I Won!

Thank you so much to the lovely Kerry of The Tragic Whale for nominating me for this award.

I think that Liebster should mean love, but it doesn't.  It's actually German for "favorite".  It's an award for blogs that have under 200 readers.  So here are my 5 picks to win this award.

Chateau de Victoria: She likes pretty things.  She posts pretty pictures.  And she's pretty. Enough said.

Defenestrated Feet:  Ellen is a blogger who makes me laugh consistently.  Her blog will give you an ab workout from all laughter you'll be doing and you might actually learn something, like what "defenestrated" means.

Into Geek: Dan is awesome and relatable and British.  He likes geeky things like Doctor Who and The Muppets.  And did I mention that he's awesome?

Lauren vs. Reality: I can't believe that Lauren doesn't already have 1,000+ followers!  Her blog was one of the first ones I read.  Her life is a sitcom.  As we speak, she is waiting in a long line of nerds for a Legend of Zelda poster, because she was hired to by someone on Craigslist.

Maedchen Mit Herz:  This girl is the most adorable girl in the entire world.  She makes cute crafts and she's super sweet and also awesome.  I couldn't find how many blog followers she has, but I'm giving her the award anyway, because I can.

Stillness

The air is so still and not a person is in sight, not even an animal or insect.  No life at all.  Not a single sound.  It feels like something is brewing.  Maybe a thunderstorm.  Maybe a zombie apocalypse.  I don't know what exactly, but definitely something.  I get back to my apartment and the crocuses outside have bloomed.  In the one hour that I was gone.  It feels like time has been sped up while I was away.  I think that I've just been watching too much Doctor Who.  But I also think there's no such thing as too much Doctor Who.

crocuses at 1:00

crocuses at 2:00

DIY: Jewelry Display for Product Photos

The best part is that while this project only costs $1, it will make your product photos look about 10 times better and nearly profeesional quality, even with a terrible camera like mine.

Supplies:
picture frame from Dollar Tree with the piece on the back that makes it so you can stand it up on a table
some paper (I used printer paper) or fabric
something to cut cardboard with (I used an Exacto knife)
some glue (I used a glue stick)
some white paint (alternatively you could glue the paper even with the top and cut the same notches out of it as the cardboard, but it was easier with my wrist brace to use the white paint)

I didn't take pictures of the steps, but it should be easy enough to understand.

1. Remove the cardboard backing from the picture frame.  Put the rest aside. You don't need it for this project.

2. Cut notches in the top of the cardboard.  You can see in the following picture that I cut two close to the edges for longer necklaces and two further in for narrower necklaces.  Then I did two small ones in the very middle for earrings.

3. Glue on your fabric or paper.  Trim it so it doesn't overlap.  I didn't because that's too difficult with my wrist brace.

4. If you glue it like I did, you'll need to paint over the top portion of exposed cardboard.  Alternatively you could glue the paper even with the top and cut the same notches out of it as the cardboard, but as I mentioned earlier it was easier with my wrist brace to use the white paint.

5. Wait for your glue and paint to dry and then you can use it.  That's it. You're done. Pretty simple, right?

Here are some photos I took using it:

See, it can work as a backdrop for other non-jewelry items too!

the white background really makes the colors pop

You could take this so much further than I did, since I'm assuming your dominant hand isn't in a wrist brace.  For example, you could use some nice looking velvety material to cover it.  You could also cut it into a shape like an actual necklace/earring display shape.  Do whatever you want with it.  These are so simple and inexpensive to make that you could whip up a bunch of them in lots of different shapes and colors.

Etsy Love: AC Jewelry Store

I highly recommend that you visit this Etsy shop and at least look at the pretty things, if not buy something.  And wrist brace=captionless photos.