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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Here is the link to the full set of texture overlays that go with yesterday's CU freebie:
http://divinedigital.com/boutique/product.php?productid=9102&cat=0&page=
And here is the new set I put together last night and managed to preview this morning while my kids were in preschool..... "Down & Dirty Texture Overlays Set 3"
And here is another CU freebie that goes with "Down & Dirty Set 3".....enjoy!
I want to end this blog post with a little note about charity. Charity to me is something that is very personal and very important. Charity can be a kind word to someone who is upset or down, and charity can also be a donation made to an organization, cause or friend in need. Recently I started selling my "Santa's Vintage CU Sack" to help out my friend, Laura. Today I was shocked beyond belief when a fellow designer told me via an invoice comment box that "Operation Save Christmas" was "tacky" and that other designers in the digi design community also felt the same way. So my act of charity, to help a friend who is in financial need with a brand new baby and who lost her job just before her baby was born, has now become "tacky" in the eyes of my designer peers. How sad. How terribly sad. Not for me---believe me, I've been called worse than "tacky" and I can take it. But to leave nasty comments in the checkout process so the designer behind "Operation Save Christmas" can read them, well that is just over the top in my book.
Where has the goodness in the world gone? Don't people realize that if someone is so hard up that they are selling their store and all their designs at a ridiculously low price to try and get through the holidays with a roof over their head and a few gifts under the tree for their three young chhildren they deserve a little compassion and sensitivity? Tacky isn't a word I believe belongs in charity. There is no tackiness in helping others, especially a friend in need. Tacky is an adjective for the fashion industry, furniture, etc. It isn't, in my humble opinion, an adjective that should even be in the same sentence as charity.
Yes, a lot of people are going through tough economic times right now. Some go through them silently without a word to anyone and others need help and let it be known. To do so is not tacky and to help someone is not tacky, either.
So to those designers that are here to download yet another CU freebie from me, I ask that you remember that kindness, compasssion, empathy and sincerity are all words that go in tandem with charity for me. Not tacky. Never tacky. No act of charity can ever be called tacky. And if you don't agree with that, and you are one of the designers on one of those smack blogs or bulletin boards talking about how tacky this is or that is in terms of helping someone via a sale, well that is your opinion and your are entitled to it. But have a little "tact" and don't leave nasty comments on the invoices so the designer in need reads them. What purpose does that serve other than to be cruel? Cruel at Christmas....is that the new theme in the digi world?
And now I am going to step off my soap box and part with some of my favorite quotes on charity and tackiness, to help educate those who need a little lesson:
Tacky
I wouldn't say I invented tacky, but I definitely brought it to its present high popularity.
~Bette Midler
Not that I give a hoot about jewelry. Diamonds, yes. But it's tacky to wear diamonds before you're forty... ~Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1958, spoken by the character Holly Golightly
I think everybody likes to be remembered. I haven't heard anyone say it's tacky, it's more like, 'Hey, this is now available.' People have welcomed it.
~Kate Heller
After Elvis died, there were so many licensing deals signed that led to a lot of very tacky stuff.
~Scott Williams
Charity
We can do no great things, only small things with great love. ~Mother Teresa
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale
If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ~Mother Teresa
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson
While earning your daily bread, be sure you share a slice with those less fortunate.
~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Charity sees the need, not the cause. ~German Proverb
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. ~Winston Churchill
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives. Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself. For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even. ~Daniel Berrigan
It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference. ~Tom Brokaw
Find a need and fill it. ~Ruth Stafford Peale
22 Comments:
I am so sorry that those designers left comments like that on your invoice.
I think what you are doing is admirable and wish you the best of luck. It's your product to sell as you please, at least that is my opinion.
Thank you for all you do.
4:16 PM
Tacky is what those so called "designers" did to you by leaving those kind of notes on your invoice. If they felt it necessary to let you know how they felt, they should havehave the decency to send you a note directly instead of doing it this way. Are they in 3rd grade or what?
I am sorry that your friend is going through a rough patch in her life at the moment. I pray that things turn around for her and thank you for being there for her.
4:23 PM
Go on SISTER! You have a right to voice this...for without your acts of kindness - the true spirit and reason of the holidays are lost!
It's been tough to take on this horrid financial path that has been handed to so many of us in this tough economy situation - I know many out there are affected and for many this time of year is bleak, full of struggles beyond comprehension and depressing...but you know what I have learned from my own situation of tough times....That with bleak circumstances come many blessings including HOPE! One of those many blessings has been the incredible help and support of friends around me and in the digi community - It is because of their willingness to stand beside me through good and bad that has helped me see what is truly important and have helped me from some of the lowest points in my entire life! Without them I would have been HOPELESS....so I owe my heart of gratitude to them for holding me up as I went through those trying times....and continue to make it past it!
So I firmly believe that this promotion was in no way TACKY!!!! But rather....It is actually acts of genuine kindness like Cyndi's to help out another that gives HOPE in a really DARK situation! So I applaude Cyndi for going out of her way to help another....for giving from her heart...and for helping us all see that even the smallest thing can touch the life of another! This act of charity truly shows what the holidays are about....GIVING! Not commercialized junk...but giving a piece of your legacy to another! Thank you Cyndi! You are a blessing in my life....and whenever you need a friend...I am here for you just as you have been for Laura and for me! Love you sister!
5:05 PM
Whoever left that tacky remark can go jump. Seriously, what is 'tacky' about helping someone in need?
6:00 PM
poopy on the "designer" who left you that comment. If I had my druthers, I'd rather be tacky and kind than tacky & mean.
8:15 PM
How disheartening to receive a comment like that when you're doing something so kind. Just follow your heart and don't let this get you down.
9:00 PM
Thank you for sharing the textures Cyndi they are much appreciated. (((hugs))) to you and Laura that some people feel the need to be so horrible obviously they were never taught "if you can't say anything nice, keep your mouth shut"! I think what both of you are doing is great you are trying to help out a friend in need and Laura is trying everything she can think of to give her kids Christmas. I kinow I can't afford to pick up her entire store but I will definately be checking out with a few things I don't have when Mark gets paid. Have a great christmas hun. Hugs Crystal xx
4:53 AM
I agree that there is no way for anyone to act at Christmas..after all isn't the true meaning of Christmas love and giving? Sure we all are feeling the ecomomic pinch this season, however some more than others. I think what you are doing is beautiful selfless act of kindess and if others took time to do the same then would the digicommunity be a better place. There is too much ME ME ME in the world today as it is..and for goodness sake, taking the time to help if only 1 person makes it worthwhile..heads up Cyndi..your kind act will not be forgotten especially by your friends and those of us who actually care about others. Coming off my soapbox now :)
Your friend is in my prayers for a wonderful holiday..and I hope you and yours have a blessed season as well! You are an angel in the digiworld hun..xoxo K
9:14 AM
Hi Cyndi,
I am so sorry other designers, or anyone for that fact, would feel that it is OK to leave a negative comments like that. I think what you do is wonderful and I would hate to think what this world we be like without giving people like yourself.
Thank you for all you do!
Stacy
11:23 AM
You are one of the most generous designers in the digital world. I don't begin to understand people who make negative comments about what you are doing. Hugs and best wishes for a great holiday season.
1:49 PM
Thank you for your gifts to us by sharing your freebies. Thank you for showing us your generousity and gracious heart by sharing what you have with a fellow designer.
As others have said before me, this is NOT tacky ... not at all. It embodies what the holidays represent ... love, kindness, sharing, giving.
May you and yours have a wonderful holiday. (And, ME being tacky here ... may those other folks find coal in their stockings!)
7:07 PM
Well, I think putting a comment like that at checkout is tacky! Honestly, I've seen a number of kits done for charity, and I never thought they were tacky. Some people are just negative and clueless. You just keep on keepin' on!
Thanks so much for the great CU freebie!
Blessings & Merry Christmas~
8:07 PM
Also, thanks for posting all the great quotes!
8:19 PM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
10:53 AM
Gossip much??
“Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco-pipes of those who diffuse it: it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker.”
George Eliot
“In our appetite for gossip, we tend to gobble down everything before us, only to find, too late, that it is our ideals we have consumed, and we have not been enlarged by the feasts but only diminished”
Pico Iyer
“Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality”
Oscar Wilde
“Gossip is the art of saying nothing in a way that leaves practically nothing unsaid.”
Walter Winchell
"Whoever keeps an open ear For tattlers will be sure to hear The trumpet of contention."
William Cowper
"There is a lust in man no charm can tame: Of loudly publishing his neighbor's shame: On eagles wings immortal scandals fly, while virtuous actions are born and die."
William Harvey
"Gossip is always a personal confession either of malice or imbecility."
Josiah Holland
4:03 PM
Well isn't it enough that I pay such high TAXES for these incompetant people to sit on welfare? Why should I dish out more of my hard earned money to these selfish people who rather than stop doing what they know isn't working(going to school while children starve)they just stick their hand out to all and everyone in anonymous web land, I bet not one cent of these so called charity gifts are being accounted to the welfare dept. Their are serious people in real need and people like you designers who don't register your fund raising schemes or acts of charity are just jokes ripping off the wonderful giving and loving digi community like myself and all the real giving charitable women in this world! Who put our money/time/effort into real legitimate and registered charity functions!
So she put all her store on sale, many designers do the exact same thing for many different reasons, but I've yet to see one designer do it in such a tactless way as this, I'm sitting here reading that ad thinking sell your bloody computer, your cell phone and all your other crap before crying poor to me or just put "sale" without all the emotional crap on your product listing!
I think your airing a private comment about a customer on your blog is "TACKY" and don't look now but you have turned this blog into a "smack blog"!! LOL I wonder what the anonymous comment you deleted said?! I bet it was the only real truthful thing said on this post!
Royanna are you a responsible business owner? how you handled this situation is inappropriate. How dare you berate a customer in this way!
I'd not be surprised that you have passed her name around to everyone in your store and forum, touting yourself as the most charitable woman around and how dare anyone question your motives on this "cause" after all haven't you had the best month in sales since using this "cause" to your financial and mutual benefit! Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and donate to this Laura all your month's taking and not just give lip service to it but show us some real receipts of you doing it? How much have you raised for her and how much has she taken in sales, real charity funraisers have this information available to the public, this so called "charity" case is a joke and illegal!
Yes, there are laws to protect the everyday charitable person from being taken advantage of in this way and many real and more worthwhile fundraisers to participate in!
Please display how much income this "charity case" is actually getting from all her various sources, redundancies from leaving job, Husbands income, welfare income, partnership for Devine's ownership shared income, church handouts and welfare and then allow us grownups the decision on whether she is really a worthy cause or not!
Heck I bet she has more disposal income than the magority of your customers who spend at your store!
I appaud that designer for having the courage to tell you what alot of your customers were thinking anyway!
4:04 PM
I am sorry the above "Anonymous" poster feels so complied to only think of oneself with such utter SELFISHNESS! This promotion was merely to help out Laura's family in a time of crisis....it had no ill will or intention in it - just to help them with food, rent and a few gifts under the tree for her 3 small children! And I am speechless that this poster could be so HEARTLESS and RUDE at a time when this family is in such need! I have been to Laura's home...they live very megerly and I can truly say that this family is in need - times are tough - and I don't see what is wrong with helping out a FRIEND in a time of CRISIS for this family! And its WRONG of this poster to pass JUDGEMENT on this situation. To call her "Incompetent" for seeking assistance when times are tough in this job market - especially for a Mother who just had a baby! I am APPALLED that this poster who won't even give her name would be so high and mighty!
I pay taxes in one of this countries highest tax states. I have been paying taxes for over 25 years and I have never received any welfare - over the last two years I have needed it with my husband being permenantly disabled, but I have found through sales and other promotions to cover expenses. Yes I had a big sales month in November...but the month before I couldn't even put food on the table for my family! So what you are thinking "I am raking in the dough" I am merely providing for my family as the SOLE income!
Times are tough for everyone!!!!!...and what I am finding out is people who you would never think would need assistance of welfare - need it at this time to just make it by! So I think it is unfair of you to pass judgement on someone who is seeking assistance at a real time of need!
For the record - Laura and I don't take ANY income from DIVINE DIGITAL!!!! All of the profits from the stores proceeds go directly back into the company to pay for the high Pay Pal fees that we don't charge our designers, and to pay for our server and site fees. So you may think we are raking in money it just isn't true...and will provide information should you want to review it - you may email us at partner@divinedigital.com
I have purchased many things for Laura's family to help make the holiday a little brighter for them!
Divine Digital is a FAMILY! And if you have a problem with that...don't come to our store! WE GENUINELY CARE for one another and for ALL of our customers! WE are more than a "Business" we are a family of designers who care for our artform and to leaving a legacy of what matters most...FAMILY!
I feel sorry for this poor soul who posted...because you have LOST SIGHT OF WHAT is important and what the holidays mean....it's NOT ABOUT YOU....its about others! It's just so sad that you have to be so heartless during the time of giving, the holidays and towards a family who truly could use the help!
4:51 PM
dear Royanna,
I give more of my hard earned income to people registered as in real need this time of year more than any other time of year. I don't willy nilly give it away to anyone and everyone who says they are in need, or I would be broke and lose heart to the many scammers who take advantage of my good will. I have comfort in knowing my money is going to the right people who have filled out the appropriate forms for charity, I trust the welfare system, registered charity fundraisers and the churches to scrutinise the truly needy for my donations.
I am a very warm and sincere giving person and many I hope feel the love I have for them. They are anonymous to me I never know who it is I am helping but I trust in the appropriate systems that give out my funds in the most neediest families and the ones who have cued long hours for food and help.
I don't think it's wrong or rude to ask publicly how much money has been raised for Laura, I think that if your publicly going to ask everyone to "save Christmas" for you then it should be freely given that people/customers (your family) should be entitled to publicly know how much was raised and being raised!
Using this "save Christmas" as a way to generate more sales for "your" store is "tacky" and I'm so glad some designer had the courage to tell you just that!
I don't think you publicly objecting to her opinion of your sale tactics is really treating her as one of the family , do you?
So you think all your customers are part of your family only if they think the same as you?
Well I guess there would be many who aren't considered part of your family as I'm sure not all customers and posters feel the same way you do!
I have not called you rude or uncharitable, I don't think name calling is really necessesary is it?
5:48 PM
Obviously you don't have a charitable heart or you wouldn't be touting nasty comments like yours to those in need! Why be so mean spirited during the holidays or anytime for that matter? What does it accomplish?
Divine Digital is a consignment store...we have 70 designers that are all responsible for their own boutiques and products. We are mere a central point for payment and a central point community known as "our family"!
This promo didn't bring in millions of dollars - and is not ripping anyone off, nor is it wrong! She was being honest with her customers that this time is a bleak time for her family and she would appreciate the help! If you had such a problem with it, then why did you opt to get the promo???? This promo made under $300...geesh not enough to even buy groceries and diapers for the baby....so although you are thinking its big bucks....its merely a bit to help this family who needs it!
And I am just appalled and heart broken that your mean spirited attitude has to hurt others during this time that is supposed to be happy! You have put another into tears because of your mean words and its just unfair! She was just trying to ask for help....and she was honest about it telling facts of what was going on....and your uncharitable spirit and mean words just put more hurt and pain on a situation that is already too much to bear!
6:55 PM
look, if you have a problem with me & what i am doing with my sales... please come to me about it & get this stupid crap off of cyndi's blog. She doesn't deserve for her blog comments to turn into a pissing match when she was just trying to help out a friend.
either e-mail me, or feel free to post on my blog if you want to keep this in the public eye
princesslaladesigns@gmail.com or http://princesslaladesigns.wordpress.com
oh, PS... thanks for calling me incompetant just because I can't afford to support my family right now. You don't know my entire situation & that comment was uncalled for.
Laura
6:58 PM
Sheesh!! I bought the grab bag. I would rather be tacky than be so mean!!
8:23 PM
As I am reading through this, absolutely appalled by the way, I cant believe what people write or think. As far as having a sale to raise money, or openly saying, I need money this christmas, so everything is on sale .. so what? Why does anyone sell?? For the fun of it, or because we NEED the money. If it was for the fun of it you will give it away all the time, if it was because you need money, you sell, and you have sales, and you promote .. get over it! Christmas is a hard time of year financially for anyone, I know we are doing it tough this year, so good on you for helping out others who are also doing it tough! It is a wonderful thing that you are doing! Well done :) Keep Smiling, and thankyou for your contribution to this community :)
4:34 AM
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