i have made doo dads in one form or another my entire life. any of the kind created on paper or capable of movin from place to place and not fallin apart are still here in my home somewhere. i may not have elaborate journalin or scrapbooks to tell my life story, but my doo dads do a pretty good job of givin a visual biography.
i first started usin the computer in the eighties and though the doo dads were still being done by hand, the mac was a nice way to start storin em so that if they all disappeared i'd still have a record of em. it wasn't until i got my first arcus large bed scanner and color laser printer that i started combinin my lifetime of bein an artist with a tad of scannin and a dash of photoshop. since then i have filled three terabyte sized external hard drives plus hundreds of burned dvds with the doo dads i have created combinin talent with technology.
always knowin that the day would come when i would need to fill the hours previously spent motherin doin somethin else, i guess i figured i'd do the fillin by puttin all this doo dad doin and collectin to use somehow. i also always longed to fill books full of my thousands of photos with my life time collection of doo dads as enhancement but any attempt to do so includin glue and scissors was a disaster. i spent more time looking for some bit i had spent an hour creatin and then cleanin up my mess than anything made warranted. i was a miserable failure. i wondered why no one used printed pages for scrapbooks but anytime i inquired about this to my scrapbookin expert sister, i was made to feel i had committed a crime by just usin the words computer and scrapbook in the same sentence.
the path i would follow was set for me when i discovered miss amy's brilliant effort in spreadin the digitally scrapped page into the homes of the world's scrapbookers via her scrapbook-bytes site. i will always feel she should be lauded as the mother of digital scrapbookin and hope that her brilliant idea ends up eventually makin her rich and famous. because of her, many women who would never attempt anything creative have become artists. i think she is single handedly responsible for there bein fewer divorces, less depression and much better mothers because of the gift she has givin to so many. she may also be responsible for the rise in larger female bottoms around the world from all the sittin and scrapbookin but in her defense, she has had many a layout appear on her site encouraging team efforts in self-improvement.
not long after amy's site got so many usin a mouse instead of scissors for scrappin, miss maya took everything into yet another universe by comin out with the first ever cd full of elements (the formal name for my trademarked use of the words doo dads) that could be purchased to use in scrapbookin. her name should end up right there with amy's when the history of digital scrappin is written and i hope she feels she has received the credit she deserves for her role in helpin to bring digital scrappin to the level it has reached today.
anyway, i started my digital pages and continued makin more doo dads and then had to take a break to go back and forth to texas to help my mom. when she died i arrived home for good to find the early signs of body snatchin which added to my enormous feelin of loss. soon i found i could fullfill my need to accomplish many things each day and still feel sorry for myself my just puttin forth the effort needed to push a mouse around. i have never spent much time surfin the web but somehow i discovered the downloadin duo and an artist there whose work seemed to be much like the kind of doo dads i made. i purchased her art out of curiosity and decided since there seemed to be a market for this sort of art, i'd give it a whirl myself. the first six months or so passed by quickly, me fillin my little spot in the store with my flea market finds & flea market babies with some of my beloved alphas and bits thrown in for good measure.
after a while the well-known designer began emailin me and we struck up an email friendship. we shared many day to day experiences. the well-known designer was technically the best i had ever seen and mixed with my sense of whimsy, we appeared to compliment each other. since she liked to spend hours online pokin around to see what other artists were doin, i could count on her to alert me to what was happenin everywhere else and with my business background, she could count on me to share marketin advice and business ideas. with time i came to obtain more of her art either through downloads made available to artists of the store or via purchases made in an effort to show my support for her talents or durin the time we were workin on projects together. along the way i noticed that she did not name her files in a way that they could be easily identified as belongin to her collections. i suggested to her at some point that she might want to change this as it was easy for her files to get mixed in with others, includin my own, and not know where they came from.
durin our time as email pals, we also shared our wish that the downloadin duo would do a better job of keepin over-inspiration from happenin so often among the artists within their store. we were asked not to contact the artists involved on our own so it was frustratin that our pleas continued to fall on deaf ears. it was with this friend's encouragement that i finally wrote about our concern here on my blog. i had even sought her approval before postin the blog since i felt it was somethin that we both felt strongly about. it was quite devastatin that when my little read blog created the infamous doo dad dilemma brouhaha, the well-known designer completely switched positions... maybe she didn't really mind the artists at the store bein allowed to sell work closely resemblin her own and also, maybe her affiliation with me was doin harm to her hard earned reputation. i was very disappointed in her lack of conviction and ability to stand up for what she had appeared to feel so strongly about durin our friendship once it appeared doin so might effect her sales and i honored her request to distance myself from her by publicly takin sole responsibility for what followed.
around the time me and my doo dads became homeless, i began to offer 'orphan' doo dads for download. all that anyone had to do to get them was to fill out a form that included an email address and i think let me know about the sort of doo dads they liked to use. when the july collection came out i received an email from the well-known designer saying that i had used a stitch that belonged to her and that i had no permission to use and needed to replace it. i knew i had never in my life had the desire or need to use someone else's art and have always been a big mouth when it came to protectin an artist's work. i poked around and realized though that i could have in fact made an error by usin one of her's without intendin to. my stitchin file alone has over 2000 items in it and i couldn't say for sure that one of hers hadn't somehow made it in with mine. i wrote her back sayin i sincerely apologized if i indeed had made a mistake and if so, i would change it and would pay her a licensing fee for the error or whatever was needed.
i was a bit disturbed that she felt the need to obtain the orphans by circumventin the little system i had set up but before i could ponder the whole thing further i got another email sayin she had downloaded the free art many more times and that i had still not replaced her stitch and that she had allowed more than enough time for me to do so etc. etc. of course this was all very upsettin - bein accused, thinkin maybe i had made a mistake and all the more so comin from someone who had once been my friend. i consulted a number of trusted professionals who said it wasn't worth the time i was spendin on it so i changed the stitch and went back to what i was doin before the accusation came.
friday night i heard from this designer again for the first time since the stitch problem. in a sort of mix and match legalise, i have been accused of 'stealin and alterin' her art and sellin it as my own. she has listed 5 or 6 standard hardware items along with a classic type ribbon. i have been given 72 hours to respond before she begins the steps necessary to force me into complyin with her demands for me to admit to my crime by removin the items from my web site.
after lookin at the items she sent, i have no idea whether i accidently ended up with some of her art or not...i just don't know for sure although a couple of em look to make me pretty guilty. i do know without a doubt that i would NEVER do anything like this intentionally....ever , never. the items i may have wrongly assumed - through my own faulty filing and her lack of file namin - as my own, are not unique as far as items available for purchase and can be found in any hardware store or place you purchase ribbons and are readily available in variations and in multiples right here on my own hard drives, ready for includin in any collection, any time. even if i was the thievin sort, i would not be a dumb thievin sort and choose to ignore my own stockpile and instead go take one from someone who at the time the art in question was offered for sale (the collections involved were among my first ), was a friend sellin in the same store and someone i know regularly is on the lookout for any sign of any such thing occurrin.
i have gone through all the 3000 or so items i have for sale within my collections in an effort to make sure there are no other items this well-known designer can choose to accuse me of takin from her. i have also enlisted the help of other trusted people familiar with both of our collections to do the same. once the process is completely finished, i will write to the well-known designer, once considered a close friend, and sincerely apologize that i may have mistakenly thought a legally (not stolen as she accuses) obtained item belongin to her was my own art. i will make sure that the ones she has called into question no longer exist on my site no matter who they came from and though she stated that this is all that she requires, i will ask if there is anything else she feels is needed to appease her.
i want to make it clear that i don't feel the well-known artist has done anything wrong in her attempts to protect her copyrighted art and if i have violated her copyright, she has every right to notify me in any fashion she chooses. i am only saddened because she knows in her heart that all she had to do is write in a friendly fashion sayin that she thinks i have made a big fat mistake and could i please rectify it right away. i am not in need of threats of legal action to to do the right thing - ever. i will always do the right thing because i am an honest and good person who is also capable of makin a mistake. she knows this and her pretendin to forget it is unfortunate. since my logs show she checks my blog a number of times a day maybe readin this will jog her memory.
i am writin about this embarrassin and very sad episode here on my blog for a number of reasons. first, i need to apologize to everyone for the possibility that i made this error. i have worked very hard to earn the loyalty given to me by so many and cannot allow even one of them to hear about this accusation from someone other than myself. it appears that i may have made a mistake and while i will take responsibility, it was in no way something that i would ever do purposefully and the accuser is more than aware of this fact. i have no desire for this to be seen as some secret i am tryin to keep because i am ashamed. i feel i will be forgiven for makin a mistake by those who have come to know me but there is that handful of people who do not wish me well and even the possibility of them thinkin i have some dirt in my doo dad'n past to gossip about and pass around gives me the willies.
for all of you who think i am ignorin your emails or forgot about passin out passwords - if you haven't changed your mind now that you know about this latest episode in 'as the doo dad turns' and are still interested - please know i will get back to what i was doin before the break ins, the sneak ins, the accusations and then my real life of our dog dyin and the body snatcher not doin her homework just as soon as i satisfy the requests of the well-known designer so she can return to doin more of her technical perfection instead of worryin about what i am up to. afterall, there are enough artists looking for designs delivered via download to go around for everybody thanks to this crazy phenomenon started by miss amy and miss maya.
added tuesday:
i am thankful i was givin the opportunity to correct any mistake i may have made along the way and am glad i have a forum in place to publicly apologize for doin so. i am still in the process of makin sure there is nothin else in my bag of goods that somehow made their way into the wrong place and am diligently replacin anything i am even the slightest doubtful about. this mostly includes a few pieces of hardware, a ribbon and the infamous stitch. my style is so similar to the technical wizard's in these areas that it seems easier just to replace those items rather than worry about another accusation comin in the future. to do this properly takes time but it will be time well spent to make sure this episode doesn't rear it's ugly head again.
it is important to say again that the well-known designer had every right to call the items into question in any way she wanted. i'm sure when she decided to do so in the way she decided to do so, knowin me as she once did, that i would feel the need to make my mistake public and apologize for it, as it is the right thing to do. and even if it were not, the way in which the possible mistake was presented to me made it necessary to make a public confession myself rather than to worry that not doin so would be used against me in the future - allowing not only my art but my character to be called into question. it is unfortunate if my need to do the right thing causes harm to anyone - it is never my intent. but recent events have made it necessary for me to protect myself from those whose intentions have shown themselves, in my opinion, to be questionable. not doin so would be foolish. i must say, i would much prefer to spend this time doin what i love to do rather than anguishin over past mistakes i may have carelessly made and relivin old heartaches. but when you make a mistake you gotta pay the consequences.
your comments extendin your willingness to help me forgive myself for any mistakes i have made have been appreciated more than i could ever express to you and i promise to do my very best to continue to earn your continued support. hopefully this is the last time i will be forced to mention this episode in 'as the doo dad turns' and we can get back to the fun we were havin before it occurred.
xoxoxoxoxox
