Better Tools, Better Photos

New photo "stage"

On Friday my new portable photography stage arrived in the mail.  It is wonderful!  The company is Modahaus, in the UK.  I love this product because it collapses down to nothing and can be easily stored.  My original set-up was made out of cardboard, it was taking up valuable space in my studio, collecting dust, with the paper was getting wrinkled and funky.  The “Steady Stand” allows me to take photos pointing straight down, without a tripod.   The plastic allows light to flow through evenly.  It makes photographing my work much more simple.   Also, I can use a number of colored backdrops that look professional and clean.  I’m so excited!  Anything to make the photography easier is a good thing.  

"Steady Stand" The hole at the top is for the lens to point down at the subject.

With a blue background

Gift Wrap

Gift Wrap Example

 

If you’d like to order a gift from my Etsy Store, and want it gift wrapped, I can do that!  Just message me before making your purchase to let me know.  Be sure to include a short note for the gift card.  Your jewelry will be placed in a Kraft box, wrapped in white tissue, and tied with raffia.  The gift card will be attached as shown.  If you want the gift mailed to the recipient, make sure you give me the address. 

Valentine’s Day is coming up….hint, hint!  ;-)

Facebook Fan Page

My Facebook Fan Page

To help support and promote my new Etsy store I have created a Facebook fan page for my jewelry designs.  Following me is a great way to stay up to date on what I’m creating and selling, as well as special discounts for my subscribers.  When you go to the page you can click “like” or “subscribe” to follow my work.

Here is a link to the page:

https://www.facebook.com/PamelaHeydaJewelry

Open for Business!

My Etsy Shop!

After 5 months of hard work and planning in my free time, my Etsy shop opened today.  I feel very satisfied seeing it come together, and proud that I stuck with it even when things got difficult.  As I’ve said from the beginning, this is all a big experiment.  This way, if it doesn’t work out to my liking, I can chalk up the experience to a great learning adventure.  I still have a lot more work to do; this is just the beginning of my business, and my life.  I hope you can stop by the store to check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PamelaHeyda

Bookmarks

Five Bookmark Design

It has been recommended that I include a little something extra with my Etsy order, as a thank you for the purchase.  After some thought, I decided to make bookmarks.  These were fun to make!  I used scanned drawings of five bracelet designs.  The images were printed on cardstock, hole punched, and accented with a black string and snap tassel.  They are so cute!  I hope to give away many of them.

Etsy Banner

Etsy Banner

Creating a banner for the front of my Etsy store was a must.  Luckily I was able to use the banner I made years ago for my art website, www.pamelaheyda.com, with a little tweaking.  I’ve used it for eight years and still like it.  It contains my name and tree symbol.  I’ve been drawing that tree for more than 20 years, so it was a natural choice for an icon.  It symbolizes my potential and energy, love of trees, and passion for nature.  The store should be open in about two weeks.  Stay tuned!

Postcards!

Postcard Front

Postcard Back

After designing my business cards I started on postcards.  I created them to put in the envelope with purchases.  The printers called me the day after sending them the images.  For some reason the text had pixelated.   I blew up the images to 300% and sure enough, there were little gray dots all around the letters, when printed they would show up as a shadow.  I’m so glad they caught that and called me to fix it!  After some experimentation I found that my Photoshop files were clean.  The pixelation happened when the file was converted to a jpeg.  Easy fix!  I just sent them the Photoshop files instead.  For the future though, I need to figure out what happened.  Any suggestions?