Cheating is just not right—Pattern theft

I am a big fan of Orange You Lucky by Helen Dardik. Recently I stared following her with more regularity, only to find a very distressing headline: Pattern Theft. You can read all about it on her blog. She has had at least one of her patterns copied almost exactly and manufactured and sold under another name. The worst of it is that she happened on it herself while checking out one of her favourite blogs.

More distressing still is that several comments to her story had links to other designers sites where similar things had happened.

Such as a blog post by Made By Girl. Embarrassingly, the culprit—Jack-in-the-box designs is a Canadian company. Shame on you!!

and this post by Tula Pink  about hearing that her beautiful fabrics had been poorly copied and were getting sold at Walmart.

It is easy to let your guard down with all of us so freely blogging and sharing our ideas. My heart goes out to anyone who has worked so hard to get where they are, only to find that someone has underhandedly and against the laws of every country copied and profited in such a despicable way.

Each of these links gives you information on how to email the retailers involved. I am sure that there will be follow up so keep posted. Unfortunately, there are many more stories to be told.

Birds of a feather—Jenny Mendes

It started with a message from SherriConley on Etsy that my Kitty pattern painting was in her "Hello Kitteh treasury". I am always excited to see what the treasury is all about and who else I am sharing the treasury with.  This kitty salt and pepper shaker caught my eye.

I was hooked at first glance, but what I found next really blew me away. I am a folk art fanatic and Jenny's bird collection swept me off my feet.

There are bud vases, plates and much more at her shop and you can view more work at her website. The birds are by far my favourite. All of her pieces are hand built and painted. Each one is a masterpiece.

Enjoy!

Hey, I made a new friend—Valerie Krohn

It has been an exciting and exhilarating  three weeks. My etsy shop has kept me busy with five ketubah orders, three sets of new years cards and my first sale of a pattern painting. Each transaction is so much fun. Many buyers are etsians themselves, and it is always a treat to see what they make and how they are doing.

Valerie Krohn (aka NovaFolia on etsy) purchased my Kitty pattern painting after seeing it on the  craftcult gallery. I got in touch with her for some shipping info and then noticed that she was a shop owner herself. I of course went to her shop so see what she was up to. She has a small shop like me with the most striking jewelery!

Her earings and brooches are one of a kind, crafted with a combination of polymer clay (in her words) "(no paint or other media) using a technique that combines inlay and marbleized clays. "

She packages each item beautifully in a gift box which is an added extra. She also gives you good ideas of how to wear her brooches:

"In addition to your lapel or shoulder, here are some other ideas for how a brooch can be worn: on the neck of a turtleneck, to fasten a cardigan (a la Michelle Obama), at the waist, as a belt buckle, on a hairband or clip as a hair accessory, on the back of a dress or jacket (pleat the fabric in the center of the garment at the waist, and pin it with the brooch so the garment will be more fitted). Or, use a brooch to add interest to a purse or hat."

As doodle and colourful pattern fanatics, we were naturally drawn to each others work. By the end of our first etsy convo, I felt like I had made a new friend. Valerie now owns two of my pattern paintings and I am going to get in touch with her this week to order my own NovaFolia one of a kind wearable piece of art. You should do the same. Her shop is irresistible.  You can find her at etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/NovaFolia.

The Etsy community is awesome!

Fresh Idea I can relate to — St Jude's

Thanks Leslie for directing me to St Jude's. What beautiful fabric. This design by Mark Hearld is amazing. Here is one of his prints.

You can view more of his work here.

What I really love is that they not only offer fabric but other paper goods and even mugs with designs by the same artist. Hum...I think I need to get in touch with these guys.

Here is a yummy gardening notebook by Angie Lewin. So of course I Googled to find out more and of course there is a lot more. Angie is extremely talented and you should take a look for your self at her website.

Here is just one of her prints. Amazing!