Photo Face Lift!

I have been super busy this month! I started a new job teaching English in a school in Móstoles, Spain, and dealing with first and second graders sure takes the energy out of you! You can read about my adventures as an owl-xiliar on my Tumblr page. I have a goal to write one entry for each and every school day!

I have also been working on three custom orders for my Etsy shop! I have finished all of them and will be shipping out the third tomorrow!

The first was for a friend from my university. Her baby, Gabriela, will look so adorable in this owl hat / ankle boots set:

She also ordered a baby elf hat in turquoise and white to match her magenta winter coat. I would have never thought of that color combination, but it will be so adorable! I added a little white bow to make the elf hat extra girly. :)

Then it was on to custom order number deux. This was a second order from a French photographer. Her business is Art Est Sur Images, and you can check her out on Facebook. This included two Christmas elf hats, in red and white, for 3-6 months and 12 months. They turned out so adorable.

She also requested an elf hat in blue and green for her 2 year old nephew. I had never made such a large hat, but I figured out how to do it by googling a bit, and it turned out really nice. The tail will be really long (think Randy from "A Christmas Story") but, as my boyfriend has reminded me a couple of times, that's why it's so cute.

  

The third custom order was for a family member, and since it is a gift to another family member, I can't post any more details! :) 

It has been so flattering to get so many custom orders all at once, and it was so rewarding to finish them all!

In my other (spare) time (haha), I have been working on my crochet photography skills. As a novice photographer, I quickly learned that taking pictures of tiny little booties in your apartment is nothing like taking pictures of architecture, people or landscapes. It requires specialized lighting and exact positioning. I got the positioning down quickly, but the lighting in my apartment is... special.

Because it's so hot in Madrid, and we live on the top floor, I have to keep the blinds drawn all day. Yes, it makes me feel slightly like a vampire, and it also makes it really difficult to take pretty pictures. So I pull up the blinds and roast, but even then, I had shadows and my (beautiful, lovely, precious) yellow walls gave the white backdrop a tinge that made me crazy... and not in a good way.

After some research out on the interwebs, I found a way to make a homemade lightbox.
 I made one with some white construction paper, and even though I just laid them in the box instead of taping / draping / crazy-woman-making, I usually don't photograph the sides or the corners, so you don't see the seam. I also bought two small lamps from Ikea (oh, the European Wal-mart) and use those if I am taking really, really close shots, like this one:

Encouraged by my improved photos, I decided to give the front page of my Etsy shop a face lift. I photographed all of my items (except for two, because the sun set... I shake my fist at you, Mr. Sun!) and edited them. I made them the first shot of each listing so that my main shop page has a more uniform appearance. I didn't like the cluttered look before I did this, and I feel much better after all that hard work!

Why don't you check out my new and improved Etsy shop page? Oh, and give us your photography secrets in a comment! :)

Stay tuned, as I will be posting the pattern for my vintage marguerite bonnet soon!