Featured Seller: Mojo Spa

What began as a home remedy for Amanda Kezios has become a 10-year journey into the world of body care essentials. From her healing lip balm to meringue hand soap, Kezios now has over 200 products, a chunk of which are available for purchase internationally on her Etsy Shop, Mojo Spa.



“I have had a love for makeup since I was in Kindergarten. I would sit on the toilet and watch my mother apply her makeup every morning and as a treat for being patient and quiet I would get a touch of lipstick on my lips,” Kezios said.

Years later Kezios' journey in the body care world would begin when she created her first lip balm, “Make the Grade”. She wanted to develop something that would not only help her heal, but that would refocus her. Although she didn't expect it, soon she went from creating for herself to selling homemade balms to other people such as her "Light My Fire" balm “for love and passion”.



But these aren't just your regular body care items. According to Kezios she uses energized water that contains the vibration/frequency of the earth. This causes it to feel heavier than regular water and works with your body’s electrical current to open blockages.

“It’s kind of like acupuncture, where you are opening the chi energy of the body and that is why my products have enormous healing properties,” Kezios said.

One of my favorite things about Mojo Spa is that it produces feminine items with unique and chic labeling, such as her temptress gold shimmer sheer lip gloss.



“I love to think outside the box when I develop products and really listen to the feedback customers give me because they will be buying it and helping to spread the word,” Kezios said.

The next stage in Kezios' journey is to spread into the world of style. She has begun her Mojo Spa Style shop, in which she sells handmade handbags, jewelry, and accessories.



"In five years I hope to have more Mojo Spa stores in other locations like LA and Miami and continue to branch out with Mojo Spa Style where it is a profitable business in itself," Kezios said.

Want to learn more about Mojo Spa? Follow it on Twitter.

Mint Cocoa and Fruit Smoothie

I made one of my favorite breakfasts today, a mint cocoa and fruit smoothie! It is so easy to make and very delicious.





What you'll need:
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cup fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries and banana make the best combo!)
3-5 tablespoons of mint or plain cocoa or Ovaltine

How to make it:
Simply add the above ingredients in a blender and mix for 1 minute!

Made It!

I feel like such a dork, but today is the first time I made it to the front page of Etsy.com, so I had to share!

My sterling silver "you melt my heart" photo necklace was part of "Support for the Rising Sun" by AFineTangle, a treasury composed of Japanese relief items.

The Rouge Treasury Team

Any Etsians that love making treasuries...please read on!

I just created my very own treasury making team on Etsy.com dedicated to creating exemplary treasuries and promotion. If you are interested in joining please click the image below. You must love making aesthetically pleasing treasuries with great crisp images!

Spring Egg

I'd been wanting to try out an egg set up for a while, and today on day 37 of my 365 day photography project, I finally did! I had to super glue the egg down to get to stand up, but I finally got it balanced. I truly love how the image came out, and hope to create more images like this in the future.



You can find the photograph for sale at ZoiShop on Etsy.com. It is available in various sizes, including 20x30 and 8x8.

Sunny Days

Yesterday was the first sunny day in the mid-Peninsula in a long time. It was such a beautiful day that one of my best friends, Jilian, and I took a trip to the beach. It was the first day in a long time that I felt relaxed.





The weather yesterday also made me realize that this summer might very well be one of the hottest. That meant starting to look for spring clothes for warmer weather. The top trends of the new season are floral and abstract prints, stripes, bright colors, long skirts and high waisted pants.

Below are some of my fashion finds for the new season.

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1. Mcginn 'Ivy' Stripe Tank Dress - Nordstrom - $295
2. Plumeria vintage stitched tank - J. Crew - $125
3. Cooperative Grosgrain Block Heel - Urban Outfitters - $69
4. Maritime-stripe Hoodie - J. Crew - $78

Photography 101: Depth of Field

Depth of field refers to the distance between the subject and its foreground and/or background. It can also be thought of as how sharp the subject looks relative to its surrounding.

There are two main types of D.O.F., a shallow depth of field and a larger depth of field. Everything else lies somewhere between the two.

A shallow depth of field is when your subject or focal point is the only part in the photograph that is in focus, while your background and/or foreground is blurred. This is very commonly used in portrait photography. The closer you are to your subject the smaller D.O.F. you will have.



In this image, I was close to my subject, Selina, so I could blur the building in the background, which ended up barely appearing in the photograph.

Another example is the following image, in which I zoomed in and focused on the butterfly. There is a bit more detail in this photograph, but if I had zoomed in more or gotten closer, the background would have been completely blurred.



Macro lenses are great for achieving a blurred effect because they allow you to get closer to a subject and therefore have a more shallow depth of field.

Telephoto lenses are also great when you're trying to achieve a shallow depth of field because the further you zoom in the smaller your aperture becomes. However, it is harder to achieve a deeper depth of field with these lenses.

A deep depth of field is one in which the entire photograph is sharp. The more crisp details there are in a photograph the greater depth of field you have. This is often used in landscape photography and can be achieved by closing your aperture to its lowest f-stop, usually f2.8 or f3.5. In other words, zooming out or decreasing the magnification to create a crisper image.



In the photograph above I was using the same lens as in the first, but I was completely zoomed out and had a low f-stop, which created a deeper depth of field or more detail in the photograph. The same is true for the forest image below. In both, you can see the details in the foreground, background and subject. Everything is crisp, every detail is there. You can see the cracks on the wall and the furthest tree.



Both types of depth of field are important and both can be used to photograph anything. It is simply up to you to decide if only one detail in your image is important or if they all are and decide accordingly if you need a shallow or deep depth of field.

Mini Canvas Bags

Lately, Joe and I have been so busy planning our summer wedding. And with good reason, we only have 137 more days to go! As we scrummage to get everything that we need from various vendors and to bring it all together, I've been coming across so many neat finds.

I thought these canvas bags by prettyprettypackage on Etsy.com were super cute.

Moon Face Blog's Rachel Pfeffer Designs Giveaway!

Now, I'm a sucker for giveaways. I've only really entered a few, and ended up with a pair of concert tickets I really wanted to win. So I truly believe in enter giveaways 'cause you never know when your luck will strike!

Moon Face blog is hosting a Rachel Pfeffer Designs giveaway.



To enter to win these super cute bow stud earrings, simply click here to view the details.

Day 27-33/365

As I search for new photographic ideas to feed my 365 day photography project, it's nice to find myself driving to explore new types of photography. Lately, I've been driven toward food photography, something that's slowly become one of my favorite things to photograph.

True Random for Giveaways

Ello loves!

One of the things that I want to accomplish with my blog is to eventually start hosting giveaways. I'm not ready to start just yet, but I thought I'd share this nifty random number generator for anyone who is considering starting to do giveaways and are worried about keeping it fair without having to pull numbers of out of a hat.



To use it simply to go to Random.org.

fPOE Treasury Giveaways! Enter Today

Today is the last day to enter the two "win this treasury" giveaways Etsy's fPOE (female photographers of Etsy) team is sponsoring.

To enter, click on the images below and place a comment on the threads. Winners will be announced tomorrow.

Win This Treasury #1 - Female Photographers of Etsy (fPOE)



Win This Treasury #2 - Female Photographers of Etsy



Good luck and happy entering!