Link roundup

1. Funny Portal 2 animated gif. And speaking of, it would be cool if Valve made a POTaTOS kit that attached to a typical Mr. Potato Head.

2. How to set up a green screen photo studio for $100. Via.

3. Gallery of beer league hockey jerseys.

*Buy vintage cameras at eBay.

Sneak Peak behind the scenes product shoot

Last Friday while in Brisbane I had a product shoot for my new After 5 hair accessories range! Super talented, Kate did Hannah's make-up and it was stunning, her eyes were smouldering!





And the uber talented Sam Thies took my photos! We had planned for a shoot at New Farm Park but alas Mother Nature had other ideas and it bucketed down :-( So with no props what-so-ever we did our shoot in studio. On reflection, simple and serene suits me fine too. I can't wait to share my photos and new range with you! Have a wonderful weekend. We have birthday party #2 for the little man on Saturday.

Link roundup

1. Hilarious photo of kids learning about the wonders of the human reproduction.

2. A Baltimore Sun photographer accepted a buyout, started a blog, and then more or less destroyed the industry for professional photographers:

By teaching a horde of novices the skills necessary to shoot photographs of a quality that was until very recently only within the grasp of an elite few, Hobby has played a significant role in the transformation of the profession. In the last few years, the market rate for many types of professional photographs has dropped by as much as 99 percent.

3. "A special mask that produces sights and smells fooled study participants into thinking they were eating a cookie they weren't."

*Buy vintage cameras at eBay.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter lovely people! We have an extra long break here in Australia due to ANZAC day falling in the Easter vacation - 5 days with my lovely family! I can't wait.... It's also a special time for us as we remember and celebrate an awesome gift, new life!

Beautiful photo by Krista Keltanen.

Photography Props

I'm always interested to see how other people use photography props! I do like the use of nature when styling a photo too. These are really 'white' but the jewellery is shown off really well I thought.



But I think plain backgrounds can work really well too! The less busy the better. I know white items look better on a dark background but I can't help myself photographing my light coloured flowers on white/light backgrounds, they just seem so much fresher to me.





There is an excellent Etsy article on Photoshopping product pics. If you don't have photoshop there are other programs you can use, many are free. Picasa, you usually get Paint if you have windows, Picnik, Photoscape etc.. Out of these I have mostly used Picnik but hubby has Photoshop which I prefer overall.

Click on photos for credits.

Grace Designs Giveaway on Amanda Keeys Photography Blog

Hello everyone - it was a bit quiet around here last week because we did a last minute trip to Sydney for hubby's work - we're not a fan of announcing when we go away as we don't want to appear here but happy to say we are home and thrilled with the announcement of a GIVEAWAY!!! woooo hoooo



The super talented photographer Amanda Keeys is hosting my giveaway so you need to visit Amanda's blog and enter there!



Winner is announced Feb 7th... and the prize is a $50AU voucher to my Etsy store and a copy of the HANDMADE LIVING book!



Comments on my blog won't be counted as entries, so get on over to Amanda's!

Love-ly

While I am on a Valentines roll.... these dreamy images are from Kristi at Life Through the Lens! I love the vintage vibe and props in Kristi's photos and lucky for you she has an Etsy store too - sweeeet x

Images used with permission.

Photography props

Trialling a few props for my product shots. I wasn't sure how this old Box Brownie of my Mum's would work as a prop for hair accessories as thematically - they don't really go? But I am drawn back to these photos again and again... the camera really jumps off the page to me and somehow with that, the headband works - what do you think?



My letterpress G from Doug Up On Bourke



You can't really see it but my tall spool (also from DUOB) - wished I had of bought the smaller one too as this is a little tall for my light tent. The above two items are listed in my etsy store.. the others on their way.



My rustic tin G from Provincial Home Living.



The good old Maxwell Williams egg cup for my dark coloured items. Which is your favourite?

Taking good product shots

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I participated in a little madeit promo /competition for several weeks and I have to say some days it was painful finding GOOD photos!!!!!!!! Bec (founder of madeit) seems to find plenty of nice shots but she might spend a lot more time looking for them, than I had time to.



A good photo goes a long way to selling your product - especially when you are relying on online sales and customers can't touch your items! I have been guilty of taking photos in a hurry just to list an item in my store and I don't claim to be an expert but I try hard to make them as appealing as possible. My light cube has really helped product shots at night and I mostly try to shoot in natural light with no flash. Notice the simple, consistent backgrounds in these photos courtesy of Decor8.



There are lots of helpful tutorials online and you can even make your own light tent. Etsy's has a few great tutorials on their blog re: photographing products. Have a happy weekend! I am having a little holiday with my family next week which includes NO internet connection - a real holiday! So see you in a week :-)

Ducks in a row

I like all my ducks in a row but motherhood changed that! Mind you I still like my ducks in a row... I just can't always have them lined up. Not a bad thing necessarily, just frustrating for a chick like me.



These stunning images are from an amazing photographer called Cade Martin!

Anna Malin Photography

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I found this gorgeous Sweedish photographer via Decor8 and just love these butterfly cut outs - I think they would be perfect for little girls parties or even big girls :-) so sweet and they look stunning with the lilac. Google has an automatic translater function built in so you can translate the blog to English! Perfect!

More lovely gifts

I received these fabulous gifts from the lovely Jennifer Taylor who is not only a talented photographer and lovely lady but clever in the knitting department too. The beautiful 'Pompalary' hat is made from Pure Organic Merino Wool - so soft and cute! Unfortunately my model was not so obliging today :-)



The Magna play Jennifer thoughtfully sent for Anya as something to do when Josiah was feeding and it has been a massive hit! Anya loves the carry around the little case claiming she is "off to work".



Thanks Jennifer :-)

Friday Favourites - Pretty in Pink

Some pretty images from me to you to enjoy this lovely Friday! I love these 3 photos because, #1 - reminds me of when I was a child seeing my mum doing this sugar decoration around the rim of her special 'visitors' glasses and thinking it was breathtakingly beautiful :-) #2 - Camellias as so fluffy and flowers always inspire me in my hair accessories. I wish I could bottle the sensation of their velvety petals... #3 - this girl loves feathers!!!! Whispy, pretty and oh so lovely to feel. Have a fabulous weekend!

Chandeliers #9 - Candlelight

{image: Bonnie Tsang}

Well I am not sure if this exactly qualifies as a Chandelier... but hey, it's my series :-) This was a lovely idea captured by Bonnie Tsang Photography for a beautiful but very expensive looking wedding in the US. More photos on Bonnie's website and also on Jonathan Canlas' site (who was the official photographer).

Stunning Photography - Tim Walker

Tim Walker is a London based photographer whose photo (above) I first saw in a home magazine recently. There are so many things I just adore about this shot... the dress, the colour, the staircase, old building ... *sigh* ... so pretty! Unfortunately Tim's website took so long to load I didn't stay long enough to have a good look around but if you search his name you will see enough fabulous images to make you smile, including this one below!



Speaking of all things pretty, blue and fabulous...... SHOP HANDMADE opens this Friday (16th April). It has been a hive of activity down at the shop with some very clever people helping to make this space worth visiting. I hope you had a lovely weekend!

Family Photos - by the amazing Amanda Keeys

Last weekend we trekked to Sydney to hang with my family and have a few photos taken with the brilliant Amanda Keeys! I love all these photos - particularly that first shot of Anya and this black and white. Anya barely sat still - Amanda did a fabulous job capturing her. {images - Amanda Keeys}

Rose headband in felt

Oh how adorable is this? Amanda is taking some photos of a few hair pieces for me and I just love these... so divine! You can see a few more pics here of the darling Zoe in my white rose felt headband - for infants and little ones... coming to my stores SOON!

Monday Musings

I had to start off the week with a gorgeous image from Ali Harper. Hydrangeas are one of the few flowers that are lovely both fresh and dried. How was your weekend? We had a few social events but tried to balance them with some chillin at home. Which was very hard to do Saturday in this awful heat. One of our elderly neighbours organised a 'get-to-know your neighbour' afternoon tea yesterday. We met all sorts of weird and wonderful people :-) Reena was a real character in her late 70's who gave me a few toys for Anya to play with while telling me she didn't believe in conditioning little girls to be mothers!! Not the sort of view point I expected from someone of her generation, good on her. How well do you know your neighbours? It's nice to have somewhere to go for an impromptu cuppa or to borrow an egg or two don't you think?! Have a great week.

Grace Designs new Photoshoot now on Facebook

I just love this photo too - it screams spring! The lovely model is wearing my new doily band on elastic. As well as my lovely friends, I do miss Queensland for the fantastic weather... There is no way we can wear short sleeves here just yet! Check out the full album here.

Grace Designs photo shoot

My fab friend Mezzy & her lovely friend AJ took some delightful photos for me of some of my headbands on their daughters. This is a sneak peak of Miss R in my African Violet felt band - how cute is she and that jacket looks great with her little headband!