HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY MOM

I love my mom. This is one of my favorite pics taken of her ever, from 1998. The scan is from 2000 so it's not the best quality, but this is my mom. Do the math; she was still climbing trees at 39. lol Actually she'd still climb trees today.

Love you Mom! We're totally going to play In Da Club for you later LOL. I need to go pick up her birthday cake soon. Check out the necklace I made for her! She wears a lot of the natural woodsy-colors like forest green and brown, and she loves birds of prey, especially owls and hawks.


And this is what's waiting for her in the newspaper when she wakes up, courtesy of my grandparents.

You know, I am alive here. lol

Ever since I found a great outlet for my sea glass photos, I haven't had the need to show them off here......HOWEVER, if you know anything about sea glass, check out the finds I had while I was in Canada! No, I'm not disclosing the location on this one, sorry folks. I left it for my sister-in-law, who now loves to go beachcombing.

I've been really busy lately buying new stock for the vintage section of my Etsy shop. You would not believe the dresses I've had the pleasure of buying...I'll hopefully be listing more today but I also have to get ready for my mother's 50th birthday this coming Sunday!

Hey, it's Follow Friday for Twitter, if you don't follow me yet, feel free! I have two twitters as of yesterday, one for my shop and one for me.

http://twitter.com/meganmcgory
http://twitter.com/mannequinreject

Peace out girl scouts!

The importance of having a really good camera for product photos.

Today I decided to share a little before/after session with you to show the importance of having a good camera vs. a GOOD camera. Now, because my Kodak DX7590 was my BABY and I couldn't afford a new camera despite the fact my Kodak was broken since Sept. 2007, I shot all my Etsy product photos with my "good" camera.

Here's Number 128 - Electric Key Steampunk Skeleton Key Pendant as it was shot in September with the Kodak. Note that my camera always had problems with low light, and for some reason it seemed there was NEVER enough light. This was edited to be brighter / more colorful in photoshop, which is pretty common for all product photos.
And here's the same item shot last week with my Canon Rebel XS. It needed minimal post-processing compared to the other.
Now, don't tell me you get good photos with your camera phone. Your camera phones almost always lack DEPTH, are pixelated, etc etc etc. It matters to have a good camera and good lighting. Trust me.

Now...it's true that I've decided to move most of my steampunk pieces back to Etsy from Artfire. This includes all my OOAK clock hand earrings and many other things I can't reproduce...however, my Artfire shop will continue to remain open with different items from my Etsy shop. In the best interest of my business, I'm returning to Etsy. I love Artfire's features and locked in one of those $7 monthly accounts...but it's going to be a while before it has the built-in customer base that Etsy has. I miss the sales and I do believe my Etsy shop will bounce back from my 5-month hiatus rather quickly.

In other news, I'm going to Canada in 2 days and my shop will remain open. I find it interesting that my Etsy hiatus began almost as a direct result of my last trip to Canada.

I've already started stepping up my game in my Etsy shop...I listed 8 new GORGEOUS vintage dresses and re-shot all my existing Vintage clothing photos. I've got a long ways to go but the vintage dresses and new jewelry shots took priority over supplies and will continue to. Many of my supplies are going to end up as huge lots on ebay, I think.

By the way, another shoutout to Cuteable.com! My Art Deco earrings that were featured on their site last week SOLD!

One of my coworkers got attacked by pitbulls while delivering mail yesterday.

It's unnerving, to say the least, when you wake up in the morning and discover in the newspaper that one of your co-workers got attacked by pitbulls while delivering mail. Mail carrier hospitalized after pitbull attack in Norwich.

I'd been thinking about doing a spring post on USPS because I haven't done a long one since I started delivering last summer, but now it's time. (My one-year-anniversary with them is coming up on the 24th!)

A word on SAFETY, now that spring is here:

PLEASE maintain your dogs leashes, chains, and fences. I cannot stress this enough. Remember that your dogs might love you and might act all friendly towards you, but as mail carriers we often have to trespass into dog territory, especially if we are city carriers who have walking routes. (As a rural carrier, I drive from house to house but if I have to make a delivery and there's a loose dog, I don't get out of the truck. Unless it's a pug...omg I can't resist pugs!!!)

PLEASE check your mailboxes every day for bees nests in the making. Monday morning you'd be surprised how far some of those bees got in their nests from just working on them the one day we leave the box alone (Sunday).

PLEASE teach your children the importance of not playing around the mail trucks or running to greet the carriers. We're quite alert for children but they are fast and small and our trucks have such little visibility. If we pull in your yard do not let them play with our mirrors. Don't let your children play in the road. This obviously seems like a no-brainer but on cul-de-sacs and other side streets, you'd be amazed at what I've seen. Children need to also learn about safety, especially on bicycles, rollerblades, and skateboards. I've seen a girl who looked to be about 9 text-messaging while rollerblading all over the road on a busy side street. What the hell does she need a cell phone for anyway?

So...all I'm asking really is to be considerate. I don't like bees, especially yellowjackets. And I don't like pitbulls or dogs I don't know. Some dogs don't care about mailmen, they just watch them go about. Even as a mail person I've helped owners catch certain dogs when they run out of the house, but those are little dogs like Scottish terriers or chihuahuas. When it comes to dogs, use discretion.

I'm sure we'll get a briefing on this incident when I get to work today. Luckily I have the smallest route in the office so I should be done well before noon. :)