Good-bye CookingWithCricut.com
Good afternoon crafty friends,
I am writing to you because we will no longer be "blogging, crafting and inspiring" you at the "address", cookingwithcricut.com
I have thought long and hard about how to announce this change. It wasn't an expected change and it has been a tough couple of weeks. I have gone through a process of disbelief, anger, and then finally peace. If you care to know the details, please feel free to read on, if not: then all you need to know is that our new BLOG ADDRESS is:
MyPaperCrafting.com. If you are reading this, then that means you "made it here" to the new blog address. So be sure to add us to your favorites and or refresh your page and make sure you bookmark us.
We are gearing up for our big 25 Days of Christmas and Year "Round Crafting and will be giving away tons of FREE CUTTING FILES , DIGI STAMPS and Graphics. We have almost 30 Designers once again participating in this event so each day will be an inspirational treat!
Now on to the, "WHY THE CHANGE?"
On October 18th I was contacted by Provo Craft Council M. Tuttle and among other things, they have levied allegations against me that I was infringing on their trademarked name, more specifically the letter stated:
" It has recently come to our attention that your company is trading on the CRICUT® trademark, using the CRICUT® trademarks, or something confusingly similar, to lead consumers to your competing website".
To say that I was in shock and disbelief is an absolute UNDERSTATEMENT. CookingWithCricut.com was:
1. A PERSONAL BLOG...not a website.
2. Never a COMMERCIAL SITE. NOTHING WAS EVER or IS NOW SOLD ON CWC (This blog).
3. It WAS a CHALLENGE & Inspiration blog where EVERY Wednesday a group of crafters would share their CRICUT related projects with you and ENCOURAGE you to use your Cricut products to join in the challenge. As of this week, we are at challenge #110. We started our challenges at.....#1. That is how many WEEKS we have been promoting the use of CRICUT related products.
4. Every Monday and Thursday during this past Spring and Summer, (and Mondays this Fall) those same crafters would share CARTRIDGE SHOWCASES. Inspiring you to look at your Cartridges in a new and different way.
5. I have NEVER received any monetary compensation from ANYONE for all that the blog has done and continues to do. It has been a labor of love by myself and the many wonderful crafters who have darkened our doors.
6. I did have sponsors throughout the last two years offer to give products away as prizes. In exchange for this, I would place a "badge" and "link" to their site on the blog. Just like many of you do too.
IF anyone wanted to research or purchase anything from any of the sponsors, they would have to make a conscious CHOICE to click OFF CookingWithCricut.com to pursue purchasing ANYTHING from ANYONE.
Here is a list of just some of the wonderful companies throughout time that have offered this:
Ginger Scraps
The only conclusion I could draw; they ascertained their assumptions based on the fact that I own PaperCraftingWorld.com. CWC is not a competing website, It PROMOTES their product, EVERY WEEK at least once if not twice a week. I don't understand how PCW is even considered a competing website. Their products are cartridge based and require exclusive use of a particular machine. Cutting files are open to any number of cutting machines. And graphics, well anyone with a computer and printer can use these. I guess to me, it would be like comparing an orange and a grapefruit. Both in the citrus family but yet, very different.
I have been give the ability to create cutting files and digital stamps and graphics by the grace of God. I owned and maintained an online presence for a very long time. LONG before CookingWithCricut.com was even conceived. At that time, I taught classes at different Local Scrapbook Stores. I only began to sell cutting files because I would run out of kits and people would request them. They were willing to purchase the files and then hand cut the patterns. Many didn't even have the "machines" or "tools" to cut them out electronically.
Back when I began CookingWithCricut.com I chose the name because I had so many students who purchased this machine and wanted IDEAS on how to USE what they had purchased. I like so many of you had purchased and "bought into" the machine too. I have owned 2 Cricut Originals (baby bugs), 4 Cricut Expressions, two Original, One Yellow and One Pink. A Cricut Cake (my daughter's Christmas gift) Design Studio and my Gypsy. I own 203 Cartridges and was given access to link up several more on my Gypsy by a friend who graciously allowed me to link them up. I was so busy teaching classes and producing kits that I wanted a creative outlet for myself. I wanted to be able to create with all this merchandise I had purchased and give people ideas and inspiration. I wanted to share my "recipes" with people...the sizes, cartridges, etc. So that is WHY I chose the name CookingWithCricut.
I PURPOSELY chose another and different name and "web" location each time I ventured into a new online endeavor. I wanted all things to be separate and have their own place. It was my way of placing a distinction upon each facet of what I have done and continue to do in the crafting community.
I have had some of the most wonderful crafters join me on the challenge and inspiration blog journey and I know that CookingWithCricut.com encouraged many crafters to use and purchase Provo Craft Product.
BUT, like many of you, my crafting time and direction continues to evolve. I don't have one 10th of the resources I used to have. Like many of you, the economy has had a nearly devastating impact in my family, personal life. As a result, I have to be resourceful with my crafty supplies. I cannot afford to purchase any new crafting materials. I also began to see many crafters make other choices with their crafting dollars. So I chose to INCLUDE and ADD a team of crafters who would challenge you to use other tools to craft with. These designers use the PaperCraftingWorld.com files with "other" machines and each Tuesday I offer a FREE file for visitors to grab. Again, it is all a choice people have and my hope was to be a diverse blog where you could see a VARIETY of paper crafting and not just ONE FACET. I have heard from more than a few of you who have taken the time to thank me for the free files. Like me, they don't have the money to purchase much beyond paper and glue. So the free files allow them to have some creative options at little to no cost. I believe in my heart offering the free files has been a blessing to many budget conscious crafters and it is my small way of offering a bit of joy to some of you who have had a rough go of things.
I must admit, when I first read the letter, my initial reaction was to say....I am done with promoting anything Provo Craft related. After-all, I have been faithfully promoting their products for a very long time and supported their company with my crafting dollars and time. I did this DESPITE the fact that I was blessed with my
Pazzles and learned quickly with the help of their (Pazzles) online presence to create my own files. And this was the "thanks", a big slap in the face! A horrible accusation that I was doing something unscrupulous and exploiting THEM! I just have to interject here, that the letter held a not so veiled threat that if I didn't "cease and desist" that they would be free to.....
"take such action as is necessary in order to protect our rights including, without limitation, legal action for injunctive relief and/or to recover damages without further notice to you".
This statement above was truly outrageous, completely off the mark and literally the icing on the cake! I couldn't believe that they would actually threaten to sue me!...ME! The amount of money I have made offering anything for sale, on any of my OTHER sites would probably not even equate to what their "COUNCIL" makes in a week, maybe two but absolutely less than a month of his wages." Almost laughable if it wasn't so astoundingly absurd!
But then after my feelings subsided, I realized that maybe this was a blessing in disguise. Being forced to change the name would give me the freedom to continue to walk along side all of you and allow the designers and myself the opportunity to continue to share a variety of crafting projects and inspiration with all of you.
I also had to consider the designers themselves. We aren't just a group of crafters, we are friends and have found a wonderful and common bond in crafting. Like me, many of them only want the joy of sharing their creations with you. None of them signed up to be a part of the "politics" and unpleasant side of crafting. Some of them, like some of you and me are barely keeping their heads above water. Crafting together has offered them a wonderful opportunity to connect with our other team mates and YOU. Your comments and kindness have encouraged these gals in ways you couldn't even possibly know. So for that reason alone, we have decided to keep on "keeping on".
Both Design Teams: The "CookingWithCricut" gals and the "PaperCraftingWorld" gals have graciously decided to continue to keep inspiring you with their crafts and challenges. The CookingWithCricut Wonderful Wednesday challenge will now be the Wonderful Wednesday "Craft With Cutters" challenge. So they will still be the CWC gals. The PaperCraftingWorld.com gals will continue to inspire and challenge you on Tuesdays and will still be the PCW gals. You can expect to grab a FREE cutting file with Every Tuesday Challenge and If you play along with the Wednesday (CWC) challenge, you could still be a top chef and win a free digital stamp or cutting file.
We have also included a new post on Fridays called: Digi Desserts Fridaze. Designers from both teams will share projects they have created using digital images from PaperCraftingWorld.com. You will have the opportunity to link up any project you create as well. You can expect to grab a FREE Digital image with every one of these posts.
Again, each one of these wonderful posts is meant to provide you with continuing crafty inspiration no matter what "genre" or direction your paper crafting takes.
Please be sure to add our new address to your crafty time and please continue to follow our "bloggy" endeavors here at "
MyPaperCrafting.com".
For the many bloggers who have won our "TOP CHEF" prize and or if you have graciously shared our blog badge on your blog, please head over to the blog and grab one of the new buttons. The link to grab them will also be on the right column.
Also, we are moving our Facebook presence away from CookingWithCricut.com so you can stop by our New Facebook Page and "Like Us" there.
Thank you, all of your for making us a part of your crafty time. We hope to continue seeing you here at our new home,
MyPaperCrafting.com
Happy Crafting,
-Melin and the CWC and PCW desingers
