Studio Quality Product Photography With a $12 Set Up Handmadeology’s resident product photography pro Mariano, has put together a $12 product photography set up that will help you achieve studio quality product photography . Anderson Soap Company is one of the most successful Etsy sellers with LOADS of sales! This photography demo uses his liquid soap as the photography example. I took this picture in my kitchen. Here’s what you’ll need for this product photography set up. 1. 2. 3. 4. This is one of those times when bigger is indeed better. Cut a flat panel from the box that is much bigger than the thing you want to photograph. 1. 2. 3. 4. Now you will need to redecorate your home a bit, move a table as close to a window as you can. Is your furniture high enough? Don’t let the neighbors watch. Put a long piece of aluminum foil on the table, I used the dull side up for this picture. Fold down the foil to have a clean edge. Use the card so the light coming in from the window bounces back to reach the bottle. Now you are ready to take a picture!
how to make a magic ring in crochet [video] Link easily to this tutorial in your patterns: www.planetjune.com/magicring My magic ring tutorial seems to have become pretty much the definitive photo guide that people link to in their crochet patterns, but it’s not enough for everyone. It’s taken a while, but the much-requested magic ring video tutorial is finally ready. Now, I know that 99% of my regular readers probably already know how to make a magic ring, but it may be worth your time to watch my video anyway – I have a special little tip that makes the technique much easier! If you’re new to crochet, let me explain that the magic ring (also known as an adjustable ring) is an essential technique for crocheting in the round when you want to avoid the hole in the middle that you see when you start with a slip knot and chain and work into the chain. If you make, or want to make, amigurumi, you need this technique! And now to the video tutorial (in right- and left-handed versions, of course): Magic Ring for Crochet (right-handed)
Zip-up Earbuds I love to have my music with me everywhere I go, but I hate the tangled mess my wires become when I toss them in my bag or pocket. Last night I whipped up a fun and functional solution by adding a zipper to my earbuds. This project took me around an hour to do (perfect for catching up on some t.v. from hulu.com). The first step is to pull the earbuds apart, to separate the wires all the way down to the plug. Next, take one side of your headphones and one side of the zipper tape and start stitching the wire into the tape. It’s as easy as that! Then unzip them to the length I want and put them on so much faster than having to untangle the mess!
How to make gift bags from newspaper When I bought something at a store recently, the clerk handed me my purchase in a bag made from a newspaper. I liked it very much and had to make some more—thus today's DIY recycled newspaper project: gift bags made from the Wall Street Journal. You can vary the dimensions, of course, but here's what I used to create a bag that's 5" tall, 4.5" wide, and 3" deep. Stack two sheets of newspaper on top of each other. This will be a two-ply bag for extra sturdiness. Cut out a rectangle that's 15.5" wide and 8.25" tall. Fold a flap 1.25" down from the top. Cut two pieces of cardstock or chipboard to 4.25" x 1", then glue them on the widest two panels just under the top fold. Put glue on the outside of the 0.5" tab and bring the left-most panel over to form the body of the bag, aligning the cut edge of the panel with the folded edge of the flap. Upend the bag so the 2" flap is now up. Put glue on both flaps and fold them inward to form the bottom of the bag.
Koala Bear Amigurumi I found a Koala Amigurumi Pattern in the Woman’s Day website and I have some off-white and gray organic cotton yarns on hand, so I made a pair of these small little stuffed koalas for my kids in reverse color. Some ideas to make it differently: 1. This adorable little koala is about 3-5″ tall only (depend on your yarn and the matching hook size), install a key ring on it’s head and turn it into a key chain, hang it to the bag’s zipper. 2. If we sew the limbs closer to the center of the body and insert 4 small strong magnets to the tip of each limb, you can make it “huggy” and hug on a tree branch or at the edge of your curtain or your pencil, ruler etc… 3. And, and…. instead of poly-fills, stuff beads into the body to weight it down and with the magnets of it limbs, it can be a cute memo holder on your desk too 4. Find the appropriate positions for the ears, approx at the center of the vertical cross section of the head, middle of the height. Lastly, stuff and sew the limbs to the body.
Our First Tutorial Lots of firsts around here at Team Awesome this week! Be sure to check out our first giveaway and enter to win the adorable owl bag sewed by Alicia! Following a fun dandee tutorial, I created little memory games that we are storing in handmade drawstring bags. Since I was making up a few more for friends, I thought I would put together a tutorial for the lined drawstring bags. You'll need: two coordinating fabrics coordinating thread a drawstring And that's it! For this size bag, start with a 10" by 5" piece of your outside fabric. Stitch a 1/4" seam allowance along the ends of your outside fabric. Then, fold the whole piece in half, squaring the ends of the lining fabric (as best you can given your novice cutting skills) and pin together. Stitch the sides, skipping your marked gap. Do not stitch all the way across. Once you have finished that, it's a good idea to clip your corners. Flip your piece out, through the gap you left in the lining fabric. And from the inside: Our First Tutorial
Paper Crave Amigurumi | Pattern | Baby Chick Amigurumi Remember Jenny And Teddy Etsy shop that I mentioned in my How-To Amigurumi tutorial? Jane, the girl behind the shop who sells amigurumi patterns and the finished dolls is here to teach us how to amigurumi a little cutie baby chicky. I heart it when Jane showed me the photo and can’t wait to share this easy pattern that she specially designed for Craft Passion with you. She used light weight acrylic yarn with a matching 1.25mm hook size to make this 3- 3 1/2″ little baby chick. You can always substitute with other yarn and a matching hook size (read here on how to choose a correct hook size for amigurumi). Jane has a personal blog under the same name “JennyAndTeddy” where she journals the amigurumi tips together with her amigurumi designing journey. Besides, Jane is so generous that she is going to giveaway one her finished doll : Lady Bug Sofia, designed and made by herself. Baby Chicky Amigurumi Crochet Pattern by jennyandteddy. Head: make 1 piece with your choice of yarn color.
tiny happy: shoulder bag tutorial Here's a rough pattern and guide for making a shoulder bag like one of these, as promised. These are really easy to make, and I always have so much fun choosing fabrics and buttons for them. I have to warn you however that i'm not very good at explaining things in words, so I hope you can understand my general meaning in these directions! Please email me if you need further instruction, and I'll be happy to help! Once you've drawn and cut out your pattern, cut two from your chosen bag fabric, and two from your lining fabric. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 9. 10. p.s. please email me a picture if you try this out because I'd love to see it!
Paper Filigree Snowflake Gallery I've switched over to using acid free paper and glue to make my paper filigree snowflake ornaments now. I figure there's no sense in putting this much work into something that might fall apart in a few years, and with practice, they're starting to get pretty enough that I'm planning to make quite a few of them. In my search for paper that will hold up over time, I was looking for archival quality paper, but there wasn't much available that wasn't too thick, or too yellow. I visited all sorts of art, craft, scrapbook, and office supply stores in my paper quest, but the pickings were pretty slim for archival paper in shades of silver and white, so I went with mostly acid free paper and will see how it holds up. There are a limited number of shapes you can make by pinching a curled sliver of paper, but I've found that looping the paper adds bunches of additional possibilities. I can't wait to find the time to experiment with more of them!