My 101 List

My 1001 Day Project ends on Friday, October 1, 2010 in .

• Main Goal
• Do something towards my goals every week (1/104)
• Cooking
• Catalog all my stray recipes
• Grow an herb garden
• Grow an organic garden in a pot
• Learn to cook fish
• Learn to cook flan
• Learn to cook my dad's garlic chicken
• Learn to cook pastelles
• Learn to cook piononos
• Declutter
• Clean out garage
• Declutter house
• Photograph and post at least 10 ebay or craigslist items for destashing 1x month (1/34)
• Photograph and post at least 10 supply items for destashing 1x month (2/34)
• Scan and shred all household documents
• Financial
• Create a budget
• Establish a $1000 emergency fund
• Inventory household items for insurance purposes
• Pay off all credit cards
• Health
• Establish an exercise habit
• Get hair trimmed 3x year (1/9)
• Get a real hairstyle…and not just a trim
• Grow my Kickboxing skills
• Lose 80 pounds
• Plan my meals out and shop for them 1x week (1/143)
• Start mountain biking again
• Start rollerblading again
• Test for brown belt
• Visit dentist 2x year (2/6)
• Household
• Buy/make non-disposable shopping bags
• Finish our living room curtains
• Fold laundry 1x quarter (4/12)
• Landscape yard 2x year (0/6)
• Paint our bedroom
• Setup memory board/mirror display in living room
• Vaccuum house 1x week (0/143)
• Wax truck 2x year (0/6)
• Jewelry
• Buy a tumbler and shot
• Establish a blogging schedule for A Pretty Rock
• Learn Chinese knotting
• Learn silver wire fusing
• Pay off A Pretty Rock debt
• Redesign website
• Submit website for write up to 4 blogs 1x month (3/34)
• Knowledge
• Learn to type Spanish language characters on keyboard
• Read 3 books in Spanish (0/3)
• Read Boriquas: Influential Puerto Rican Writings -- An Anthology
• Refresh my Arabic language knowledge
• Loving my dog
• Brush Snickers 1x week (0/143)
• Take Snickers for walk around block 5x week (0/143)
• Personal
• Create a family tree book
• Create an "in event of our deaths" list for both our moms
• Help our mom's fill out their own lists (0/2)
• Give blood (hate needles)
• Have a baby (again...hate needles...and pain)
• Create a book from my Grateful 365 project
• Take my mom to see The Nutcracker
• Recreational
• Attend a USPS dead letter auction
• Create website for my WoW guild
• Create wedding scrapbook (been 9 years…about time!)
• Finish baby blanket cross-stitch (started for my godson who is now 2)
• Go hiking in the Appalachians (I live so close!)
• Go horseback riding
• Learn how to handbind a book
• Learn to alter/customize clothing for myself
• Learn to rock climb
• Learn to snowboard
• Participate in project 365
• Purchase a dSLR
• Read all the Chronicles of Narnia books
• Read my lapsed comic book series
• Visit a corn maze
• Wear a costume to DragonCon
• Relationships
• Buy/make everyone's Christmas gifts before November each year (0/3)
• Host get-together 3x year (1/9)
• Keep track of birthdays and anniversaries (and addresses) and send a card on each one.
• Write thank you notes every time I receive a gift
• Spiritual
• Go on a missions trip
• Memorize a bible verse 1x month (1/34)
• Read bible 5x week (2/143)
• Travel
• Go back home to Puerto Rico with husband
• Take Jason to La Palguera
• Visit St. Thomas/Virgin Islands
• Visit New York
• Go to the top of the Empire State Building
• Go to the top of the Statue of Liberty
• See a musical on Broadway
• Visit Europe
• Visit Las Vegas
• Take a weekend getaway with my husband 1x year (0/3)
• Work
• Back up my computers 1x week (0/143)
• Create a program to serve a useful purpose for others
• Grow my business so my husband can stay home and work with me
• Join a networking group
• Learn a new programming language 1x year (0/3)
• Learn to expertly analyze web traffic tracking results
• Organize files on computers (0/3)
• Read a technical book 4x year (1/12)
• Setup landing pages for all my registered domain names
• Update paperwork for taxes 4x year (0/12)
• Write a blog post 1x week for Turtletopia (2/143)
• Write a blog post 1x week for YazminMedia (1/143)

Etsy Blogger's Carnival: My Photography Setup · May 23, 08:37 PM

One of the questions I get a lot is how do I go about taking pictures for my jewelry. A while ago I wrote this reply that I felt was great to share with you. It also turns out that it fits the theme for this week’s EtsyBlogger’s Street Team topic, so let me get to it.

My camera equipment is very simple. I am currently using a mid-level camera, the Canon PowerShot A620. It’s an easy to use camera, but it has a decent macro feature. The only time it seems to have some trouble is when it’s photographing red items, but there are definitely workarounds to that.

My setup is very simple as well:

• a rubbermaid tub
• interfacing
• 3 clamp lamps with daytime bulbs
• background paper

I’ve basically taken the Rubbermaid tub and put it on its side. (Any frosted white plastic container large enough to hold your items in will do.) Then, I wrapped the outside of the tub with the interfacing. (You can get this at any sewing store.) I then clipped the lamps to both sides and the top of the tub so that the lights shine through the interfacing and the tub. The interfacing and the frosted-ness of the tub help to diffuse some of the direct light that results in harsh shadows.

Inside the container, you will want to lay out you background paper so that it is covering the back and the bottom of the tub. One continuous piece of paper works best, however, you can use two connected pieces and then Photoshop the connection crease out of the paper in later processing.

That’s it! I leave this setup in my spare bedroom and then I can photograph at any time when the mood strikes, rain or shine!

I find that a tripod is an absolute must, especially if you have plans of taking close-ups of your product. A tripod keeps your image sharp and removes the possibility of fuzziness from shaking. I think tighter crops of an item are really nice additional shots that help sell a product. (One of the many things I will be adding to my website after I work on a redesign early next year.)

Most of the time I don’t do post processing on my photos, aside from resizing and cropping the shots. However, when I do have to work on them, I generally process levels and then leave it at that. You can make your photos pop with just a small adjustment to the levels. Here is a tutorial on adjusting levels in Photshop.

Aside from that, it’s just a matter of practice. Trying different things to find your photography voice is the only way you will end up with the results you want. That is, aside from hiring a professional photographer like TS Harrington (who, by the way, if you do throw in the towel, does some fantastic product photography with live models!)

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