Where the Magic Happens

Hello there! I love my Etsy shop. It's lots of fun. The thing is, when I decided to set up shop, I had no idea how much of a pain in the bum it was actually going to be to have good pictures of my items. Fortunately, my super smart husband was there to save the day - He made me a handy lightbox. It was easy to make, and the pictures come out great! It did take a while to get my method perfected. I'm talking weeks, maybe months. I still frequently find little tricks to make the pictures even better when I am editing them, but basically I've got it down now.

Here's the lightbox. Let me tell you, it's super fancy. It consists of a cardboard box with three of the sides cut out and covered with a sheet of tissue paper.


I just set it up on the floor in the living room when I want to take pictures. That way I can have a Lifetime movie going on the TV to entertain me during my photo shoot. I use three clamp on worklights, each with 90 watt floodlights in them for my lighting. It looks crude, but it really works well. For a couple of months my setup was out of commission because we had to put a couple of the bulbs in our backyard light, and one of the worklights quit working. During that time, I tried every place and every light around the house I could think of to try, and nothing worked as well as the lightbox. In fact, I didn't get any useable pictures at all during that time. I am so glad to have it all working again!

Now, the pictures I take in the lightbox aren't instantly ready to use. I do have to do some editing and cropping to make them pretty. That's where Paint Shop Pro comes in. Alot of people use Adobe Photoshop, but I don't have that. Paint Shop Pro works great, though! Here are some before and after photos.


Before:


After:


Before:

After:

Pretty neat, huh? I like it!

Zoey's Pretty Collar

Every year for Christmas, Zoey gets a new collar to add to the rotation. This year, my husband found a really neat shop on Etsy called Bella's Pretty Collars, and we decided that Zoey needed to have a collar from that shop. There are lots of different designs and colors to choose from, and it was hard to pick. We ended up choosing the Hello Kitty collar. The seller was just fabulous! We sent her Zoey's neck measurement and she made just the perfect little collar! It is extremely well made, and just perfect for Zoey! SO... If you are looking to get a new collar for your doggie, be sure to check out Bella's Pretty Collars!