Renegade Craft Fair

This is where I want to go this weekend....

If you live in the Bay Area and want more info, click here.

Product Photography & Business Branding

You may remember way back in October we had a Custom Styling Giveaway!

It was a great opportunity for Etsy store owners who wanted a makeover to enter to win this:

Etsy Store Custom Stylizing Package!
1- Creative Evaluation & Consultation for your custom design - worth $25.00

1- Custom Designed Shop Header - worth $50.00
1- Custom Designed Favicon - worth $20.00

1- Photo styling for 3 products (feature images). You will receive 3-5 low resolution images for web only of each of your 3 products - worth $65.00

1 - Custom Designed Logo High-Resolution Jpeg (and all rights) PLUS Print-Ready Business Card File - worth $300

&
FREE Promotion of your ReVamped Store or Blog + Featuring of your store products after F&F Styling on F&F's Blog and/or Etsy Shop.

Well Ashley, the owner of Knots by Ashley, was the winner! We actually completed her store's makeover awhile back, and we're finally sharing it with you all!

We've said it before, and we'll say it again--
how you market yourself can truly make your business more successful!

Ashley's store was amazing even before we touched it and we knew it would be FUN to style and photograph her fantastic handmade creations! We collaborated with her to enhance a business she has worked diligently to build.
We just adore working alongside clients and offering creative branding and marketing ideas to help them showcase their craftsmanship in it's best light. It's our passion to bring fluidity to a clients vision. We LOVE helping other crafters and creators achieve success!

Here was Ashley's store before.

After talking with Ashley and discovering she loves jewel tones we developed a color scheme and were able to put together a comprehensive design for her shop. We played with fabric textures and emphasized the knots in her name with her new logo and banner.

Ashley's Etsy Store After F&F

In addition to a new logo, we were able to style some of Ashley's amazing knit products and enhance them with high resolution photos.

Ashley's Slouch Hat Before

Ashley's Slouch Hat After F&F
While it's generally true that you can't judge a book by it's cover, a cover is all you get in the internet world! Quality photography can get you solid recognition from sources such as Etsy's front page listings and popular blogs.

Ashley's makeover ended up achieving exactly this kind of success at Oh Hello Friend!
Recognize the photo at the bottom right?! It's Ashley's from F&F's Product Styling Shoot! Her newly styled and photographed creation was featured in Oh Hello's Holiday Shopping Guide!!!

General Photography Tips:

1. Use High Resolution for the Best Quality!
Don't skimp on this especially if you are charging a lot for your products. A bad photo won't sell an expensive product!

2. Take Your Photos in Great Lighting & Stay Consistent

Try to take your pictures at the same time of day (preferably utilizing natural sunlight) and against the same background. This gives your shop a more cohesive and consistent feel and allows the customer to easily navigate through your items and focus on your product! If you have a hard time with lighting, here is a great tutorial on how to build your own light box!

3. Capture DETAILS

Remember that customers do not get to hold or touch your item when they are shopping online. All they have are your photographs to help them make a choice, so make sure you highlight all the unique angles, textures, colors and size of your items as accurately as possible.

4. Highlight your Items Versatility
Showing how many different ways an item can be used lets a buyer know the product is a great investment!

5. Use People vs. Mannequins when You Can

This gives a photo life, personal perspective, appropriate scale, suggests different ways to wear the product and enhances the overall quality. Ask a friend to come over and model for you and offer an item of their choice in exchange for their time.

Another Sample...
Ashley's Blair Bow Headband Before

...and now...

Ashley's Blair Bow Headband After F&FWe enjoyed working with Ashley and just loved her products so much we recently shared them with you in our Handmade Holiday Giveaway!

***

Have you wanted to style your store to enhance your brand and grow your business? F&F is ready to help! We can start small as we know these things are an investment.

So as the shopping season winds down and a slower recovery season winds up, start dreaming of where you want your business to go in the New Year and what need to do in order to accomplish your goals.

Big things continue to develop here at F&F and we look forward to sharing with you some exciting new things in 2010!

*Want information on Marketing, Branding, and Store Restyling now? Email us by clicking our Email Us button to the right!*

D*LSH Invite Suite

Seriously swooning today of this invitation suite created by the amazingly talented duo over at D*LSH Studio. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh....

White Christmas.

I'm dreaming of...

{from here}

{from here}

{from here}

{from here}

{from here}

May your days be MERRY and BRIGHT!

A WINNER + We Are So Thankful...

And the Winner of The Urchiness' $20 Gift Certificate is...#5 Julia A!

Julia, please contact Brie through her store
Thank you, Brie for your generosity and for sharing your talent!!
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

What a wonderful week!
Having the opportunity work with Brie, complete some special orders for clients, and talk to so many of you through our blog...
As we get closer and closer to saying goodbye to 2009 we can't help but wish it would stay a little longer.

This has been an amazing year.
In April we, we two little friendlies in our corners of California, started our little dream.
After countless pennies were cast into fountains, we realized wishing wasn't going to make it happen, channeling Nike and just doing it was.
2009 has been incredible!

We have met, both virtually and live, so many amazing followers, encouragers, and supporters.
We have had our friends & family cheer us on and come to us for our styling services which only motivated us.
We have YOU that comes and says hello every day, or at least checks in to read.

Now, here we are, a few days away from putting our shop on hold so we can quiet down for the last week before Christmas and we're at 91 sales.
91 SALES?!
We did little happy dances yesterday about that
(think Drew Barrymore & Adam Sandler a la 50 First Dates)Well friends, to celebrate how CLOSE we are to hitting the big hundo
we're offering FREE SHIPPING on our Spread Some Cheer Winter Cards AND Discounted the price!
We love you guys.
I mean, lets be honest, there'd be no F&F if there were no YOU!
We hope you know that!
This is an amazing ride and we cannot WAIT to tell you what 2010 holds!

Inspired to Give Back this Season

{image from here}

'Tis the season to shop, and buy, and wrap, eat, and drink, and laugh, and be merry...right? But 'tis also the season to GIVE to a cause or family or person who may need a helping hand.

This is a conviction I feel often, but it's especially strong during the holidays. Just ask my family...as I've been known to go all out buying goat's for families in Africa in their honor as Christmas gifts...an "interesting" gift to receive, to say the least!
(If you're in the market for creative giving, check out World Vision).

{image from here}

Growing up, my mom had my sister's and I participate in Operation Christmas Child every holiday season. I LOVED this as a kid because it meant going shopping for a little girl or boy's Christmas presents which I would be allowed to thoughtfully pick out all on my own! Everything had to fit in a shoebox, which we would wrap carefully, and send off to a child in need.

{image from here}

These are just a few of the ways I have given back over the past holiday seasons.

But this year I started to get lazy.

I started to wallow in the "how can I even afford a Christmas gift for my husband?!" and "I'm canceling my December birthday to save time and money" thoughts when I realized:
I have lost sight of one of the REAL reasons for the season--GIVING OF MYSELF TO SOMEONE ELSE WHO NEEDS IT!

Inspired by The Blind Side (which is an AMAZING movie, if you haven't seen it - GO NOW!), and then by Great Full Day's blog series called The Great Give which challenged bloggers to DO SOMETHING (however great or small) for someone else, I started brainstorming WHAT I could do this season...

Last night, I read an AMAZING article in this months "O" Magazine on the practice of tithing to charity. It was an excellent piece (read it here) which encouraged giving what you CAN and then a little more - making it "feel like a sacrifice." I know with the economy, everyone is pinching pennies this season, but it's important to not overlook those who are hurting far more than we might be.

So...the hus and I have decided to adopt a local family of 3 to purchase gifts and groceries for this Christmas. If you live in the Bay Area and are interested in the organization we went through, click here. I cannot WAIT to receive the names our family and go shopping for them! This IS one of my favorite parts of the season...giving the gift of love, time, and a portion of my paycheck to make another family's Christmas SPECIAL!

Let's get to GIVING, shall we?!

We want to know, what are YOU doing to give back this season?

(P.S. This is the LAST DAY to enter to win a gift certificate from The Urchiness & THANK YOU to the ever thoughtful blog Stylestance for the feature today!)

Christmas in NY

If you could spend Christmas anywhere, where would you spend it?

While I (Allegra) can't imagine NOT seeing my family (parents, siblings, cousins....) I do have a little dream of one day spending Christmas in New York.

I should tell you,
one of my favorite movies is Serendipity with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.
This movie sort of spurs the desire in me to go to New York for Christmas...as well as some of the itinerary I dream of.

I know the "proper" thing to do when you go to NY is to want to visit Time Square and The Statue of Liberty
however,

I want to drink Iced Hot Chocolate at Serendipity.
I want to ice skate at the Bryant Pond rink.
I want to stay at the Waldorf Astoria.
Those are the things that I want to do.

Who knows how I'd actually do.
I'm a small town girl with big city dreams.
I love cutting down our own Christmas tree, our stockings on the mantle, and horse carriage rides to see Christmas lights...
but maybe one day I could do this?!
Do you have a fun destination-Christmas wish?

PS. DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

{click photos to find their original creator}