stand it. I think it all started shortly after my Mom bought a beautiful and huge, antique apothecary jar when she was visiting me a few years ago. See, she had flown up here and like we always do when we get together, we shopped ‘til we dropped and she bought several things that she could not take on the plane because they were too large (this usually happens). In the past I either drive the goodies down to her or she and my dad would drive up and retrieve their booty. But as soon as I saw this apothecary jar I knew that bad boy would never leave my possession, but I played it cool and let her think she was getting it for herself.

*My Mommy’s Apothecary Jar*

This is George, my baboon

Upon returning from that particular shopping trip we unloaded the car, and I carefully carried that beautiful jar up to my living room,  placed it  on the table. So here how the next few moments went:

ME: Mom, this jar may break if you try to take it home on the plane. Maybe you should just leave it here for now and I’ll make sure it stays safe.

MOM: Oh I think I can get it home just fine.

ME: Maybe, but it would sure be a shame if it broke and you and Dad are going to be driving up here in a few months so you could just take it home then.

MOM: You are not going to keep this jar.

ME: *Smile*

Well, long story shortened, it’s been about two years since she bought that jar, my folks have driven up here several times, and I still have it prominently displayed in my living room..

Mom, if I haven’t already said it, Thank you for the beautiful jar!!!

So since then I have discovered air plants. Oh my how I love these little guys. They are so cute and easy to work with. Here are the terrariums I have created so far.

* Floating desert*

 my first creation.

*Medusa at the beach*

*Fairy Forest*

*Carries B-day Gift*

*Fiona the fox*

So last night was water the air plants night. For those of you unfamiliar with how this is done, from what I understand there are two ways to do this. Either you mist them or you soak them. I prefer the soaking method. I was told that they should be soaked for about an hour then placed on a towel to remove the excess water before they are placed back in their terrarium home. Well this is where the “SIDE TRACKED” part of this post come in. I gathered all of my plants placed them in the water bowls and about three hours later remembered they were still soaking. I believe they are all ok, but my question is, “can you drowned a plant that needs to be soaked?”

I have come to accept that my brain gets side tracked sometimes (ok a lot of the time) but there are a lot of advantages to the whole, ever changing, one thing leads to another, just go with it approach to life. Most importantly because of this I have had many adventures because I acted on a whim. On the downside, yea, about that, let’s just say that there are days that I should not be allowed to operate heavy machinery.

Well that’s it for today. Thanks for stopping by, now get out there and enjoy the flora & fauna of your world.

P.S. For you local folks, if you are interested in air plants or terrariums, here are my favorite local shops:

Artemisia Garden Nursery 110 SE 28^th Ave, Portland, OR - 503-232-8224

Pistils Nursery 3811 N Mississippi Ave. Portland, OR - 503-288-4889

Paxton Gate 4204 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR - 503-719-4508

Taking the Leap...

Welcome to my blog. My name is Michelle, I live in the Great North West with my amazingly supportive husband and our two crazy dogs.

* I am pleased to introduce, Ms. Marley and Bob, our furry children...

By day I am a purchasing agent for a natural food company and by night (and on the weekends) I am part creator of treasures, part crazy dog wrangler and all loving wife. The art of handmade and the rawness of creating something with minimal tools hold special places in my heart. I have always loved working with my hands and creating unique treasures for me and friends and it is because of the support and encouragement from those friends that I find myself here.

It almost goes without saying that my creative process is fluid and ever changing. I love learning new skills and find that when I am researching how to do a specific technique I will often get side tracked, allowing one thing to lead me to another. My tastes vary with my mood and I feel that is reflected in the items I create. One day I am hammering, twisting and experimenting with metal and the next day I am cutting bits of fabric to make flowers. I have worked with wire, creating hanging lanterns from recycled bottles and jars, turned old jeans into blankets and ottomans, fashioned sheets of felt into dahlia flowers and pressed raw felt into sugar skulls. As my tastes and talents have grown so too has my admiration for all things lovely and unique. It is my hope that by sharing what I have created will help make the surrounding world a little lovelier

I have been an avid fan of Etsy for awhile now and after reading so many encouraging stories in the “quit your day job” section I finally decided to get my butt in gear and proceed with my dream of living the life of a creator and artist. I cannot express enough how motivated I feel after I read the success stories written by the many talented souls who have taken the time to share them. It is with fingers crossed and heart wide open that I take this leap.

M.

Calm before the storm...or maybe it's a lovely day

Here we go... I have linked my card and made everything official (well kind-a). Before the months end prices will be attached, photos will be uploaded and (fingers crossed) goodies will be purchased.

Before I get to wrapped up in all of the details, I want to take a moment to thank a couple of people who helped me get off my duff and do what makes me happy.

To my love...you are always full of encouragement and I hope that one day soon I have as much faith in my abilitys as you do.

To Wabbit, thank you for listening to my crazy ideas, rants and raves and most important, thank you for not taking me too seriously when I play the dictator.

Yes, I do believe it is a lovely day!!!

M.