awww shucks, guys!

Thank you everyone for your sweet words of encouragement and support. I know there's a difference between what I did and out-and-out side-by-side copying but I still feel strongly that I shouldn't sell the birds anymore. To me, they are too alike...the rosy cheeks, glittered, party hats, collars...for comfort. But I really appreciate all your very nice comments. Thank you so much.

Stop by tomorrow morning for the next issue of inspiredideas and the next inspiredfriend. Here's a sneak peek of some of the offerings. I set them all up, neat in a row for the picture. When I came back from grabbing the camera, this is how I found them. See the guilty hand? He was sure these were brand new special toys for him and I had to wait until naptime to put them away.

Thanks again, everybody. I really, really appreciate you.

an egregious mistake

Sometimes ideas have a funny way of making a home in your mind for so long that when they come around again, you mistake them for a new and original thought.

Case in point, my bluebirds of happiness.

I thought they were an original idea. I thought that I'd dreamed up these marvelous little beauts all on my own. And surely you remember how tickled I was with them. I couldn't think of anything else as I made them...when I closed my eyes at night to go to sleep, I saw them peeping back at me. I loved them. And what I loved most was that they were so different from anything out there.

Or so I thought.

There's a very lovely artist many of you probably know, Jenny of The Polka Dot Pixie fame. She makes bluebirds and has for a very long while. Some even don party hats and paper collars.

I guess somehow I must've spied them long ago and then forgotten. So when this "new" idea to make them came to me, I thought it was my own.

I detest this whole copycat-trend I see far too much. I vow to try never to be one. I decided to own-up publicly to the bluebird accidental copying and to apologize to Jenny and to all of you sweet friends. And a big oops! and yikes! and geewhiz! to go with it.

Edited to add: I wanted to clarify that sweet Jenny didn't know that I had made bluebirds similar to hers. I saw a picture of hers on a blog this morning (http://allsorts.typepad.com) and from that visited Jenny's blog and etsy shop. When I saw hers, especially those wearing the hats and collars, I realized the problem and contacted Jenny directly to apologize.

on the way out

Here are the lovely items still available from Beth and Suzy. Click here to find them.