ETC Has Secrets!

Here is the entry from the ETC blog with all of the great information about the fun activity today. Check it out!!

ETC Has Secrets!

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Celebrate this rare 5th Monday of the month with the Etsy Texas Crafters, finding our Secrets!Our team mascot, Armadillo Tex, is hiding in several of our members’ shops…. Find him and purchase the item in which he is hiding, and you will receive a FREE gift as your reward!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26516432@N03/2616800663/in/pool-teametsytx

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ETC Secrets are only available from 12:01 am to 12:00 Monday, June 30th, Central Time (that’s 1:01am Monday to 1:00am Tuesday, Etsy Time).Each Secret in which Armadillo Tex’s picture appears will specify the free gift to be received with the purchase of that item. This will vary from shop to shop, and possibly between items in the same shop.There will be no more than 2 Secrets in each of the participating shops.
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ETC Members with Secrets this month include:

artbyjc.etsy.com Original paintings , painted on leaves , wood , paper , metal ,etc.
awphotography.etsy.com - Note cards and fine art prints.
bellalunacoffin.etsy.com - mixed media jewelry & accessories
cindyjoy.etsy.com - unique, handmade baby gear etsytexascrafters.etsy.com - ETC Team Shop, loaded with Texas goodies!

fabfrills.etsy.com — Unique handbags, sassy art dolls & other fab things!

friendlybanter.etsy.com – crocheted items

handmadewhimzy.etsy.com - unique jewelry, beaded bookmarks and decorative painting
kcknits.etsy.com -Handspun yarn, spinning batts and handknit items

killerbeedesigns.etsy.com - Killer Bee Designs: Purses, Business Card Holders, Artwork and More!

lavenderlizard.etsy.com - Crocheted Accesories, Scrubbies, Supplies & More!

mayzbeadz.etsy.com - Handmade Lampwork Beads miasophia.etsy.com – Handmade Glass Jewelry With a Little Fun Added
preciouslinks.etsy.com – “A memory in every link” custom jewelry
raevyn77.etsy.com – Simply Raevyn Beautiful Handmade Beaded Jewelry
serendipityrose.etsy.com - Handcrafted Jewelry and Beaded Gifts
simplycynful.etsy.com - Custom Bows, Headbands, Socks, Flip Flops, & Tutus
simplyraevyn.etsy.com – hand beaded jewelry

sococreative.etsy.com - Stylish, decorative prints of original digital artwork

sophiecls.etsy.com - SubEarthan Cottage-Soaps, jewelry, and other unique gifts.

SweetWolf.etsy.com - Funky Handmade goodies for you and your home thepaperelephant.etsy.com - Greeting cards, paper favors, promo items, and supplies

thistlecraft.etsy.com - Handpainted glass & window clings, CD collage cards, crochet scarves, & other fun stuff

UltraTrixie.etsy.com - random whatnots and other interesting stuff.

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http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=tag_title_all&search_query=etcsecrets

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♥ Please join our mailing list & receive our monthly newsletter to hear about that month’s sales & other events, plus get a special “newsletter-only” coupon valid on purchases from our team shop. Join via our team blog at http://www.etsytx.org/wordpress

♥ To find more items by ETC members, search for our team tag of TeamEtsyTxhttp://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=tag_title_all&search_query=teametsytx

♥ Interested in joining ETC? Submit your information via our website at http://www.etsytx.org/contact.html (membership requests are processed once a week)

Vernazza, Italy

Italy1WM, originally uploaded by Annette98.

This is by far my most popular picture on Etsy and on Flickr. I am doing a test post from Flickr for blogging my images directly...I thought I would use this one because I really like it.

Informative Blogging Topics

I have been thinking about what I could possibly post up here that would not make me feel like I am just talking about myself all of the time. The ideas that came into my mind are similar to the how-tos that I have listed below. I wrote those because I hoped they would be helpful to people. Now, I am trying to figure out what other topics might be helpful.

Here is what I have thought of so far:

* Gimp Tutorials
- Basics of resizing images
- Changing the background color
- Basic image enhancements
* Blogging
- How to add widgets
- How to use Google Analytics or other statistical information to track blog hits
- Suggestions for promoting your blog

Do you have any other suggestions? Leave me a comment and let me know what you would like to learn about!

Texas Sunflowers

Our trip to the Hill Country of Texas for the family reunion last weekend was a lot of fun. While were were driving on Hwy 90 west of San Antonio, we came across a beautiful field of sunflowers. Of course, I had to stop for a quick little photo shoot. I think the pictures came out great. I put them together as a notecard set in my shop. Here are my favorite pictures that I got:

ETC Design Challenge - All Things Texas

Here is the post from the ETC blog on today's activity:

As part of our team’s Spend Your Mondays with ETC program, we would like to take today to show off interpretations of our monthly Design Challenge. This month’s theme was All Things Texas!

Team members who accepted this Design Challenge and listed items pertaining to this month’s theme include the following:

EtsyTexasCrafters - ETC Team Shop, loaded with Texas Goodies

AmberCripe - Baby Wipes Cases and More
AngelsAndOutlaws - A Place for the Romantic Cowgirl in Us All
ApacheMoon - Unique & Custom Silver Jewelry for a Joyous Spirit
AWPhotography - Cards & Prints from Original Photography
CindyJoy - Unique, High Quality, Stylish Baby Gear
ElephantDreams - Eclectic Artful Photos: Color, Black-White, Unique
FindersKeepersThings - Inspired Charms, Repurposed Jewelry & Original Art
GreerDesign - Whimsical Pet & Wildlife Art
HandmadeWhimzy - Unique Jewelry, Beaded Bookmarks, Painted Items
LavenderLizard - Crocheted accessories, scrubbies, and more
LindaGJ - Whimsical Sculptures & Prints
PreciousLinks - One-Of-A-Kind Custom Jewelry, & Doggie Jewelry Too
SimplyCynful - Custom Bows, Headbands, Socks, Flip Flops, & Tutus
SweetWolf - Funky Handmade Accessories for You and Your Home
Thistlecraft - Handpainted glass & window clings, CD collage cards, crochet scarves, & other fun stuff
TiddlyInks - Original Watercolors of Whimsical Animals & Kids

Here are just a few of our Design Challenge Creations

Note Card Set

I finally decided to list some of my note cards as a set. I had them listed individually for $2 each and decided to go for a set of 6 for $10. I chose 6 of my favorite flower pictures - they are very bright and happy. Anyone who buys it is free to choose whatever images they prefer or multiples of the same image. Here are the ones that I chose:

* Floating Flowers

* Coral Tree in the Sky


* Orange Flowers

* Daisies

* Lotus Flower


* Hyde Park Tulips

Experimenting with Gimp

Inspired by a question on the Etsy forums, I decided to do a quick experiment to see what kind of pop art-ish images I could create in Gimp. It is fun to be inspired to play around a bit in the middle of the night when I really should be in bed.

My favorite result was with my Celtic cross picture from Ireland, because it is a very simple subject:



Here are the results (using my current favorite flower photo):

And here of Wes and me in Scotland last year:

To do this, I just upped the contrast and played with the Hue-Saturation.

How to use a blog reader

I love to read lots of blogs - everything from friends, friends of friends, people I find through Etsy, random blogs I find. For a while, I would just go through each of them every day or so and see if something new had been posted. The more blogs I found, the more time consuming this because. Also, there are a lot of people who blog very irregularly so I would stop looking and miss new fun posts.

Recently, I discovered Google Reader. This is a great way to compile and subscribe to all of the blogs that you read and see when something new is posted. I know there are a lot of other options out there to do this as well.

If you would like to start using this, here are the steps that I followed (it is so easy)!

1. In Gmail or Google, click on Reader to get set up and log in.

2. On any blog that you see, just click on Subscribe. In Blogspot, at the bottom is will say "Subscribe: Posts (Atom)". Then, follow the on-screen instructions.

That's it - you are set up. Now, you just need to log in to reader to see what is new! I have my blogs organized by topic - Friends, Family, Etsy, etc. This seems to work well for me.

Feel free to test it out by subscribing to my blog!

Adding Pictures to Your Blog Header

I will start out letting you know, for the record, that I came up with this approach on my own by trial and error and that there is quite likely a better way to pimp your blog out on the internet somewhere. That said, I like the way it turned out and I like the flexibility to put up a picture that I like without bringing in all the other stuff that would come with a whole new template.

These instructions are based on the standard "Rounders" template in Blogger. It should work with any standard template that has a solid header across the top. In Dots, for example, the header is only on the side bar so this approach would not work.

Step 1: Upload whatever picture you would like to use to the internet. For this, I found the easiest place was on Picasa - just click Photos at the top of your gmail page or go to http://picasaweb.google.com/home.

Step 2: Open your blog, sign in, and click Customize in the top right corner. Under Layout, click "Edit HTML".

Step 3: Do not let all the HTML junk here intimidate you. You can ignore most of it - you are looking for one specific item. Scroll down until you see this:


/* Blog Header
----------------------------------------------- */
#header-wrapper {
background:$titleBgColor url("http://www.blogblog.com/rounders3/corners_cap_top.gif") no-repeat $startSide top;
margin-top:22px;
margin-$endSide:0;
margin-bottom:0;
margin-$startSide:0;
padding-top:8px;
padding-$endSide:0;
padding-bottom:0;
padding-$startSide:0;
color:$titleTextColor;
}

You will be replacing the italicized link with a link to your picture.

Step 4: Go back into Picasa, click on your uploaded photo and click "Link to this Photo". Select size Large.
Step 5: Select the HTML to embed in website. Copy and Paste it over only the italicized part of the above. It will look like this:

background:$titleBgColor url(< href="http://picasaweb.google.com/[username]/[folder]/ photo?authkey=CtiTjzgr4aQ#5213797577318411122">
< src =""http://lh4.ggpht.com/[username]/
SFshRc7bK3I/AAAAAAAABZI/5PetUjBddcc/s800/[image].JPG"
/>) no-repeat $startSide top;
margin-top:22px;

Step 6: Delete only the RED portion of the above. Now it will look like this:

background:$titleBgColor url("http://lh4.ggpht.com/[username]/SFshRc7bK3I/AAAAAAAABZI/
5PetUjBddcc/s800/[image].JPG") no-repeat $startSide top;
margin-top:22px;

Step 7: Click Preview. Your blog should open in a new window and you should now see your image in the header. However, it might still be too small. You can adjust the height if needed (see Step 8). If you are happy with the way it looks now, click Save Template and you are finished.

Step 8: To adjust the height of the image, just enter the height in pixels that you would like after the semicolon like this (300 pixels for example):

background:$titleBgColor url("http://lh4.ggpht.com/[username]/
SFshRc7bK3I/AAAAAAAABZI/5PetUjBddcc/s800/[image].JPG") no-repeat $startSide top;
height: 300px;
margin-top:22px;

Step 9: Click Preview again to see how the height looks. You can go back and adjust Step 8 until it looks like you want it to. When you are happy with it, click Save Template and you are done.

Good luck! I know this may seem a bit complicated if you have not programmed in HTML before, but if you find the relevant section and only adjust these specific items then it will be easy to do.

Blog revamp

Today I decided to play around with the HTML on my blog layout. I found that I could add my own images to the header and sidebar sections. You will see my Hyde Park tulips peaking out at the top of the header and the ceiling from the Grand Lisboa Casino in Macao over to the right. I am working on finding something more than boring gray for the background, but have not had much luck yet. If you are reading this and the background is a more interesting color, I have had success. If not, then, well, not. Maybe I will be able to find a how-to on the internet somewhere.

It has been a lot of fun digging into the HTML for the template and trying to figure out what the programmers were doing and how I can adjust it without breaking it. If you are interested in learning how to do the same thing, just let me know and I will be happy to provide a tutorial.

My first ad

I found an offer for 11 days of free ad space in the Etsy forum and I took it. Please check out my ad on this blog and let me know what you think!

Hyde Park Tulips

When I was visiting Wes in London last April, I spent a relaxing morning wandering around in Hyde Park and surrounding areas of London. I had a lot of time to kill while Wes was in class. The spring weather was great and I got to take some great pictures of the beautiful flowers they had out in the landscaping.

Off for the weekend...

We are heading over the Hill Country to attend a family reunion for my husband's mother's family. I am hoping there will be good weather so that I can get some nice pictures. It is beautiful out there! With any luck, you will see some new Texas pictures coming soon.

This is a lot of work!

As I am coming to the end of my first week of having an Etsy shop, I realize just how much work this is! There are so many things to think of - what pictures to use for my listings, what kind of prints, what kind of cards to use, how to price things effectively. Once I make those decisions, it is how to package, how to ship, how to promote the store so people see what I am doing. Then, there is all the time that I need to spend making sure the photos look right, posting the images and writing the listing, ordering the prints so that I have my inventory built up for what is listed. Not to mention the time spent in the Forums trying to keep up the visibility of my shop and learn the ropes. Whew!

In Etsy, I feel like a very small, very unfamiliar fish in a big giant pond. I guess most people must feel like this in the beginning. I am sure I will get the hang of it eventually...fortunately I have great support from my husband and my sister.

Wish me luck!!

Coral Tree in the Sky

This picture is very simple, but I love it. In the picture itself, I enjoy the color of the sky and the unique flowers of the coral tree. I think this tree is native to Australia, but we were in Carlsbad, California when this picture was taken.

The other reason that I love the picture is for what it reminds me of, although this may not mean much to anyone else. Wes and I were in California in March 2005 when he took me to San Diego for a surprise weekend trip. We were supposed to be spending the week at my parents house and he booked the flight from there! It was on this trip that he proposed (and I accepted) - he did a great job and it was very sweet. All of the pictures from the trip will always have a special place in my heart, despite all the other great places we have been together since then.

Vernazza - Cinque Terra, Italy

I thought it might be nice to move out of Asia and explore some of the other places we have visited. Last year for Easter, Wes and I traveled to Italy - we went hiking in the Cinque Terra for the first few days and then went to Florence and Pisa. The Cinque Terra are a series of 5 small villages along the Mediterranean coast of northern Italy (check wikipedia for more info). My sister and I spent time there years ago as well. It is a beautiful place!

This picture was taken on the morning of our last day in town. We got up early so that we could do a 2 hour hike before it was time to check out of our room. It was nice to be out when it was not too crowded. Easter was a busy time in Italy.

On a side note, this region is known for its pesto. We enjoyed all kinds of things - pesto pizza, pesto gnocci, pesto pasta...thinking of it makes me hungry.

My first sale!

Someone wonderful has purchased 4 lovely photo note cards from my shop. I will be shipping them out soon. Hopefully, the momentum will continue. I will not let my hopes get up too high, though...we will just have to see how it goes.

Glass Ceiling

This is the ceiling in the lobby of the Bellagio Las Vegas. The whole place is nicely decorated, but it is important to remember to look up so that you don't miss the best part. It is fun to watch people standing around and pointing up when they first arrive.

Rainbow at Sunset

This bright red shot just goes to show that good can come out of what was otherwise not a great day. To keep a long story short, Wes and I had rented a car and were driving around the south island of New Zealand for about 10 days in January 2006. We had had pretty good weather most of the time and I was looking forward to the drive on our second to last day because this took us through the middle of the island - the guide book showed pictures of beautiful mountains reflected in stunning, glassy lakes. Just our luck - that day it rained and rained and rained - all you could see were clouds. No glassy lakes. No mountains at all. To top off the end of the drive, it was getting late and we were about to run out of gas when we realized the gas stations in New Zealand close. No 24-hour pay-at-the-pump options were jumping out at us and we started to worry where we were going to make it to our destination. Arriving in town on fumes, we were able to buy gas about 5 minutes before the last station closed. We checked into our hotel and then were off in the rain to find dinner.

Just as we were sitting down to eat, the rain let up and a bright rainbow could be seen over the water in the setting sun. It cast a red glow over the whole place. Everyone in the restaurant was getting up to take a look. Naturally, I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures. I was not sure it would capture the light correctly, but in the end it turned out alright. A nice end to the day.

Orange Flowers in Singapore

Most of the time, pictures do not have a dramatic story behind them but just result from finding a small slice of beauty in everyday life. This is one of those pictures, and I have many many more with a similar background. In this particular case, Wes and I were walking through Singapore in October of last year. It is a very urban city, much like Hong Kong, but there was a good amount of landscaping to keep things looking nice. These orange flowers were a bush in the landscaping just up the road from the statue of Raffles. It caught my eye so I had to stop and take a photo.

Hong Kong Bird Market

While Wes and I were living in Hong Kong, we spent most of our time on Hong Kong Island - that is where we lived, where I worked and where Wes went to school. We would often take Saturday trips to Kowloon, on the other side of Victoria Harbor, for shopping or just a little walking tour. One of our favorite places to visit, and to bring friends who came to see us, was the Bird Market. Because of the tiny apartments that most people in Hong Kong have, there is not a lot of room for pets. So, birds are a very popular pet for people to keep. The men at the market showed how much they loved their birds by bringing them out for a walk in small cages and often talking to them. It was not uncommon to see groups of men together with their pet birds, just passing the time on the weekend while the birds got some fresh air. The markets sold all kinds of birds, cages, and accessories. They even had live crickets to feed the larger birds. This picture is of one of the cages of birds waiting to be purchased. I felt like the one bird in the middle was looking at me as the calm in the middle of a hive of bird activity.

Faces of Bayon

The Bayon temple, built around the year 1200, is close to Angkor Wat outside of Siem Reap, Cambodia. The most significant feature of the Bayon are the face towers that dominate the complex. This is a close up of one of the large faces there. It is not completely clear what expression they were trying for 800 years ago, but it looks to me like he is smiling just a little bit.

Ancient Angkor

As promised, I have added some of our Cambodia trip pictures to the shop, as well as on flickr. I went with sepia on these because I think it best captured the feel of the place. I have also included the color versions above so that you can compare!

Oma's Garden

My grandmother turned 104 last month and is still doing very well. She has always loved gardening, a passion that was strongly picked up by my mother and that my sister and I are trying to carry on. Even though she has people come care for the garden these days (under supervision, of course), the garden still reflects her influence. When I was visiting there in June of last year, the garden still looked beautiful even though the winter was coming on and there was a serious drought. I was impressed by the wide variety of blooms that were there - there are more photos to come in this series!

Floating Flowers Note Card

This photo has a much less inspiring history. For Chinese New Year in 2007, Wes and I went to Siem Reap, Cambodia, to visit Angkor Wat and the surrounding temple complex. It was a wonderful trip - I am sure many of the photographs will be here soon. In our hotel's restaurant, there was a large container of floating flowers the entire time we were there. I could not say with certainty what they are, but I thought they looked pretty neat so I took this photo on our last day there.

Our first listing

The first picture I chose to put up on the shop is of a lotus flower in the garden of a monastery outside of Hue, Vietnam in September 2007. We visited the monastery after spending the day on a motor bike tour of the countryside surrounding Hue. The weather was perfect and the pond full of lotus flowers was a center point of the tranquil garden. On the way to the garden, we passed by young apprentice monks doing their studies inside.

I am not sure what thoughts this image inspires in you, but for me it conjures memories of that day and the feeling of peace and tranquility of the quiet garden.

We have launched!

I have started this blog to chronicle my efforts in the new etsy store (AWPhotography.etsy.com) that I set up to share some of the pictures that we have collected over the past few years. So far, Wes and I have enjoyed going through the pictures together to choose the ones that we like the best. As of today, we have our first official listing. I plan to put up a little back story for the pictures that end up in an item for the shop. We hope it goes well!!

Feel free to add your comments on how you think we are doing or if there are any kinds of photos you are looking for.