Cake, Ice Cream, and Ethics

Back in February, I ran across a tutorial for making the most adorable paper cakes and cupcakes on Tara Anderson’s blog, The Pink Couch. I printed it out, and put it in my “Must Do” pile (as if I have something as organized as that on my desk!). Tara has it listed under “For Kids,” which I guess says something about me!

I am trying very hard to eliminate that theoretical “Must Do” pile, in favor of lovely, completed projects, so this past week, I pulled out Tara’s tutorial, along with a big pile of paper scraps, and started making the most colorful, fun cakes and cupcakes based on her design.

There have been many, many blog posts recently regarding ethical issues surrounding the use of other people’s designs and ideas. For example, I have read the thoughts of Quinn at Quinn Creative and Chris at Parabolic Muse. Reading these posts, and completing this little cake and cupcake project has led me to pose the following multi-part question. I would really love to hear your thoughts!

My question:

Is it ethically allowable for me to:

A. Use these cakes and cupcakes (based on Tara’s tutorial) to make a card for my mother or create a gift tag for my daughter’s birthday package?

B. Use these cakes and cupcakes (based on Tara’s tutorial) to create a set of greeting cards to give to my mother as a birthday gift, so that she can send them out to HER friends and family?

C. Use these cakes and cupcakes (based on Tara’s tutorial) to create sets of greeting cards and gift tags to sell at a church craft sale?

Because I wasn’t sure if using the idea of cakes and cupcakes from Tara’s design to use for gifts or for sale was a breach of ethics, I thought I could safely take the idea of paper piecing (as it is a fairly universal technique, I think), and apply it to a different design. The idea I had in my head was of an ice cream cone.

But then I read a post by my “bloggy friend” Janet over at Just Me and My Art, and she had a lovely journal page on which she had created an ice cream cone, very similar to the idea I had in the wake of making paper cakes and cupcakes.

Uh-oh, I thought. Does this mean that ice cream cones are now off-limits, as well? For the sake of posing my question (and because I wanted to craft some cones!), I made these little projects:

My multi-part question is thus the same:

Is it ethically allowable for me to:

A. Use these ice cream cones (even though Janet had something similar in her journal) to make a card for my mother or create a gift tag for my daughter’s birthday package?

B. Use these ice cream cones (again, reflecting Janet’s journal page) to create a set of greeting cards to give to my mother as a birthday gift, so that she can send them out to HER friends and family?

C. Use these ice cream cones (similar to Janet’s journal page) to create sets of greeting cards and gift tags to sell at a church craft sale?

Because I wasn’t sure about whether ice cream cones would now present a breach of ethics, I sat down today and created a design out of my head that I have not yet seen anywhere (though it WAS inspired by the T-shirt a little girl was wearing in our music class yesterday morning)—a bright and fruity summertime drink, complete with fruit slice and straw.

However, I am starting to think there is nothing new under the sun, and it is entirely possible that a search of the Internet could turn up another artist/crafter who has worked with a similar design. Am I responsible for determining whether it’s been “done” before, before I can use these smoothie drinks as a gifts or for sale?

I know it SEEMS like the ethics surrounding others' art and crafts should be simple and straightforward, but I am finding that I still have some questions. I hope, hope, hope that if you take the time to read this post, you will leave a comment to share your thoughts on the specific questions I have posed.

Thank you for helping me sort out cake, ice cream, and ethics!