New Bookmark

Here's my new bookmark :)
It's made of brown leather and imprinted with a gear pattern. At the top of the bookmark is a key cutout with two chains attached to it. A lock and gear dangle from the ends of the chains.
You can find it in my Etsy store here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/167419721/steampunk-leather-bookmark-brown-mini?ref=shop_home_active

Yesterday I just made my first purchase from Etsy! I figured if I was going to sell on Etsy I should support it as well. I found a craft supplier on  Etsy and planned to just get some ribbon clamps for making ribbon bookmarks (coming soon), but kept finding nifty things and ended up getting more. Here's a link to her shop if you need jewelry making supplies: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TreeChild1?ref=pr_shop_more

Bookworm

I just finished making some bookmarks, and this is my favorite so far :D I'll be adding more soon, so be sure to check back later. You can never have enough bookmarks.
This one is made of blue leather and imprinted with a gear pattern. I cut a keyhole at the top and added chains with charms on the end. I hope you like it :)

You can find it here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/167359222/steampunk-leather-bookmark-blue-mini?ref=shop_home_active

So much work..

I looked some of my older listings and realized how horrible their pictures were, so I've been redoing a ton of pictures for the past two days. When I took them I didn't have a camera, and had to use an iphone. They look so much better now, but it was a lot of work. I still need to take pictures for a few more of them, but at least everything has a good first picture. Here is a before and after for one of them.

Yikes I can't believe I had photos that bad O.o

Here's a few tips for taking photos of small items. 

1. On your camera there should be a setting for macro, super macro, or small objects. It depends on the type of camera you have, but make sure you have it set to something like that. It helps a lot.
2. Natural lighting is the best. If you can go outside to take pictures. If you can't go outside, try taking pictures next to a window. If you have to use indoor lighting try using a light bulb that gives off soft light. A good bulb to use for it is "Reveal" light bulbs from General Electric. You should be able to get them at Walmart.
3. If you have shaky hands get a small tripod. I got mine at Walmart. I don't remember how much it was, but it was pretty cheap. You can also set up a tripod and use the timer on your camera to take the picture for you. 
4. When setting up backgrounds you might consider using fabric and pinning it to a chair. You can get cheap scrap fabric from Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and most craft stores. It's a cheap way to get different background colors. If the fabric has too many creases, and you don't feel like breaking out the iron, crinkle up the fabric before you take the picture.  I did this for my steampunk cinderella jewelry, steampunk peter pan necklace, and my unlock my steampunk jewelry if you want to check it out.  If you want a plain white background you might consider making a light box. It diffuses the light so you don't get a shadow. 
5. Another thing that helps is editing your pictures a bit. I use photobucket.com. It helps to crop your photo, adjust the brightness, contrast, and sharpness a bit. You probably don't want to add borders. As you can see in the before picture it makes it rather messy. You can also want to make sure your photo's orientation is correct. On some photo's it will look like it is right side up because your photo viewer corrected it, but when you add it to other sites it will be wrong. You can fix this on photobucket as well. 

I hope this helps, and if you have any questions just leave a comment :) 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish

Unlock My Steampunk

Yesterday I showed a sneak peak of this jewelry set. Here's the finished set. I hope you like it :)
I didn't get any suggestions about what to call it, but I came up with an idea this morning: Unlock My Steampunk.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/166901369/steampunk-jewelry-set-necklace-and

I really like working with leather, and I'm hoping to start doing painted leather pieces. I haven't found a good glaze for leather yet though. Not really sure what would work. 

Sneak Peak and Suggestions...

I'll be adding this necklace to my Etsy shop soon, but I'm not exactly sure what to call it...
Suggestions?

Steampunk Fairy Tale

I really enjoy making steampunk creations based off of fairy tales, and I just finished making this Steampunk Cinderella jewelry set. I hope you like it :)

Any suggestions for what fairy tale I should steampunk next? 

Christmas Is Sneaking Up On Me

I just realized that Christmas is right around the corner, and I haven't started making gifts yet.
I'm so glad that I started doing crafts, because it is definitely going to save me a pretty penny on gifts this year.

Here's an idea you might try:

Decorate a box:
My grandmother recently gave me a wood burning kit, so I plan on decorating a box using wood burning, paint, and mod podge. Wood burning might be a bit hard, but modge podge should be pretty simple. You can get a bottle of it at Walmart or a craft store like Michaels or Hobby Lobby. Pick a box and layer mod podge, colorful paper, and random findings until you have a design you like. You might also fill the box with something like dried flowers. Grandmothers love things like that.

I plan on doing something much bigger, but here's an  example of what you can do with Mod Podge.

Matchbox Drawer I use to ship my charms in. 

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish