i strive every single day to be HAPPY and to treat others the way i want to be treated...not to say that i am a saint or anything, my kids will attest that for at least a few days of every month, i am a crazy, nitpicky, unhappy maniac...marching around complaining about chores not getting done...{that seems to be the thing that 'gets' me...chores that don't get completed}...remember, i have teenagers...teenagers hate doing chores...so, they wonder why three weeks out of every month, i never get upset about unfinished chores {i even often end up doing their chores myself, with a smile of all things} and then for a few days, it seems to be the biggest issue in my life...i march around, yelling that '"nobody else ever does anything and that i do everything"...ANYWAY...the point i'm trying to make, is that overall, i am a super, happy person, and basically feel as if the world is full of amazing and beautiful, happy, smiling people...i make a point not to watch the news and i surround myself with positivity...{positive vibrations, yeah....positive...}
so, today, i am faced with a challenge of sorts...something has brought me down and i am challenged today to be positive. today, a customer brought to my attention that another shop on etsy was not only using my designs, wording, style, etc...but, my actual photos....wow. i realize that etsy is full of similar things and i certainly don't own anything that i do, i haven't copyrighted anything either {stupid, maybe}, but...i never thought anyone would use the actual photos that i took with my camera to sell a product...digging a bit deeper, i found so many 'tenthings.' type things such as wording, style, descriptions, tags, headings, etc. having said all that, i have contacted etsy and will probably contact this person and ask them to stop...the crazy thing is she had a great style of her own before she adopted mine...in other words, she should just keep doing 'her' thing and let me do 'mine'. so, here is the challenge...i am not wanting to make a stink over this, i'm hurt, like sick to my stomach hurt, but i am going to move forward...i have reported this person to etsy and hope that she will continue to develop her own style and be authentic. {i just have to say that it's a good thing that i'm in the 'three and a half week' mode not the 'crazy three day' mode, because i am a true believer that the less attention something is given the better, unless of course, it's a good thing, then the more attention you give it the bigger it gets, cuz, that's just the way it goes}...so, i won't write about this again, i will focus on the positive from here on out..i'll let it go, but it sure felt good to get if off my chest. done. and now on to the positive.
...after being gone all day, i came home this afternoon to nine messages from
super cool people on etsy!
letting me know that they put tenthings. in their treasuries...you can't imagine how this GOOD wipes out the bad...
treasuries take a ton of time and creativity
and for anyone to put something i made in their special treasury is amazing.
it's the best form of flattery...
so i thank you, thank you, thank you
wonderful, awesome, incredible etsy community.
for it's you that make etsy the most amazing community...
i heart you all. i truly, truly do.
p.s. my daughter emptied and filled the dishwasher while i wrote this letter and my son offered to go to seattle to beat up 'the girl'!
