I got a call at work today from a person who I assume to be the owner of AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com.

Here’s how it went:
Me: Thank you for calling Aptera this is Brooke
Caller: You have photos on your blog that don’t belong to you.
Me: May I ask who is calling, and can you tell me what photos they are? I am happy to remove them.
Caller: You have 12 hours.

*click*

Total shock.
I was completely shocked. First, let me say that I use photos that are not mine on my blog quite often. However, I try as best I can to reference the photo, which is completely legal.

Here’s the thing.
Millions of bloggers do this every single day. In fact, there are thousands (and probably even millions) of bloggers who use other people’s photos and don’t reference the person they took the photo from. Regardless, someone taking my photos, posting them on their website, and linking back to my website is great for a couple of reasons:

1. They are promoting me for free by displaying my work for all of their readers to see. On top of that, they are linking back to my website, and chances are, lots of people will visit my website because of that link. That is good for me.
2. There is also something called search engine optimization (SEO) that helps websites be found by Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines. If someone posts my work on their blog and links to me, that is good. Search engines like it when other websites are linking to your website (within reason) because it means you have a credible website. Linking your blog to my blog helps my website SEO. It makes me happy.

Luckily the caller’s number was on my call list so I called back. The phone rang a few times, the the person on the other line picked up the call and immediately hung up. So I called again. This time I got a voicemail and left a very polite message for someone named Jane, telling her that I would need to know exactly what photos she was referencing.

About 5 minutes later I received another call from the same number.

Call #2:
Me: Thank you for calling Aptera, this is Brooke.
Caller: You need to remove the photos from your blog.
Me: Can you please tell me what photos you are talking about?
Caller: You have photos on your blog that do not belong to you and they need to be removed immediately.
Me: I’m very happy to remove them, but I need to know which photos they are in order to remove them.
Caller: The photos are not yours. You need to remove all photos from your blog that are not yours.

*click*

The frustration sets in.
Now I’m starting to get kinda frustrated. I had no problem removing the photos, in fact, if someone was upset because I used their photos, I wanted to remove them. The small problem was that I didn’t know what photos she was referencing. I was also starting to get nervous because I didn’t want some sort of lawsuit slapped on me, so I asked my husband to try calling the number.

I don’t know what was said during his conversation with her, but he found out that the caller was the owner of the website AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com. She was really upset that I had posted her photos on my blog, so he deleted the post.

Here’s the weird part.
That blog post about her website (which included photos) was essentially promoting her website. In fact, a decent number of the hits I receive from Google are for the blog post, and I’m generating some pretty good traffic for her website considering the size of my blog.

So, if you came to my website looking for my blog post about Awkward Family Photos, I’m sorry. It’s not longer online. The images below will have to suffice.

More weird than awkward. Awkward because I’ve voluntarily posted it online.

The same four plus a couple of extras.

Everyone’s done it. Don’t tell me I’m the only one.

P.S. If you have anyone has any idea where she found my direct work line, please let me know.

Today it’s time to enjoy something a little more care free. Meet Lazy Daze.

Download LazyDaze as a Photoshop pattern
Download LazyDaze as a vector pattern

Please reference me if you use my patterns

I’m slowly but surely progressing on Pattern a Day for June. I knew I was taking on a decent sized challenge when I chose to create patterns during the summer (I have a tendency to stay too busy during the summer) but it’s been fun all the same.

I’m still loving circles right now (see my Circle a Day Flickr set) so I decided to create a circle pattern. I didn’t really have a solid idea of what I was going to do other than it was going to include circles. The shapes within each circle are really just experiments with the pen tool. I thought the first one looked a little floral, the second a little like coral, and I liked what I saw so I just kept going.

Download Under the Sea as a Photoshop pattern

Download Under the Sea as a vector pattern

As always, please make sure you reference me if at all possible when you use my patterns.

While most people say they tend to shy away from promoting projects or events they have a personal connection to, I’m here to say that I don’t. I have absolutely no problem putting in shameless plugs for things with which I’m involved. What better way to get the word out?

The Company

Every single day, hundreds of women all over the world look into their closets with despair, feeling like they have nothing to wear. StitchMix is the answer to that dilemma. StitchMix offers an easy, affordable way to refresh your wardrobe every month. Essentially, the goal of StitchMix is to take the stress out of looking great, eliminating the problem of never having the right (or enough) clothes. It’s like Netflix for fashion.

The Backstory

The brainchild of this company was born one morning when my husband decided he was tired of hearing me say I didn’t have anything to wear. In all actuality, I had plenty of clothes to wear; I just didn’t feel like wearing any of them. Being a problem solver and entrepreneur by nature, he started to think of different ways to solve this problem. The solution? A company that allows women constantly have plenty of new and exciting things to wear in their closet.

What we need from you:

While we’re already working to get this up and running, we still want to know what you think! If you’re interested in becoming a member, check out our website at StitchMix.com for more details and don’t forget to give us your email for periodic updates. Our first email will be going out this week with answers to some of your top questions. You can also show your love for our idea by checking out our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

If you’re a designer, we want to hear from you too! We want to put your designs in the closets of women across the country. When our site officially launches later this year our members will be able to browse designs online, rent them for a period of time, and then send them back or purchase them through us. You get into the mix by sending us fantastic work and we pay you back through visibility, commission, and compensation.

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If you have any immediate questions about StitchMix, please feel free to post them in the comments area on my blog. You can also fill out the StitchMix survey (it’s short) and submit your questions at the end of the survey.

Today’s pattern was inspired by one of my drawings from March – the Woodfly. While the Woodfly looked great in black and white on paper, she’s finally in the forest where she belongs.

Download NightLight as a high-res Photoshop pattern

Download NightLight as a vector file

I’ve been posting pretty basic patterns for the most part, but there are some really great artists who almost create stories with their patterns. Check out Eva Revolver’s work on the Behance Network. Now those are some phenomenal patterns.

Design #89 is a pattern that is kind of a mirror of itself from line to line – I really like the curvy simplicity of it. I’ve got to give credit to my husband for the name on this one: Retro Socks. He walked up behind me just as I was finishing the first blue pattern and commented that it reminded him of socks. Perfect.

Download RetroSocks as a Photoshop pattern

Download RetroSocks in vector

More like, “Dare I post?”

Here’s the thing with Design a Day. You’re not going to have a mind-blowing design every single day – you just won’t. Essentially, my goal in this year-long challenge is to better myself as a designer, and half-way through the project I can honestly say that I feel as though I’m accomplishing that goal.

So here’s Diamond Dare.

Download DiamondDare as a Photoshop pattern

Download DiamondDare as a vector file

Infographics of all types have been the rage lately and they are where I found my inspiration for Radio Is Not Dead. As with everything I create, please reference me if you use this.

Download RadioIsNotDead as a Photoshop pattern

Download RadioIsNotDead as a vector file

I really had fun creating this pattern. I feel like it’s extremely versatile; it would make a great website background (if scaled down) as well as a great textile pattern (really big and fun). Maybe I’m getting the hang of this after all.

Download ButtonUp as a Photoshop pattern

Download ButtonUp in vector

So far I feel myself gravitating toward simple, textile-style patterns. When I begin to visualize and play around with a pattern, I tend to see it on a piece of furniture. My goal (besides creating patterns) is to diversify my pattern style this month. I’d like to try a few complicated patterns even if it means creating less.

As always, please reference me if you use my patterns

Download the Photoshop pattern for Dosido

Download the vector file for Dosido