How to Share to a Group on Facebook

Just this morning I was asked how to share an image to a group on Facebook. I tried to explain in words, but we all have different learning styles, so I thought a visual would be good. First of all, make sure your image is "Public" otherwise you'll get that lovely little notification that "This image may not be visible to all users because of your privacy settings" blah blah blah and la-de-da.

So, now for the image tutorial.

Step 1:

Step 2: 

Step 3: 

Step 4: 

Step 5: 

And that is that. Once you click the share photo button your picture should appear. Also, make sure that your group's rules are ok with you sharing images and cross posting. Most are, but make sure so you don't get kicked out! Ok, have fun and share away. 

Monday Crafts: A Digital Image Resource

From Sweetly Scrapped

Top O' the Mornin' to ya! Happy St. Patrick's Day! For today's Crafty Monday I wanted to introduce to you another blogger and Etsian that I think is amazing. I'm constantly looking for digital images that are free to use without a whole bunch of fanfare and such, but are also of good quality. I know NOTHING about digital imagery except that it is made up of pixels and how to manipulate some of it in a program. As far as creating it - I think I'll need a few classes and better digital drawing skills.

So I happened to stumble on Sweetly Scrapped by Emily a couple of weeks ago and I loved her stuff so much that I added it to my blog. See those little birds over there ---------------------------> Those are some of her fantastic images that she gives to the blogging community for free! Not only that, I found a new Etsy banner that I just adore. With a little big of help from an imaging program, I have all these lovely little goodies.

But that's not all. Emily also sells tags and embellishments in her Etsy shop that are just are gorgeous as her free items. I'm not a scrapbooker, will probably never be one since I have issues manipulating paper. But I have ordered some business cards and merchandise tags from her that I intend to use for a variety of things. She is very easy to work with and gives fast responses. I mean, I'm so impressed that I'm blogging about her.

I hope you head on over to her shop Sweetly Scrapped and visit her blog and website. 

Internet theft

Have you ever posted an image of one of your creations to the internet? Many people have, and many people use these images to sell products. I do. I take pictures of all my quilts and use them as examples of my work so that others know what they can expect. I post them all over Etsy, Zibbet, Pinterest, my blog, and Facebook.

Last week I received a message from a fellow Etsian that she had seen images of my work posted in a "secret group" on Facebook and the woman was claiming them as work she could do. The kind messenger added me to the group, and sure enough, there were my images. I contacted the admins and confronted the woman. I told her that while I was flattered she thought my work was good enough to claim as her own, I did not want her using them. She took them down and apologized, but she knew it was wrong and I'm still angry about it.

If you've ever had anything stolen from you, you can understand the feeling of violation and distrust that comes from that action. I know they were just pictures, but here's the thing: I've worked for two years to build up my reputation, business, presence, and skill. I've spent thousands of dollars and loads of valuable time to do this. My business is always on my mind and in my heart. I explore new techniques and improve my skill set whenever possible. The theft and use of my pictures is like having someone else say, " Screw your two years of work. I'm claiming them as my own and building my business off of your back!" It makes me so angry because not only is she trying to profit off of me, but she is also destroying a reputation I've tried so hard to build up. I handle my business with integrity and client trust and recommendation. When I see someone using images that aren't theirs, I instantly think they either can't do the work or have never tried.

We live in a society that includes citizens who think it is their right to take from others when they haven't done a thing to deserve or earn it. While there are some working hard and living off of their own work and profit, there are others that think that should get a piece of the other person's pie. Our own first lady had stated that, "Others should give up a piece of their pie." We'll, I'm sorry Michelle, but if they want pie, let them bake it themselves!!!

For my little incident I spent many hours over a period of 3 days watermarking my images. On Etsy that includes 98 images. I bought a watermark from https://www.etsy.com/shop/NolaRejeweled and a program called uMark. The watermarks only cost me about $6. The program costs $30 if you want the pro features, which I needed. This is not a huge amount, but it was certainly a lesson learned. I'm going to continue fighting to keep what I have earned, as I think all working American citizens should. Don't give up your pie if you've worked hard to find all the ingredients, put them together, and bake it! You want pie? Work for it, but don't give it away. 

Pinterest Perfection?

The other day I read a blog post by "All Things Thrifty" about the author's idea that her Pinterest pictures should be perfect so that they are "Pinterest worthy." She was worried that the picture she took might not be good enough for Pinterest. I can't remember ever having a thought like that. I hear tons of praise for Pinterest, but there is also some disturbing thoughts about it. This is going to be a long post, so grab a cuppa whatever pleases you and let's talk.

I am not a photographer. Never have been, never will be. I find that it is the biggest pain in the arse to worry about lighting, mood, light boxes, shadows, etc., etc., etc. I don't care. No, I really don't. My pictures are never going to be something you will find going viral on Instagram or Flikr, if there is such a thing as "going viral" on those sites. (See? I don't even really follow them!) I detest Tumblr because half the time I can't find the original source or any information on the image. Picture blogging sucks in my opinion. So why do I care about Pinterest???? Because it is about more than the pictures.

Yes, Pinterest uses images because that is what draws people. When Pinterest first started up I was one of the first members. My followers were limited to about 20 and I think I may have followed just as many. I could wait 2-3 days before my feed was updated with images I hadn't seen yet. Yes, it was just in its infancy. But I loved it. Why? Because it was personal. It was a way for me to categorize, store away, and re-visit things I thought were wonderful or wanted to try. I could actually follow a link and find out how someone did something or find a great blog post. The web was finally coming together for me. Not in bookmark links or assorted images on 100 different sites that were hard to find again, but in pictures I had put in nice little categories.

Suddenly, recipes I wanted to try were all in one place. Craft ideas, how-tos, and items for sale were right where I could find them. I was thrilled. And I pinned everything. Then came the day when I followed a link only to find that I was being redirected to a site called "Pinnerly" or "Pinthis" or some such crap. What were they doing? Just creating another site to direct traffic to instead of the original source. When you click on THEIR link it takes you to the original PINTEREST source, where you have to click AGAIN to actually follow the source. Okay, I was annoyed to say the least. I stopped following them and I refuse to repin anything that links to their sites. I think it was at that moment that I realized Pinterest was not going to be what I wanted it to be if I decided to follow the crowd. Pinterest was my one thing that I didn't want to be stressful. I wanted it to stay easy and fun. It wasn't full of the Facebook drama, the Twitter comments, or the boring business side of LinkedIn. I wasn't worried about people hunting me down and stalking me through my Pins like they can through Foursquare. It. Was. Just. Fun.

 Now people stress about the images they put on their blogs, making Pinterest stressful. Yes, good images are better than crappy, hard-to-see images. But who cares if your studio isn't up to the same perfection as something that someone has put thousands of dollars into???? You will most likely see my dogs, my kids, scraps of fabric, threads, and all sorts of other chaos in my images. I'm more concerned with the work I produce than what my studio looks like. I use Pixlr, Picassa, and Photobucket to make my images better. I crop, brighten, lighten, and watermark most of them. But do I REALLY need to have a professional photographer come in and take pictures just so people will pin them? Do I REALLY need to learn another skill that I have no interest, money, or time for? Do I even CARE? NO. Why? Because I'm tired of people taking something like Pinterest and making it into some must-do, must-be, must-live-up-to thing. Why can't people just have fun with something and like what they like? I believe by the comments on that other blog that I'm not the only one. I'm not going to stress about whether or not it is perfect. I have way to much to do otherwise.

Pinterest is a good thing. Like I said before, it is fun. Other than the images thing, I've also had some friends worry that they can't get into Pinterest because it puts too much stress on them to do things. (Sorry, Jess, but this has bothered me for a long time too!) There are so many great ideas on the web. Things I probably never would have found or run into if it hadn't been for Pinterest. It has improved my quilting, given me endless tutorials, and is chock-full of ideas that I will never ever have time to do. So why do I pin them and keep them? Because I don't know what the future holds. I don't ever know what may pop up that I have pinned and suddenly need. In my mind I can remember this beautiful quilting pattern that I saw somewhere, but for whatever reason (perhaps it has to do with slow evolution?) my head has yet to catalog and categorize URLs. I want to use it, so I go back to my Pin Boards and find the link. However, my board for "Pins I've Actually Done" is a heck of a lot smaller than any of my "yet to do" boards.


Quit stressing about it and pin it! Don't make it into something that we once again have to worry about. Yes, it can drive traffic to your site. It can boost your sales and increase your readership. But why screw with perfection? Can't we just use and enjoy something without worrying about the stinking SEOs and such? What many fail to realize is that people LIKE to see imperfection. It really puts less stress on their lives than to have to deal with someone else's supposed ideals. Half the time what you see is not reality. Would you rather live in a world of truth or of photoshopped lies? Wouldn't you rather just ENJOY something for a change instead of having to adapt it so that Google searches pick it up? Wouldn't it be nice to have something that is yours, personal and enjoyable, sharing with others, following their boards and sharing ideas, without fear of judgement and what the bottom line is? Oh, they have that. It's called Pinterest!