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!

Doodle flowers collection

I took a break from Ketubah development, search engine optimization and etsy organization, to look back at my doodle flowers. I think I am starting to understand the theory behind collections finally! I am also having fun with my new Illustrator CS5 brushes. It is great to finally be able to feel like I am actually drawing digitally. Can you tell which flowers are drawn with a pencil and then colourized and which ones are drawn directly in Illustrator? You probably can but still it is quite amazing what is possible.

Way too much work to do and the days go by so quickly. Feeling pretty sleepy right now as a matter of fact.

Back to actual paying work tomorrow!

I did it! A ketubah pattern painting.

I have been trying for months to find subject matter and patterns that together would become a Ketubah. I think I have done it!

I haven't finalized a name for this one yet, but it will be available  17" x 17" and a smaller size yet to be determined. Maybe 14" x 14".  I will sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning.

Fresh Idea I can relate to — Michael Gibbons ALFABETFOTOS (spell it with an F)

As a designer, found typography is one of my most favourite things. Michael Gibbons, has made it his life's work to find and photograph these gems. I discovered him on etsy (no surprise). At his shop, you can order individual letters to create your own typographic art, or you can commission a special piece from him. The individual prints are 4 x 6 and are absolutely adorable. He has 500 different letters to choose from which is amazing in itself.

You can view his letters at his etsy site, or you can find out more at his website. Either way, you will be hooked if you love type.

The power of etsy—first sale after just two days

Who knows if this is the beginning of a trend, or simply beginners luck. I sold my first Ketubah on etsy yesterday after having the shop open for two days.

I have been a bit overwhelmed by the power of etsy. I guess I am fortunate to be benefiting from all of the excellent resources that etsy offers, from helping you think carefully about the name of your shop to tutorials on subjects such as SEO, to creating  your mini etsy on your blog and facebook.

I am not trying to say that it is easy—on the contrary, it takes a lot of work to get a shop going, but the folks at etsy really help you out every step of the way. 

The community is also very supportive. Other shop owners are very generous with advice and etsy shoppers are generous with their hearts and feedback.

Great experience so far. We will see what day three brings!

Etsy shop officially open for business!

It seems like forever since I made up my mind to open an etsy shop. Life always seems to get in the way. Well, I opened the shop yesterday with four fresh ketubah designs and added five pattern paintings today. I still have some work to do on the fresh notes front and I also hope to spend some more time on spoonflower so that I can offer my fresh fabric as well. One baby step at a time!

My mini etsy gadget is now on my blog (look to your right) so you will be able to link to my shop easily if you see something you just have to have!

Jenn Ski

I discovered Jenn Ski this morning. She is an award winning designer and artist with a flare for mid century motifs. She sells her work as giclee prints in various sizes. You can see more of her work at her etsy shop and you can read her blog to see what inspires her. So simple and fresh—I love them all.