Saturday, April 30, 2011

Featured Seller: MimsMaine


In 2008, Natasha from MimsMaine opened her Etsy shop to sell her hobo bags and backpacks, and wristlet purses internationally. Just two years later her sales are creeping up to 3000, which is no surprise given her unique creations and impeccably clean-cut style.



"This is two full time jobs, no kidding. I work six to seven days a week, and never hit the sheets before one. Partial necessity and partial insanity," Natasha said.

Lack of time hasn't stopped Natasha from creating a custom order friendly atmosphere. Not only can you pick your bag style, but you can start your order process by choosing from a variety of canvas or leather fabrics first, such as her 1960s office chair design shown below.



Her favorite thing about creating is designing a new bag and the imagination that lies behind this act.

"I can make the same bag fifty times and every time I am looking for the light, the better way. It is almost never tedious. In fact, I don't listen to music or the radio so my mind can be free to meander in search of the solution. If there is one it will be found eventually.

"What I lack in ability, I make up for in stamina," Natasha said.

This same stamina is what has kept her going through her busy schedule. Stamina and of course her love for the work.



"If my hands hold out, I will always be happy making something. It hardly matters what. My Etsy shop was supposed to be little girls dresses...last minute switch to bags," Natasha said.

Natasha's studio is currently in her home, a Catholic Church and rectory on the top of a mountain in Maine surrounded by an abundance of trees. During the winter she mostly works from her kitchen close to the coffee and cookies. Although she doesn't have a Facebook, you can follower her journey through her Etsy shop.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

ZoiShop Giveaway!


Tomorrow's the last day to enter the ZoiShop giveaway I'm sponsoring on Moon Face!

To enter to win my one-of-a-kind "you melt my heart" photo necklace, click on the image below and follow the steps on Moon Face.




Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Photography 101: Working It With Toning


Toning is one of my favorite aspects of editing a photograph. It can be oh-so-fun! It relates to the manipulation of the colors in your photograph. Although, it once most often related to black and white film photography, now people use toning to add a sense of fantasy to their digital photographs as well.

It is one of those photographic elements that you can use to build upon your own style. The best thing you can do to figure out what toning fits you well or fits a certain photograph well is to go through and try out different combinations. When doing this focus on your standard color wheel and on matching primary colors. These combinations usually work the best.

I started out with a photograph of tree leafs, which I modified slighting in terms of brightness and contrast.


Then I used my Adobe Lightroom 2 program (you can download a free trial by clicking here). I used both the white color balance and split-toning option bars.




Higher temperature with yellow highlights and green shadows:


Purple highlights and red shadows:


Blue highlights and green shadows:


Purple highlights and blue shadows:


You can also use split-toning to spice up your black and white photographs.

Higher temperature while in grayscale with yellow highlights and magenta shadows:


To split-tone in Photoshop, you can use the color balance option bars by scrolling to your adjustment options and clicking on color balance. Photoshop allows you more toning options than Lightroom, though options in toning can actually be a bad thing when you're trying to narrow down a print.



Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Wedding Ideas: Tree Guest Book


I didn't really like the idea of having just an average guest book at my wedding. It seemed like something Joe and I would never look at after the first time of going through it. I was lucky enough to run into this amazing wedding tree guest book idea online, and I decided to draw one myself for us. I figured it should come out decently since trees are one of the few things I excel at drawing, and we could hang it up as well decor after the wedding. I could not be more stoked about how it came out!




I'm still trying to figure out what color paint to get for the fingerprints, since our home decor colors will be red, black, white, and yellow, but this is how it will ultimately look:



I can't wait to find a matching frame for it, and to hang it up in our home!

ZoiShop Mother's Day Gift Ideas


It's not too late to order a great mother's day gift from my ZoiShop!

Here are some of my favorite ideas for mum:

Peachy Flowers 8x8 photo print:


1970s vintage cloisonne butterfly necklace:


Surprise Me! Photo note card set of 12:


Balancing rocks photo print:


Heart photo necklace:


Monday, April 25, 2011

ZoiShop giveaway on Moon Face blog!


I'm sponsoring the weekly giveaway on Moon Face this week!

To enter to win my one-of-a-kind "you melt my heart" photo necklace, click on the image below and follow the steps on Moon Face.




G'luck!

Day 55-61/365: Evolution


Ello loves! I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

Like any entrepreneur, a key element to success is evolving. This week, I really wanted to think outside of the box and be open to elements outside of the photoj world. I wanted to embrace photo manipulation and more fine art ideas. This weeks set of photograph is one of my favorites of my 365 day photography project so far.








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