behind the scenes: DIY Lowel Lights

  I've mentioned my new artificial lighting a couple times now with the promise to share a little more about it soon. So here I am, sharing a little more about it. To recap: my original inspiration to make these lights came from this post and I used this tutorial for my lights. Full disclosure: this is NOT a full tutorial for making or shooting with these lights. There are tons of tutorials available if you're interested in making your own. I hope to share more in-depth insight in the future about shooting with these lights, but I can really only offer some preliminary thoughts and example shots this point.

In these first few photos, you get a close up look at the lights themselves. I decided to make two lights because I've always worked with two lights in my lightbox, and I love the way that you can create soft shadows a lot more easily with two lights than one light.

I added some removable white cotton to diffuse the light. It's awesome to have lights that are so much more powerful than my lightbox lights (400W total as opposed to 120W total), but I don't want the lighting to be harsh. The cotton attaches with Velcro so it's really easy to put it on and take it off as needed.

I have a new set up for these lights, but it's also really easy to move them around the house and shoot in other locations, as I did here in my kitchen.

Here are just a few examples of shots with the new lights. As I said before, it's still way too early to talk too much about shooting with these lights, but I plan to revisit the topic in the future.

I have three new backdrops: large ceramic tiles, faux chalkboard, and faux wood. Ceramic tiles of all sizes, colors, and finishes are readily available at any home improvement store at very affordable prices. You can read more about the other two backdrops over here.

This is a sneak peek of the first finished sample for my second ebook. I'll be posting more about that in the coming months, too.

Have you bought or made any new photography equipment lately? What photography skills are you working on right now?

working ahead

Do you remember my sneak peek for the "getting ready" Scavenger Hunt photo set this past week?

I have been thinking about the cookie sheet advent calendars that you see all over Pinterest this past year. I wanted to write an article about this topic and couldn't find any Creative Commons pictures for it, so I went ahead and created my own board. Great excuse, right? It was a lot of work, but it was so much fun. I could not be more excited about the final result. Even better: Jake loves it, too.

For those who may think it's silly to be worrying about writing Christmas content this early, one of the Christmas articles that I wrote last year is already ranking in the top 10 search results for that particular topic on Google and is getting over 100 hits per day. Imagine what that is going to look like by mid-December.

You can get all of the details about cookie sheet advent calendars right over here:

Make Your Own Advent Calendar: Cookie Sheet Calendar Ideas

Is anyone else working on Christmas projects already?

continued adventures with Mod Podge: a DIY wedding gift

Some of you may remember that I attended a bridal shower and bachelorette party earlier this month.  I was originally planning to give the couple one of Edi's custom engraved frames at the shower and make something later this spring for the wedding.  But I got inspired to get something made for the shower and will save the frame for the wedding.

Here we are with the couple back at our wedding.  Maks was in our wedding party, and Amanda was a huge help at the reception.  We've been friends with them for a long time now and felt like we needed give them some special wedding presents.

A few insights about this project:

• I completed this before I made my coasters and had not yet learned how to keep the words from smearing.  The effect is pretty minimal and if you aren't a perfectionist like me, you won't even notice.
• It's important to layer your paper and buttons in stages so that you can make touch ups as needed before adding more.
• The buttons on the wreath added a lot.  I love having this dimensional effect.
• It is really hard to apply Mod Podge evenly over the buttons.  It definitely requires some patience.
• I have no idea why the canvas warped so much in the middle.  That is really my biggest frustration with this piece.  I glued the word mattes with scrapbook glue and applied thin layers of Mod Podge to adhere and seal them as you normally would.  Any insights on this would be appeciated.
• I have made several projects with Mod Podge this month.  I know so many people who rave about it endlessly.  I am still not entirely sure that I'm convinced.  Am I the only one?  Maybe I just need more practice.
• Aside from the basic wreath shape, I had no idea how I was going to put the words and buttons together for this until I had glued most of the wreath and am really happy how the final result came together.
• Amanda was really pleased with it so that made me feel even better about the result.

I have not put together any more button wall art pieces yet, but I bought a bulk set of these 12x12 canvases.  I would like to add a few more similar pieces to my show inventory.  I love to make jewelry and don't have any problem getting sales at shows because my work is unique.  However, there is still the reality that there are simply more jewelry vendors than spots at most shows.  The more I can do to set myself apart, the better.  The button theme will obviously still tie in very well with my current inventory.

What designs, quotes, color combinations, etc. would you like to see for these kind of pieces?

I am happy to create custom work like this one, but I'd like to have some general ones people can purchase and take with them, too.

one of the easiest craft fair ring displays imaginable and other great DIY ring display ideas

One of the new craft fair lines that I'm developing for 2012 is button rings.  If you've spent any time browsing jewelry on Etsy, you have probably seen some type of button ring.  They are fun, relatively easy and inexpensive to make, and completely fitting with my product lines.

As I'm developing my new craft fair lines this year, I'm considering product displays as I go.  As many of you know, creating the items is only a tiny part of the selling process.  I do not want to have lots of products and no way to display them when I start up with shows again.  Creating a hair pin display was one of my first projects.  Obtaining a ring display was one of my next projects.


This is just simply a great idea that I got through Pintrest.  I did absolutely no creating for this.  You can decorate it as you like, though I will most likely leave it as is and simply add a price sign to the bottom.

I'm sure that some of you already know what this is, but for those of you who don't sew, it's a bobbin rack.  You can hang them on the wall or stand them up on any flat surface.  They come in all different sizes.  This is the second smallest one that they had at Jo-Ann.  They're also available online.  It holds 30 bobbins (or rings).  The rings are small enough that you could easily stack multiples on each peg.  For my shows, this should be plenty sufficient.  All of the bobbin racks were 40% off when I went to Jo-Ann, which meant that this only $6.  You can't beat that.


This was the idea that originally inspired me.

Source: uncommondesignsonline.com via Rose on Pinterest

Of course there are a number of other great DIY/simply very inventive (like the one I used) ring display ideas on Pintrest, too.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Source: studio-eleven11.blogspot.com via Rose on Pinterest

How creative is this?  If you don't like the look of the natural egg containers, you could easily spray paint or decorate them.

Source: mrsvolnoff.blogspot.com via Rose on Pinterest

Source: theglitterguide.com via Rose on Pinterest

This is from Jenny of A Bird in the Hand Art!

Source: abirdinthehandart.blogspot.com via Rose on Pinterest

Source: younghouselove.com via Rose on Pinterest

I still have a few $10 ad spots that will run for all of 2012.  Get them while you can!  All of the information about my private ad sponsorship can be found right here.

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January BBA Challenge: New Techniques - DIY Hair Pin Craft Fair Display

As you know, one of my goals for 2012 is to expand my craft fair lines.  This means that I am also continuing to expand and improve my craft fair display.  I am looking for as many ways to make or purchase inexpensive display components as possible.  I decided to use my first new display for the January BBA Challenge: New Techniques.  The hair pins themselves are a new technique for me, as is the display.

I got the idea for this from another vendor at one of my fall shows who, among other things, sold fabric covered hair pins.  She had a larger display with a wood base as opposed to cardboard, but the concept is very similar with the fabric background and ribbon/rick rack display rows.

Supply List

-Several pieces of thick cardboard.  Mine are 7" x 14".  (I cut up a large mailing box from Christmas.)

-Approx 1/8 yard of fabric or enough to cover your cardboard in the color/pattern of your choice.  (I purchased 1 yard of black cotton fabric for $4.00 with the intent of using it for several different projects.)

-At least 3 1/2 feet of ribbon and/or rick rack of your choice.  (I purchased 2 new spools for about $1.00 each.)

-Packing tape. (Obviously I already had this.)

-Tacky glue.  (We had some on hand.  You can buy it at any craft store and most big box stores for $3-$5.)
-Fabric scissors for the fabric and ribbons.  (I already had them.)
 -Table top paper cutter. (optional)  You can use a ruler and regular scissors to cut out your price sign and matte for it, but if you have a paper cutter, please use it.

-One piece of card stock or scrapbook paper for the price sign matte, approx 6" x 2".  (I used a leftover scrap with something on the back that I wasn't going to use.)

As you can see, I spent about $6.00 on this project and will have lots of fabric, ribbon, and rick rack left over for other projects.  You could spend less if you didn't want leftovers, but I bet that many of you reading this already most of these materials and can use these things that are on hand.

Here are my cardboard pieces and fabric ready to go.  I used 4 pieces of cardboard.

I made a couple thin lines of glue around the edges of the first three pieces of cardboard.  I stuck them together and stuck the fourth piece on top.

Make sure that the pieces of cardboard are lined up and pressed tightly together.

I put the stack around one of my button storage boxes for a couple hours while the glue dried to ensure that none of the edges curled up.

Cut out a piece of fabric that has at least one extra inch on each side.  The other projects that I'll be using the extra fabric for do not require specific measurements so I did not make measurements before cutting and just eyeballed it.

Tape the fabric to the back of the cardboard.  Check the front periodically to make sure that the fabric is pulled tight.  I ended up adding one more piece of tape to the right side after I took this picture to secure that loose piece near the bottom.  The tape can touch the sides of the cardboard as long as it isn't visible from the front.

Here it is taped up.

I also eyeballed the ribbon measurements.  Make sure that you cut them long enough so you can tape them to the back.  That way your handy work will stay hidden.

I got out some of hair pins that I've made thus far to check how much space I should leave in between each ribbon/rick rack row.  I did the rows one at a time so I could double check that there was enough space in between each one.  I don't have a picture of the completed back, but I just used more of the packing tape to tape the ribbons in place.

I had enough space for five rows.  Depending on how wide your ribbon/rick rack is and how long your hair pins are, you may be able to squeeze six rows.  I know that those poor pins look a little lonely.  I'll have lots more done soon enough.

You don't have to add a price sign, but personally I would.  If you've done any craft shows, you know how often you get asked about pricing from customers.  The more places you can list the prices, the better.

I typed my price sign in Word.  I centered the text and didn't do any special formatting.  You can play with the font/size as you like.  I cut out both the price sign and the card stock matte for it with a table top paper cutter.  I did not take exact measurements but simply eyeballed it before cutting.  I attached the sign with packing tape.  I made little tape rolls that I stuck to the back.  If you decide to change your pricing at some point, it's easy to enough to remove this and tape in a new sign.

I added the remaining pins that I've made so you can get a better idea of how it will look filled up.

I don't know how many pins this would hold, but probably at least 50.  Most likely you could fit 60-70.

The ribbons and rick rack do sag a little bit in the middle with more weight.  If you don't like this, it's easy enough to add a couple drops of glue (I'd use Tacky glue or a fabric glue) in the middle of each row.

For displaying this at craft fairs, I will most likely put it on an easel (I buy my easels at Michael's for about $10) or lean it against some sort of large display item, like a basket, that is covered in fabric.

Obviously I designed this to hold hair pins, but I'm sure that this design would be useful for displaying other items, too.  Any thoughts on this?  Please leave a comment!

Also, if you make your own display, please leave me a comment with a link to your pictures.

The BBA is looking for new members.  If you enjoy blogging regularly and are looking for new challenges and ways to promote your business, consider joining up with us.  Check out the team requirements right here.

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Where I linked up today:

I used this post for Michelle's Delicately Constructed Friday 1/13/12 and Erika's It's a Wrap Link Party - 1/16/2011.

Saturday Link List: the Christmas edition

Welcome to the Christmas edition of my weekly link list!  These holiday editions of my link lists have been well received so I'm continuing to do them as it's appropriate.  All month I've been putting together a Christmas DIY 2011 board on Pintrest.  You can click on that link to see the full set of items.  It includes recipes, costumes, decorations, and more.  I'm sure that it's not a surprise that it was not hard to find awesome Christmas DIY projects!  This board is bursting with more than 50 pins.  I'll highlight a few of my favorites here.

I have to promote my Christmas hubs, which I did include there.  My holiday tutorial hubs have done well so I've continued to write them.  I had only planned to write two for Christmas, but I got inspired to write a button one as well.

10 Free Christmas Stocking Pattern Tutorials

10 Ways to Decorate Evergreen Wreaths: Decoration Ideas for the Holidays

10 Button Wreath Craft Holiday Decorations

As always, if you missed an article of mine when I originally posted it on my blog, click here!

Here are just a few other links that I love from my board.

There are several people who read this regularly who love to journal on a daily basis.  This is for you!

Source: designsponge.com via Rose on Pinterest

I adore little nativity sets and would love to purchase or make one at some point.  That didn't happen this year, but it may be a project for next year.  This paper one is so cute.  You can print a black and white one to decorate any way that you wish.

Source: marloesdevee.blogspot.com via Rose on Pinterest

Judy wrote a post with some awesome suggestions for easy wrapping.  I love purchasing and making Christmas presents but I don't love wrapping them.  I'm always looking for easy tips.  Thanks Judy!

Source: judy-nolan.com via Rose on Pinterest

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has trouble throwing away Christmas cards.  But what to do with them?  Michelle has some great suggestions.

Source: delicateconstruction.com via Rose on Pinterest

This idea is too awesome!  I keep coming back to this link.  I've seen some similar ideas with muffin tins that have magnets to hide the little cups that are holding the trinkets for the different days.  So much fun!  Again, I didn't make an advent calendar this year, but maybe I will next year.

Source: holiday-kids-crafts.com via Rose on Pinterest

Alicia has some great suggestions for wrapping presents using a paper bag and on hand supplies such as Sharpies.  I love wrapping supplies that I don't have to purchase.

Source: alisaburke.blogspot.com via Rose on Pinterest

Of course I had to include at least one recipe here!  Natalie created her very own gingerbread crepes with eggnog whipped cream.  I love all sorts of crepes and know that many people will enjoy this special holiday version.

Source: onceuponacuttingboard.com via Rose on Pinterest

Again, you can check out the board for the complete set.  Have fun with all of your crafty Christmas endeavors this year!

Did you use one of the resources, tutorials, or recipes from my link list?  Leave me a link in the comments or send me an e-mail (randomcreative28@gmail.com) with your photos and stories.  I would love to post them here!