Beautiful Jewellery Photography

images 1&2 from aloha gaia, image 3 from free people, image 4 is my attempt at photographing myself!

As a one man band with no budget, one thing I struggle with is photography. I am the photographer and the model and so I contort myself into awkward positions to try and take a photo of myself wearing one of my bracelets or rings. Thanks to smart phones, this job is now a lot easier than it would have been once upon a time!

I would love to have the money to invest in a proper photo shoot, especially as I have seen some really inspirational ways of showcasing jewellery on models with beautiful photography recently. I have never wanted my face in the photos of my jewellery as I was always the kid who could not pose for a photo growing up, I always had my eyes shut or I was pulling a funny face. Some of these images could be the answer, I could model myself and enlist my husband to take some photos. I can even hide my face!

Have you come across any inspiring images showcasing jewellery that you would like to share?

Etsy Shop Re-launch

I have been writing about re-launching my etsy shop for some time now. It's time to stop all the talk and take action. As of today, my shop is open again. With new stock and new photography. To celebrate, I am offering 15% off until 18th May. Just head to my shop and enter the code BBRELAUNCH15 at checkout to avail of the discount. Please do let me know what you think of my new look shop, I love feedback.

Experimenting with Vine

Well, I have not been very good on the blog for the last few weeks, time seems to be flying by!

I had lined up several posts before I had Dylan 10 weeks ago now so I could keep up the blog posts. These posts ran out about a month ago and I haven't had a chance to write anything new. I have been trying to get photos and product information together to re-launch my Etsy shop and I am just about ready to go now. I have also been keeping up to date on the ever increasing number of social networking sites. The most recent being Vine.

I wasn't sure how best to use vine for jewellery based videos but here (above) is one of my first attempts, showcasing some rings I made recently.

Go on a bauble hunt this Easter

Images from: 1 - Hoss Intropia necklace at Jules B, 2 - Clear Vibe Square Bangle from Nordstrom, 3 - Marc Jacobs Bracelet from shopbop, 4 - Kate Spade necklace from Nordstrom, 5 - Knitted Rope necklace by Hearsay Designs on Etsy, 6 - Tribal necklace by Nao on Etsy, 7 - Big Links necklace from Nordstrom, 8 - Wooden Bead and Wax Cotton necklace from Hearsay Designs on Etsy, 9 - Wire Spring Earrings from AmpersandXYZ on Etsy  

Yellow would not usually be my colour of choice but it has been very popular in recent seasons. It really is a spring time or Easter colour and so in honor of this Easter week I though I would post some of my top yellow finds from around the web.

My personal favourite is the more subtle yellow of number 1 by Hoss Intropia, available at Jules B. I love the mix of leather and multi strands of beads. Which yellow beauty is your favourite?

Stamp it

I finally got around to ordering my own branded stamp a few weeks ago. It is something I had been meaning to do for a long time. It is a fantastic low cost way of branding packaging, stationery and anything that you fancy really. As soon as it arrived, I tried it out on one of my kraft jewellery boxes along with my new packaging decoration of colourful wool and Bead Bash branded moo mini card.

I had initially wanted to purchase a branded stamp last year but couldn't find a Europe based supplier at a decent price. Eventually good old Etsy came to the rescue. I can't recommend Standard Stamp Co enough - a great price and super speedy considering this was made to order and then shipped from the USA to Ireland.

What do you do to brand your products? Any tips?

Now, I'm off to stamp everything in site!

Catwalk Mashup ... Pure Pastels

Images from J Crew via style.com and Adia Kibur

I love a bit of pastel every now and then. Normally I would associate pastels with very feminine floaty dresses and textures. I love the masculinity of the pastels in J Crews most recent collection which provides a gorgeous modern twist to the use of pastels. The necklace from Adia Kibur  has a lovely solid bubble look to it which I think gives the necklace an equally modern twist. What do you think of the more modern masculine use of pastel shades?

Today I made ...

I wrote a post a few weeks ago when I received some goodies in the post - this included some candy coloured washi tape.

I love mint - in fact I posted some other minty goodies here. It is such a calming colour and the diagonal stripe gives a 1950s mid century feel.

The red stripe earrings along with the bubblegum bobby pin also follow the candy colours theme. I made these purely because they are fun and I was experimenting with the colour combinations in my washi tape collection. Which of these candy pieces are your favourite? Mine is the pendant with the mint coloured cord. I can't wait to photograph these all for my etsy shop - I just need to come up with a theme to make my new look shop cohesive and then sort out the props - so it could be a while before I actually get around to listing them!