What You DON'T See: Behind the Scenes at Occasionally Crafty

Okay.  Truth.  I get a little envious when I see beautiful craft rooms like this.

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I browse Pinterest and easily get down on myself when I see amazing, creative crafts someone came up with, like this:

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Does that ever happen to you?  Do you compare what you have or what you've made to what you see online?  I hope, hope, hope that I've never misrepresented our life and all that our projects entail.  We try really hard to "keep it real" and keep our projects accessible to anyone.  So, in the spirit of being "real", here's a peek into this blogger's life "behind the blog"!  
This is my creative space:

Don't ooh and aah all at once ;)
This is our office/guest room/ craft room/ game room/storage closet.  It's decorated with very functional IKEA furniture in a very boyish theme (vintage baseball).  It's stuffed to the gills and usually either a bit cluttered or a complete disaster (I took pictures on a good day!) It's nothing like I would do if this were my very own space.  But, I make it work. 

I use the computer any time I am working with my Silhouette.  I cut the vinyl here at the desk, then usually sit on the floor to weed out any unwanted vinyl.  This can be quite time-consuming, from a few minutes to several hours! To pass the time, this is what I do.

Thank goodness for Hulu Plus!
And this is what I usually look like when working.

Hair up, no makeup, exercise clothes (or yoga pants--same thing, right?) on, yet to shower, etc.
When I have painting or vinyl application to do, I usually end up working on the kitchen counter.  I stand a lot when I craft, and that is the only place tall enough to do so.  In this photo, I'm working on my post for this Spring Subway Art Plaque.  I actually just took a picture of the blank plaque a few minutes before this one.  Sure, my counter looks clean  in my little 2 square feet of space- but look at all the stuff around my project that you don't see in the finished photos!

Once my project is finished, it's time to stage the project for final photos.  My house has terrible lighting pretty much everywhere.  We keep the blinds closed all the time because, well, it's Phoenix, and light=heat.  My AC bill is already outrageous.  Even with the blinds open, it's pretty dark inside. So, to get the best photos, I usually end up outside.  Here's the photo I took of my subway art:

And here's where I actually took that photo.  Yep- that's my back patio, next to the BBQ.  I have to stand on my tiptoes on that chair and lean over the board as far as I can to get the right perspective.

This Shamrock Pillow was photographed outside also,using chairs and rocks to prop up my backgrounds.  Maybe I should invest in some backdrop holders?

Once the photos are done, it's time to edit them.  I use either Lightroom or PicMonkey, depending on how much time I have.  I have a Canon EOS Rebel T3, with an 18-55mm lens and a fixed 50mm lens (which I love for product shots).  It takes pretty great shots, but editing pumps up the vibrance and helps me balance the colors in a way that is difficult for me to do on my own.  Here's the original photo:

and here's the same one edited.  

Finally, it's time to write the blog post. It takes s a good hour or so just writing, uploading photos, and editing the post. So, there you have it-- what you see on the blog vs. what my house and process are really like.
Laura and I are always struggling with blog/life balance.  We always wish our photos were better, our staging skills were better, our ideas were better, etc.   There is always something to compare with the thousands of other blogs out there, and when we get caught up in that, it only brings negativity into our lives.

That beautiful craft room I shared at the beginning?  I can say with almost 100 percent surety that it doesn't look like that all of the time.  In blogs and on social media, we want to showcase our best-- but that doesn't mean it is our reality.  It takes a lot of work to make things look beautiful for a blog, and I hope I've never misrepresented that on our blog.  So when what you see on Pinterest, Facebook, or on your favorite blog makes you feel envious (as often happens to me!), remember:

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Click on the links below to read more "Behind-the-Scenes" posts!

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