Off to School

I can't decide which feels weirder: having two kids in school, or a house that is so quiet. 

It certainly wasn't this morning, as Gracie got ready for second grade and Annelie got ready for kindergarten. Will took care of the music, blasting Pink Floyd and Madness for the girls to listen to as they ate breakfast and brushed their teeth.  

(for your listening pleasure:)


and:


And then they were off.

Annelie insisted she wear her new party dress. Gracie chose the shirt we designed together and made this weekend.

Hard to believe it's already been two years since this:

(Also, I think it's officially time I stop cutting Annelie's hair. I don't want her to be known as 'the girl whose mom cuts her bangs.' Whoops).

I overheard the girls making plans to sit next to each other on the bus home this afternoon, and yep, I got a little teary.

Will is working from home today, and we're both slightly dazed. But we're definitely happy to have the day together, without the kids.(HURRAY!)

Have a great week, folks!

xoxo,

Hola, Mis Amigos

Aside from Brave (which I still haven't seen yet!?!) I haven't wanted to see a kids movie since the trailer for My Little Ponies: Reign of Buttercup Sprinkles.

UNTIL NOW.


Why oh why can't this be a real movie?

(thank you Winn, for bringing this video to my attention. You made my day)

xoxo,

Setting the Ducklings Free

This week I've been suffering from PNS (Pre-empty Nest Syndrome).

As well as a few other maladies, such as:

Phantom Child Limbs - in which I am haunted by the feel of my toddlers gripping my hand as they toddle about, though when I check, there isn't a hand holding mine.

and Severed Apron Strings - I'm bleeding profusely. This one will definitely be the hardest to overcome.

But I just can't help it! We're halfway through the last week of summer for kids here in Texas, and next week my littlest duckling...

 ... is off to kindergarten!

I know, right? She's too little for kindergarten! She's just a BABY!

Her not-much-bigger sister is all ready for school, too. Yep, that's right.

SECOND GRADE.

*faints*

Are the babies suffering quite like I am?

Not so much. They're both ready to go off into the world without me.

Next week, I'm sure there will be a new malady in the mix. Some kind of Post-noise Shock from the severe silence brought on by the kids being in school for seven hours at a time. In the meantime, I'm just over here being sappy, and hugging my kids so much it's surely annoying them.

Hope you're all enjoying the last days of summer!

xoxo,

Saying Goodbye to Sweden

We've been back from our Grand European Adventure for a week and a half, now. Getting back in the swing of things after a trip is always so hard for me. My To-Do list seems a mile long, but all I want to do is catch up on my DVR (So You Think You Can Dance, how I missed you so!) and sleep. 

I never posted about the last days of our adventuring! (it's possible I'm still in denial about being back in the States)

I blogged a bit about Sweden previously, and our last days were just as great.

This lake was in our backyard, so the girls spent much time in the water and sand.

 

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We went to Furuvik Zoo!

...which has this chimp, who is the cutest thing ever (besides the chimp that walked around with a boot on his back, of course - he, too, was the cutest thing ever):

I was hoping to see the chimp Santino, up to his usual tricks (which include elaborate tourist snipe attacks, using rocks and sticks) but alas. He was too busy chilling with his chimp friends to attack the tourists.

We did get to see a bunch of lemurs up close. I didn't realize these guys are such homebodies they don't even need to be roped off from the world - their enclosure is open to all the trees in all of Sweden, yet they always stay near their little home at the zoo.

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We went to Stockholm!

Annelie pulled out all her runway supermodel poses...

... and photo-bombed her sister at every opportunity. 

(poor Gracie just wanted a photo with Stockholm Palace in the background, but Annelie busted out the Imma L'il Teapot pose just as I took the picture)

Stockholm Palace

The girls never got tired of seeing castles and palaces during our Grand European Adventure.

And I never got tired of taking pictures of statues - especially of lions. Gracie noticed, and by the end of our trip, she was pointing them out to me, to make sure I wouldn't miss a photo op.

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While we were in Stockholm, we went to the Vasa Museum, which was just so cool, even though my photographs fail to show the coolness. (my camera hated the dark, dark room)

The museum contained the Vasa, which sunk on her maiden voyage, not far from where she set sail, back in 1628. She was pulled back up in the early sixties, and now has her own wreckage museum. 

 

This Vasa is covered in lion carvings, including the figurehead, but you can't see it well in my photos. 

 

And the ship was once so colorful!! Here are some of the carvings from the above image showing their original painted glory. 

The girls thought the museum was cool but creepy. I have always had an obsession with ship wrecks, so I thought it was pretty darned awesome.

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The girls built boats!

 

And raced them.

 

(Annelie's won) 

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And we visited with friends I haven't seen in years and years (including a friend from my high school days, who I hadn't seen since I was 15) - always a great part of the trip!

It's been a little surreal, being back in the States. But it's been AMAZING coming home to my hubs after nine weeks away. The girls and I might have had the world's most awesome vacation, but it's good to be home with Will!

Watching the Olympics with the girls has been a fun experience - especially finishing the Olympics in America after watching the opening ceremony and first few days of the games with Swedish commentary.

The girls left the USA back in May, without much of a concept of foreign countries and the world we live in. During the Olympics, they saw Team Belgium, Great Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, all competing for gold with USA, and it was exciting for them, having just been to those countries. They wanted to cheer on everyone.

xoxo,

Castles, Cafes, and Places to Play

Our 9 week Grand European Adventure is coming to an end, and I've learned that our outings can pretty much be lumped into three groups - visiting castles, visiting cafes, and visiting playgrounds.

Naturally, our favorite outings feature the ultimate trinity - a castle, cafe, and a playground - so what's a mom in Sweden to do but take the kids to....

UPPSALA!

(cuuuuuuute!)

The park in Uppsala has a lovely garden with a pond, where we had a picnic lunch.

(I say 'smile!' they hear 'strike a pose!')

AND THE CASTLE IS PINK. 

I am officially of the philosophy that pink castles are the cutest kind. 

And, of course, we can't forget the cafe.

"What is an outing without some kind of dessert?" says my sweet tooth.

(my kids are my sweet tooth's biggest fan)

Uppsala not only features the ultimate trinity, but it has a cathedral to throw in the mix.

And at the end of the day, Gracie thought it was sad that I'm wasn't in very many pictures, so when I said, "Ooooh, I love the corner of that building." she excitedly said, "I can take a picture of you in front of it!"

So I pointed out the part of the building I wanted a photo of... 

It's a good thing I have a habit of checking my camera immediately after taking a picture.

"Um, Gracie? You know you completely missed the part of the building I liked, right?" I said.

"Whoops!"

So she took the picture again.

Much better.

We had a lovely day!

xoxo,

On Image Theft and the Crediting of Artists

I started this post the other day, but then deleted it, because I was sounding a little too high-on-my-soap-box. Not to mention, the topic of image theft and the lack of crediting artist on Pinterest, Tumblr, Blogger, ect, is one that leaves me so angry and emotional that I end up with a migraine and need to sniff some lavender essential oil and coerce my kids into giving me a neck massage in order to survive.

But after reading my pal Dianne Salerni's blog post today, which mentioned the cautionary tale by writer/blogger Roni Loren - Roni was sued, an extraordinary sum, for using someone else's picture on her blog (an excellent, informative post - you really should read it) - I thought I might share a few stories.

The other day, a pal of mine discovered one of my Elegant Snobs on one of her favorite blogs - and the image wasn't credited to me. Or linked to me, or the Etsy shop where I sell my work, in any way.

Now, I knew the woman who used my image was just another blogger, not trying to make a profit off my design. When I got in touch with her, she said she found it on Google Images, and couldn't find the original source.

I KNOW my work is all over Google Images. According to Google Analytics, I get THOUSANDS of blog hits a month because of my Elegant Snobbery artwork. And those are the images that actually LINK to my blog! Who knows how many of my images lead nowhere? I don't even want to begin counting.

The woman in the above story was kind, and genuinely apologetic, and gave me credit immediately after I asked her to either credit me as the artist or take the picture down. I wasn't bothered by the event - I understand that the original artists behind many, many, many, many, many, ect, works are getting lost to the World Wide Web (those who follow me on Twitter and Pinterest might have seen recently how preachy I've been getting about crediting original artists - I seriously spend HOURS trying to find the original artists for uncredited images when I pin them on Pinterest, and it sickens me when that info is deleted when the pictures are repinned)

When images are used, without crediting the creator of the images (or asking permission if you plan on making a profit from those images!!!), it is, in a way, stealing.

See this cupcake necklace? Isn't it adorable?*

I cried when I saw it being sold on-line - No, not because I thought the necklace was delicious-looking, and I couldn't afford it because my PayPal account was empty at the time. 

I cried because I DREW THAT CUPCAKE, and my image was stolen off Google Images and used to profit someone else (I was also probably highly hormonal at the time, and if there's one thing to know about me, it's that at least once a month, EVERYTHING MAKES ME CRY) 


My artwork pays for my kids' trips to the roller rink, you guys. I use my profits to buy presents for their birthday, most often from other indie artists on Etsy. Or books by my favorite authors on Barnes&Noble.com. When people steal my images, I lose out on a lot. My adorable kids lose out on a lot. 

I didn't sue, or make a huge stink, because I shy away from drama unless I have tickets to see Les Miz or Shakespeare. I kindly sent the jeweller a message saying, "Hi. This is my art. You have stolen it. You need to remove all jewellery made from my pictures from your site and pay me back for all the necklaces you have sold using my artwork."

The person immediately removed all jewellery featuring my art from his/her shop, compensated me, and has since had his/her shop removed from the web, as every other necklace in his/her shop was made from stolen art, I later discovered, and the person was reported for theft by many other artists.

*is it considered image theft to use said person's image on my blog, if the image within the image was stolen from me? Things to ponder...

I'm one of the lucky people, who was able to resolve the art theft issues quickly and painlessly. I have many artist friends who have not been so lucky.

MEET KATHY JEFFORDS.

(Okay, so that's not actually Kathy in the picture there, that's the one, the only Flowerina, of which the original is IN MY HOUSE and I love her so) 

You might know Kathy on Etsy, as The Dreamy Giraffe. You might also know her motivational words and images from Tumblr and Pinterest though they often don't link to her website, where she makes her living as an independent artist. You might even find her images altered - other people's watermarks over them, different backgrounds behind her words, though her words and layouts haven't been changed.

We All Have Bricks by Kathy Jeffords

www.thedreamygiraffe.etsy.com

You might even recognize her work from other indie artists and/or stamp makers who have stolen her original words and images in order to make a profit of their own.

Adoption Art - by Kathy Jeffords

www.thedreamygiraffe.etsy.com

I know Kathy as the artist who inspired me to take a chance on my own silly little pictures, and open an Etsy shop to sell my art back in '07. Hundreds upon hundreds of people have my artwork hanging on their walls - which is pretty much one of the raddest things ever - and I never would have sucked up my courage and sold my work on-line if not for the awesome Dreamy Giraffe.

It kills me to know that awesome people like Kathy are stuck dealing with art theft. That they are trying to make an honest living as a creative individual, and have to deal with people taking their images and claiming them for themselves.

WHY ARE PEOPLE SO SHADY?!

*needs lavender essential oils and a neck massage, stat!*

Okay, I'm going to calm down and end this post. There's a moral to this story, and that is: if you post a photo on your blog, and you didn't take it yourself, and you don't know who did, and you don't credit anyone, you might get slapped with a lawsuit, and rightfully so. It's unfortunate, if you didn't know better (and I know a lot of people see Google Images and think they're free for the taking). But it happens. And it really does pain the artist behind the art. IT REALLY DOES.

Also, I'll leave you with a note about the Flickr account my awesome pal Dianne Salerni (author of We Hear The Dead  -Sourcebooks, 2010- , and The Caged Graves -Clarion, 2013) started, which is filling with images that bloggers are welcome to help themselves to - really, use them in your blog posts! She won't sue you, she promises!

You can find Dianne's free-to-share Flickr account  HERE.

Also, if any of you want to use MY art on YOUR blogs, I'm totally cool with that, as long as you credit me as the artist. I love when people love my work enough to share it with their friends! That is one of the best things ever!

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Now, I was shocked to see that Roni Loren had to close her blog comments on her cautionary post, because people started name-calling and being all around disrespectful.


I know my blog readers are kind and won't resort to being jerks in my comments, so I'll keep my comments open. 

xoxo,