Book

My last 2 days have been filled with putting together a book of my jewelry. What an exhausting task! A few weeks ago, I was alerted to an offer to get a free, 20 page, hardcover photo book from Snapfish ($29.99 value). The original deadline to order this book was last Saturday, however due to the overwhelming demand they extended it until yesterday. So all week I was trying to think of someone I could use it as a gift for. Hmmmm, I already make copies of my nephew's scrapbook pages for my future sister-in-law for her own book. I keep a scrapbook updated for my Mom of things we do together. All the other pictures I have are of my husband and my dogs - who would want those??? It's too late to try to have people send me pictures of all the grandkids. I truly thought this amazing offer was going to go to waste. But wait! Why don't I make a book about my jewelry! I haven't updated my stock/collection for quite some time. Back when I first started, and before digital cameras were the norm, I would take pictures of my pieces and not know how they would turn out until I got them developed. They are all pasted into a binder with page protectors that I would pull out and show at people's request. So this seemed the perfect time, especially since a new store has asked to see pictures of my work.

I wanted to take the pictures with natural light as much as I could so that provided some time limits. I borrowed a mannequin from my work's company store (also borrowed this mannequin for my art fair this past summer - I just need to break down and buy one). I also thought of all my hand-me-down or garage sale wood tables I could use that have distressed tops (one even has a crackled leather top). I pulled out books, trays, peacock statues, etc... all to use as props. It was very time consuming trying to decide how to arrange each piece, thinking about which pieces needed close up shots and which would be fine without. Once I had all of my completed jewelry logged, I rushed to complete a few more pieces in the studio and fit those in too. Whew. When I sat down last night to actually put the book together, there are about a gazillion configurations for each page. There are all kinds of backgrounds and layouts for 2 photos, 3 photos, 4 photos, text or no text etc... I went simple and just had a white background on each page. Once I got rolling, I realized not all my work was going to fit into this book so I had to narrow it down. It is a mix of both my personal collection and pieces that are for sale. I am very happy with how it turned out and I think it is a good representation of what I can do. I can't wait to get it!

Needless to say, my house has been neglected. Things were strewn all over the place during the "photo shoot" since I was working on a deadline of sorts. Today I am slowly putting things away, listing a few things on Etsy and plan to do some relaxing. Even though this will be a short work week, it will still be busy with an Art Center Board Meeting and school. My house is in serious need of dusting and having the floors cleaned. While I am anxious to try my new lavender floor cleaning solution, I think I might put that off until the long holiday weekend. It makes sense to take Fall/Thanksgiving decorations down and then clean before Christmas decorations go up, right? That is what I am telling myself.

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