Friday, February 25, 2011

VOTE AND WIN!!!

WOW, what a whirlwind month! I can't believe its pretty much over! At the end of February every year Jake and I go on a trip to Florida to visit our favorite missions organization, MFI!!! We always have fun and this year we are looking forward to a nice trip to "The Sunshine State" cause of the way cold weather we have been having here in Redding, CA!






We will be gone until March 10th. My Etsy shop will remain open so that anyone can order if they choose but I won't be shipping things until the 11th!


Next, thing I wanted to tell you all about... I am featured on the Handmade Gift Guide (this is kinda a big deal). I would totally appreciate it if you all would vote for my Green With Envy Endless Scarf #170! The voting ends at midnight on 2/27 so go vote!!  Once you have voted for me leave me a comment letting me know that you have voted and I will enter you into a drawing for free Minggus and Moob products!! :)


To VOTE click on the picture below and it will take you to the site! Remember #170 is Minggus and Moob!

 Thanks!!
-Cayton

Thursday, February 3, 2011

A Cup of Coffee and an Inspiration!

So, this morning here in Redding was a wonderful almost 60 degrees with hardly a breeze so I decided that I would take some pictures of new items that I would like to sell at the shop. As I was setting up I thought you all might want to see what I do and how I got the idea to take them where I take them. Its not that crazy, however it may inspire you so I thought I would show all y'all!

When I first started taking pictures of Minggus and Moob products I would put my items on a book shelf under this window. This was the perfect place because the book shelf is kinda rustic (nice way of saying a touch beat up) which created a warm not to stark surface to place my items on. The window was directly above the items which would give me great non direct light to light my items without a shadow. I absolutely loved taking pictures with this set up!
Wonderful big window I used to use.
I would clear the top of this bookcase off.
As Minggus and Moob has grown so has the amount of space that I need for all my fun crafting! My wonderful husband has been such a support in trying to give me as much room as possible even if that means moving him and his stuff around. The most recent table and sewing machine set up is by far the best for creating but for taking pictures it is far from ideal. To get more space for my tools and such I had to move the book case across the room so that I could make room for a table to cut fabric on. Now I have been on a hunt for the next best spot and I think I found it this morning!
A section of the crafting space my husband made for me.
I was drinking my coffee and looked out onto my back porch and I realized that the morning sunlight hits the porch perfect for well lit pictures. So I draped a tan bed sheet over my outside furniture and the porch railing creating a wonderful and free picture backdrop! I chose a tan sheet because a lot of the time when you use white its to bright and stark and it is hard to get a good representation of the colors of your item.
My porch table with good light shining on it!

The porch table with the sheet on it. Creating the space!

See what a nice picture it takes!!
Of course after you do something you realize some things that you should have done differently. I should have ironed the sheet before I draped it over the railing. DAH! Talk about wrinkles! Because of the wrinkles I had to do way more editing then I would have liked to get rid of that photo fo pa... but live and learn. I'm super impatient and I just wanted to start taking the shots but next time I know that a bit more pre shoot prep would be beneficial.

Here are some pictures all finished and edited from this morning's efforts-








WRINKLES!!! :(














Everything that I took pictures of today will be up at the shop very soon! I also wanted to tell you that the best stuff for ironing out wrinkles (which I should have used this morning) is called Mary Ellens "Best Press". Its not just another starch your grandma used to use. This stuff works amazing and it comes in lots of great smells!! To get your hands on some click the picture.

Thanks for coming by today!

-Cayton