Picture Taking

As anyone who has viewed our Etsy Store can attest, Karen and I are not the best photographers. In fact, some might say that our abilities in photography suck, big time! It is not from lack of effort on our part. We earnestly try each and every time to take a fabulous picture only to find that the item is not clearly displayed, the colors are awful, the lighting is terrible and the background overpowers the item. I really think it is an age thing. People who were born after 1975 and upwards seem to have been born with this built-in tech-savvy ability that us oldie-olsters lack. It really is not fair. But, we are not going to let our inability get us down! We are going to continue to try and take sophisticated pictures that rival anything in Martha Stewart's magazine. But, in the meantime, those of you who do look at our shop, please use that imagination of yours to embellish each item displayed in our shop and know that it is way prettier in person than that little square photo displays!

How Cute is This?-

Is that the cutest baby ever? And the cutest baby hat too? I gotta say, TrickyKnits, Anne Geddes got nothin' on you! How did you get that baby to stay so beautifully posed? That picture shows off that cute hat to perfection. Check out TrickyKnits other items at http://www.etsy.com/shop/TrickyKnits. I wish these beautiful necessities had been around when my sons were babies. I especially love the Upsy Daisy Baby Hammock - it just looks so comfy and cozy. And the baby obviously enjoys it! These items are beautiful and functional. Amazing! There are so many talented people on Etsy.

Good Old Days

I visited with my mother and my sister this weekend and they gave me an album my mother had made about me back in the 50's. It was her attempted at early scrapbook-making! Anyway, looking through the photos just reminded me of how drastically things have changed between when i grew up and my kids' childhoods! First of all, no car seats back then. How did mothers travel with wild children loose in the car back then? Amazing we all survived! I ate spam sandwiches on white bread covered with mayo everyday and lived to tell the tale. My mother was not much of a cook back then. Also, those spam sandwiches would sit in tin lunch boxes outside in the San Fernando Valley heat. Never got sick. Then there were the days when i would leave with my best friend on our bicycles early in the morning and be gone all day until dinner time. Nobody cared that we were gone all day (no cell phones).. they were just happy to have us out of their hair! In fact, I don't think we ever spent much time indoors unless we were sick! Now we can't let the kids out of our sight because of the fear some sicko will grab them.. and heaven forbid anyone see you feed your child white bread! You would be asking for a public lynching! My family definitely wasn't Leave it to Beaver.. but it did have a 50's kind of charm to it!

Sewing Machine Blues

So, after burning up the sewing machine preparing all that inventory for the show that bombed, Tina and I took our beloved Janomes to the old time sewing machine/vaccum cleaner fixer dude. Now, I have to say, I love patronizing people like sewing machine/vacuum dude because he is like a blast from the past. However, that said, HE STILL HAS MY MACHINE!! How rude! It has been a week. I mean, I am going nuts here! The only positive thing is that I was able (and motivated) to start painting again. I painted a picture that was inspired by a photo a friend of mine took for a card I bought from her. She takes really wonderful photographs of flowers, birds and bugs (my favorite!) using the name Karenb Photography. Hopefully you will be seeing her stuff on etsy soon. I am going to paint again today AFTER I pick up my machine. Tina and I plan on camping out in front of the dude's shop and picketing with signs that say "Give me my machine or give me death" or maybe "My name is Karen, you killed my machine, prepare to die!" (If you haven't seen the Princess Bride, you won't get that one - and btw it is a great movie). Anyway, we'll keep you posted.

New Stuff

Well, even though the craft show wasn't what we'd hoped for, now we have lots of stuff for etsy. So Tina put up a couple of bags and I put up a bag and two of my beloved fabric roses. I may be totally delusional, but I would like to think there are people out there that will love my fabric roses. I even tried to make my photos more artistic, although I usually fail miserably! :)Tina is much better at the photography end of things. I am going to start painting again. I actually started a painting but I am not sure I like it yet. It is a cat in a chair but he looks like he should be saying something like "Yeah....that's not going to happen...". He has one of those cat stares that looks bored and disgusted with human-kind. You know the ones if you have ever had a cat. Anyway, we will have to see how it ends up. So here is the "artistic" photo of my roses. :)