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Friday, February 17, 2012

Review and Giveaway!!!

We're being featured on Craftiness Is Not Optional's blog today! I'm very excited because I've been reading her blog for awhile! Jessica is a mom of the two cutest little girls and obsessed with sewing--something I think we ALL can relate to, lol. She also dabbles in other things, such as making her own jewelry (complete with free tutorials!), and has a weekly post about outfits she's put together for herself during the previous week--these are my favorite posts because she has excellent taste in my opinion! Additionally, don't miss out on her extensive list of FREE girls clothing tutorials.



For our review portion of her blog post she decided to make our Mia's Reverse Knot Twirly Dress and had her daughter, Charlotte, model it. Coincidentally, the cover of our Mia's Dress has MY daughter Charlotte modeling it. lol. Yay for cute Charlottes! 

MY Charlotte in the Mia's Reverse Knot Twirly Dress
Be sure to check out Craftiness is Not Optional for yourself! I'm sure you will love her as much as we do! Also, if you go there today you will be able to enter the giveaway to win a 3 Pattern Pack! OH! And I jst found her on Facebook, so please go like her fan page and tell her that we sent you.


Thursday, February 16, 2012

Hello, From Skye Reve Fabrics!

Hello Everyone!  This is Natasha from Skye Reve Fabrics!  I am going to be writing posts once a month about everyone's favorite thing! FABRIC!  Just a little about myself, I have 2 beautiful girls, who are my pride and joy. Brielle is 7 and Chelie (pronounced Shea-lee) is 8.  I have a fashion design background and have worked for companies such as Justice and Abercrombie and Fitch.  I decided to take up the fabric business full time about 2 years ago so that I could be at home with my girls more and to have a more flexible job, and still be able to be creative.  I love what I do!  I feel like I have a shop full of eye candy all the time! I adore picking out fabrics and sharing the with everyone, and take much pride in my packaging and shipping. 

So each month I will be writing a post on things such as upcoming fabric lines, trends in fabrics and colors, and anything fun fabric related that I see going on.  It is going to be lots of fun, I hope that everyone enjoys it!

http://www.skyerevefabrics.com/
https://www.facebook.com/#!/Skyerevefabrics7

Sunday, February 12, 2012

What Makes a Good Boutique Picture?


So often I am asked what is the difference between taking a picture for a family and taking a picture for a boutique.   No matter what you are shooting, the goal is to get a great picture but what is a great picture?  A great picture for one person is not always a great picture for another.  The first thing a photographer or person taking a picture needs to ask is what am I taking a picture of and what is the person expecting from the finished output?
Boutique owners often think that if they have this great unique picture that their product will sell. This is not always the case. Everyone likes a creative/beautiful picture of kids frolicking around in a field, and how great is the new vintage trends in photos?  Although these pictures are beautiful the thing that we must remember is that you are not selling a photo or the photographer.  You are selling a product.  No matter how cute the picture is, if you can't tell exactly what is being sold then it doesn't matter what the pictures looks like.  This isn't to say that you can't have that one beautiful picture to show your product being used in everyday life.
When you work with a professional photographer it is important for a boutique to be very specific in what they are looking for.  After all, you are working hard to put out a great product and your pictures should portray that.  A photographer is not a mind reader and does not always know what you are looking for, so it is important for you to be specific and let them know your style.  Many photographers can adjust their style and shoot in a manor that will suit your needs.
As a photographer that works for many different boutiques I find it useful to ask multiple questions and set the expectations from the beginning.  When doing a boutique shoot there are few key shots and looks that I like to get for the boutiques that I work with.


  • The first thing that I look at is the product that I am shooting.  Once I am able to see the product I pick the environment in which I want to shoot that product.  It doesn't matter if the location is outside, inside, or on a backdrop.  It just matters if the product can be displayed properly.
  • The next item of concern is who is modeling the product.  More then likely it is a child that is going to be modeling for a boutique.  Keeping this in mind cuteness sells but kids are unpredictable.  So either you have to pick a model that is comfortable in front of the camera or be able to adjust to the child that you are shooting to make sure that you get the pictures that are needed.
  • When shooting for a boutique it is important to give variety.  You want to make sure that you are showing the product off in many different ways.  I like to make sure that I am getting some full body poses, 3/4 length poses, some head shots if there is a hair accessory, detailed pictures of the hem lines, stitching, ruffles and any extras and I like to also show what the outfit looks like when sitting down.  It is important to show the details as much as possible.
  • Once I have gotten the essential product shots I can become a little more creative but always keep in mind that I am selling a product not my photography services.  It is great to show how versatile a product can be.  For example, if you are selling a knot dress of some sort, it would be nice to have a picture of that dress being worn as a summer look and also fall look.  So throwing a long sleeve shirt under it or a jean jacket over it gives it a little extra flare as to how the dress can be worn.  Although these are cute pictures, they shouldn't be used as the main pictures of the product.
  • The last item is the editing process.  Photographers have a wide variety of options in the ways that they can edit a picture.  The one thing to keep in mind if you are selling a product and that product has a specific fabric, it is important to keep the true colors so that consumers are seeing exactly what they will be receiving.  The new trend is the vintage look.  Although this look is beautiful it doesn't always fit every product shoot.  This is a look that really needs to be applied by a professional that knows how to do it the right way.  There are ways to applying the effect without losing the true colors of the fabric but not everyone knows how to do it.  It is important to apply effects and sharpen a picture that is going to show the product true to life.  If you are not selling a specific fabric/color choice then the key is to make your picture/product pop.  Brighten those colors, lighten your image and sharpen the details.
 Examples of the key shots for a boutique


    A boutique wants their product to be shown clearly.  Although its cute to have that jean jacket thrown over the dress or to have the best props, it is important to remember that you don't want the other items in the picture to take away from the product being sold.  You want the consumer to notice that dress first not that it is a great picture with awesome props.  Those pictures should be used as extras so that a consumer can see how the product can be used in everyday life.

    So on that note.  It is important to remember that a good boutique picture is one that shows off a product not shows off a model or a picture.  Capture the details and enhance your product.

    Until next time when I will give little tips and trips on taking your own boutique picture.
    PS. Dont forget to ask questions or ask to discuss specific topics.

    Much Love,
    Jen

    jen@rileyjoliephotography.com


    Wednesday, February 8, 2012

    February Boutique of the Month!

    Congrats to Peaches & Brown Sugar for being chosen as our February Boutique of the Month. If you haven't heard of her before, girl, are you missing out! Get your butt over there and see her amazing creations...but wait until you read her interview below first! Natalie is one of those people that you could hardly know, but somehow end up talking with for hours. She is so nice and amazingly talented! The best part is that she shares the same beliefs about being a boutique owner as Tiffany and I do. This girl is sure to go far in the boutique world <3

    Cienna's Pants and Marissa's Dress as made by Peaches & Brown Sugar Designs

    New Patterns {Part 2}

    As promised, here is the second set of patterns....from December. HA!
    We have plan to do this month-by month, but at this point we are still playing catch-up! Expect to see a couple more of these in the next few weeks....not that you'll believe me since you've heard this line before!


    First up is Molly! I got the idea of making a dress that looked like an apron peasant dress, but didn't actually have an apron. I liked the idea of adding some lace embellishments to make it look like an apron even moreso. I created the dress above for the Fall 2011 Collection in my personal boutique, Dashingly Dainty Designs. This picture was taken by one of our testers. Isn't her daughter the cutest!?! I came up with the name Molly from the American Girl books I read when I was younger; she was my fave! I know they make American Girl Dolls now, but know absolutely nothing about them! lol. Are they even based on the books anymore???


    Next up is Claire's. If you haven't noticed we love patchwork. LOOOOOOOVE patchwork. Sure, its a pain in the you-know-what to sew all those darn squares, but do you see the outcome? I created the Claire's pattern for my personal boutique, Dashingly Dainty Designs, as a Thanksgiving Dress. I wanted to recreate the pillowcase dress in a way it hasn't been done before. I sold quite a few and had multiple people ask me for the pattern. At that point I knew, this had to be one of our patterns eventually! We named it Claire's because it was named Claire's in my boutique. I named it after my cousin's daughter because she is just so cute and I tend to name my outfits after people I know; I don't think too hard about it! lol. The photograph was taken by Mia Moo Designs (she also made the adorable necklace that is pictured with it).


    We visit Zulily a lot! Mostly because we love getting great deals on clothes for our kids but also because we love seeing what people are creating for children's clothing. We have got a few ideas from Zulily and the Caroline's Princess Top was one of them. Of course, Tiffany found this top and wanted to put her own spin on it and when she made it and it ended up being completely different!  Tiffany also came up with the great idea to create a pair of pants that would mimic the style of the top, thus she created Bonnie's Princess Ruffle Pants! How perfect right? So you must now be asking us where we got the name from and I'll tell ya: The Vampire Diaries. Tiffany loved that show and she was talking about it so much for so long I finally had to watch it for myself. I watched every episode from the start until I was caught up in about a week! lol. (I watch a lot of Netflix when I sew) So obviously, when we were searching for names for our newest patterns we just had to reference to The Vampire Diaries. Hello!


    Next up on the list is Elena...which we ALWAYS spell wrong! We named it and even we can't get it right ::sigh:: This was a dress that Tiffany created for her personal boutique and it was a big seller!!! This is personally one of my favorite patterns we have made. The outcome is full, twirly, and beautiful every time. People LOVE this dress and always comment when my daughter wears it out. This is a prime example of what we do best: over the top boutique! Ruffles, layers, peasant style, and shirring; all of our favorites! Obviously, if you are familiar with The Vampire Diaries than you know where this name came from. lol. If you're not, well, it's named after the main character in The Vampire Diaries. lol. When we find a theme for naming patterns we really stick with it! Picture by Forty Toes Photography.


    The last pattern I'm gonna talk about is Jenna's Lace Ruffle Pants. These pants are the basic ruffle pants with CKC twist: embellishment! I had had this idea in my head for quite awhile--adding lace to a pair of ruffle jeans. It's nothing crazy but it adds a nice touch and gets people to step out of their comfort zone and learn that they too can use things like lace in their outfits. I created these jeans last fall; Tiffany says I'm the first person she's ever seen make ruffle jeans, but I swear I've seen them somewhere before so I won't take credit, lol, oddly enough, after I created mine and she quickly created her triple ruffle jeans we started seeing them everywhere last fall. We know you all copied us, but its okay. LOL. Just kidding. I've seen them before somewhere else...that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Anyway, as you can guess these were a huge hit last Fall so obviously we had to make a pattern from it! We named them Jenna because well, we were big into The Vampire Diaries last month...but this is our last reference so you can stop laughing at us now!

    Thursday, February 2, 2012

    Another Surprise...

    So, as we've said we've been working hard over here at CKC and have had lots of exciting things happening that we haven't been able to talk about. But now, we feel comfortable announcing one of the many things in the works.

    Sophia's Open Back Ruffle Dress

    Wait for it...


    Elena's Twirly Peasant Dress

    We are getting our patterns printed so that we may be available to a wider audience. This is the main reason we've had to cut back on coming out with new patterns lately! We are still in the beginning stages of this process so we can not give any dates on when they will be available but we are hoping for this Spring--Summer at the latest! We will keep you guys updated.

    This is just one of the many things we have in the works and we are so excited to finally be able to announce at least one of them. lol. I know you guys have been waiting anxiously to know everything. Believe me when I say that we have many more exciting things to announce int he near future so be on the lookout!

    Wednesday, February 1, 2012

    The First Surprise coming from Create Kids Couture

    Surprise, Surprise!  I am one of Tiffany's and Shannon's little surprises that they have been holding out on.  Although they have many surprises to come I am just a little piece that is fortunate to share in their dreams and success.

    My names is Jennifer Quinn and I am with Riley Jolie Photography.  Tiffany and Shannon asked me to take part in their blog and share with all of you little pieces of information regarding photography, boutiques, and much more.  To start out, I will be posting on here once a month a hot topic that you might find interesting or help you with your business.  I would love to take your questions, and your ideas and bring them to this blog.  Chances are, someone else has the same question you might have but just hasn't asked it.  If you have a hot topic or a question please feel free to email me at jen@rileyjoliephotography.com and I will either get back to you or discuss your topic on this blog.

    To tell you a little bit about myself, I am a wife to a wonderful husband of almost 10 years, and a mom to two beautiful little girls (I'm a little bias).   For most of my life I have had a passion for photography, design and business.  Not only has my passions come to life with families but I also work with a number of boutiques and models.  I enjoy being able to take a picture that will help sell a product or a person.  A picture is everything.  It can make or break a product.  So with this I will be giving you tips on how to make your products sell successfully.











    I look forward to sharing my opinions with you all and helping you in anyway that I can.
    Until next time.
    Jennifer
    Riley Jolie Photography
    Find us on Facebook at:
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Riley-Jolie-Photography/178078809482