Learning to Take Better Pictures!

Yowie, zowie!

I'm finally learning to take better pictures of my necklaces!

Still have a lot to learn and more practice to get even better pictures, but there's a definite improvement.

I got a request from someone to make a necklace with a brown color scheme, so here is the necklace, with matching earrings;

I really think it's beautiful.

I'm having a great time learning all I can about being more creative with my designs. Soon my pictures will be good enough so I can finally start up my Etsy shop again.

By the way, I want to give a shout out to Lorelei Eurto. I recently discovered her site and wrote to her asking for help with taking pictures and she answered back immediately and was so generous with information that was a great help. Go check out her site. She has gorgeous jewelry and her videos are a crack up!

Thanks to all who have given me such encouragement!

'Til later,

Carol B.

Guilt By Any Other Name

So here it is.

My version of a Bag of M&Ms.

None of them little wussy bags for me.

Of course, I'm going to kill my husband for giving it to me.

You see, about a week ago I bought one of those semi big bags, I think they're a pound. I was going through one of my fazes of getting a bag. Then I lay off them.

Anyway, I had opened it and I had it in my dresser drawer and on Sunday evening my husband and I were watching a movie and I felt like having some so I went to my drawer and I sneaked a few, even though I was eating them in front of him.

He didn't say anything so I felt a little bad, but mostly I was thinking maybe he didn't want any since he hardly eats chocolate, so I thought it would be safe to just take out the whole bag and eat more instead of sneaking them little by little.

As soon as I took out the bag he leaned over and said, "ooooh! Gimmeee!"

I said, "NO!" but then I felt bad and sighed.

"Alright," I said, making a face so he would feel bad, but he didn't.

And then we ended up eating the whole bag.

Now, mind you, after I got them at the market I put them away and I really didn't feel like eating them, which is what often happens once I actually get what it is I am not supposed to be eating. So they had been sitting in my drawer and I really didn't want them anymore, but then I felt guilty that I had bought them so I ate them anyway.

Now, of course, once Monday morning hit, just because I no longer had any, suddenly I was craving them like crazy and was mad because my husband helped me finish them.

Yes, I blame him.

So I was craving them all day Monday and then I was craving them all day yesterday and it was driving me crazy.

When my husband came home we had to go to Walmart for something so I said he had to replace my bag of M&Ms. He was getting this big bag and I said, "No, don't do that. I don't want to eat that much." And he said that he planned to eat some, too, and I said, "Well, you better, because if you don't, I'm really going to be mad if I eat that whole big bag by myself."

So I thought when we got home after dinner he would open the bag and eat some but he didn't and so now this big bag is just sitting in front of me, tempting me, making me feel guilty that we even bought them.

*Note the consistent theme running here: Guilt. And yes, that seems to be a consistent theme in my life, no matter what the subject.

In the photo I posted, it is sitting on top of my kitchen table, but that's not where it's really at. I just put it there for a nice picture. It's really in my room, where anyone that knows me could tell you.

And here's the last guilt story.

When my kids were little I used to buy me the one pound bag of M&Ms and I would hide them in my dresser drawer because if I had them out, of course the kids would want to eat them, so I would hide them.

Then when I wanted some I would sneak away, lock my bedroom door, quietly open my dresser drawer, and then, as quietly as possible, try to open the bag of M&Ms without rustling the bag too loudly. Of course, it still makes noise and so then I would suddenly hear a knocking at my door.

"Mom, are you in there?"

"No."

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Are you eating M&Ms?"

"No."

"Yes you are. I can hear you."

"No."

"Can I have some?"

"No."

At the time, I didn't feel like I was being a rotten mom, but when you say the story out loud it does sound pretty rotten.

But you know what?

Do I feel guilty that I didn't share my M&Ms with my poor little kids?

No.

Hey, you gotta give up the guilt sometime.

'Til later,

Carol B.

Happy Anniversary to Me and My Sweetie!

This is a picture of the man I have been married to for eight years.

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary.

Very simply, what I would like to say about this man is how special he is to me and how lucky I am to have found him, especially so late in life.

He is very quiet and unassuming, at least, on the outside.

And then, sometimes he can be wacky and crazy.

He makes me laugh.

He makes me think.

He quiets me down when I am wired and uptight.

He is there for me.

He makes me believe that there is a man out there that really loves me.

He supports me in my decisions, whether they be good or questionable.

He accepts me just the way I am.

Even when I am not made up, he makes me feel beautiful.

Even if I am on the heavier side, he makes me feel sexy and desirable.

He doesn't stand in my way, but supports me no matter what.

With him, I have been able to explore who I really am, without feeling I need to hold back because of fear of not being accepted.

He has allowed me to ride this journey of finding out who I really am, and he is still there for me.

I really love this man.

We were, cliche or not, really made for each other.

Thank you, my sweetie, for being there for me.

Thank you for bringing hope back into my life.

Te quiero mucho.

I will love you for always.

Por Vida,

Carol

Ice, Ice, Baby!

Here is a picture of my latest necklace:

I am having a fun time making jewelry, but I am having an awful time trying to get a decent photo of my work. As you would have noticed, most of the photos I have been showing you look like this:
It's a bummer because in person they look real purdy, I promise!

The photos I have been showing you I have taken with my little Kodak camera, not an expensive one. However, my husband is an amateur photographer and he's really good so I asked him to take some photos with his good camera and even though he takes outrageous close up photos of flowers, his photos of my jewelry honestly didn't turn out any better than the ones I took with my cheap camera (I can say this because he never reads my blog).

He recently upgraded to this even more expensive camera which I cannot tell you what it is because I am not into fancy cameras, though my out-of-state cousin can tell you because she also has a fancy-dancy camera.

But since he has now upgraded he said I could use his Canon Rebel anytime I want to but like I said, even with his fancier camera he couldn't do any better for whatever reason, so if anyone out there knows what I can do to take better photos of my jewelry, I would appreciate any advice you can give me.

For now, though, I am having a great time making jewelry, although I do also want to get back to my painting.

I want to be able to do both, as well as write (I like to write fiction) and exercise and cook healthy meals and do a better job of decorating my house and become a more spiritually grounded person and bring about world peace and marry Antonio Banderas..

Oh, sorry.

Got carried away.

How about someone just tell my how to take better photos of my jewelry?

Hoping you are making all your dreams come true.

'Til later,

Carol B.

Art Necklace

Here is the latest necklace I've made:

I bought the pendant at a small gallery. I wish I could give credit to the artist who made it but there was no name. Whoever made it, I loved it and had to have it.

When I bought the pendant it was on a key ring. Many years ago, I used to love buying key ring pendants (if that's what you call them). I would hang them all on my key ring. As you can imagine, after a while my key ring became too heavy to continue carrying all those pendants so I took them off and put them away.

That was sad because I love the art you can get from key pendants and I hated to stop buying them as well as keeping what I did have stuffed in a drawer.

Now that I am making jewelry, I got the idea that I can get all those pendants and make jewelry out of them, whether it be necklaces or bracelets.

Although the pendant is beautiful, I have to say that I love the necklace that I designed myself to go with it.

And look what it just happens to say on the back:

One of my favorite words.

A beautiful word indeed to live by.

'Til later,

"Createfully" yours,

Carol B.

Following Her Dream

Here is my hurry-up-and-be-my-daughter-in-law, the lovely Janine.

As well as working, she has been in her local community college, making her way through the academic world.

She has tried out a few ideas to see what she wanted to major in, and then she did what it takes so many of us way too long to do; she followed her heart.

Janine has such a love of animals, and she did the perfect thing; she saw what it was that she really had a passion for, and she has decided to become a veterinarian.

I am so happy for her. How many of us wish we had discovered what she discovered at such a young age. I know she has made a choice that will allow her to keep her spirit at peace, through times that are challenging, as well as those that flow with ease.

I wish you all the best, Janine, and you know you have family everywhere that is rallying around to support you.

God Bless you in following your dream.

Love Always,

Carol B.

Blue Necklace

I wish I could take better pictures of the necklaces I've been making.

One day I will, but not right now.

Meanwhile, here is another necklace and no, I'm not going to make up a story to go with it. I would actually like to but today I subbed for a kinder class, so again, I'm running on empty. That's why I didn't post yesterday but I wanted to make sure to get here today.

I'm thinking about this and it's a bummer because I realize how much I really like writing something I feel is thoughtful and significant.

Oh well.

For today I'm showing you this necklace and always keep in mind that they look much more beautiful in person.

I really want to start up my Etsy shop again and put these in, in which case I will make sure to put up better pictures.

I think I'm rambling so I'll stop right here.

Hope my thoughts are working better next week.

'Til later,

Carol B.