Somebody is Using My BC Flag Image

A friend of mine got in touch with me today to let me know that someone she knew was using this photo as their profile picture. The funny thing is that the background BC Flag is my original rustic painting that someone custom ordered from me. (You can see it here in my blog post. Someone must have “borrowed” it from my blog, my Facebook account, or my Pinterest account.

My initial reaction was to wonder who had copied my work and that I should probably get them to stop. I asked my friend if she knew where the person got it from. It turned out that they saw it on Twitter and got it off Google. After a quick google myself I found the site “the keep calm-o-magic” where it appears that you can make your own “keep calm” merchandise. At this link you can get posters, mugs, shirts, bags, and much, much more all with my painting on it in the background. Somebody named “BCTeachers” apparently created it.

After thinking about it a little more I then wondered who actually owned the rights to it. It was a custom order that I sold. Perhaps the person who bought the piece made this. I am not so sure about that but it isn’t impossible. If they did make it, could I be upset because technically they bought the piece from me? I would have to research that a little more.

I have to admit that it is a big compliment that someone liked my painting enough to copy it and make it into a poster …and that other people liked it enough to use it, too …and for a good cause (one I support because I think the government is being shady and not telling everyone the whole truth but that’s another story).

I am very big into giving people credit for their work and I am not a big fan of people “stealing” other people’s work on the internet. In this case, however, I think it was someone simply looking for a good background for their slogan, not somebody trying to profit from it. I also think that my hand painted pieces are a far different product from printed posters, etc. I am not keen, at least in this case, to spend the time trying to stop someone from using my work. I may have to consider watermarking my photos but that seems a bit of a pain, too. Does anybody else have any opinions on this? I would love to hear them.

A Special Connection

Wow, time flies. I have been busy. But what I want to write about today is the gift I recently received of meeting someone of a like mind. My sister and I are both introverted so often meeting new people is awkward for us. For me it often takes me time to get to know someone before I feel comfortable opening up. However, both my sister and I have spoken of those rare people that you meet where in an instant you feel like you have already known them for many, many years. That happened to me this week!

The meeting came out of a custom order for a sign. And it was for someone I met before long, long ago. A classmate of mine from high school died from cancer (that terrible “C” word) a couple of years ago. I didn’t hear about it until about a year later. I was quite stuck on it because he seemed far too young to be gone and also because he was one of those people that was well liked by everybody. I hadn’t seen him since a chance meeting a few years after high school but when I heard of his death it still hit me hard. He was part of a larger group of my friends and at one point I helped him with his math.

When I helped him with his math I met his Mom and I remember being struck by how close the two of them were. She also took us out for fish and chips after the math help, which I have a fond memory of. After his death I saw some of his Mom’s post on his Facebook page and was heartbroken for her. I always meant to reach out and say something but didn’t know what. I must have found and followed her blog because as it happened she started posting on her blog again this past May. So, Mother’s Day seemed the perfect time to reach out. It is really, really difficult dealing with loss and I know how nice it is to hear from people no matter what they have to say. It’s the reaching out part that matters. So, I did. And, I am glad I did.

As it turns out she is a fellow artist, too and even does Union Jack tables. We started with commenting back and forth on each other’s blogs, then moved to Facebook. Then she had some ideas for me to make garden signs and even ordered a custom sign for her husband (my classmate’s Dad) for Father’s Day. It’s based on the Dig for Victory gardens from World War II and it’s for their garden which is also a memorial garden for my classmate. I felt super honoured to be asked to do it.

Anyway, she came to pick it up this week and it was one of those meetings where it feels like you have known the person forever. It seemed the more we talked the more coincidental things we had in common. It felt like we were meant to meet. And as has been said to me before: coincidences are merely signs that you are on the right path. So, our meeting this week felt like the gift of finding a special connection with someone and it made my week.

 

My Custom Order is Complete and They Love It!

Here is a photo of the completed sign from my recent custom order. They say they love it and give me permission to post a photo (I wanted to make sure since it does have personal information on it).  I think it turned out rather well myself. It took me a lot longer than I thought it would.

New Signs in the Shop!

There are some new signs in my Etsy shop! The laundry sign and the toilette sign I have been meaning to do since I did my first sign. They were both ideas that came from my sister but it took me a little time to find the right wood for them. And now I have.

I have always loved old laundry signs.

I have a toilette sign that I bought years ago. I have always loved it and have it above my door outside the bathroom. This is my version.

As somebody who doesn’t let go of things soon enough I try to stay inspired by the famous Joseph Campbell quote: “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.” I wholeheartedly believe it but it still a scary thing to let go of safety to follow what you love. So I made a sign. I think I am going to have to make one for myself, too. My husband was playing with his router so this one got some great edging.

Words to live by.

I have always loved farm animal things. Years ago I collected everything cow but had to stop when it got a bit out of control and everyone was giving me cow themed presents. Looking around my kitchen I realized that somewhere along the way I started to collect chicken and rooster things, too. I have a huge framed rooster print as well as a fake chicken that looks real. As I mentioned, we now have 3 chickens in our backyard. They are such funny, delightful creatures. So you can see where these signs came from. As soon as I get some more wood I  want to do a pig and a sheep, too. I think they make great additions to a kitchen, don’t you?

A rustic cow.

A rustic chicken.

 

A Music Shop’s Request. Custom Orders. Landscaping and Tax Season. Oh My!

It has been very busy over at our house. Exciting things are happening. When you set up shop you never know what is going to happen. It is exciting when things do start to happen but at the same time it causes you to have to readjust your schedules daily and think fast on your feet.

I had placed ads on Craigslist for my husband’s guitar stands so that there was a way for local people to find us without necessarily paying the shipping through Etsy. Two connections happened from this.

First of all, Jonny, my husband, has been contacted by a music shop. They are interested in his guitar stands and want to have them in their shop …to display their instruments and to sell! They are the Kouri Flute Academy in South Burnaby and they actually just opened a second shop, Play Music Inc., on Kingsway in Vancouver. They are wanting to carry stock from locals in their shop …our kind of people! And, they are having a Grand Opening this weekend.  You can find their website here and their Facebook page here . (If you are looking for a sale go see them Sunday and Monday). Jonny is working on getting some guitar stands made for them as I write this. I have to admit we were pretty excited when a local shop contacted Jonny to carry his stands. I had thought about approaching some independent music shops but hadn’t gotten that far yet. Even better when they come to you!

Secondly, Jonny received a custom order for a ukulele stand. The fellow’s ukulele was a little bigger than mine so he needed to make a new one up. We completely underestimated how long it would take to have it done. This was mostly because Jonny’s schedule was too full and we had a sick bug hit our household so he just couldn’t get to it. It doesn’t help that he works night shift because he can’t really be cutting wood and drilling in the middle of the night when he gets home. He finally finished it and lucky for us the person wasn’t in a hurry and seemingly still wants it. (They plan to come pick it up when they are in the area next week).

Jonny also loves to do landscaping and odd jobs so we put an ad up on Craigslist for that as well. He has also been helping out his sister and brother-in-law with fence building and what not at their house. Between the two Jonny hasn’t had a day off in over a month. He likes to keep busy but I don’t think he was expecting this! The goal is hopefully to become busy enough that he can give up his regular job which causes him all sorts of misery (except it helps pay the bills).

I, too, have been a little busy. I put an ad up on Craigslist for simple income tax returns. I have the experience and I have 15 returns that I am not using in the program I buy to do our taxes so I thought why not. We can certainly use the extra cash. I have had a couple of people bring their taxes. I must say it is a bit challenging to schedule the time in to complete them when you have a 3 year old and a husband who is working all the time. This is why I have had to say no to doing returns with self employment income. I just don’t have the time.

Custom British Columbia flag.

I also received a couple of custom orders. Yay, me! The first was someone from Craigslist (yes, I put ads up locally for my Etsy shop, too) looking for me to do a British Columbia flag just like my big British Flag. Yes, the big one! It was a challenge right from having Jonny track down the wood to use to designing and painting it but I finished it tonight, finally. I am pretty happy with it. I hope he is, too, when he sees it.

Custom tea and coffee sign set.

The second was someone from Texas who had seen my tea sign in my Etsy shop. She wanted to know if I could make a set of both tea and coffee. Another challenge. Jonny had done the edging on the original tea sign some time ago before we moved. He, of course, is super busy so we don’t get to talk often. I did manage to put my request in and with the help of the neighbour’s friend they got me pieces of wood of suitable length to make the signs and did the edging for me. I had a bit of a hard time in that I kept looking at the wood meant for the coffee sign and imagining that it would be perfect to put Jonny’s guitar stand shop name, JD original, on it. I guess it is true that the material speaks to the artist. In the end I made the coffee sign but only because I didn’t have another piece of wood I could use instead. I am pretty happy with how they turned out, too.

So, it’s been pretty crazy around here but fun, too. We have also been learning those lessons of a new business that you can only really learn once you jump into something with both feet. The important ones like how to not over schedule yourself and how to not under charge and how to not under estimate your time requirements. I am sure it will all become clear(er) with time and experience.

 

 

New Paintings in My Shop!

It seems like it has been a while since I have been able to work on my actual paintings. I have been spending so much time working on the behind the scenes work of getting my shop up and running. Today I was finally able to complete some more paintings. Yay!

My british flag and my scooter canvases are getting a lot of views so I decided that they would look fabulous on pieces of wood, too.

The very first thing my daughter says to me each and every morning regardless of the weather is “It’s a Beautiful Day, Mom!” It is such a great way to wake up it inspired me to paint a sign. I am not a morning person but she sure knows how to cheer a person up. The next sign was inspired by our 3 chickens just by seeing fresh eggs come into the kitchen everyday.

 

And for the last two I had pieces of wood already painted white and the words just jumped into my head. I love beach signs (which you probably would have figured out soon enough) and who doesn’t love a rustic looking welcome sign?

 

 

I have been having fun getting my shop together but I love the painting and creating part most of all.

 

My Newest Repurposed Wood Painting

 

 

I am not going to write about every piece I do but I am particularly excited about this one. I have had the idea for an old looking british flag painted on a good sized piece of wood for some time. And then the perfect piece of wood appeared. This was the wood that my husband wanted to use for his cutting board idea. Unfortunately for him the wood just didn’t work for his project. He will have to find better wood for that. Lucky for me I had the perfect use for it. And it turned out just like I had imagined it in my head. Now you can find this one in Babayaya’s Creations, my Etsy shop, too.

It’s Been a Creative Weekend Over at Our House

 

I finally started to make some things, too. Setting up my husband’s Etsy shop has really lit a fire under me and I have found inspiration. I think we are starting to feed off each other because now Jonny is on a roll, too. He has been working on building pallet shelves and this weekend he finished this one off for us. I really love it. We put it up right away. We don’t have a lot of wall space but I was happy to take some pictures down to make space.

Jonny’s fabulous pallet shelf. It’s not the best picture as it’s already on the wall and the light there isn’t great.

I have always been a sucker for signs and have a few I have bought over the years. Of course, with Jonny’s wood projects he has cast off pieces that would make perfect signs.  He brought me in a piece of a pallet board and I set to work on cleaning it up, painting it and making it into this great beach sign. I am really happy with how it turned out so I went outside to pick out some more pieces that I could clean up and make into more signs.

My rustic beach sign.

I had shared the beach sign with my sister and asked her for ideas for other signs. She gave me a few great ideas. However, when I had the already cut pieces of wood I found that they spoke to me in what they should say. And these are what came out of them when I was done. I am pretty happy with them and now I don’t want to stop.

I am on a roll and don’t want to stop!

I later went outside with Jonny to look at the wood again and he brought over one long board that could be cut up into pieces. With some of my sister’s suggestions in mind I measured out what I thought would work. I washed the cut pieces up and left them to dry. The next morning Jonny was excited about an idea making a cutting board using the cut up pieces. He was controlling his urge to take back the pieces he cut up for me. Ha ha. He did find new pieces to use but I sense we may have a few negotiations over materials in the future.

I am excited that I have some pieces ready to go. Now for the bigger job of setting up my Etsy shop. But first, I have a couple more ideas of things I want to paint.