Putting jewelry on my website

I have been putting jewelry on my website www.designsbycaroline.com. I didn't like some of the photographs that I had taken so down into the basement to my mini studio I went. I took about 10 photo's of one necklace and then checked them on the computer to see exactly what set up would work the best.

Once I got that done I was off and running.... Sort of... Smile.

Honey my cat decided that she wanted to spend some time with me so she sat on my shoulders while I carefully walked to the table and got a necklace and put it on the bust and took the photograph. I only heard a few complaints from her if I leaned too far forward. It is a good thing that she is small and light!

I hope to put at least 1 new item each day on the website so check back frequently. Necklaces are my main focus but then rings, bracelets, brooches & fobs are all coming up...

Mt Clemens Art Fair

Well the Art Fair is done and I had a wonderful time. It was a ton of work but I enjoyed visiting with people and watching people walk by. This is the first time I have used my tent so this is what it looked like - Jeanne helped me all three days and we had a great time joking back and forth. This is one of her in the booth laughing at me. I am so glad I was behind the camera! We had a lady selling hand woven fabric on our left and on our right there was a wonderful couple that sell granite lazy susan's.  I will be back next year (Lord willing) if they let me back in.

Mt Clemens Art Fair

This year I have been accepted into the Mt Clemens Michigan Art Fair. I am currently running around like crazy trying to get ready. It is this weekend and as usual I am only half ready.

This is the first year that I am doing an outside event so I have been trying to make sure I have everything I need.

We will see just what I forget LOL!  I will make sure to add those things to my check list for the next time.

Working on websites

Working on my website is fun but time consuming. Each photo I take and place on the website is like placing a cherished item up for others to see, enjoy and maybe to buy. The photographs never does justice to the piece but I do my best when I take the photo's.  I bring them into PhotoShop and "clean them up" and save them in a size that works best within the parameters of the website. I want large photo's so people can really see what I have crafted but I can't do that. So..... I go as big as possible. :o)

If I have time over the weekend I will put more up on www.designsbycaroline.com but with the grandkids I may be luckey just to turn the computer on! Zackary is 6 months and so very close to crawling and Billy at 11 is such a big help that I have a grand time playing with them.

One of these days....

I have a grandson and I can't keep up!

Zack is such a joy but when it comes to doing anything I am a lost cause.

Here is a photograph of the finished pendant that I promised o so long ago...

 

Class in Jackson

I gave myself a birthday present this year of a class from Jim McIntosh. He wrote a book I purchased last year and have enjoyed. So that was my gift to myself. The class was held at Bead Culture in Jackson Michigan.

I got up and got a cup of coffee and took off out of the house and picked my friend Betty up before 7a.m. The drive from my house to the bead store was supposed to take an hour and a half. My class started at 10a.m. Betty wanted an early start and I agreed - you never can tell with the condition of the roads. I stopped and got a bagel and then I programed my GPS for the address and off we went. I put the car on cruise and we talked for the time it took to get there. We arrived way too early and found a place to sit but then I had to go to the bathroom. I saw a hardware store and off I went to see if there was a coffee shop open at 8:30a.m. on Saturday. There was but the directions this one guy was giving me were confusing so another who was standing there told me that he would show me where it was. I grabbed my stuff and Betty as I passed her and we trailed off behind him. As we were crossing the street "John" got teased by a pedestrian and by someone in a car that had to stop for us. The guy in the car honked and yelled at John to hurry up he was taking too long. Now John was easily 6 ft+ and had long legs that made me run to keep up with him. We got to where we could see the coffee shop and we were on our own. So Betty and I continued on to the coffee shop.

This shop was one of the "artisan" kind so they were cooking the coffee right out front and then once it was cooked it was ground right there too. It smelled wonderful (too bad I already had my one cup of the day) The lady behind the counter asked me what I wanted and Betty asked me what I wanted to do first - both of them at the same time. I told both of them that I was going to pant for a bit, go to the bathroom & then get a cup of coffee. They laughed at me. Hrumph! I thought it was a great plan! So we sat down with all my jewelry "stuff", I caught my breath, went to the bathroom and got a cup of iced chai.

We then went back to the bead shop and I went in to my class. I sat down and pulled out all my stuff and got ready for the first project. I had a great time. My wire didn't co-operate but I managed to wrestle it into submission enough to make my spiral ring. I was very glad to see I wasn't the only one that had problems. Then we got to make another ring with a larger gauge wire that was easier to work with. I like this ring and I think I will be making a few. After lunch we got back together for instructions making a pendant. I got the basics of the pendant done and then had to leave. I will post photo's of all this wire fun as soon as I take photo's!

It was a great birthday present!

Has it been that long?

Isn't it interesting how time just flys along. I bought a book on crafting jewelry out of wire and I have been working my way through the book.

I learned how to wrap a coil of wire and make it into a bead.

Then I learned how to make a different kind of coil and make a cage for a bead.

Once I put these together Voila!