English Version

Hello, my dears :-)

Nice that you found your way here.

This is not a regular blog with a lot of things going on. I just wanted to create a basic page on which all important information, news etc about our "I support Design, not Crime!"-Campaign can be found in a bundle.

And if someone asks you "Huh? What's that? What's up?" you can simply recommend THIS blog :-) Everything at one place!

I am very happy that you are interested!

All the best, 

yours Birka

The point is that various shops in the Far East copy stamps and dies. That means, creative minds and people who are passionate about their mostly small companies, design products, design stamp sets and dies; put so much passion and creativity into it. And then those ideas are copied and sold. And unfortunately also bought by customers! 

Now there are people who don‘t care and who just want to buy cheap stuff. They usually buy directly in Asian shops. And they are mostly unteachable.

But - and I‘m trying to convince them with this campaign - there are also a lot of hobbyists who don‘t even know the background. Those who buy stamps from Amazon or Ebay, for example, and do not even know that they are copied goods, if only because as a newcomer you do not immediately see „Ahh, I know that image from company xxxx“. And that is just a nasty trap, because you can hardly protect yourself from it. You can tell by the cheap packaging and poor quality and of course the price. But then you already have the goods at home. Then it is important to learn from it.

There are also Ebay dealers and even real online shops, also etsy-shops, that buy pirated goods from the Far East in abundance in order to sell them here - mostly with their own label. It‘s absolutely illegal. But also harder to expose.

As a tip I can give: Use the community! Ask in Facebook groups if someone can help you to identify shops or products as „ok“. Just keep your eyes open. In most cases, common sense is sufficient :-)

And precisely because we are such a great community, who only want to make others happy with this hobby, we should stick together. Because if we buy cheap shit, there will soon be no one left who can make beautiful stamps for us.

Since the campaign was such a great success last year - of course because so many of you took part - and the message is still relevant, this year there will be an Originals-Only-Day 2022 again, on

Sunday 2 October 2022

Post a card with the motto "You can do it", of course it doesn't have to be exactly the wording. 
But it should encourage. Courage for the retailers and designers that we want to support with 
this campaign. But also just a little encouragement for a loved one, whom you could then send this card to. 
Probably everyone can use it at the moment.
 
In order to give something back, many great shops and designers have teamed up again this year 
and there are lots of great prizes to be won (be sure to read the conditions of participation....)

 

 

Use products from any company. The main thing is that they are originals :-)

Post your card / your project in your feed on Instagram (story additionally, of course, as you want)

Use the hashtags: #isupportdesignnotcrime and #originalsonlyday2022

Use our logo as a watermark on your photos (instructions for this and where you can find the logo follow below). Only then will you get into the lottery pot. Of course, you can still participate without a logo.

Write a small explanatory text or words of love to the manufacturers.

HERE you can download the Logos

Actually, I wanted to give you instructions on how to get the logo on your photos. However, tests have found that some apps react differently to different people:

Nevertheless, I will name a few:

Watermark Photos (yellow logo) - unfortunately add your own watermark to some, so you would have to pay otherwise

Watermark (black Logo)

eZy Watermark - works well, only recognizes some files that should actually be exempted, not as exempted ....

Lightroom from Adobe - but that makes it a little more complicated

(these Apps are from a geran Appstore...., if you have any more tips, please let me know)

Tip: If you also want to do a story on this topic on Instagram, no matter what kind and no matter when, our logo is also available there as a sticker. Just enter "isupportdesign" or "biiirka" and you will find it ;-)

To show our support to the many great designers, but above all to reach, educate & convince as many crafty friends as possible, we want to flood Instagram with cards / projects & our message

October 02nd, 2021

This time the manufacturers and designers want to give something back to you!

Therefore names will be drawn from everyone who posts a card WITH watermark-logo ON YOUR PICTURE and the two hashtags (otherwise we won't find you) , who will win one of the 60 prizes.

The competition ends on october 4th. Of course, you can continue to use the hashtag #isupportdesignnotcrime on your posts. Support is always possible ;-)

And I'll post all winners in my Instagram-Story and then again here, to be on the safe side!

If you miss something, have a look at my Instagram highlights, where I also save all the important details.

These are the 21 sponsors:

And those are the 62 gifts you can win:

Alexandra Renke: 1x Voucher for 20 % Discount, 1x 15 % Discount and  1x 10 % Discount

Anjas Basteltraum: 1x Voucher 20 Euro

Cards und More: 1x Stampset & 3 Embossingpowder

Clearly Besotted: 1x Voucher about 20 Pound (ca.  23 Euro)

Create a smile: 1x 50 Euro Voucher, 3x the "Original"-Stampset (from the latest Release)

Creative Depot: 1x christmas-pack

Faltkarten: 1x Voucher about 25 Euro

Jane's Doodles: 2x Voucher about 25 Euro

Karten Kunst Shop: 3x Surprise-Bags with stamps&dies

Kreativbunt: 5 x Vouchers about 10 Euro

Kulricke: 1x Voucher about 25 Euro

Little Eylet Scrapbooking: 5x Sticker "Wortgefecht"

Memories 4 you: 3x Memorys-4-you-Stamp in your choice

Scrapbook Werkstatt: 3 x month-kit

StampCorner: 1x 20-Euro-Voucher, 2x Surprise-Packages worth 40 Euro

Steckenpferdchen: 1x adventcalandar worth 65 Euro

Stempelbar: 3x Surprise-Packages with StempelBar-Rubber-Stamps worth each 25 Euro, 10x rubber-stamp with the "I support design..:"-Logo

Stempellädle: 2x Surprise-Packages with Stempellädle-Designs

Stempelmeer: 3x Voucher about 20 Euro

Stempelwunderwelt: 3x Voucher about 20 Euro, 1x white Paste from the new LF-Release + new Stencil Fallen Leaves + Palette Knives Tim Holtz, 1x Package new Papers Fall 2021 (2 Collectionspacks)

Watt&Wald: 1x 25-Euro-Gutschein

Thanks to all of you :-)

If somebody sees any failure pleas ewrite an email  ;-)

Use products from any company. The main thing is that they are originals :-)

Post your card / your project in your feed on Instagram (story additionally, of course, as you want)

Use the hashtags: #isupportdesignnotcrime and # originalsonlyday2021

Use our logo as a watermark on your photos (instructions for this and where you can find the logo follow below). Only then will you get into the lottery pot. Of course, you can still participate without a logo.

Write a small explanatory text or words of love to the manufacturers.

HERE you can download the Logos

Actually, I wanted to give you instructions on how to get the logo on your photos. However, tests have found that some apps react differently to different people:

Nevertheless, I will name a few:

Watermark Photos (yellow logo) - unfortunately add your own watermark to some, so you would have to pay otherwise

Watermark (black Logo)

eZy Watermark - works well, only recognizes some files that should actually be exempted, not as exempted ....

Lightroom from Adobe - but that makes it a little more complicated

(these Apps are from a geran Appstore...., if you have any more tips, please let me know)

Tip: If you also want to do a story on this topic on Instagram, no matter what kind and no matter when, our logo is also available there as a sticker. Just enter "isupportdesign" or "biiirka" and you will find it ;-)

Again there was another trigger that excited me so much that I posted a video on Instagram. You can find it HERE. (german only)

There were also awesome reactions there. Many have shared & commented on the video. And many have written that they are new and don't know anything about the whole thing. Or just didn't know when they started this hobby. Which shows me that it is actually always necessary to draw attention to it again and again.

So the idea came up to do another card action. Similar to two years earlier. Only this time with many manufacturers and dealers who even donate a bunch of giveaways as a thank you for our support.

It started with this blog post HERE from me in which I ventured. Because I stumbled upon a blog that was openly talking about copies from far east and their advantages, etc. It made me so angry that I wrote this post.

When I posted that on Instagram and had a matching logo, the message spread like wildfire - luckily and thanks to YOU. And because of the great response, we launched a major card campaign a short time later. On August 25, 2019 we all wanted to make and post a thank you card with the hashtags #isupportdesignnotcrime and #weloveyourdesigns and to show the manufacturers and retailers our support, but also - what is even more important - educate as many as possible from our community. Because many do not even know what they are buying.

There was again an enormous response! Many many many of you participated. Many have also commented on this. And many companies have also expressed their views and are happy about this support.