Good Lighting For Taking Pictures

I have found that during the winter months my beaded jewelry pictures don't come out as vibrant and colorful because artificial light doesn't come close to natural sun light. During the late spring and summer months I find that I spend a lot of time beside my window trying to take advantage of the huge amount of light that comes through. Late mornings are usually the best for me because of where my room and window sit and I love every single ray. If your taking pictures of your beaded jewelry in the winter months one thing that helps me is of course putting my camera on macro mode and going to the room with the most light. My kitchen has a good light source and even though it's not as good as the sun I still manage to take nice pictures so I'm still happy. Now if only this snow will melt. The earrings above were made with aventurine stone, smokey topaz glass barrel beads, gold glass pearls and topaz Swarovski crystal bicone beads.

Costume Jewelry

I think every women owns at least one piece of costume jewelry, it may even be a colorful rhinestone bracelet. Costume jewelry is so popular because its usually very affordable and often trendy. Vintage costume jewelry is considered treasure to jewelry collectors and often come at a hefty price. I've seen signed vintage pieces selling for well over 1,000 dollars and in antique world that's some what cheap. Many costume jewelry pieces are made with materials like lucite, glass, crystal, enamel and rhinestones. If you want a little edge to your outfit try adding a long triple wrapped strand of faux pearls. The necklace above was made with hematite round beads, howlite round beads, clear seed beads and white glass pearls.

Gemstone of the week: Jasper

Jasper is an opaque form of chalcedony that ranges in color from light to dark red to brown, green even blue. Jasper has been a popular stone for centuries and is even mentioned in the bible. the easily polished stone was used in ancient times for things likes tools, pottery and jewelry. Jasper is believed to be a protective stone guarding the wearer of negative energy. I would say green jasper is my favorite of the colors and I love the way they look dangling from my ears. No matter what kind of stone it is beaded jewelry will always be fun. The earrings above were made with round green jasper stone beads, round spacer beads and olivine Swarovski crystal bicone beads.

Monthly Birthstone: Amethyst

Amethyst is a violet color quartz mineral that is commonly used as a birthstone for the month of February. Amethyst was used in ancient Greece as a prevention for drunkenness, The Greeks would go so far as to make cups out of the purple stone in hopes it would prevent them from becoming intoxicated. Amethyst was once as sought after as rubies, sapphire,emeralds and even diamonds. However an abundance of deposits have been found all over the world greatly decreasing the value of the stone. There are very rare forms of amethyst that are widely sought after like Deep Russian Amethyst, these types of amethyst are usually found among gem collectors who are lucky enough to find or buy the deposit. Whether your a collector, jewelry maker or someone who is lucky enough to have this beautiful mineral as your birthstone we can all agree that amethyst is a stone that will be popular for years to come.