Wear It Twice: Turquoise Queen

When you’re an artist, it’s sometimes difficult to get good feedback. You ask your friends and relatives what they think of your latest creation, and they undoubtedly say “It’s great!” or “It’s amazing!”. And while this isn’t necessarily untrue, it’s not quite as detailed a critique as you were hoping for.

The same goes for blogs. If you ask someone you know to check out your blog, chances are they’ll ask you “What’s a blog?”. And even if you can get them there, they’ll most likely say what friends always do. “I like it.” That’s it. So when you get a thumbs up from a place you’d never expect, it’s an exciting thing.

This week I was thrilled to be featured as one of the Style Blogs of the Week on the Be In Style blog at Pocketchange.Become.com. The entire website is an encyclopedia of trends, and features great posts on everything from fashion and beauty to babies and green-living. There’s plenty of information and eye-candy, and they welcome content from guests writers who know their stuff.

Inspirational Beading was featured with some really fun fashion blogs, including a new favorite of mine, And Now I Want It. When I was browsing through posts, I was totally charmed by the author’s use of Polyvore fashion collages. I remember using the tool ages ago and having lots of fun with it. So I immediately logged in and started playing with cut-outs. Polyvore is like a combination of paper dolls and scrap booking, but without the mess.

As I was playing, I thought of a fun new blogging idea: Take a fabulous necklace, then add basics and accessories in a simple color palette to create two very different outfits. It’s like those fashion mag articles that show you how to make 20 outfits from six pieces of clothing. Only way more fun!

The first ever Wear It Twice collage began with a really pretty multi-strand turquoise necklace. Whenever I see turquoise all alone, I think of Ancient Egypt, so I used kohl black, carnelian red and gold as the remainder of my palette.

Turquoise Queen by Mortira featuring RJ Graziano jewelry

For the outfit on the left, I started with a fashion essential - the LBD. The black bandage dress that I found was totally irresistible, and would present a fun dress-up challenge. The retro bubble skirt, paired with the strands of beads, creates a sort of circa 1984 Madonna look. So I finished it with a pair of embellished black ankle boots and golden bobby pins to match. The red clutch adds an extra splash of color and sass.

The second ensemble is much more casual. I started with a black tunic with cropped bell sleeves. This time, instead of gold, I went with cream and added stone-colored bootcut jeans, with a cream and black cloche hat to match. Cute red Oxford flats complete the look.

Both outfits make a great base for a beautiful, blue necklace. And the best part is, you can get these looks, or something like them, on Etsy!

Copyright 2010 Inspirational Beading and Polyvore.com

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Week 9 :: Photo Formula

This week's blogging prompt is to talk about the second stage of a project. Since I posted how I start a project here, my next step is photos; so, I thought I'd share a little about my photos and what goes into them.

My photo formula is pretty simple: natural daylight + macro setting + white background + editing. It took a lot of reading and experimenting before I really narrowed what I like, and what I feel shows my pieces the best. Take a look:

I try to keep everything as simple as possible to keep the focus on my jewelry, and I don't use too many props. The props I do use all serve a purpose - to prop up a necklace, or to show how earrings or a necklace hangs. And I know some people think a white background is too plain, but I really like the reflections and shadows I get on the one I use. Plus, like I said above, it doesn't interfere with the colors of the piece.

So, there you have it. Now, I'd love to know, what's your photo formula?

Footnote:

I don't use my lightbox for finished jewelry anymore, and I'm slowly redoing the last remaining pieces that are shot in my lightbox so all the backgrounds will eventually match.

If you need to use a lightbox, check out Strobist's $10 Macro Photo Studio tutorial to build your own. Do a search on Flickr for lightboxes to get an idea of set ups. You'll want powerful enough daylight light bulbs (I used three 100 watt light bulbs from Home Depot), and I'd also suggest playing around with backgrounds, too. I ended up with a brown background on those photos because, strangely enough, that's the only background that didn't interact with the colors of my jewelry - those colors are as true to life as a monitor will allow.

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Link Love :: 7-30-2010

I'm having a hard time believing that July is over. Wha? Time has been zooming along over here, what about you? It's been a good month, but a crazy one for me as I am putting the finishing touches on my e-class (registration ends tomorrow, by the way!! If you're looking to learn more about color, come join me).

Here's a few things you might have missed this week:

Friday Freebie from 74 Lime Lane: Monthly Calendar for August

DIY printed paper garlands tutorial, via Going Home to Roost

Missed the Renegade Craft Fair in LA (me, too)? Dani from Oh, Hello Friend recaps it here and here.

Awesome apothecary label downloads via Just Something I Made

Fancy doing some digital scrapbooking? Oscraps has some great special offers this weekend, including 2 free alpha sets from Danielle Young Designs. And Paislee Press just released a new layout called Press Packet No. 2 - it's on sale!

Have you heard about The Creative Empire? It's a new artist/business forum created by Megan Auman of Crafting an MBA and Tara Gentile of Scoutie Girl where creatives can go for support. Loving what I've found so far.



Happy weekending!

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LA Recap

So... I'm having some reentry problems. Vacation was awesome, and I'm feeling well-rested and inspired. But it's weird being back home, like I'm not sure if I'm really home. Does anyone else feel that when they come back from a trip?

Anywho, we're going to pretend that I remembered to take my camera to California, and that I took lots of photos to share (I didn't on both counts - sorry. Total vacation FAIL). But here's three favorite places of the trip:

Los Angeles Zoo: I was a little nervous going to the zoo, and here's why - zoos make me sad. I much prefer thinking of animals roaming freely in their natural habitat rather than suffering in tiny concrete enclosures. But my friend assured me the LA Zoo wasn't really like that, and she was right. I had an awesome time roaming the pathways and seeing the animals. I was particularly fascinated with the ibex exhibit and the gerenuk exhibit (the photo doesn't show it, but they have such a regal presence and long, spindly legs).

Union Station: While I didn't get a chance to actually take a train, I was really enamored with Union Station. The gorgeous architecture and furnishings take you back to an older time when rail travel was king.

Philippe's Original: Philippe's is home of the original French dip sandwich, and it was so yummy; if I could have managed it, I would have had another one. I think I saw this restaurant on the Travel Channel, and it came highly recommended by a chef friend as the best place in LA for a French dip - and he was right. With 10 lines and cash only, be prepared to stand for a little while, but it's worth the wait (grab a table upstairs if you prefer a slightly quieter dining experience).

How did you spend your weekend?

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"Win as if you were used to it...

...lose as if you you enjoyed it for a change."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson


Husband's team lost (by two points) in the tournament tonight. Husband is super bummed.

I might even say that Husband is being a sore loser.

After listening to him pout for a bit when he came home after the game, I decided to help him brighten his mood. "So!" I said cheerfully. "What's next?"

"The stupid end of the season party next weekend, where we celebrate our big loss," Husband grumbled. "It just sucks, you know, when you know your team is the best and then you lose."

I had to bite my tongue. It isn't because I don't believe Husband's team is (was?) the best- they're a great team. Husband is a great coach. It's just that I've never been a big believer in such definitive definitions of "winners" and "losers".

Oh yes, I'm one of those annoying people. Husband is not. He wins things, he only does things that produces winners and winning, and so he can't even comprehend the idea of losing. It doesn't even fit into his realm of thinking. Losing is not in his lingo. There is no such thing as second best- you are either THE BEST or THE WINNER and nothing else.

I have a different perspective on it, of course. I played basketball for two years, when I was in the fourth and fifth grade. We were awful. We didn't win a single game, that is how awful we were. I remember trying to frantically dribble the basketball with my hot pink Barbie press on nails, my hot pink and neon green biker shorts sticking to my legs, and my crunchy poodle-permed hair held back with a yellow scrunchy as I scampered down the court.

I didn't make a single basket my first year. The second year I made one. And I'm pretty sure it was by complete accident, as I blindly flung the ball in the air in a panic as a girl twice my size tried to shove me to the ground and sit on me. For whatever reason, my wild-eyed flinging worked, and the ball sunk with a swish right into the basket.

I, however, was completely traumatized and made a mental note to never make a basket ever again for fear of more big girls coming after me. Done and done.

I don't have a single competitive bone in my body. It is not something that I am proud of; but I believe that you're either born with that competitive streak or you're not. You either have it or you don't. I was not born having it.

I also was not born having any sort of athletic prowess or hand-eye coordination. Yes, I'm the girl you don't want on your team. I am being completely honest here- I will likely hand the ball to the opponent and run screaming in the other direction. If I can even catch the ball to begin with, that is, considering I typically catch it with the back of my head.

(I am now having mental flashbacks to my dad standing on the sidelines saying, "Chloeee! You're supposed to use your hands to catch the ball! Not your head! Use your hands! YOUR HANDS!!")

So! Anyway, back to my point here- I was on a team of basketball playing losers. We were losers! You couldn't get any more loserish than us. But that was okay! I turned out just fine! Right? RIGHT!

Oh hush.

I told Husband that I could come speak to his team of fifth grade boys at their party, you know, to give them a pep talk about how winning isn't everything. It's okay to lose sometimes. Sometimes there's more important things in life, like keeping your hot pink Barbie press on nails on your fingers. Or keeping your internal organs functioning properly by not allowing heavy girls on the opposing team to knock you over and sit on them.

He politely declined.

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