From Concept to Listing; the Journey of a Coaster

As I sit here waiting for my photo editing site to load (I swear, the thing is loading so slowly it is actually running in reverse!) it comes to me to share the story of getting a product from an idea in my head to being listed in my Etsy store or landing on a craft show table.

Ok, and I might have already caught up on Facebook and Pinterest and therefore heard my blog sobbing in the corner...

This weekend's project has been to dig out of their plastic totes all of the coasters that I made up at the last minute in December for my last craft show. I needn't have bothered as that show was, hands down, the worst show of the season. Ugh. Anyhoo, the coasters are adorable and I was so time starved that I didn't get to have a proper photo shoot for them so that I could list them later. Instead I blearily assembled them until 2am, then woke back up at 6am to package them up and go. So now, two months later, they're seeing the light of day again for their moment in the spotlight. I was lured outside by the siren call of the sun beating down on my porch, aka the best spot in the house for taking natural light photos. That was Saturday; I almost have feeling back in my fingers!

How it usually goes is this: I find paper that I absolutely, positively MUST HAVE as it is adorable/cool/funky and will make awesome coasters. I bring it and all of it's closest friends home with me and get to work. (Have I mentioned I collect paper the way some people collect purses or Pokemon? Yup, gotta have them all!) The paper is cut into squares and brought back downstairs to either my dining room table in the winter or one of my show tables set up outside on the porch in the spring/summer. I make new coaster designs in batches, as it rarely makes sense to pull everything out for only one set*.

With minimal interruptions, i.e. my boys are otherwise occupied, I can fill a 6' table with stage 1 coasters in about 1.5 hours. After that coat dries, the other three are applied over the course of another 3-4 hours. Once the last coat is cured, their little cork feet can be applied and they're ready for a good home. So at the end of a day's worth of work, I can have about 12 sets of coasters complete.

Coasters drying in the sun last October

 Now we move to step two: photos! Since each piece of paper yields two sets of coasters, there's always at least two of every design. That means plenty for shows and Etsy, depending on the season. But in order for them to be listed, there need to be good photos of them. For the coasters, I always take the same four shots; stacked at an offset, one lone coaster focusing on pattern, all four laid out for pattern variation, and one of them all tied up with ribbon, ready for gifting. (Etsy allows five photos, so the fifth is always of the cork feet. Thankfully, that's a photo you take once and use again and again!)

That said, do the math; 4 photos per set of coasters x 12 sets of coasters = 48 photos to take. Don't forget tying them up with ribbon 2/3rds of the way through so you can get all the photos in one sitting. Basically it's a good 2-3 hours of setting up, taking the shots, tying the ribbon, and finishing up the shots. Phew. But hey, then I'm done, right?

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha, no.

Now begins the journey of editing all of those photos. They're downloaded to my laptop, brought into Adobe Photoshop Elements and edited so that all of the colors and details are as true to life as I can get them on a computer. After that, I upload them to FotoFuze for, well, background bleaching is the best way I can explain it. If I upload my images after only editing them in Photoshop, they wind up with a gray wash over the top of them, making them look dingy.

Photo after being run through only Photoshop; see the dinginess? Yuck!

 So I then run them through FotoFuze to remove that wash. Then, and only then, are they ready to be listed. Time for all of that editing: about another 8 hours. When I'm finally done, I swear I'm never going to do that many pictures at once again and go make things for the next week...which means I suddenly have a pile of goodies to take photos of. Curse you, you evil circle of crafty creation!

Completely edited photo, making these coasters ready to be listed. Oh look, they are...

 So there you have it, the creation cycle of a set of coasters from store to table. Now you understand why I give people death glares when they suggest that they could do this themselves or that I charge too much. If I truly added up my time, I probably don't charge enough. But then, that's a blog post for another day.

*You were wondering what the asterisk was there for, right? I break that rule when someone orders a set of coasters I have listed as made-to-order. And now you know. ;)

Happy Crafting,

Prepping for the Craft Show, Part 1

Craft show season is upon me once again! So while the weather was gorgeous this weekend, I was working away on the porch (out of the sun!) on the latest batch of Modge-Podge projects. :)

I love how well my tile coasters come out (and honestly, how well the sell at the shows!) so I was working away making more of those. Gotta keep those designs fresh! My almost-brother-in-law had the great idea of making trivets as well to coordinate with the coasters so I'm giving those a try this time as well.

I started off upstairs during nap time cutting up all my new papers. I have to say, the new Recollections pads from Michael's are ADORABLE!

Small squares are coasters, larger ones are trivets

Aren't they pretty? I love how well they cut up and coordinate

I'm such a sucker for nature prints

After slicing & dicing, outside I went to start putting them on my tiles. They're looking so pretty!

Yes, you DO see clothespins in the back! I FINALLY found the large clothespins again!!! Yay!!! They got decked out in fun kitchen-y paper and will have their recipe cards added to them soon. I haven't seen any of them in my local stores since January. It's been killing me not to have them!

After all the clothespins and trivets dried up, it was time to work on the coasters. It's so nice being able to be outside - everything dries so fast!

How do I know when I have enough coasters? When the table is full!

Other angle. I love the new patterns!

Ok, time to hit 'play' on the Cookie Monster DVD again...or so I'm told. :) Besides, I need to get back to work on magnets!

Happy Crafting!

Craft Show Season is Coming...

...and boy am I not quite ready! Yes, that's where I've been instead of blogging: locked in the craft room coming up with items to replace all of my holiday things. Somehow I don't think people want to buy Christmas ornaments in March...I could be wrong, but better to play it safe. I've been scouring the web for cute ideas and collecting them on my Pinterest board. Of course, the time has come to stop collecting and start making, especially since the first show of the year is this Saturday!  Eeep!

So while I'm about to head upstairs and start assembling magnetic grocery lists, here's a peek of what my dining room table looked like Tuesday:

Of course that's my coffee cup. Like I craft without it?!?

Yup, tile coasters! I made up an entire case of them (one case = 80 tiles). There they sit, drying, hoping that no kitty or toddler gets their grubby paws on them. (Thankfully they were safe, but it was a valid concern.)

Closer shots of the patterns (yeah, they're not great, but it was my camera phone into direct sunlight. Give me some credit!)

One half of the table...

...second half of the table

They came out really cute. Now hopefully they'll all get nice homes on Saturday! If you're in the area, stop by the Johnstown High School and adopt a few sets, hmm? :)

Ok, off to play with grocery lists and Modge Podge...erm, though not together.

Happy Crafting!

Homemade Coasters

It was a very handmade Christmas at our house. Not only was it a financially-sound option, but it was really satisfying to see someone really excited about gifts we made them.

For my sister and her fiance we made two sets of handmade coasters. Each set had four coasters and were actually very simple to make. We did one set with a monogram (luckily, their last names start with the same letter! It's even funnier that the same thing was true with my husband & I...lol) and the second set was with kitties & a puppy. They have several cats and a dog so it was fitting to give a nod to their furbabies as well.

So, how did we make them?

Warning: the photos came out awful! I had no idea until after the holidays, of course...sigh...

•  4"x4" ceramic tiles that we found at Lowe's for $0.16/each
• Mod Podge, matte finish
• spray Mod Podge, matte finish
• 3/4" felt furniture circles, 4/tile
• foam brush
• 4"x4" design*

*for these personalized tiles I made up my artwork in Photoshop, but you could easily use scrapbooking paper as well

Trim up your paper to 4"x4" and set aside. Lay out your tiles on a covered surface and get your Mod Podge ready. Lightly coat your first tile with Mod Podge and carefully lay your paper over the top. Smooth it out to remove all the bubbles and set aside to let dry. Keep smoothing bubbles around the edges as needed while it dries and don't be afraid to go back in with your finger and more Mod Podge to tack it all down. Continue for all of your tiles and let them all sit & dry.

Once dry, give them a second coat of Mod Podge. Once that coat is dry, spray them all with the spray Mod Podge to give it a sealant against spilled liquids...coasters do seem to attract those. (ba-dum-bump) Once everything is dry (we let them sit for a day or so), apply the felt circles on the bottom to give them that non-skid goodness we expect from coasters. Ta da, beautiful handmade coasters that didn't break the bank!

Monogram coasters with the letter 'L'

 

Kitty and puppy coasters

If you're Photoshop-savvy, here's how you make the custom artwork: open a new file and size it to 4"x4". Let your creative self go crazy! You can fit four printouts on a standard letter-size sheet for printing ease. I used a lightweight cardstock and I would not recommend going heavier.

Where did I get the idea for making coasters? Pinterest, of course! I am truly loving that site...all crafters should hang out on there. Feel free to follow my boards on there for inspiration of your own! If you do make coasters, please let me know so I can see how they came out.

Happy Crafting!