I've created lots of designs during my craft journey over the years and my 200+ Patterns that I sell have all been prepared through the Publisher Software (plus a Graphic Design programme). I knew Publisher was being phased out, but I thought I had until January 2027 when my Microsoft Subscription runs out to do something about ensuring my patterns would be OK. Imagine the mild panic when I discovered that after 1st October, the programme will no longer work at all!
The next disturbing discovery I made was that as from the beginning of 2027, my Paypal purchasing buttons on my website would no longer work and I would have to redo them all, one at a time - a very long tedious project.
Just prior to these unsettling discoveries, my creativity had begun to pick up, but instead of it going into a new quilt or a new stitchery, it had gone off on a tangent. I had this urge to update all the Cover Photos and advertising of my patterns with improved photos and beautiful lettering.
So, with three very good reasons to get going, creativity took over! It was 'boots and all' for the next three weeks - restyling the pattern covers, updating information, putting new photos on the website, linking all my patterns to Etsy, adding patterns that I hadn't had for sale there, and designing new Blog, Facebook and Instagram headers. It was a lot of work but very creatively fulfilling. The Publisher problem has been solved, the Paypal issue has been bypassed and I like to think that I now have a lot of eye-candy displaying my designs.
After enjoying all that fun, one sour note landed on my enjoyment, and I discovered that at least one of my patterns was being sold on a fraudulent website with people paying twice the price for my pattern and then of course not receiving anything for their money. It's so sad that people are prepared to steal so blatantly. So, a reminder if you want to purchase any of my patterns, make sure you are either on my website or my Etsy store!
An update on the nesting Lapwings - two babies hatched successfully and it gave me great pleasure watching these little fluffballs on legs! God's creation is so amazing.
