Copyright Issues on Etsy

Just thought I'd mention something that was being discussed on an embroidery group that I follow over on Facebook.

If you find any patterns on Etsy that you feel violate copyrights, please contact Etsy. Etsy does not tolerate copyright infringement issues and will close down any shop that violates their terms.

 

There aren't any problems with my designs that I'm aware of at the moment, but there are people using the work of other artists and photographers. They use "auto conversion" software and then sell the computer generated chart as their own work cheating the artists and photographers out of possible income or royalties. 

 

The people who do this seem to think that artists have endless funds to pay attorneys to fight for their copyrights. That's a big time misconception!! Anyone who's had to pay an attorney for anything knows how expensive those services are.

 

The best thing to do is to contact Etsy about it and let them handle it.

Cross Stitch - New Releases

I have some new releases to share today!  Yes, I've kept myself busy through the final weeks of my divorce.  It's done now.  Very stressful!!  So here are my newest designs for cross stitch designs:

 Colorful Cats - Freedom

Crazy Patriotic Stars

Colorful Cats - Mozart

Colorful Owls - Oliver

Colorful Owls - O'Canada

Crazy Rose Christmas Stocking

Cats And Stockings - Halloween

My patterns are available as professionally printed pattern leaflets and as Instant Digital PDF Downloads.  

Kitty And Me Designs Cross Stitch Patterns on Etsy

Instant Digital PDF Downloads

Thought I'd let you know that I'm little by little making my Cross Stitch designs available on Etsy as Instant Digital PDF Downloads.

I just added these Inspirational Samplers yesterday:

Find them on Etsy at http://www.kittyandme.etsy.com/

Handmade Christmas Door Hanging PIllows

My mom made a few pretty Christmas Door Hanging Pillows:

Christmas Tree Door Hanging Pillow

Heart Shaped Christmas Door Hanging Pillow

Christmas Santa Claus Door Hanging Pillow

Victorian Santa Door Hanging Pillow

All are in my Etsy shop.  I don't think mom has time to make any more this year so if anyone is interested, please order now!

Vendors and Sponsors Needed

I'm looking for Vendors and Sponsors for the Summer 2017 issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine:

Advertisement Information for Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine and other Publications

• Business Card Ad - $40.00 (2 inches high X 3.5 inches wide - pixels:  600 X 1050)
• Quarter Page Ad - $75.00 (5.5 inches high X 4.25 inches wide - pixels:  1650 X 1275)
• Half Page Ad - $150.00 (5.5 inches high X 8.5 inches wide - pixels:  1650 X 2550)
• Full Page Ad - $300.00 (11 inches high X 8.5 inches wide - pixels:  3300 X 2550)
• Back Cover - $400.00 (11 inches high X 8.5 inches wide - pixels:  3300 X 2550)
• Community Ad - $12.00 (30 words or less) - Advertise your blog, Etsy shop, stitching group, supplies for sale, etc.

• Ad graphics must be high resolution JPEG images 300 DPI
• Graphics must be provided by vendor
• Payment must accompany ad copy 
• Payment to be made via PayPal

Please email me to place your ad.

Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine Is Now Available On Etsy

I've had a few sweet ladies tell me that they have a hard time ordering Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine through Magcloud.  For anyone who is more comfortable ordering through Etsy, the magazine is now available on both sites.  Here's the link to Kitty And Me on Etsy

It's also available at Magcloud so feel free to order from whichever site you're most comfortable with.

As I have time, I will make my Cross Stitch patterns available on Etsy too.

New Pillows, Purses and Door Hangers! Oh My!

I've finally finished up all of my projects!  And Mom has been working away too!  Here's an update on our finishes.  First, I finished up 4 new Crazy Quilt Pillows:

And here are the most recent Crazy Quilt Purses that I made:

And them made this pretty Summer Watermelon Door Hanger:

And these sweet little Porcelain Doll ornaments:

I finished stitching up another pillow project but I'll save that photo for next time!

Everything is available now in my Etsy shop!

Mom's Tussy Mussy's Are Back!

I suggested to Mom, that she make some more Tussy Mussy's for our Etsy shop.  She hasn't made any in a few years and I always thought they were so pretty.  She agreed to make some and apparently, other people thought they were pretty too because they sold out last night.

I thought I'd share photos with you just because I think they're beautiful!

Mom is working on some now for St. Patrick's Day and she was talking about Easter ones as well!

I'll have some new little door hangers to share next week.

In the meantime, does anyone have an original beaded fish tutorial?  Please email me if you do!

It Was Spring Yesterday

But today, there's a very cold wind blowing.  It's sunny though so that helps!  I want to get back out in the yard and clean up some more but that wind is a bit cold for me.

I took Lucy to the vet this morning and her weight is holding at 7 pounds 2 ounces.  The special kidney diet is working.  She's sleeping now but she's been more talkative these past few weeks.  I ordered a special vitamin supplement for her for kidney health.  Our vet said it can't hurt so I'll start giving her that as soon as it arrives.  My sister has been giving it to her 19 year old cat who also has kidney disease and her numbers are already getting better after only a week or so.  Lucy's numbers are in the normal range now but this should help along with the special diet.

In other news, I finished up my little seascape cellphone pouch:

I made this for a dear friend who's birthday is April 6th.  I'll run to the Post Office tomorrow and mail it to her.

I've also been stitching on this little 6 X 6 inch door pillow block:

When I finish up on the computer I'll start adding my beads and sequins.

I added some more Color Combinations to my Pinterest Color Palette Board including a few of my own.  For Crazy Quilters who struggle with what colors to use, these palettes should help to narrow things down.  Choose a palette that you like, print it up and match your fabric colors to that.  It's a good starting point for anyone who is new to crazy quilting but feels overwhelmed by where to start.

Finally for today, I wanted to mention that I won't be making anymore of my Crazy Quilt Cat Dolls for my Etsy shop.  I'm going to make them just as gifts now.  So if anyone wants one of my little cats, there are still a few left in the shop.  Order while you can!

Lady In Blue Crazy Quilt Purse

It was a busy weekend.  Snow on Saturday so I had to have Scott take me in the truck to run my errands.  In case I haven't mentioned it, I've had enough Winter now.  They're calling for another 6 inches tomorrow and then more again on Saturday.  Geez, what is this?  Alaska?!!!!  We never get this much snow in McHenry!

Anyway, yesterday was my dad's birthday and of course the Super Bowl.  And the only thing about the Super Bowl that I celebrate is the end of Football season!  We did watch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet over at mom's and I just love that!  All those sweet little puppies and then the kitty half time show.  Just precious!

Scott and I gave my dad a handmade Screech Owl Box.  My dad loves the birds and I thought it would be too cool if he could attract those beautiful little Screech Owls.  I am very much into buying handmade and very much into buying things that are made in the USA so when I decided on a Screech Owl box, the first place I went to was Etsy.  I did my search and found the perfect Screech Owl box at Bishgrg on Etsy.  My dad loved it and being a woodworker himself, he said the craftsmenship is excellent!

I did manage to finish up my Lady In Blue Crazy Quilt Purse:

In need to get up to JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby and pick up some purse handles.  I've used the extras that I had here.  So I'll get this sewn up as soon as I can get to a craft store.

This Gypsy Purse will be my next Crazy Quilt project:

I'll start stitching on this one either later today or tomorrow.  I have a few more brooches I want to stitch on too.

I added a couple of new things to my Etsy shop.  First, a pretty little hanging heart ornament handmade by Mom:

And a Cotton Batting St Patricks Day Ornament by me:

I guess that's my rambling for today!  More tomorrow....

Genuine Handmade

It's no secret that I have an Etsy shop.  And it's no secret that mom and I make things constantly for our shop.  Like everyone else, we need an income and we need to contribute something of value to society.  Everyone needs a purpose.  And it's no secret that I self promote constantly and if someone or anyone doesn't like it, I don't care.  Quite honestly, I've beat my head against the wall trying to make my shop work.  Short of standing on my head and singing The Star Spangled Banner upside down, I've pretty much had my fill of playing all the online marketing games, social networking and SEO nonsense and trying to stand out through the unbelievable amount of online competition these days. 

I no longer have the energy for a traditional job.  I've done my time with that.  I put up with a lot of BS over the years and that includes when I was working night and day designing counted cross stitch.  From here on in, I do things my way and in my time.

Now, Etsy, in it's infinite greed wisdom, is allowing it's shop owners to mass manufacture goods.  REALLY?!  This has always been a huge no-no with Etsy!  Shops could only carry handmade items, vintage items and craft supplies. 

Honestly, do those of us who work our butts off to make quality, genuine handmade items need the extra challenge of trying to break through that kind of competition?  And I don't want to hear that "if my items are good quality, they'll sell".  My items ARE good quality!  My mother and I are expert needleworkers and seamstresses.  But for some reason, it's damned hard to get consistent sales despite the quality of our work.  Despite my good photos, excellent descriptions and customer service which is second to none!  Despite my online reputation and despite everything I've done to make at decent living at this.

It's almost as if Etsy is deliberately trying to weed out the little guy who can only produce so much work so fast.  Quality takes time.  And as far as I'm concerned, if someone wants mass produced junk, then go down to the Walmart!  Etsy has always been about handmade.  I guess they've gotten too big for their britches and lost the mentality that handmade comes from the heart. 

But mom and I haven't lost that mentality.  Our handmade items ARE quality, they ARE genuine handmade and they DO come from our hearts!

So with all that said, and Etsy, I hope you're listening to this Handmade shop owners opinion, I will share our latest quality genuine handmade items.

My mom has made 2 more pretty Handmade Hanging Hearts:

And here is my latest stitched cat doll:

And I'll be starting on this one as soon as I get off my soap box:

Okay, I do believe I'm done venting now.  I hope I didn't offend anyone but I just can't think of anywhere better to post my opinions than right here on my own blog where I absolutely intend to say what I want to say (without being offensive to my sweet blog friends). 

 

Little Heart Ornaments

I'm a bit under the weather today.  Bubba had a cold last week and apparently, he gave it to me.  He can take it back!  I don't want it!  But I'm stuck with it until it passes.

I do have some finishes to share today.  I put these together yesterday and just finished photographing them.  These are my Little Heart Ornaments that I made over the weekend:

I hand dyed some cheesecloth to use around the outside instead of lace.  I thought that would give these a soft, cottage style look.  I used vintage crinkled seam binding for the hangers.  I think they came out pretty.  I might make some more.

And here's a new picture of my two little partners in crime:

These 2 little monkeys steal everything they can find!  They don't chew anything up.  But they take my pens, my pony tail holders, my Beanie Babies, crumpled up paper, ribbons, lace....you name it.  They're little thieves!  But they're too cute and so sweet!  Still, Lucy isn't exactly amused with either of them but she is getting more tolerant of Wrigley.

Well, I'm spent.  I'm going to make Bubba something for dinner, put his lunch together, take a shower and go lay on my bed with my cats and IPhone and look around on Etsy.

Have a good night everyone!