Behind the Scenes: Make-shift Photography Studio

Product photography is all about illusion. Have you heard about all the crazy things food stylists do during a photo shoot? We're talkin' ice cream made of mashed potatoes, milk that's really glue, and lots more truly weird food substitutes like motor oil & cotton balls. Well, thankfully I don't have to worry myself with that kind of stuff, but we do have an illusion of sorts going on in our Snuggle Herd photo shoots. Check out the setup:

This is Patrick's office. He sets our backdrop (2 drawers from my nightstand) up on his desk. For a cute clothesline look, we hang the clothing on a satin ribbon, which is clipped to the top of the drawers. A piece of brown fabric on the desk and lots of clamp-on lights round out the scene.

Thanks to the magic of PhotoShop - some major cropping, a little adjustment of the levels & color balance - we get a pretty nice lookin' photo out of all of this! Funny, huh? We're living proof that you can take decent photos of your work all by yourself. There is a lot of help available online, too. This Storque article on feature-friendly photos is a good place to start.

It's also worth it to take some time to learn how to use your photo-editing software to brighten your photos if you're lighting is less-than-perfect (as ours certainly is!). This very helpful article on the Switchboards talks about editing in PhotoShop and building your own light box in a Rubbermaid container. I tried that for myself & it worked pretty well, but most of my products are too big to use with it. It might work out well for you if your work is small, like jewelry.

Hope you've found some interesting information here. If you have any other good photography tricks or resources, please leave them in the comments!

p.s. All of these new baby blue items will be listed in the Snuggle Herd Etsy shop very soon!

"Any Monkey Can Lay Pavers..."

"... it's the prep-work that takes some thinking & planning," says Patrick.


Well, keep up the good work, monkey; we need this patio finished by Thanksgiving! ; )

Progress in My Work Room

Gettin' stuff ready to take to the lovely Sanctuary boutique in West Austin. Back to work - most of these little animals still need faces! Plus, I just found out I've been accepted to the Cherrywood Art Fair, so that means I really need to get busy!

Halloween Costume '09: Inspiration

Are you at all surprised? You shouldn't be! If you know me or read this blog regularly, you know the 1920s is my favorite decade. I was seriously born in the wrong era! So yeah, I want to go as a Flapper Girl this Halloween, but not the stereotypical, sequins & feathers Flapper Girl. No, no, no, that is not want I want to do at all. I want to do something much more chic, sophisticated and pretty.


I've already had this idea in my head for a while, actually since the Mix & Make where I made this headband. We were talking about costume ideas that night. Then I recently saw The September Issue, which I highly recommend for an interesting behind-the-scenes look at Vogue magazine. At the time of filming, they were working on the 2007 September issue, which featured this amazing 1920s-inspired fashion spread, "Paris, Je t'aime."


How gorgeous are these dresses?! I am so in awe. Later this week, I'll be heading over to Amelia's Retro-Vogue & Relics to see what I can find. I've heard great things about Amelia's so I'm really excited. I have a feeling I will see some fabulous gowns that I simply cannot afford, though...


I may opt to get a simple tank dress & then embellish it to the nines, with faux fur trim, fringe & beads, kinda like the grey frock on the left.


Then again, this elegant, silky gold number is to die for! So beautiful.


But then, this cute, vampy look is pretty hot... what to do? what to do?

all images: Vogue US | September 2007 | Paris, Je t'aime | Ph: Steven Meisel | Coco Rocha, Agyness Deyn, Sasha Pivovarova, Guinevere van Seenus, Caroline Trentini & Gemma Ward | scanned by sister-d @ bwgreyscale

Good Morning, Marilyn!

Saw this awesome paint chip art by Nite Kongtahworn on Apartment Therapy and it really wowed me! Nite was inspired by this Abe Lincoln portrait, featured on Apartment Therapy earlier this month.

Back when I taught high school art, I did a pixelated self-portrait project with my students where they had to mix their own varying shades of grey & paint it in much the same way as Honest Abe was painted. It's a great school project for learning about value, but not something I'd really want to do to decorate my home. Nite has the right idea though! Using paint chips to create a large-scale portrait on a wall is a stroke of genius! So stunning, yet so easy.

DIY "Fame"-inspired Duffel Bag!

The always-craftastic Craftzine featured this really well-made Threadbanger tutorial on how to make your own 80s-style duffel bag from old umbrellas & cloth belts! So cool! I just had to share it. Someone needs to make one of these, like, totally! Not me because I have a long list of half-finished projects as it is, like my kitchen cabinets & these one-yard skirts (haven't even started one of those yet, but I so want to!). If you make one of these awesomely 80s bags, be sure to let me know so I can share your pics!

We Make Stuff like Wacky Pinback Buttons and Cardboard Wallets

Strange, but true: button-making is really addictive! We just bought a button-maker for The WonderCraft & I am in love! It arrived a few days ago, just in time for the We Make Stuff event on Saturday night. We decided to offer Design-Your-Own buttons to patrons, and boy was it ever a hit!







Here are a couple of cutie pies with their buttons. They were a fun & sweet pair (unfortunately I did not get their names). There's just something really satisfying about framing a pretty patterned paper or a random magazine pic in a 1-inch button.










My fave of the night was the Drew Barrymore eye that I cut from a makeup advertisement. Bonus: the resulting eye-less photo was pretty cool in itself! although a bit creepy. It got even creepier later when I made a second button with her other eye for someone else.

I loved my Drew Barrymore Eye, but alas, she is already gone. I think I lost her at Magnolia Cafe, where the WonderCrafters & their menfolk were enjoying a late night (early morning) post-event dinner. When I arrived home and was getting ready for bed, I realized she was no longer pinned to my shirt. So if anyone sees Drew Barrymore's eye peeking up at them somewhere along S Congress, please let me know. I miss her.

We had a sweet DIY Upcycled Cardboard Wallets make & take station that was a huge hit, too. People were making the most amazing stuff!


Also, Trevor Ray Thompson was there with his fantastic photo booth setup. Fun stuff! Congrats & thanks to Candace of Electric Promotions (shown here with the awesome giant scissors she made) for throwing another smashing par-tay celebrating our local art & craftsters! See more pics from We Make Stuff in The WonderCraft's Flickr stream.

Pretty Proud of this Pseudo-Flapper Headband I Made at the Mix & Make!

Here I am hangin' out with my fellow WonderCraft gals, Beth A, Jen, & Kim at our Mix & Make Crafty Hour last night. We're all wearing upcycled t-shirt accessories we've made, and those empty wine glasses are in our hands to show off the wine charms we were making from vintage buttons, seashells, charms & toys. They were really cool (and handy!).

How about a closer look at my headband? Whadya think? It's a "Grunge Flower," designed by that crafty Kim. It was really simple to make, cut with pinking shears from a couple of old t-shirts. I love it though, because putting it on a headband gives it this wonderful Roaring Twenties quality. And you know I'm a 1920s nut!

We're selling kits now for making these Grunge Flowers, as well as several other of our upcycled t-shirt accessory designs. They will soon be listed in The WonderCraft's Etsy shop, but for now you can get them at Austin Handmade or directly from us when we're out & about at events.

Where will we be next, you ask? At We Make Stuff, of course! Tomorrow night - it's gonna be awesome! Hope to see you there!

Another reason to love Austin: Mandola's!

I love Mandola's Italian Market for it's imported novelties such as this who-could-ever-eat-that-much-Nutella-actually-i-probably-could giant jar of Nutella.



















It was bigger than Patrick's head!





















I love Mandola's for its delicious sandwiches & pasta & bread & gelato & THIS! This fabulous pastry case. I consider it sacrilege to leave without partaking of at least one of these magnificent beauties.





On our most recent visit, we grabbed one of their doughnut-shaped iced lemon cookies. They are divine, as is everything I have ever eaten at this wonderful Italian eatery.





Mandola's kinda reminds me of another divine Italian market & cafe: DeLaurenti's in the Pike Place Market. Ahhh... I remember it well. That one definitely has a leg up on Mandola's in terms of atmosphere. But it's no fault of the lovely Mandola's; you just can't compete with a turn-of-the-century, waterfront farmer's market in one of this country's most beautiful cities. If you ever find yourself in Seattle, the Market is definitely a must-see. And when in Austin, be sure to check out Mandola's!

A New & Improved Crafty Mishmash

Crafty Mishmash is a creative archive & journal written by me, Beth Hempton, the gal behind The Snuggle Herd and 1/4 of The WonderCraft. I'm an artist, designer, maker, teacher and lover of all things artsy, crafty and handmade. You can read more about me on my WonderCraft profile.

My husband, Patrick, is my patient product photographer, web developer and tamer of all things technical. He also works really hard at a full-time job doing web development, and is an avid gardener and musician.

We both feel that leading a balanced life, enjoying the little things and making time for what is most important to you (i.e. what makes you happiest), is the only way to live. Life is too short to get bogged down with the rest, which is why I recently made the decision to simplify my online presence and house all of my creative endeavors (or at least most of them, all but The WonderCraft) under one virtual roof that I can maintain myself, making life a lot easier and more enjoyable for both of us. My previous Snuggle Herd website has been decommissioned in favor of a combination of my Snuggle Herd Etsy shop and Policies & FAQ page, and www.snuggleherd.com now redirects to this here Blogspot. So much simpler! Note that as I am writing this, it's September and the Snuggle Herd website still says "Happy Spring!" I just couldn't keep it updated like I wanted to, so I am letting it go. No more spinning my wheels and always feeling like I'm lagging behind - what good comes from that? None, I tell you, none.

R.I.P. old Snuggle Herd website

I hope you will enjoy reading Crafty Mishmash, a busy hub of creative goodness where you'll find news and updates on my two businesses as well as the EtsyAustin team that I am founder & Co-President of; cool things I find online that I want to share; and posts about Our Little DIY Victories in home improvement and What's Growin' On in our garden. I also love writing my Tutorial Collection (mostly by others on the web, though I will occasionally post some of my own, too) and Creative Geniuses posts. There are so many amazingly talented people to be found on these interwebs!

Patrick & I live in Austin, TX and love the creative vibes radiating from every corner of the city. I often post about the many unique businesses, events, places & people of this fabulously kooky city, and you'll find those posts labeled Homage to Austin. I also have a series of interviews with Austin artists called Local Talent Tuesdays.

Feel free to contact me any time at beth.hempton[at]gmail[dot]com. I love hearing from my readers and fans of my work. Thanks so much for taking a peek at my blog!