Not Lost. . . unless you consider my mess

Hello dear readers,

First of all, I want to thank you for all of your support during my legal quagmire. I was having a difficult time trying to still focus on the projects that were due, the legal commitments, and working at my regular jobs.

I am in full swing trying to get ready for Valentine's Day. I got behind and will sell fewer items this year but I don't mind. I still have many ideas that I will carry over until next year so I am not worried.

The biggest complaint that I have right now is that my apartment and my studio (the extra room) are a total mess. I have piles of everything spread around just waiting to be put away. It is driving me crazy but I can't get to it until the weekend. I have some wedding commissions that I need to work on and I refuse to do so until I get the studio and apartment cleaned.

There is some good news to share though:

• I submitted a prospectus for a one-man show here in NYC. My submission is called "OCD Paper" and will feature paper products that are made from multiple, compulsive type manipulations. There were 75 submissions and it was narrowed down to five--of which, I am one of the five finalists. Two submissions will be chosen to be shown.
• My accountant called and has finished the preliminary review of my taxes. Last year, I will have derived approximately 32% of my annual income from my crafting/creating which is the most I have made so far. I am very happy about this.
• I had been commissioned to create a paper cutout wallpaper for a local florist to use in his window display here in NYC. I was then approached by a major craft design company to POSSIBLY design some paper products for them.

I promise that this weekend I will post some pictures of projects that are in progress. I simply need to get organized to be able to do so.

Once again, thank you for all of your support.

The Ordeal is finally over

Well, I am glad to say that the legal ordeal with Mr. steal-my-designs is finally over. I am very happy to say that I won the case and the settlement will probably put the "thief" out of business--I am not gloating, but merely stating a fact.

I was awarded the maximum amount of damages in such a case AND Mr. Thief also has to pay my legal fees (including my attorney's fees). Literally, this will put the person out of business since he doesn't have the money to pay the damages/fees.

Mr. I-didn't-think-you-would-take-me-to court erred on a variety of different levels:

1. He wouldn't stop selling the stolen designs
2. He wouldn't stop selling the designs once I nicely asked him to
3. He wouldn't stop selling the designs once we issued a "cease and desist"
4. He underestimated the lengths that I would go to in order to make this right
5. He didn't believe that I would spend money to take him to court
6. He didn't realize that one of the designs that he stole was based on a design that was adapted by a very large sticker company
7. He didn't realize that said sticker company was going to join in the lawsuit
8. He didn't realize that I had attorney friends that were willing to spend their time and efforts to make this right.

I really don't mean to sound like I am gloating about this. I believe that I was nice to the person and gave him every opportunity to correct the situation. The person really didn't believe that I would take this issue as far as I did. In other words, he simply underestimated me and my belief in doing what is right.

So, please continue to visit for some new designs of things I was doing while this was going on.

Thanks to all of you for your support during this crazy time.