First Tutorial!!!

I am just so excited. Today I have finished my first tutorial- Make a Trendy Purse/Bag From a Crochet or Knit Pouch!! This has been a work in progress for a while now and I am proud of how it turned out! I am going to start creating more tutorials and PDF patterns in the near-ish future.

In celebration of the completion of this tutorial and because it is my first one...GIVEAWAY... I will be giving them out for free to anyone who would like one. The only thing I ask is that you leave a comment about the tutorial letting me know how as the consumer it helped you and what you think of it!

The tutorial will be available for a month here on the blog for free and if I get the approval from all of you, my lovely followers, then I will put it up for sale starting in May! If you would like a tutorial post your email address in the comments section and I will email it to you right away!To show my appreciation I also have a coupon code that I will give those of you who leave feedback!

Make a trendy bag/purse out of a crocheted or knit pouch!

Thanks again so much for your support and critique!
-Cayton

Ruffles! What more needs to be said!?!

Sometimes as I read other lovely blogs I am astonished by what I find! One blog that is particularly inspiring to me is called Ruffles and Stuff. The author of this fabulous blog is Disney. She puts together some of the best tutorials and she always inspires me to create cuter and more creative things!

Click HERE to see this cute ruffle skirt tutorial!

Click HERE for this awesome ruffle scarf tutorial

Something else amazing she posted on her last tutorial was that there is a website devote to amazing ruffle fabric!! I was so excited I squealed a little! Check it out HERE!

Thanks for reading this blog about Ruffles and "Good Stuff"

-Cayton

Photo Editing Just Got Much Easier!

Taking pictures, uploading pictures, editing pictures, organizing pictures- as an Etsy shop owner these are things that make up my everyday. I have people ask me all the time why I haven't listed something and taking pictures for my items is why. It can be tedious especially when you have to wait for good weather, find a model for your products, and setup the shot. This creative process is very exciting to me but when it takes a month from item creation to its final stages of listing on Etsy it can be a bit of a bummer, especially when my sweet little item just wants a good home!

Take me home!

To save a little bit of time I have been trying to take as many pictures inside when the sun pours through my sewing room window or on a sheet outside when the weather is good. This approach has worked alright but has not given me the professional look that I am striving to achieve with a ratio of success at about 1 good picture per 20 taken. 

I thought the only answer to my problems was to get a super expensive digital SLR (sigh) but in talking to my amazing and oh so practical husband he told me he could make me an incredible lighting set up (sigh)! What a man! Anyway, we are still working out the kinks on that, however, as I was researching snazzy cameras I discovered that some of them have a new feature called "Artistic Filters". These filters make the pictures look vintage or like the shot was taken in a fairy wonderland before the photo taker even edits it. SO COOL for someone like me who is trying to save time! 

Well, I for sure can not afford an expensive camera so I went on a hunt for a free/cheap online program that could do that for me. To make a short story extremely long (sorry) I found the answer to my problems on this website:

Here are some pictures that I edited with the free version of this program. Picnik does have a premium program but I have been very happy with the basic so far. So enjoy some of my work and let me know what you think about how it makes my products look and so on! There are so many more options to explore so go check it out!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Tell a friend! :)

-Cayton

Good To Be Back!

What a great trip to Florida!! The flights there were fantastic (Xanax worked wonders for me, but that could be its own post), the weather was perfect, and the company couldn't of been better (thank you Terah). If you would like to read more about the details of our trip you can go to the Missions Tab on the top right of this page and view the PDF version of our latest newsletter or click HERE ! Below is my favorite picture from the trip! Jake looks so handsome and I know how happy it makes him to be at the hanger working on the planes!

While we were gone in Florida I thought a lot about my sisters (since we had done alot of hanging out before we left) and how wonderful they are! I'm so blessed to have them since I had NO say in the picking process I feel as if I hit the jackpot! They are both so talented! Sydney is a fantastic make-up artist who will someday be queen of the Sydney Ann make-up empire! Madi is going to be famous on broadway someday and you will be able to day "I saw her before she was famous on the 'Good Stuff' blog! Here is a super cute picture of us that I thought you might enjoy.

Click this picture to see Madi's website.

Click this picture to visit Syd's website.

I haven't forgotten the "Vote and Win" promise of a winner if you told me that you voted!! The randomly selected winner is MaggieJoy. Congrats girlfriend!! You will be getting some awesome earrings and a to die for coupon code good on your next purchase with Minggus and Moob!! YEAH!! Not to worry if you did not win because lots of giveaways are coming up as new products get listed at the shop.

So this was not the most original post but tomorrow should be a bit more exciting as posts go. I will be talking about a new website I found that does some awesome photo editing! I gave you a sneak peak by including the pictures above. Wasn't that nice of me?

Have a good day!
-Cayton