Pronta Coffee is featured on this beautiful Etsy Treasury today. This treasury have a lovely selection of chocolate & ivory colors matching so well together. That’s why I create Pronta Coffee with this combination of colors, it feels so light and warm. They are a great couple. I love it!
Thank you BlackCreekEclectible!

MOCHA & CREAM BY BLACKCREEKECLECTIBLE ON ETSY

Rococo Petite – Handmade Cot… TickledPinkKni… $89.00	cafe con leche mendlbarr $98.00	dark wood and sterling silve… SilverMadeStud… $59.00
Coffee and Cream Date Night … Minxshop $130.00	Set of 5 Yarn Wrapped Stacki… mysticfibers $35.00	Autumn Leaf – Fine Art Photo… DovieMoon $20.00
Fabric Scarf Necklace Cowl A… estilopronta $33.00	Tan Leather Gloves – Vintage… SecondWindVint… $14.00	Mocha fingerless gloves / wr… JewelKnits $39.00
BELLA – WARMTH, BRONZE CZECH… AmberSky $31.50	1940′s Chocolate Brown V… Melindamilksha… $54.00	Sale- Warm Sweet French Vani… SuiteOneStudio $100.00
White Cup Cozy, Cream Mug Sl… natalya1905 $15.00	Chocolate Organza Flower Bob… MissGlory $16.00	flurries cowl windowsill $85.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Ohhh! How I love to make the flowers for each Pronta. Thats the part that I really enjoy! I remember when I started Pronta, didn’t come with the flower yet. And for me was like: ehhhww Okay! This need a partner! What can be? A Flower! How I make one? An then I started to give a shot making a flower, but I was getting frustrated because, since was my first time actually doing a fabric flower, wasn’t filling my expectations and didn’t give the “touch” that I wanted for Pronta.

Like the quote says “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did”, I finally found the perfect flower style for my Pronta’s!

So what I did was recycle the strip of my Pronta’s, which is awesome. Recycling is always awesome, right? And add a button. But, a normal button didn’t really fill me up, so researching online I started to find the charm in the vintage buttons. Besides of having a story behind each one, they are so pretty! I love the little details on them. What can I say, I spent days on eBay bidding in a LOT of buttons. I remember my husband was thinking that I have a new addiction: buttons, or something. Because since is his account, Ive been “watching” lots and lots of buttons, trying the get a good deal on them, and he was receiving a lot and lots of alerts in his email about them. Hahaha, whooops.

So I finished with this kind of flower: recycle materials + matching with the Pronta (since Im using the same fabric for the flower) + have a unique feature which is the vintage button on it.

Pronta isn’t the same after I get to make the flowers for it. It changed everything! That’s why I always suggest to use the flower pin ON or WITH the Pronta.

I leave you with some of my favorite flowers so far:

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I got a new request from a shop in Luxembourg: Chez Lucy. This shop have selected and lovely accessories, from a beautiful jewelry to cute headbands. This shop also sells Pronta. I’m honor to be part of this wonderful collection of great picks.

I met Lucia, the owner, right when I started Pronta in March. She request Pronta for Summer/Spring 2010 Collection. Make me feel so happy that somebody from another continent appreciate my work and also make an order of 23 items not even looking at the product before. She trusted me and I gave my best to fulfill her expectations. Her custom order was base on one color Pronta Style (18 strips) and the flower with another color making the contrast. I choose very carefully the vintage button for each flower, because I wanted to give a character for this kind of Pronta.

Color Palette - Chez Lucy Custom Request

Now she contacted me one more time looking for a Winter Collection. It’s Europe, so the weather in winter is very very cold! So I suggested her to choose Pronta Ultra.

This Pronta comes with 24 strips, so cozy! And since the fabric is so soft, its very comfortable to use. Not even mention how many styles you can create with that amount of strips! Also, comes with my signature: The flower with the vintage button. Is going to be one color Pronta and the flower in contrast with another color. Same as the Spring Collection. For this order I’m thinking to make even a bigger flower, with a bigger button. Let’s see how that turn on.

The color palette for her Winter Collection have moss green, plum, indigo blue, terracotta, pale pink, expresso brown & cream.

I’m currently working on this order. And getting excited to see all the finished work. Ill take pictures of each Pronta and posted on this blog, so stay tune!

Heres some of the Pronta Style for her last order, take a look and tell me what you think!

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Been thinking about changing the style of my pictures. Even with a good camera, good light, good set up… that can’t be enough sometimes.

Since I’m a graphic and web designer too (thanks god!) I know some Photoshop retouching techniques.

Before

I started figuring out a new (and more stunning) shots for my work. BUT still in the same scenario. I use the balcony of my house with the mannequin, and have trees and sky in the background. Its pretty cool, gives you more nature look to the picture.

So anyways, I change the shots a little bit. Because I really want to use stunning pictures for my Etsy shop, to make the potential buyers click on the picture as soon as they see it on the list.

You need to find what makes your item original and unique from the rest. Once you found out, its gonna be easy. In my case, what I think is unique in my work is the Flower with the vintage button and then the blend of colors I create for each Pronta.

After

Those 2 things has to be in my main picture. And then, of course, you have to have the whole look of your item. In my case is, Pronta wearing as a scarf, Pronta wearing as a necklace, and some creative look that you can do with the Pronta.

Now that I took the picture of my work. The Photoshop skills start. I wanted to give a warm look to the pictures. So I give a little bit more of light (to add warm, I live in Seattle, and the most of the time is cloudy, so this helped!) and add some gradient colors blending in the picture very very slyly (In the example I use a gradient of aqua blue from the top going down to a light brown). And then giving some retouches like in the vintage button. And that’s it.

I honesty, recommend everyone to give a shot learning a little bit of Photoshop. I know its a complex software, but in this case, you just have to know some tools to make your work look more professional and attractive for the future buyers. I will try to post some tutorials if you guys are interested.

Heres more examples of my work with a new look:

Pretty cool, huh?

Im new in the Etsy world. I just been doing wholesales to people that stop by in my shop, which is super. And only have 2 sales of Pronta. But something I realize after posting these new pictures is that my visits increased a lot. I can see the people is more interested to click on my item because the picture invite you to do that. That’s a good start!

So, my only advice here its to TRY. Try and try and try till you feel that is working for you (and, of course, your having lot of sales) and DO NOT GIVE UP, because your not selling yet. Im new and still giving a shot and believing that if I still work hard… I will be successful.

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Ive been doing some work on the Collection for this Fall 2010. And part of the collection is done. Again, I love the color palette for this fall, so I tried to apply that at the time to choose my colors.

I use a lot of Mustard, Coral, Violet, Fuchsia, Pink and Plum. All theses colors mixed with the original fall colors like Chocolate Brown, Khaki, Beige, Orange , Moss Green and Gray.

And this is the result! Voila!

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I’m not a fan of following the fashion color trends every single season. At all! In fact, my philosophy is if you like it… wear it! But in this case personally, I LOVE the Pantone Fashion Color Report – Fall 2010. The colors are beautiful. I can’t wait to start a new Pronta Collection using these colors as a huge inspiration (in fact, I will start today). Its gonna be a challenge!

Do you have something in mind already? If for some reason you don’t know what colors are going to be HOT this Fall (or you just miss it like me!) here is my report. Isn’t too late yet!

Pantone Fashion Color Report Fall 2010

Okay! So… Golden Glow, Endive, Woodbine, Lagoon, Purple Orchid, Chocolate Truffle, Oyster Gray, Rose Dust, Living Coral and Lipstick Red are THE colors for this Fall. Take note (if you didn’t yet) and start getting inspired. Believe it or not, our old customers (or the new ones) are gonna appreciate to buy an item that is totally IN style, right? You can download the Pantone .PDF here.

I took my time today to check these colors on Etsy and finished with a neat gear for this Fall. Don’t miss the opportunity to get beautiful stuff (lots of them are on sale) or let them inspire you to create a nice collection for this fall. Enjoy it.

Handpicked – Fall 2010

Well, this is always the message when you make a new blog. Hello World. And that’s exactly what I’m doing. Saying hello to the art & craft people. Saying hello to the artisans. Saying hello to the people that built art. Saying hello to people who use creativity as a hobby or as a business.

Im introducing myself as the Designer of Pronta (About Pronta). I’m also a Graphic and Web Designer (www.leetside.com). Actually, that’s my label the past years. I enjoy taking pictures, in fact, I take 10 pictures of something just to make it perfect. Yah, I’m always looking for perfection, for “neatness” if that is even a word.

Telling you more about me, English isn’t my first language, and I’m learning a lot of new words everyday living in USA, so don’t freak-out when you read my blog. I lived 26 years of my life in my cozy, beautiful and especial country of Paraguay. Now, from Washington State with my husband we are starting a new life. I’m completely in love with this state. And we are looking forward to live in here forever. I’m an adventurer. I love outdoor activities & travel with my husband. My home is surrounded by nature, fresh air, breeze, quiet. What a perfect place to get creative and produce! So here I am.

I’m always looking to contribute to the art & design world with my effort (I can’t imagine myself doing another kind of stuff). I love to work hard. I really do. I want to be the best (who doesn’t?). I’m new in this Handmade World, so lets give it a shot. Why not?

I hope that you enjoy reading my posts. I will try to show the best of me with my Handmade Pronta design as a business, but also I will contribute giving my perspective of “Inspiration”.

I’m looking forward to making friends who enjoy arts, crafts & design like me. Exchange experiences, thoughts, opinions. It feels so good when you share, and know that what your sharing would help somebody, right?

So, this is the beginning.
Thanks in advance to take your time to read this & my next posts.
I’m really looking forward to be your friend.

Cheers!

Maru Stephens.
“Love your life and you’ll get inspiration for free”