Infringing the Trademark...

19.12.2012

Creative Shell is the new Shell Designs

I haven't posted anything in 4 months  - I'm still alive!!! After the passing of one of my best friends and then a big trademark saga, I've been feeling down and my high spirits were dampened..... well drenched!

It was September 11, a memorable day already and I came home from work and had received a letter from 'Shel Design' (yes i spelt it correctly, one 'l') saying that I was infringing upon her trademark and must cease operating under the business name of 'Shell Designs.' My heart sank, it felt like everything I had worked so hard for was just ripped straight out from under my feet!

Click to enlarge and read the letter 

I had always dreamed of having my own business, even as a little girl I had my own business called 'Handmade by Shelley' where I made all sorts of things - cards and beaded angels! So for someone to tell me I couldn't have my business name anymore was a shock. At that point it seemed my business venture was over, and the only resolution was to give up. Although in the back of my mind I knew Nanny would be disappointed if I let this hold me back!

I'd done everything right, I got an ABN number and I registered my business name and it was accepted!!! I even checked the trademark website for 'Shell Designs' and nobody had trademarked it (not thinking to search for 'Shell Design' without the plural.)

'Shel Design' had trademarked the words 'design', 'Shel' AND 'Shell' in relation to graphic design, even though it wasn't in her business name. Unfortunately for me it was too similar to 'Shel Design.'

I was threatened with legal action if I didn't change everything over within 30 days, I had to change my business name, remove any type of advertising with my business name on it and hand over my domain name to 'Shel Design'.

What I didn't realise was that trademarks over ride business names full stop. I had no chance! I was even able to speak with another business that received the same letter from the same woman. 'Shell Design Partnership' were such a great help - letting me know my rights as they had been through everything I was about to go through! They had been established for 10 years. Then 'Shel Design' comes along 10 years later, trademarks a few words and hey presto, so long 'Shell Design Partnership' - I hardly see that as being fair but its how the cookie crumbles.

I had to deal with it and move on! It was a stressful few months, there was problem after problem,  I thought it would never end, and coming up with a new business name was so difficult... not to mention business cards and an entire new website!

It's 4 months later and finally all over. Looking back, although I'm sad to say goodbye to 'Shell Designs' I'm so glad it happened! Now I have a far more diverse name - 'Creative Shell' and a much better logo! As I always say - things happen for a reason and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

AND GUESS WHAT... I'M IN THE PROCESS OF TRADEMARKING MY NEW BUSINESS NAME haha!

My Beautiful Nanny!

10.08.12

This post is dedicated to my loving Grandmother Patricia May Palmer who passed away on the 5th of August, 2012.

Nanny was a best friend to me, she loved to talk, she was a great listener and she had a smile that would light up the whole room. She LOVED to shop and thats why we got on so well. She taught me many things, that I will remember for the rest of my life. 

When I was younger, I would always look forward to the weekends! Nanny and Grandpa would pick me up from school on Friday afternoons and take me back to their house for the whole weekend. I loved going to their house so much! Nanny would always cook me her specialty dish - korma curried chicken EVERY WEEKEND without fail. 

On Saturdays we would go to church together and then come home and all Nanny wanted to do was rest, but NOOO I wanted her to play eye spy with me, and wanted Nanny to give me spelling tests, I'd hide her 'Record' magazine so she couldn't read it. This happened every weekend for YEARS!

On Sundays we would go shopping, to Westfield, to Parklea Markets, to craft shows. We would go to Nurseries so Nanny could buy pansies and roses. When Nanny got older and no longer wanted to drive, I would drive her and push her around in her wheelchair - Mum and I loved it, because when she didn't have the wheelchair we would spend most of the time looking for her, and this way we could keep an eye on her the whole time haha! We have some great memories together!

Nanny and Grandpa had the biggest biscuit box EVER! Nanny's and my favourite biscuits were Monte Carlos and I'd always ask for a biscuit but was never allowed one before 10am because it was too close to breakfast! One day I asked Nanny for a biscuit and it was 9:30am and she said no! I waited for her to go into her bedroom and I got the box down and grabbed several biscuits! I didn't realise she was watching the whole time and she yelled out 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" and I dropped the biscuits on the floor, she said as she was laughing "that will teach you." I never took one before 10am again haha!

Nanny had an incredible memory, once I leant one of my dresses to a friend for a while and Nanny asked me where my 'black' dress was, because she hadn't seen it in my wardrobe for a while. She was so funny, always cracking jokes, she had a great sense of humour and I loved making her laugh.

When I was doing my HSC, Nanny and Grandpa sold their house and were moving to Berowra! I couldn't wait! They found a unit that was just around the corner from where I lived. Unfortunately Grandpa never made it to their new house and he had to go into a nursing home. I was able to move in with Nanny, I helped her around the house and cooked her dinner, helped her dye her hair, we'd watch Two and a Half Men together, they were some of the best times we had together. She always had the best advice about life.

I moved to Newcastle and went to University and every weekend, I'd come back to visit Nanny and Mum. Nanny was a very honest woman, she wasn't afraid to tell you how it was, and she was never afraid to tell me when my hair needed a 'good brush' or when my clothes needed ironing haha!

I can't believe Nanny's gone, it was only last week that Mum rang me and told me that Nanny was in hospital with pneumonia. I immediately hopped in the car and Richie and I drove down to see her in the Emergency ward. I got a shock when I saw her, I had only seen her the week before and everything seemed fine! She could hardly talk because she was so short of breath, but that couldn't even stop her! We went and had lunch and came back and she had improved incredibly! She was alert and back to her old ways telling us off haha! I had written in a book for her, about all of our memories and I gave it to her, she said she was 'dying to read it' (how cheeky) and she would read it when she got home!

I visited her again with Mum and Richie on Saturday and she looked so incredible! Her breathing was SO much better and she was talking non stop, telling us we needed to get more sun because we looked pale haha! We all thought she was coming home, even she thought she was coming home! We all got our hopes up! She was such a strong woman, she never wanted to miss out on anything and that kept her going right until the end!

Sunday we went back, and we couldn't wake her! I assumed it was just the morphine! We said goodbye and Richie and I went back home. I still thought she was coming home! Nanny passed away that night, she wasn't in any pain and she was unaware, which is how she wanted to go!

I'll never forget you Nanny, and all our special memories. You are such an inspiration, so full of love and life. You're only sleeping now, I'll see you again soon. I miss you so much already! xx

Rejuvenescence...

1. 07. 2012

I'd like to welcome 'Rejuvenescence' to Forster - a new facial rejuvenation clinic! I was lucky enough to do the branding for this new business! A logo, business cards and a flyer.

Here are 3 of the 16 concepts I designed (yes I did get carried away):

After the client selected the logo they liked, I proceeded to design the business cards, here were the two final concepts I designed with the guidance of my client, they were fantastic - they knew what they wanted which made it easier for both of us:

After the business card was designed, I moved on to the double sided flyer. We had trouble finding an image to put down the bottom of the design, so I went out on a mini shoot and took some snaps of nature, unfortunately none of these worked either:

We ended up using a plain water shot that I took for the bottom, it filled in the blank space quite nicely:

HAMA Time...

16.06.2012

Does anybody remember these ??

Here are some designs I did when I was about 6. And being such a hoarder, didn't have the heart to throw them out.

I recently stumbled across my HAMA beads! 

They were big in the mid 90's and I was obsessed with them.....I still am! 

When I was younger I would sit with Grandpa and he would sort all the beads into colours for me, picking them out of the container with tweezers. He would make the best designs too! I think he loved it just as much as I did!

Hama beads are fusible beads - you place them on the peg boards, then when you are done you place wax paper over the top and iron the beads, this heats them up and melts them together so you can take it off the board in one piece! 

Unfortunately, the bead faze soon faded out and you could no longer buy them in the shops! (Grandpa was most upset.) BUT!!! I JUST FOUND OUT THAT THEY STILL EXIST!! I am soooo tempted to buy some more! I have 13 years to catch up on!  Click here for HAMA!

Drawn Together...

3.06.2012

I love drawing, but these days I don't really have the time to sit down and draw like I used to! I hink I really need to make time!! I love drawing for other people especially - this drawing is for my beautiful (future) mother-in-law, it's her birthday today and she recently became a Grandmother, so I drew a picture of her gorgeous grandson Jacob Lee and framed it.

Missing Persons...

02.06.2012

This is an assignment I just found that I did in my first year of University (2009), it feels like a lifetime ago. It was a themed set of photographs and we could choose whatever subject we wanted.

I chose shoes, typical me! I used the shoes as a symbol, a symbol of abandonment, ultimately to represent the overall theme of missing persons. The dark low saturated images are depressing and there is nothing life like about them! I placed different types of shoes in different environments (e.g. toddlers shoes in a playground) to make the audience question where the owner is and why their shoes have been left behind, what has happened to them?

What a transformation...

27.05.2012

* If you click on an image, you can flick back and fourth between the before and after to see the changes I made!

I LOVE retouching photos, not because I'm not happy with how I look (if I was I wouldn't have the original photo there, but because I love seeing how I can transform just ordinary photos into something that is extraordinary and looks like it was shot in a studio. I also learnt today that changing eyebrows can alter someones entire appearance ha!

Here are some tips if you are looking at doing some retouching of your own:
A tablet is always great
You have so much more control over pen stroke if you use a tablet - for areas such as eyelashes, adding makeup or eyebrow hairs as I have done.

Avoid the plastic look
If you want your photos to look natural and realistic, you need to leave texture in the skin, otherwise the model will just look really plastic! If you are masking the area, just reduce the opacity! For this image I just used the patch tool and healing brush until I was happy!

Overlay
Overlay is fantastic for additions like makeup. When you add lipstick on it is just thick block colour, but when you change the blend mode to overlay the texture of the lips come through, so you can have a vibrant colour and still have lip texture!

I'm not a photoshop pro, but If you have any questions I'd love to help!