On Being Honest

I have had my photos stolen twice in the last month. Let me rephrase that: I have simply caught two others stealing my photos. Who knows how many other small businesses are out their using my photos and claiming my work as their own.

When I was a college student I heard this phrase:

I have been asked what I mean by my word of honor. I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls - walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground - there is the possibility that in some way or another I may escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of the circle? No. Never! I'd die first!
Karl G. Maeser.

Every time I walked into the Maeser building for my horrible sleep-inducing Philosophy class on the campus of Brigham Young University, I thought about these words and used them to measure my integrity. College was hard for me. Dang hard. I never got great grades and probably could never get into graduate school if I even wanted to (which I don’t). But I was proud to say that every ounce of lousy homework and testing I turned in was my own. Even when I would leave the testing center crying because I got another D on a test, at least it was my D. Yes, I did graduate.

So imagine how I felt today when I found a competitor who had stolen my Christmas stockings photos. My heart was racing and my fingers shaking so hard I couldn’t type a reply to her.  This competitor stole 12-16 of my photos, rubbed out my watermark, and posted my work as her own.

Here’s an example:

My photo with original watermark:

And after what I am sure was hours of using the ‘clone stamp’ tool in Photoshop, here is a screen shot of that same photo on her Facebook business page that she claimed as her own:

Notice there is no sign of my watermark left across my mantle. I zoomed way in on this photo—no scarring was left from her Photoshop attempts. This is where the dishonesty just blows my mind.

What is my integrity worth? It’s priceless. Without my integrity I have nothing and am nothing. If I can’t be trusted, there is no point to much else. I can be lazy, sarcastic, eat too many carbs, and be judgmental, but I am an honest person. I could list a bunch of dumb things like how when I get home from Macey’s Grocery Store I find out I wasn’t charged for the milk in the bottom of the shopping cart and how it angers me that I have to return to the store to pay for that milk, even though it was their mistake. It annoys me, but I do it. Because it’s the right thing to do.

We need a return to honesty, to integrity, to virtue, to all the values that make a civilization tick.

I wish the folks that steal from me could see me……..picking out my fabrics for hours at a time, online and in stores, to find the perfect combination….. I wish they could see me digitizing fonts at my computer, sampling them in satin stitch and filled stitches on several types of linen and canvas to find the perfect combo, often having to redraw each letter from scratch because the stitch angles are all wrong…. I wish they could see the dishes piled high in my house and my sticky floors because instead of cleaning, I am sewing my fingers to the bone to fill my orders. I wish they could see me awake at 2am because my mind has finally come up with the perfect way to interface the stockings that will give them structure and yet not make them stiff….. I wish they could see me dragging my knuckles across my arms at night because of chronic pain in my arms that no doctor (neurologist, chiropracter, orthopedics) can figure out. I wish they could see me emailing each customer countless times to ensure that they get the perfect font for their special Christmas stockings.I wish they could see me with my Nikon camera, set up my tripod, fiddle with the aperture, the shutter speed, deciding whether to shoot in RAW mode or just a vivid .jpg, open my mini blinds, attach the bounce flash, take the photos, then spend loads of time editing them in Photoshop only to spend even more time writing the listings for etsy to sell the stockings.

In other words, I wish they could see me work like a dog for my little business instead of stealing it all from me with just a few hours of crooked Photoshop time for them. Maybe then they would think twice about stealing from another small business.

But until then I’ll keep adding ugly watermarks to my photos.

Wood Signs and New Photo Prints

Have you seen the etsy shop Old and New Again? They have the coolest handmade wood signs. I want everything in their shop. But for now I settled for this amazing sign that now hangs in my kitchen. They custom painted it turquoise. (Gee, there’s a shocker, me choosing turquoise!) I can’t wait to work with Liz again!

I also love my new Red & White food stores print behind. My brother took that photo somewhere in the southern United States. The sign is all scratchy and oh-so-vintage looking. Contact him if you’d like to purchase a copy at his website, Automotive Photography. I also bought the canvas print below from him, taken in southern Utah around some gorgeous red cliffs. Pretty impressed with Costco’s canvas printing. I wanted something colorful but not sappy or childish. I think this about does it.

Goodness, I love new accessories.

Nikon D40

Before I start this post, can I just say I am a photography idiot. I’ve never taken a class, and by my brother’s standards (a true professional) the lenses I have are crap. Those are his exact words. (My lenses cost $150, his cost $2,000.) He does plenty of photo shoots for me and family as well. Click here or here.

I own a Nikon D40. They don’t even make that camera anymore, but I’m sure there is a low-end equivalent SLR that kenrockwell would recommend. Ken is the one who recommended the Nikon D40 and is the reason I bought mine. I’ve loved mine for 3 years now. Here I am loving my camera a few months ago on Ala Moana beach on Oahu, Hawaii. I didn’t go too deep in the water to take photos of my kids because I was afraid I’d fall and ruin it. Or that my youngest who is always hanging on me, would splash me. (See next photo)

Here I am snapping away at Pearl Harbor. My D40 goes everywhere with me. (Notice my 7-yr old pokin and proddin me!)

Now having said that I am a photography idiot, I do make a nice chunk o’change each month selling items on etsy and my own website that I photograph myself. (More on my etsy sales in a minute.) All that I have learned I’ve learned from my dad (a photography hobbyist), my pro bro, and websites that feature tutorials like iheartfaces and pioneer woman and kenrockwell. There is a lot of great info on those websites—spend some time on them and you’ll learn lots.

Also, you gotta learn to use Photoshop to touch up your photos. I only have the dummied down version of Photoshop, called Photoshop Elements, which is about $79 buck-a-roos at Costco. I learned lots about Photoshop just by going to YouTube and searching “Photoshop Elements tutorials”.

Here are some examples from a pillow I just made this week: I used my newest design called Wedding Diamonds applique for the embroidery portion. This pillow will be for a happy couple that I’ve never met. More specificially, it is for my husband’s co-worker’s daughter. I hope they love it!

Anyway, the following photo was taken with the same lens the camera came with (18-55mm) with a bounce flash, it is straight out of the camera, no editing. (The benefits of bounce flash vs. regular pop-up flashes can be found here.)

It’s not too bad, but It still needed more light. So in Photoshop I brightened it and added a little bit more contrast. That’s it—maybe 30 seconds of work. Ready for the web. (Oh and I always add a watermark because I’ve run across my photos splattered on others’ blogs, facebook pages, and websites. (Which is ok if they ask my permission, but I just want others to know that this ain’t their work—it’s mine.)

My favorite way to photograph when I want my light natural-looking is to use my 35mm fixed lens without any flash. I love how I can get great macro (close-ups) shots with it, like this photo below. You can see every tiny details—including the threads I still need to clip!

 

The editing on the above photo is pretty simple—brighten a bit and saturate colors. I love the soft shadows on the left  hand side of the bean bags. You can tell the light source (a giant window) is coming from the right.  Photo details: aperture f/2.5 (that’s what is makes all nice and blurry everywhere but where I am focusing), ISO 200, shutter speed 1/60.

I really think if you are going to sell items on a website you MUST take great close ups because your customer wants to (and needs to) see the quality of your work.

In this photo I want my customer to see how awesome my invisible zippers are installed:

In this photo I want my embroidery customer to see the detail of my embroidered designs. I want her to see the nice thick backstitching I used to design my Spirograph  Daisy applique. It’s all in the details.

When I first started selling on etsy, the first 8 months or so, I took photos like this:

I am nearly embarrassed to post the above photo. It’s foggy and dull. Who would buy that purse? It’s a terrible photo. But miracle of miracles, I was grossing around $800 a month on etsy. I bought my Nikon D40 in April of 2008 and my sales doubled to $1600 the very next month. IN JUST ONE MONTH! Because of my photos! No other changes!

So does your camera and skill level make a difference? You bet. Just look at the this photo:

It doesn’t matter how well you sew or how gorgeous your embroidery work is. If you have crap photos, you’ll have crap sales. Invest some money and photography know how in your business, and you’ll be a success. I am proof of that.  I am really proud of the success I’ve had in my business. First and foremost, I work my fingers to the bone. I’ll get up at 4am to sew. And for my embroidery designs I spend hours designing on the computer, then more time stitching out samples, and finally, a good amount of time photographing my work. Running your own business is not a an easy thing. But hard work always pays off.

Look who made it to Etsy’s Blog!

Etsy is having a little (probably big) craft party to celebrate their birthday. The party is in Brooklyn, so I doubt I’ll make it.  But this was a little ego boost for me last week. :)
(Click image to read article.)
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Happy Little Bird

turquoise bird 2, originally uploaded by meringuedesigns.

Some of the best designs come from a client's request. I just love how the turquoise and red came together. I hope the pillows I made for her brighten up her Chicago home this winter. Luscious!

Give Away: Happy Etsy Anniversary to Me!

NOW CLOSED: CONGRATS TO COMMENT #23, 'SMALL GRAPES'.
I bought a new couch cover last week at Ikea. My old one was dark brown and I did like it but there was something defective in the dyes that caused it to bleach out to an orange-like color. Thankfully, Ikea gave me all my dinero back so I bought 2 white covers instead. (That way one can be washed while the other is on.) I’ve always loved white covers and I know they’re a pain to keep clean, hence the two covers. So I quickly made some new pillows to spice it up. I love it!
So……In honor of my 2 year anniversary selling pillows on etsy, I am giving away one 18” pillow cover. Your choice of any of the five pictured here on my couch. Just leave a comment here telling me one thing you like about my shop (stroke my ego) or one thing you wish I would do differently—or both! I’ll pick one lucky commenter using random.org on August 24th (Monday). I’ll notify the winner then and she/he can choose which of these funky designs she’d like. Make sure there is a way for me to contact you—either through your own blog/profile or by leaving your email. Good luck!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow it is spring. Or at least over in my shop, because my front lawn still has piles of snow.

Technicolor Pillow $40

Anti-Winter Pillow $27

Spinning Circles Pillow $35

In the News

For better or worse, I was featured in The Daily Herald newspaper and then the very next day on KSL Radio. I've decided I hate being interviewed because facts get lost and I get misquoted. Almost makes me feel sorry for celebrities. (almost) The sad part about being in the news is all the negative comments that quickly follow--there are some meanies who commented on the ksl broadcast and sound so bitter you wonder if they suck on lemons all day to keep up such a demeanor. Nonetheless, read or listen to the broadcast if you so desire.

Oh, and buy the way, I do not work 5-6 hours a day. Yikes! More like 2-3 hours.

ApartmentTherapy.Com

A while back I was featured on ApartmentTherapy.Com for my pillows. They liked my designs as well as my low prices. I had never heard of this home decor website before but apparently they have 2 million hits a day. I didn't get two million orders, but I got enough in one weekend that I was waking up at 4 am to cut and sew like a sweat shopper. The hype over this pillow hasn't slowed down--I've sold it 35 times now. So thank you Lily at apartmenttherapy.com for the fab article. I check out your ultra chic and modern website almost daily now. Here's to good design. (*glasses clinking in the air for a toast*)