So, watching TV this afternoon, on The Couch they asked what viewers's favorite childhood toy was. I clearly remember my favorite toy...a cabbage patch kid. I taught myself how to braid hair in different types of braids on this doll and slept with her. She went everywhere with me....until my cousin told me that in America a redheaded green eyed cabbage patch kid had strangled it's owner in her sleep...

Well my cabbage patch kid was redheaded and green eyed and I fell for this story hook line and sinker LOL every night I would lock my doll in the cupboard, terrified it was going to strangle me in my sleep....I was all of 11 years old LOL

Picture is courtesy of Google and is not a photo of my cabbage patch kid....she got lost in one of our house moves...even terrified I still loved her and wouldn't have given her up for the world if I'd had the choice lol

What was your favorite childhood toy and do you have a particular memory associated with it?

I have removed the previous post for the time being as I have had contact from the designer. (Update: As at September 4th and per this post I have republished the previous post.)

She claims that all my items in her kits were sold to her and that it was all a misunderstanding....I REALLY hope this is the case but I am still sceptical as some of the items were from a relatively recently released kit...I would much rather be proven wrong than right however, no matter the embarrassment it may cause.

I would though like to address some of the comments left on the previous post.

Dina commented:
Don't you think you should have contacted the designer first? She is a very reputable person and would not have intentionally done this. I just think you should go to the source first before doing all of this. It is a misunderstanding and if you will talk to her I am sure you can work something out. Now, if you know you have used CU items with no adjustmetns, it is probable that an individual could have the same t hing in their kit and it not be pirated from your kit, don't you think?

Dina, I did try to contact the designer....obviously I did not wait long enough. I have never heard of this person before and have no way of knowing if she is a reputable designer or not, and quite frankly by the time I got done going through her blog I was in tears. If you had read my post properly though you would have seen the items that I screenshot and my post text that these were items I either DID make adjustments to or made from scratch.

Pam commented:
You know, before you go bashing someone and trying to ruin their reputation, you SHOULD give them a chance to respond to your accusations!!! {name removed} is one of the finest, sweetest, most generous people that I have ever known, and would never intentionally steal someone else's designs. She is a good enough designer that she doesn't have to steal from someone else. She has always cautioned her CT members to be very careful of CU products, which she thought she was being very careful, and obviously someone duped her. How sad that you had to go off and say such hateful and mean things ("I really don't think I will get any good result from this designer") without even giving her a chance to respond back to you. You had already made up your mind that she was a horrible person, so as you said, "I don't feel at all guilty in posting who she is and her blog address". Pretty sure that your temper has got you again!!!! It is unfortunate that there are those out there that do steal, like the person who sold these items to Michelle under false pretenses. But to not even give someone, who you don't even know, a chance to explain, is just as sad!!!

Again, I was in much distress yesterday and as it turns out I most likely didn't make the right decision in making the blog post. IF it turns out I was wrong I will make the necessary apologies. I am not normally a hateful and mean person, I am just a regular person like the rest of you and I make mistakes, even whoppers, just like the rest of you.

Debbie commented:
I think the way that you have named and been so horrible to this designer is a disgrace. You should have waited for a reply from her before you made any of these comments. I dont think you would like anything like this to be said about you. So I think you should have thought how you would feel if someone said this about you.
Just because something looks similar and designers use CU items, does not mean that it is necessarily your stuff. I have seen so many items on the web the whole web that you could say were the same. I think you should apologize to this designer for your very hurtful and uncalled for remarks. I am sure there is a very good explaination for why the items look "similar" to your items.

Debbie, if you had read the comments, especially the one from the designer you would see that there is no question on the items being mine, the question is where they were obtained from. I don't disagree with the rest of your post though.

Again if I am wrong, I will deeply apologise, I'd like to know though who this person is that is allegedly selling my items on DVD.

Update:

I had another reply from the designer...

I already spoke to the designer I got the stuff from….She said she downloaded every free CU item you had on your blog, and since she liked your stuff she also downloaded your personal use stuff as well, and mixed it altogether….when I got her stuff that she offered to me, all your stuff was in one folder…no individual folders…I have about 120 items of yours from her….she didn’t give me it all obviously, cause looking at your blog, I noticed you have a lot of stuff….I know from experience, that you get to know what you have in your folders, etc…so maybe she made a mistake as well…without realizing what she was giving me…I am not going to bash her over this either…It was a mistake…and something I normally haven’t done….I looked back in my kits and found 4 kits with your items in, and you were acknowledged in all of them as well…so obviously I wasn’t thinking I couldn’t use them or I would have never even credited you for them ...

As a designer she really should have not only made sure to get the items directly from me, most if not all designers do not allow the type of distribution she described (herself included!) and the designer had already stated she credited me so she know they were mine, she should also have made sure to check my blog for my TOU on those items before usage. I am really sorry she got caught up in this.

This is why I usually leave it alone though.. if I find my kits offered somewhere else I will usually contact the file-sharing site for removal of the zip and leave it at that. Sometimes it gets taken down, sometimes not.

In a case like this though, even if I am in the right I will still end up being attacked... it's not exactly a win-win situation lol

Given that most of my stuff is free, I wonder if it is worth the aggravation at all. Maybe I should just close down this part of my site and let all the thieves and pirates and "unintentional" usage carry on to their heart's content. I don't design for income, I design because I love it, and I design when I have time and mojo...and mojo is getting very thin on the ground lately...I have many things to think about.

Yesterday I followed a link for DST to the 2nd Chance Charity Kit for AngelPAWS.org as I was interested in checking it out. While looking through the previews I saw some items that looked very familiar....the first thing I saw was the bow, an exact match right down to the color of the bow in my Grumblebum kit. Thinking this was all and possibly just a coincidence I was going to leave it alone, as I posted before I try not to get too worked up as I used to get really angry in the past and my temper can be my downfall a lot LOL and sometimes it's really just not worth the aggravation.

So I continued looking through the previews....and saw a tag with a very familiar pattern....lo and behold the exact pattern....and colors...as one of my papers from the same Grumblebum kit and in fact she also included my striped paper in her portion. I made those stripes myself so it's not a commonly available CU item. She also had two more of my papers from Grumblebum recolored, plus two paper hearts and a string.

I contacted the store owner, Angel Baby Scraps, who was VERY quick to reply and take action, letting me know who the designer was and linking me to her other store...the charity collab is currently disabled but I really hope Angel puts it back up after removing this designer's items....I'd hate to see one bad designer ruin the whole collab

I have also contacted both this designer and the other store in the hopes of getting the items removed...we shall see on that one.

I really don't think I will get any good result from this designer (Michelle McCoy of Crafty Scraps @ craftyscraps.blogspot.com) so I don't feel at all guilty in posting who she is and her blog address.

In the meantime I have been going through this person's blog....and finding more of my items in "her" kits....there's too much altogether to be just a coincidence..

The three square frame is from Faded Memories, the tag is from Daddy's Pride And Joy, again I made and modified both these items.

There is a preview also of her portion for a Mother's Day collab, I can see several of my items in the kit (which is where the above QP came from).

There are lots of others that look like they *could* be from my kits but because in my earlier days I used a lot of actions without really modifying much I can't be totally sure....just the colors of some items are extremely close to mine....and there's that whole done it once (twice, three times) thing lol I guess that's one of the hazards of using CU and not modifying at all (a lesson that should be learnt early in one's design career lol)

What I really don't understand is why?? Why risk it?? Looking through her blog she seems to have some creativity of her own. Is it because she thought she wouldn't get caught? *sighs*

It's a total kick in the guts to see stuff I spent hours making, and offer freely (or have offered freely in the past) on my blog only to have somone else not only claim them as their own but SELL them when they have NO right to

Follow Up Post: Re The More Piracy Issue

Ok, so today, quite by chance I discovered one of my graphics being claimed as another "designer's" item.....and I say quite by chance because I spotted a frame used on a tag in an email and thought it looked familiar.

I try not to worry too much about these things...they will happen and not much we can do will stop it but having seen it I won't just ignore it. I emailed the tag owner and asked if she remembered which kit she used in the tag. I was given a link to the kit which was freely offered on another blog. The post has now been removed but the replies to my emails are quite (unintentionally I spose lol) hilarious.

I am reposting the emails here but removing identifying info...though I have my moments I don't quite feel that bitchy today LOL if anyone is really that interested in who this is you can email me

Emails read from bottom up....top ones are most recent and I couldn't be bothered to reply any more:

----- Original Message -----
From: xxxxxx
To: Lissa
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 5:17 PM
Subject: Re: Items in your kit.

Ms.
You're pretty famous for your "virulence" in the world of scrapbooking ... I do not even know how I got this item ... certainly not at home but I buy all my items! So, you say that someone is selling what you do ... then good luck to you! You must now find a small needle in a haystack MDR big ..... And the date of the kit, and well aware that I run my articles in my blog and then the date changes!! I still know what I say, no but! I personally do not waste my time with people like you, and especially I have no lessons to learn from you. You make me threats! it is not a pretty thing! advice: make your way far from my blog and more spies!

----- Original Message -----
2011/6/10 Lissa

Thank you.

Perhaps in future you might be a little more careful that the items you offer in your kits are yours to offer and not belonging to someone else.

Have a nice day...

Lissa

----- Original Message -----
From: xxxxx
To: Lissa
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 5:00 PM
Subject: Re: Items in your kit.

Madam,
I do not see what is not rude in my comments!
You are a maker of stories ... I like that!
To make you very very very happy I'm going to remove the kit graétuit ... and go with your frame ... put it under lock and key in a museum!
Good day to you and full of happiness with your pettiness!
xxxxx

----- Original Message -----
2011/6/10 Lissa

Really?? Then why does the blog url state 2011 as the post date?

I was very polite in my contact to you, however I see now that will get me nowhere and I must contact your stores and blogspot and report you as a thief and a pirate instead and let them judge from the evidence themselves.

Lissa

----- Original Message -----
From: xxxxx
To: Lissa
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: Items in your kit.

I'm sorry ... I do not even know what you mean!
This kit is a freebie on my blog for over two years .... remain in place!
Sincerely,
xxxxx

----- Original Message -----
2011/6/10 Lissa

Hello,

You have used a ribbon off my frame from my Back To Nature Mini (free download here: http://www.hunnybeedesign.com/blog/2009/06/back-to-nature-mini-kit-freebie/) and extracted it, stretched it out slightly and added it onto a frame in one of your kits (here: xxxxxxx.blogspot.com/2011/03/xxxxxx)

This item has never been offered for CU, nor have I ever given permission for items to be taken from my designs and claimed as someone else's.

I would like you to take this item out of your download and replace it with something of your own design.

Lissa
HunnyBee Design

I do think I was quite polite, I don't understand the use of the word virulance, but maybe that is a language barrier thing....nonetheless I'd rather be known for "virulence" than piracy and petty theft and certainly I have had many moments of discord with others over the course my design history

The whole reply reeks of guilt, I would think if it was purchased elsewhere or downloaded elsewhere a simple, "Oh sorry!! It was a mistake" would suffice and certainly I am adult enough to accept that.

So what do you think dear blog readers? I am an Aussie and we are known for our whacked senses of humour

The frame in "question":

Mine:

Oooo and I HAVE to add a thank you here to everyone who has left me such lovely comments on my blog....thank you!