I hope all of you had a happy 4th. We certainly did here. The neighborhood was filled with fireworks. We cooked out, we played outside, we did all things 4th! Thank you to all of those that have served our country. I would especially like to thank my husband and all he does for this nation.
Awhile back, you may remember my big project going on behind the scenes. The final results are really close to being released. I’m a contributing author in One Yard Wonders! It is a great craft book filled with many projects. To kick off hype for the book, Storey Publishing is running a sweepstakes. You don’t want to miss your chance to win a year of fabric! So, head on over there and enter!
You can also pre-order the book at Amazon. If you pre-order, you get a discounted price. You really don’t want to miss the discount. This is going to be one of the biggest craft books of the season!
Remember this picture below? This is a sneak peak at the project I have in the book.
I didn’t have any questions last week, so I’ll answer one that I’ve been asked before. What kind of camera do you own?
I have a Canon 20D. I’ve had it for quite some time now. I got it when it was first on the market. It isn’t state of the art anymore, but it gets that job done!
I’ve heard complaints about the weight of it, but I personally don’t have a problem with it. The weight issues are outweighed by the features. I’ve 
always had a canon camera and probably always will. I love them, and my lenses will just transfer from one body to the next.
I have two lenses right now. I’m saving up to get a telephoto. I really need one. Hopefully, by Christmas I’ll have one! The two lenses I have are the zoom that came with the camera 18-55mm and the 50mm lense that I purchased. The 50 is what I use most of the time. It has a 1.8 aperture. It works really well for most of the shooting that I do. It does extremely well in low light situations.
I’ve also been asked if I’ve taken any photography classes. The answer is no. I’m self-taught. That’s why not all of my photos look really great 
I’m still learning. I would love to take a class in the future. I’ve read books, my camera manual, websites, and experimented a lot. Experimentation really is the key!
I have a background stand and a large roll of white paper backdrop. You’ve seen pictures that I’ve taken with this background. The skants samples are the best with it. I love white backgrounds, but there are so many paper and muslin colors to choose from out there. Most of the time, though, I just find a nice looking spot and snap the shots.
I think clothing looks better modeled, but sometimes you just have to use a dummy or hanger. Try not to pose your subjects just let the natural happen. I never pose Miss Sid or Conner…I just let them react to the environment and I end up with great end results.
I have a lighting kit, but I rarely use it. I much prefer to use natural lighting. If I’m taking pro looking shots, I will pull out my fold up reflector to get the sun on dark parts of a subject, but most times I just find a well lit spot a shoot. Lighting is the most important element to taking great shots. Full on sun is way too harsh for good photos. You need to find a bright spot with diffused lighting like a well lit room or a front porch. I took the skants shots in my garage with the door up. This worked out really well.
I do have some help when my photos don’t turn out their best. You can salvage them with a program like Photoshop. I use Photoshop all of the time. It really is a powerful program that can help make good photos great!
For a look at my best work, go to: http://honeypilar.eyefetch.com or http://www.flickr.com/photos/wondermommy/.
I’m not an expert at Photography, but this is just how I take my pictures. I hope it helps some of you out there.
If you have any questions you want answered, leave them in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer them next week.
I want to introduce you to a very talented artist, Susannah of Art Nest. You may remember my post about my recent purchase from her shop. I just had to ask her to do an interview for us, and she was gracious enough to comply. I highly, highly recommend visiting her shop…you will not be disappointed!
1) Introduce Yourself.
Bonjour!
My name is Susannah and I’m the artist behind Art Nest. I’m married to my high school sweet heart, we have three children ages seven, five, and two. Aside from working on art, I help my mother run an eatery in our quirky southern town, and just recently have been accepted into nursing school.
2)How long have you been crafting?
I have always had creative tendencies. I’ve been crafting ’seriously’ for two years. I bought a starter sewing machine 2 years ago at Wal-Mart for $42.00 and I am still using it today. On the evening the sewing machine came home, I sat at the dining room table with Wendy Mullin’s Sew U at my side and just stared at the machine. This happened every night for a week. I’m still not sure what I was afraid of!
3)What is your favorite craft?
Ah, this is a trick question I think! I’ve tried to incorporate all of my crafts so that there is an element of each one in everything I do. I will list, in no particular order: sewing, block printing and painting. I like to work on everything all at once – My messy studio reflects my crafting mood swings!
4)When did you decide to go into business?
My cousin and best friend, Sarah (www.sarahridgley.etsy.com), encouraged me to open an Etsy shop. She showed me around and answered any questions I had. Now that I am comfortable with my online shop, I really enjoy helping some of my friends who are new to Etsy. I’ve tried Big Cartel and Ebay, but I really fit in with Etsy.
5)Where did the inspiration come from that sparked the pincushion ring?
The inspiration for my pincushion rings came out of need. As I sat at my machine, I would pull out my pins and then have to search for my pincushion that was usually on the opposite side of the desk or buried under a sea of fabric. This was so irritating to me that I started sketching ideas for a pincushion that would attach to my machine. One idea led to another, and I started sketching ideas for the pincushion rings. I knew I wanted to use fabrics that made me happy and I had tons of wool felt in stock. The whole thing just happened, like magic!
I was completely uninfluenced as to how pincushion rings should look, materials to use, or if I was making them ‘right or wrong‘. Now, I’m not the first person to create pincushion rings, but I will say that I’ve never seen any others like mine. Art Nest’s pincushion rings are truly unique and one of a kind!
6)Do you have any future plans that you would like to share for your business?
I am slowly working on some sewing patterns for the shop and am writing and sketching ideas for a book that I would love to have published. You will find some new items at Art Nest such as my needle nests, wristlets, and a fawn stuffie pattern.
I would also like to add that I am very active on Etsy. I visit the forums and chat rooms and try to highlight some of my favorite shops on Twitter everyday (www.twitter.com/artnest). I strive to take the best pictures I can and it’s important to me that all my items have the Art Nest feel. I’ve also spent some money advertising on popular blogs. Advertising added to the traffic flow of my shop. I would recommend Kathleen’s Grosgrain blog (www.grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com) for fairly inexpensive advertising. You will get lots of bang for your buck!
I also blog and have recently joined the Purl Beehive. Come visit me there: www.anartnest.squarespace.com
7) Are you having any specials or giveaways that you would like to tell us about?
I am thankful for Mellissa for asking me to do this interview and I would like to offer her readers 10% off their purchase* at Art Nest until end of July. In your notes to seller, please type: wonder mommy .
*You will need to wait for me to invoice you so that you can get your 10% off. If you pay right away, I cannot change the price!!!
Thank you very much for doing this interview. I really appreciate all of your time and effort. It was nice getting to know more about you and your shop!
When my daughter was first born, I attended a craft festival and had a booth. I made a bunch of items to fill it. I kept all of the items that didn’t sell, including this pillowcase dress. I’ve been waiting and waiting and now it finally fits. It is perfect for all of this hot weather we’ve been having. Pillowcase dresses were one of the first things that I learned to sew, and I haven’t really sewn any in quite awhile. I’m so glad that I still had this one. Sid looks adorable in it. It is has cute little duckies stitched across the bottom. Hopefully, she’ll get a lot of wear out of it this year as a dress and next as a top.
