Is it ok to copy from someone?
In the craft world we call it CASE(ing), it's an acronym for Copy And Share Everything. For people like me that don't have time or the nautral creative mind to create great designs, case(ing) becomes your best friend! I mean c'mon, someone makes a beautiful card and posts it for the world to see, they ought to just know that someone will want to recreate it!! That's why I call myself, re-creative! I scour the world wide web for great layouts, or the whole card even, and then it gets me headed down the path of my own creativity.
There is no shame in copying someone else's work! The only thing you will want to keep in mind is whenever possible you should give credit to the person that you cased it from. Whether that is online in a post that you are showing off your beautiful card, or if you do a swap and add the ingredients list of what you used to make it, add the persons name or where you saw it. It will flatter the person that you got the idea from if they happen to see it!
Why would you want to case someone else's work? Well, for me it's a time savings and also the fact that my self confidence in creating my own designs is not there! I am the best of the re-creators ever! I love to find designs that I know I would never have come up with and create them into my own. You don't have to copy exact. Make it your own by changing the colors or stamp set. Turn a birthday card into a Christmas card or something.
I like to find a set that I want to use and then go to Pinterest and search on that set. From there the ideas just start to happen. I can take a piece from one card and a piece from another and turn them into something of my own. Many times I do love a card so much that I just do the same layout. You may have noticed that some Saturdays I post a layout for "inkspiration" on my Facebook page. I try to make a sample for you to go along with the layout. There are 1000's of layouts on the internet and I'm trying to get better at creating from a layout and not from an actual card. It's hard for me without seeing a finished product, so I make one to show you, along with the layout. It helps me get better at it and gives you both the layout and a sample!
So now that you know a little bit more about my creativity habits, I hope that you will know it is ok to copy, or case. The samples are posted for us to ooh and ahh over, AND to recreate!!! How else are we going to learn and grow? We need to practice right! Stretch our skill level so we are learning and getting better.
There is no shame in copying someone else's work! The only thing you will want to keep in mind is whenever possible you should give credit to the person that you cased it from. Whether that is online in a post that you are showing off your beautiful card, or if you do a swap and add the ingredients list of what you used to make it, add the persons name or where you saw it. It will flatter the person that you got the idea from if they happen to see it!
Why would you want to case someone else's work? Well, for me it's a time savings and also the fact that my self confidence in creating my own designs is not there! I am the best of the re-creators ever! I love to find designs that I know I would never have come up with and create them into my own. You don't have to copy exact. Make it your own by changing the colors or stamp set. Turn a birthday card into a Christmas card or something.
I like to find a set that I want to use and then go to Pinterest and search on that set. From there the ideas just start to happen. I can take a piece from one card and a piece from another and turn them into something of my own. Many times I do love a card so much that I just do the same layout. You may have noticed that some Saturdays I post a layout for "inkspiration" on my Facebook page. I try to make a sample for you to go along with the layout. There are 1000's of layouts on the internet and I'm trying to get better at creating from a layout and not from an actual card. It's hard for me without seeing a finished product, so I make one to show you, along with the layout. It helps me get better at it and gives you both the layout and a sample!
So now that you know a little bit more about my creativity habits, I hope that you will know it is ok to copy, or case. The samples are posted for us to ooh and ahh over, AND to recreate!!! How else are we going to learn and grow? We need to practice right! Stretch our skill level so we are learning and getting better.
PS. What's not ok though is to try and pass things off as your own. This usually happens with tutorials that someone has put a ton of work into creating. Many people charge for them now and allow for you to use them for YOU but not to give to others. Please be mindful of giving credit where credit is due, and don't share or hold classes with handouts intended for YOU. Some people do this for a living and lose money when you give away their hard work.
