Looking Back A Bit to Goals for 2009

As a former special ed teacher, I honestly believe that goals need to be attainable, not just something we reach out to with little to no hope of achieving. It's sort of like loosing weight.

Most of us feel that we need to loose weight. I know I do. I'd like to set a goal of loosing 20 pounds this year. In order to do a reality check on this goal, I have to ask myself a couple of questions.
1) Is it realistic to think I can loose 20 pounds in a year?
2) If so, how am I going to do it?

Last year, about this time, I asked myself what I needed to do to improve my online sales. (Little did I realize, at the time, that the economy would tank.) I set two goals for myself, with one being much more important than the other. My main goal was to improve my photography. Photographing my beads is something I have struggled with since day one.

When I did my reality check, I answered yes to question #1. I then proceeded to develop a plan.
1) I decided to look at my photo set up and, with my dd's help, improve that. (Jenny is a professional photographer. You can visit her Etsy store here.) If she lived in town, I would have just hired her to take the photos for me.
2) Determine which time of day had the best light for me to shoot the beads.
3) Eliminate the glare on the beads.
4) Improve my artificial light.
5) Try to shoot my beads in as much natural light as I could.
6) Improve my photo editing skills.

With Jenny's help, I was able to improve my photo set up. She made me a frame. In the beginning I used white paper as a background. I had read that white was the best background for most beads. Didn't work very well. I eventually went to the garage and found some tiles that were left over from the ceramic floor that was installed in the basement. I also found an old book and a bamboo mat to cover the join in the tiles. I used a light weight piece of white fabric to cover the top of the frame to diffuse the light. I have recently added an old mirror to give my beads a little bit of reflection. Bingo! I now have a respectable photo setup, and the quality of my bead photographs has improved!

I learned that I just don't have enough natural light in my house to shoot my beads. In the winter, it's just too cold to go outside and use the natural light the sun produces!

Since I use Picassa I have limited options when it comes to editing my photos. The good thing is that I honestly can't do any color changes on my beads. If I can, using this program, I don't know how.
I am debating whether I should buy Photoshop Elements. If you use that program, could you give me some feedback? I'd appreciate it.

I think I can give myself an accomplishment on this goal. My bead photos have improved. I'm very proud of that fact.

Goal 2 was taken care of by the Google Data Base. I wanted to improve the names of my beads and bead sets. I have found using the Google Data Base, the best thing you can do to improve your ratings is to spell out exactly what you have in the bead or set and not worry about a fancy name.

This goal was not truly completed, but I did learn from it.

2010 is quickly approaching! Next blog, I plan to look forward.

Day Dreaming - Do You?

I do! I day dream a lot. I find my mind wandering when I walk, talk, and watch TV. I have a hard time listening too audio books because I day dream.

So, big deal, what's so interesting about day dreaming? Well, I found some interesting information when I goggled day dreaming.

At answers.com I found the wikipedia definition of day dreaming.

A dreamlike musing or fantasy while awake, especially of the fulfillment of wishes or hopes.
or

To have dreamlike musings or fantasies while awake.

Is that a probelm? According to WebMD, there are many positive sides to day dreaming. Here's the article. Read through the article to this topic:

Boost creativity and achieve goals.

So, go ahead. Stop and dream. It will improve your day.

Rambling Thoughts on a Warm Cold Day

As I write this, I am writing for tomorrow. Right now, it's today. When you read this, it will be tomorrow.

At the present time, it's 25 degrees outside. That's very good considering how cold it's been. Tonight, our low will be 4 degrees, and our high tomorrow will be 5 with a lot of wind. Brrrrrrrrrr! I'd rather stay home, but I will have to go out.

The discs you see in this picture will be listed in my etsy store by tomorrow, I hope. When I finish with this post, I hope to go to etsy and list them.

Topic here: setting goals for 2009.

I've been thinking about these things a lot today. I don't know why. They just seemed important to mull in my mind while I worked.
Marcy of Studio Marcy has increased my awareness of the need to set goals not only for business purposes but for our creative endeavors. I've been thinking about that a lot, and as a former special ed teacher, I am well aware of how a goal should be written.
A goal needs to be measurable. A goal needs to be realistic. A goal needs to be achievable.
Whew! That's a lot for one year.
Although I need to set more goals, and I will, this is the one I need to work on the most at this time.
Goal: To improve the quality of my bead photos by 80%.
Now, how am I going to achieve this goal? How long will I give myself to achieve this goal? How will I know that I have achieved this goal?

1) By January of 2010, I will have improved my bead photos by 80%.
(So, I'm giving myself one whole year to accomplish this.)

2) I will practice with my camera using different functions of the camera each time I take photographs.
(I honestly don't know how to use all the functions of the camera nor do I know what they are for.)
All right, that's something I can do.

3) When possible, I will use my tripod to insure that my photos are not blurry when I download them into my computer.
(I have two different tripods, but I rarely use either of them.) Again, that is something I can do.

4) I will work on ways to improve the lighting I use when I shoot photos of my beads.
(This is a real challenge for me. DD gave me a photo tent that she was making me for Xmas. She had some more work to do to finish it. When I get it back, then I will use the photo tent and work on ways to improve my lighting.) This is reasonable. If anyone has any suggestions about lighting, I am so open to help on this one. I think this is reasonable, and I think it's achievable. It will just take a lot of work to complete.

5) I will shoot at least 10 photos of each bead.
That shouldn't be difficult.

6) I will try to use some creative and innovative ways to shoot a bead.
That's where I might need a little help. Any ideas? I'm open to them.

7) I will make and use a photo journal to review my progess at least once every two months. By using the photo journal I will be able to, subjectively, assess whether I have achieved my 80% goal.
Does that sound reasonable?

Well, now, that goal alone should keep me busy for 2009! If you have any suggestions, please tell me. I will need the help.

And when I develop more goals, I will blog about the goal or goals and the way or ways I plan to achieve them. It's just the special ed teacher in me coming out again. She does that.

Now wouldn't that make a great bead? How would you make a special education teacher bead? I think I'll have to work on that too.