FALL GIVEAWAY!!

This Fall i am giving away not ONE, not TWO,but THREE necklaces!

I am giving away three beautiful necklaces Away to three lucky winners this Fall : Tanzanite blue Quartz trillion necklace in Sterling silver ,  Carnelian and Amethyst necklace in gold filled and lastly a Genuine Amethyst trillion necklace in gold filled!

What you have to do to get a chance of being new owner of one of these three beautiful necklace

JUST...

*Check out either www.inayaazjewellry.mysupadupa.com OR www.inayaaz.etsy.com and leave a comment below listing your favorite item.
*Become a public follower http://inayaaz.blogspot.ca/ of via Google.
* LIKE MY FAN-PAGE : https://www.facebook.com/Inayaaz
* LIKE AND SHARE THIS POST ON YOUR WALL(Don't forget to leave a link to your post!)
* WRITE IN FEW WORDS WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT FALL SEASON?

**MOST IMPORTANTLY: Don't forget to leave your E-MAIL address in your comment(s), so we can contact you if you win!!(feel free to send me a private message on Facebook or Etsy if you don't wish to share you email publicly **

Three lucky Winners will get ONE of these beautiful necklaces I will announce the result on September 28th! 
Good luck and enjoy!

Tips for Photographing

Now before i get into this i would like to say i am no expert here ..far from it  in fact but  when you plan to sell your wares online, excellent pictures are not just nice, they are imperative!
My jewelry is going to be mixed with thousands of other pieces on Etsy and it needs to stand out! People can not really see or touch your item so Photos must communicate an item's beauty and quality
So as much as i would want to just spend all my time creating i often spend more time behind the camera than i do making jewelry..
I have seen alot of improvement over time which is what has kept me going..if you don't believe me see for yourself:

Before

After

Now Of-course i know there is still room for improvement in my photography

but it has gotten much better

So here is what i did :

BUY A GOOD CAMERA

i know there are many people out there who will say you can work with a point and shoot camera but i am not one of them!The before picture was taken with one and as you can see its dull in the same background same light it doesn't capture the beauty of the stone or the facet's.

So Number one would be get a Good Camera and by that i mean a DSLR...i know i know prices are steep but if you r serious about selling online its a must!

NEXT:

KNOW YOUR CAMERA

I cant tell you what a panic i had when i first got my DSLR and my picture Quality remained the same!So that brought me the next most important thing which is to know my camera which of course means reading the camera manual. Boring, I know, but it’s worth it, as you need to know what your camera will and won’t do. There are lots of settings and terms, which can be confusing, but your manual will help with this. Visit the website of the manufacturer and also YouTube, as many manufacturers and photographers offer free online tutorials.You must learn terms like Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO.

Here are some excellent sources:

 Digital Photography Tips for Beginners from Digital-photography-school.com

http://thomashawk.com/2006/04/10-tips-for-new-digital-slr.html.

These site offers a whole series of articles dedicated to walking a new photographer through the basics in layman’s language. 

And lastly:

LIGHTING 

Natural lighting will always be your best friend and given the choice between natural light and artificial i would always recommend natural. I know Natural Light can be unreliable but it is so easy to work with! You can use it to catch the different angles and facets and the best part is its completely free!

I know its alot of work but i do what i love ( Making Jewelry )and if that means sweating over a camera for hours at a stretch then Bring it On! ;)

Organizing your Jewelry

I can't believe it's been almost eight months since I started this blog. When I first wrote, we were looking forward to Christmas - now summer is almost finished..So much has happened in the few months its amazing.

Of course the biggest being the birth of my beautiful son:

Considering how i never thought of myself as very baby friendly i seem to have taken to motherhood very well!

Managing My Newly Opened Shop on Etsy with New mommy duties has definitely been a bit of a challenge but i think i'm doing pretty well considering I have managed grow my little shop to over 100 pieces!

Of course there are many many pieces which have yet to be photographed and edited lying on my table..

So with me making more and more items(hey what can i do when inspiration strikes?) and not getting the time photograph them there has been a lot of pile up on my craft table. In fact it has become so cluttered that its just not possible for me to work there any more..

I finally decided to start organizing and labeling my jewelry before it gets tarnished(esp sterling silver)

 So that's exactly what i am dong now :)

Wolaa!

 Every piece of jewelry hanging from its own jewelry card which i made from ready-to-use business cards .i got them from Staples -They make very easy to jewelry cards plus they prevent the chains from getting tangled up to each other..after i put the jewelry on to the cards i sealed them in zip lock bags to prevent tarnish  ans stack them up n my storage drawers ..EASY,Efficient and very Productive.Its a real space saver as well! 

i have more then 100 items neatly stacked an the drawer is not even half full!

What do you guys do think?

Please feel free to share any ideas you have or already use in organizing your jewelry!

MY ETSY SHOP

My Business cards are here!

I'm very excited.My Graphics for my business cards are finally done.A really close friend of mine is a computer wiz so I sent her some product photos and some notes on what kind of style and tone I wanted, and she nailed it!

She captured the elegant, feminine and classy look that I wanted and maintained a custom look by using my earrings.The business cards are just lovely and I can't wait to get them printed:

The featured earrings are something i made for a friend's wedding.She is getting married this winter and wanted something in ice blue winter frost tones.I used pear shaped Aqua Blue Chalcedony with dangles of Rock Quartz and micro faceted aquamarine all wrapped in sterling silver.

My friend had very little input on her jewellery, so it was a bit nerve-wracking Luckily, she loved it so i decided to take that as a good sign and use These for my business cards...

Now i just got to work on my banner....

It's All Coming Together..I think

So today I picked up a very large package from the post office. Recently I ordered a whole selection of display items for my jewellery.

My New Gemstone Order here is as well and just in time.Its so beautiful and colourful i want to keep it all for myself :P 


My Packaging is complete,display stands in place,my Business Cards are on the way and my price tags have arrived.
So now i have almost everything i need... The only thing missing is the shipment of my Gold filled chain which was due to arrive last week :-s
Which means I haven't yet made any necklaces...I have a feeling ill be missing my December Deadline......

Photography problems...:-s

Wonder, if there is any way that I could just make jewellery all day and someone else can photograph it, do my accounting and filing and generally take care of everything else to do with my business? 

Let me just say that I am no photographer. I never wanted to BE a photographer. However, when you plan to sell your wares online, excellent pictures are not just nice, they are imperative. My jewellery is going to be mixed in with thousands of other pieces on Etsy (why did I have to pick the most saturated category?) and they need to stand out. So often I spend more time behind the camera than I do making jewellery :-S

I have seen a lot of improvement though, which keeps me motivated....

Although i'm mostly working with natural light which can be pretty fickle..i take about 50 shots before i get 2 satisfying shots.
I have to say i have new found respect for photographers. It is a LOT of work (at least for me), and truly and art form in itself.I know how important photographs are to selling online, so I refuse to post any jewellery until my photos are up to snuff.
The other thing I spend an inordinate amount of time doing is sorting, deleting, editing and cropping.I think its time to invest in a light box,tripod and some really awesome lighting...
I wonder how i will explain these new cost to my husband:-s