Fall news

FALL NEWS

Diamond last forever, and so does plastic.

 

 

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5 tips to green your wedding

*More and more brides-to-be are becoming concerned about the environmental impact of their wedding. Join them and green your wedding with 10 simple tips. Greening your wedding can also be a surprising way to save precious  bucks in this tough economy. Find out how:1. Send electronic invitations. I was recently told that some family member—especially grandmothers— are still pushing brides to paper options and sometimes, even more expensive handwritten ones. Grandmas, we love you, but we are in 2012 and there is really no reason to waste money and paper in invitations that can get lost in the mail, while there is the possibility to safely deliver your invitations electronically, and FOR FREE! If you can’t renounce to the paper invitations, at least consider emailing save the date announcements. 2. Choose an environmentally responsible venue. There is plenty of choice regarding venues, and what it typically comes down to is location and price. You will be surprised to see how you can save money and have a delightful location if you choose a local park or botanic garden. 3. Choose a green dress. Yes, I know you want  a white dress but of course I was not referring to the actual color… There is ample choice of environmentally friendly fabrics and be sure you will not have to be restricted to rustic themes. There are green dresses for every style, from minimal to eccentric, from romantic to casual. 4. Choose green accessories. Starting from jewelry, you don’t need to stick to diamond and freshly mined precious metals. Recycled sterling silver is a valid, durable and affordable option for bridal jewelry and wedding rings. If you want gold, there are artists who use only recycled gold. Yes, I say artist because I’m assuming that if you are reading this you’ll probably choose local artisans for your accessories. If you are even more adventurous, consider buying your of your bridesmaids jewelry from an  artist specialised in UpCycling and ReCycling. Here at Twice we  just updated the wedding section of the online store, so make sure to check it out. We offer discounts and custom options for bridal parties. 5. Dump the flip-flop wedding favor. Sure, guests love those little plastic shoes to replace their super uncomfortable heels at the end (some at the beginning) of the party but come on… how much plastic and rubber is going to be dumped in the garbage the next day!? Do you want your guests to be feet-pain-free? Add a reminder to the invitation for your guests to bring their own flat shoes or slippers. To encourage them to bring their slippers, you can plan to have a contest for the best or most extravagant slippers, and they’ll be grateful of having them at the hotels that night as well. To find out more about green weddings, visit our green weddings expert partner website Green Bride Guide. Copyright © 2012 All Rights Reserved

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Craft Shows and Festivals

Not that this is a good reason to neglect my blog readers… but man, I’ve been busy with craft shows lately!

Past shows

August 15, 2012
Mt.Airy Festival, Philadelphia, PA

September 8, 2012, 11AM-10PM
Green Expo Edgerton Park, New Haven, CT

UpComing shows

September 15, 2012
Mummers Cow Chip Festival, Philadelphia, PA

September 23, 2012, 12PM-6PM
Raritan River Festival, Boyd Park, New Brunswick, NJ

September 28, 2012, 4PM-8PM
Final’y Friday, Mt.Airy. Philadelphia, PA

September 29, 2012, 11AM-4PM
PEC Fall Festival and Arts and Crafts ShowPennypack Enironmental Center, Philadelphia, PA

September 30, 2012, 4PM-8PM
Final’y Friday, Mt.Airy. Philadelphia, PA

October 6, 2012
7th Annual Midtown Village Fall Festival, Philadelphia, PA

October 13, 2012, 10AM-5PM
Haddonfield Fall Festival, Haddonfield, NJ 

October 14, 2012 10AM-7PM
Pumpkin Fest, Salem County Fairground, 735 Harding Hwy (Rte. 40) Woodstown, NJ

Twice Newsletter: issue 1 | July 2012

Stunning Collection of Summer Trends

Source: Uploaded by user via Twice on Pinterest

How to photograph white objects on a white background – what I did while I was not posting here

Man I’ve been busy… First and foremost, I’ve been building my new website. It will allow direct checkout and I am pretty excited about it. Next, probably due to my OCD, I have been constantly unsatisfied with pictures in my store. Now, looks like a trivial problem but I probably tried a dozen different backgrounds on approximately 90 items each and then cropped and sharpened to see the final result and I was never satisfied. At that point, is was a matter of principle. I needed to get those pictures right.

The problem is the white color of the milk jugs I use in most my creations. Any other color but white adds an ugly shade to my earrings, but white on white background… forget about it! I almost gave up trying to reach such seemingly impossible goal, when I finally found this video, describing the process step by step. Here’s my first two shots after watching the video. Not bad at all, I think.

I got all pumped up and tried the same technique on  a pair of earrings, and here’s the result. I mean, not bad, but the same tips are clearly not working as well with my plain white earrings. These pictures clearly needed some texture and some depth.

With my newly acquired photography skills I put together a similar setting in my windowsill, which is white and textured, due to the several layers of old paint that nobody bothered to remove before painting the windows again. The idea is to use lights and shadows to highlight textures and convey as much detail as possible, That way, even without color or luminance differences, your item will emerge from the background. The light coming out of that windows has always been good. Then  I added three white paper sheets, 2 on the sides and one in front of the camera, just like the video described. The light will bounce back from the window and bring your white objects to light. Pretty easy and fairly inexpensive. If you do not have a tripod (which I did not have until my husband brought me this one for my birthday a month ago), you can either build one out of a tennis ball or buy a cheaper one, but make sure you have one.

Here’s the picture I’ve been waiting for this entire time. Elegant, sharp, but interesting at the same time. I took me a while, but I think it was worth it. Now I have a bunch of new pictures in my shop and a much more consistent look across pictures, overall. I hope you agree with me that my efforts were worth it! Now, back to my window to shoot the remaining handful of earrings.

Make sure to stop by my shop to check out the other pictures and all my new items.

Copyright 2012 © All Rights Reserved

SUMMER CLEANING CLEARANCE SALE – RECYCLED JEWELRY

Sure, you are probably thinking: “Summer cleaning dude!? you are like… a season late.” Well, I would have had a jewelry spring sale if I had the time, but between the end of the semester and several craft shows, I barely had the time to shower this past couple of months~

Don’t think that this late spring cleaning idea is only limited to my jewelry. In fact, I have a 4 feet tall pile of clothes to donate that I just pulled out of my closet yesterday, I cleaned the house (including underneath the furniture – yes I don’t do that often, deal with it!) and organized my jewelry making tools.

That is good for me, but the sale is good for you! you can now have those funky shampoo bottle earrings that you saw in December and those other pair of dangle earrings with the super geek shampoo ingredients printed on. While waiting for Twice brand new website to be on and allow direct check out, visit my Etsy store and grab a pair of eco-chic, upcycled, ethical pair of earrings. You deserve them, after all, it is the end of the semester for everybody!

Enjoy!

Stefania

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2012 © All Rights Reserved

Some of these are just too beautiful to let go.