I have so much going 'round in my head, I hardly know where to start this post. I've stayed away from blogging for awhile as I have so much to do, and it seems take effort to write a post. I am also a private person and don't want to write a lot about personal things. Last week was busy as I was preparing for my mother's memorial service. We held it on Sabbath (Saturday) afternoon after church. It went well. There were more people in attendance that I had thought would be. I set up flowers and photos and a scrapbook at the front of the church. I went through mom's scrapbooks and chose pages she had done and put them into one binder. Mom didn't like to use traditional scrapbook binders, but rather 3 ring binders. It made it easy to pick the pages, assemble them into order, then add them to the binder.

Now that the memorial is over, death certificates sent to those that must have them to close her accounts, I can get back to the business of sorting and clearing out the storage unit. I still have so much to do. I've sent about 9 boxes of stuff to my sister. I like the flat rate boxes, but I wish they'd make some bigger ones.

I'm slowly getting back into the scrapping, both designing some freebies, and actually scrapping pages. Whether I return to selling is still doubtful. I just don't have the heart to try and make a go of it. It's one thing for people to like you stuff, it's quite another for them to pay for it. I wasn't selling well but was spending more than I was taking in. That says it was time to get out. Now it is just a great hobby. So you all benefit when I give a freebie.

I no longer have access to the designers' section of DST, but can read the rest of the forum. However, it isn't quite as interesting as it used to be. Someone had begun a topic there a couple of months ago about designers who use copyrighted/trademarked items and designs in their kits. It didn't get much response until someone pointed out the Joanne of Joanne's Digital Designs copies from other works for some of her pspscripts. She sees nothing wrong with it as she says she draws them and changes them. However, the changes are minimal. Things such as bows that she does so well, are generic. But not so with Charming Tails (which I knew nothing about as I am not a collector) are copyrighted/trademarked and cannot be used without explicit permission. I have always liked her scripts, but have mostly bows. Because I don't know the source of bears scripts, I have deleted them and will not use them, but plan to continue using the bows.

What saddened me most, was Joanne's attitude when confronted with the misuse of others' works. She goes on the attack of those she says are attacking her. But no one was attacking her, only pointing out that she needs to show proof that she has permission to use the items in question if she has permission. Please, Joanne, no one wants to see you stop designing. You are a talented woman. But please keep it legitimate. It's not easy to face ourselves in the mirror and admit that we have done something wrong, but if you will do what Laurie did, and admit it, then change your scripts, it go so much better for you.

I'm more upset with DST's reaction because they removed the topic. There is a covert attitude there of we can't expose any wrongdoing in the digiscrap community. You can't name names, you can't expose any pirates copyright/trademark infringers even when there is incontrovertible proof that they are. If you start a topic at DST with a name and/or a link, they will be removed from your post. You must them PM everyone who wants the information. If the piracy is proven, then the pirate needs to be exposed. But therein lies a problem. No one can come up with a solution that is problem free. There are blogs out there (called smack blogs I think) that trash designers without proof that they are pirating. It can ruin the reputation of decent, legitimate designers if they are wrongly accused.

OK, so much for my ruminations. I have things to do today, including uploading my kit for the Moo Two Paint the Barn challenge. I'm going to try to get it posted today, but I have been making some layouts with it, so I may add a another thing or two to it.