Lil' Darlin's Must-Have of the Week

My, my, my, it has been quite a while since I've blogged. Funny, because I have had so much to blog about. Work wise, that is. I guess I've spent far too many hours in the workshop and at venues than on the internet, but that's a good thing, right? I know, I need a balance. Ok, enough about the boring stuff, on to the merch. I had never worked with vinyl before, as it's thickness had deterred me, until one day I decided to reupholster our 1950's dinette chairs (3 down, 1 to go, needs rechroming, but I digress). After working with vinyl, might I say, I have a new found fabric that I simply adore. Then one day, I opened my worn makeup brush rollup case and thought "this black leather is SO boring. I need to make a custom one." And then it hit me! Why not make my OWN customized vinyl makeup bag (out of the leftover chair vinyl....waste not want not!) with an added twist. See, I have this favorite cake eyeliner that I tote w/ me when I travel and sometimes leave it in my travel bag and forget about it until I use it again at home. Well, switching it from one place to another becomes a nuisance, so why not store it WITH my brushes? No, really, why not? And with that, the Maven's Glam Bag was born. Yes, I'm well aware that makeup mavens around the country own a large amount of makeup brushes and would probably need a 5 foot roll up bag (wow, that's a lot of vinyl!). But for those times when you can't take your 4 cases of makeup and 3 containers of brushes, why not consolidate them into some actual essentials to take with as well as show off your style? The Maven's Glam Bag can hold 2 powder or blush brushes and has compartments for 7 smaller *dimension brushes. There's an inside top flap to cover over the brushes to protect from outside ickiness and 2 metal magnetic clips that hold it closed quite nicely. The inner fabric is adorable (you'll recognize them from the Dannas) and protected by clear, easy to wipe vinyl.

On the outside is the attached makeup bag which matches the inside fabric as well. It can hold (depending on the size of the case) a small powder compact, lipstick, mascara and other things essential to the beautification of a woman on the go, all secured by a 6" zipper. Did I mention the outside is gorgeous, glittery vinyl (insert girlish giggle here)?

Each Bag retails at $25.00 (plus tax if you're ordering from CA). At that price, why not buy 2? If you're interested, please place your order on the Lil Darlin Accessories page on Facebook. *makeup brush note: instead of buying pricey makeup brushes from makeup counters, why not purchase art brushes? They are just as great as the ones from the makeup stores, yet are less expensive Note: pictured here is Rose Tattoo 4 You on Lipstick Sparkle Vinyl

Lil' Darlin' Spotlights Divine Moments by Jana

Welcome to my very first maiden voyage of Lil' Darlin' Spotlights. I am very pleased to introduce Jana Dougherty, a talented photographer that I met on a different website a while ago after moving to the current city we're living in. She is the owner/photographer for Divine Moments by Jana and a friend of mine. I got a chance to see her in action when I asked her to take photos for my website and was so happy with the results. Thank you again, Jana, for lending your talent to my website.

Now, sit back, grab a cup of Joe & enjoy my very first interview.

LDS: How did you start in the photography industry?
Jana: I became interested in photography in high school when I was the assistant photographer for the school newspaper. We had our own dark room and we got to process our own film and print our own photos. It was a lot of fun. It's been a hobby ever since but I became interested in doing portrait photography after my girls were born and I started taking their pictures.

LDS: What kind of classes did you take?
Jana: I haven't taken any classes. I did my senior project in high school on photography and had a teacher who was my mentor for the project. He was a photographer and took me out on photo walks to practice and teach me the basics and general rules of photography. The rest is pretty much self taught from talking to other photographers and reading books and articles... and hands on learning experience, of course.

LDS: Would you say you've always had an eye for taking pictures?
Jana: To a point, yes. I remember my project mentor looking through some photos I took on a vacation and he kept pointing out how well I used a lot of the photography rules in my photos. At the time, I had no idea what he was talking about but now that I have learned what they are, I can consciously use them in my work and get great composition almost every time.

LDS: What's the one mistake that amateur photographers make that gets under your skin?
Jana: I really can't think of any one thing in particular... to each their own. I guess maybe not doing anything to try and improve their work. Nobody is a perfect photographer... even the pros can still learn a thing or two. If they're just starting out, there is SO much to learn in order to really be able to produce great pictures and develop your own style. The "photographers" that start out thinking their work is perfect right from the beginning and don't think they have to do anything to advance their knowledge, are usually the ones that don't really move forward in their career.

LDS: You do many kinds of genres. What's your favorite?
Jana: I absolutely LOVE doing maternity photos. I think pregnancy is an incredibly beautiful thing and I love capturing the moments towards the end when the mother has already developed that bond with her unborn child.

LDS: Do you have a favorite shoot & if so, what made it your favorite?
Jana: The one birth shoot that I have done is, by far, my most favorite. To be invited into such an intimate and personal moment in someone's life, was such an honor and the whole experience was so emotional and beautiful, I can't even put it into words. I would love to do another shoot like that again. It was amazing.

LDS: Have you ever had any moments of sheer comedy on any of your shoots?
Jana: Nothing major yet... at least nothing that really sticks out in my mind. I'm a very lighthearted person as it is thought, so my clients and I are always laughing and having fun during our shoots.

LDS: What is your dream place/subject/theme to shoot?
Jana: My dream place would have to be my own studio somewhere. I dream of the day that I am successful enough in this business that I can afford my own studio and have it set up however I want it. That would be perfect. If I could get a consistent "side" gig as a birth photographer... maybe have my ad included in the packets that the hospitals hand out to their maternity patients, that would be wonderful too. Someday. =)

LDS: Any genre that you won't do? Why?
Jana: I had someone call me once asking if I would do nude portraits of her and her "girlfriend" to give as a gift to her husband. She said that she wanted the photos to contain "interaction" be tween her and her friend. Basically what she was asking for was for me to shoot porn for her husband. I said no. Not that I was judging her... like I said, to each their own, but I personally wouldn't be comfortable being in the middle of that type of situation. I try to keep my work classy and subtle.

LDS: Any thing else you'd like to add?
Jana: I am always open to suggestions (keeping the above mentioned exception in mind, haha) and love to expand my portfolio. I have my specialties but I won't limit myself to any one subject and love to try out new ideas. Some of the best photo shoots are the ones that are just random ideas.

If you're interested in booking any future photoshoots and you are in the Inland Empire, please feel free to contact Jana via email @ divinemomentsbyjana@yahoo.com She's featuring a special: 10% off any regular priced shoot for 1st time clients and 20% off any regularly priced shoot when you refer a friend who purchases a session. And here's a few samples of her photography.

Please, forgive my virgin blog

I really never planned on creating a blog, but here I am. I thought I would know what to say but now that I'm sitting in front of my computer, I have no clue. Funny, because I'm normally good at random rants and utter nothingness.

An introduction, I guess.

I'm a stay-at-home mom. Almost a year ago a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to sell at The Hootenanny, an all day rockabilly/psychobilly show. I had nothing to sell, not even a name to sell under. But I thought it would be cool, so I told her I would. A couple weeks later, after thinking about it, I decided that we really weren't ready for that kind of event, so I told her that we should skip that year's event & sell at the following year. Here we are, a year later & I am ready to sell there.

I picked out a name for my company, got the necessary legal stuff out of the way & Lil' Darlin' Accessories was born. I made items that I wanted to wear in patterns that I loved. I made my own patterns, created my own molds. I am a creative individual who just wanted to make things that I thought others would appreciate.

Here I am, a year almost to the day later, setting up a blog about my business. I have my own website, I set up at car & music shows. I meet cool customers & awesome fellow vendors. I am truly blessed.

So, that's it in a rather big nutshell. Keep an eye out for future shows, new products & just randomness. It's what I do best.