11/10/2025
This is a post I didn't want to have to make, but this is a common occurrence, and I'm exhausted. In the photo below, mine is the bottom and the top was copied and advertised by another maker within our submarine community.
I made this originally for the local Kings Bay, Georgia spouse/MILSO group. I want to add, the admins in the past have been quick to assist and remove infringing work, but out of defeat, I've decided to be a little more personal on my business page, so here goes...
๐ค
Hello friends,
Many of you know me through my volunteer work with the Navy community, and others know me through my small business, Savage and Bird.
Back in 2014, after struggling to find work in my field of science and moving every few years, I took a leap of faith. With quite a few classes from college in design and a passion already in graphic design, I gave myself a year to see if I could build something that would help support my family and chip away at student loans.
Within that first year, something beautiful took root. I found wild success on Etsy with digital designs, even featured in Etsy email marketing and Etsy home page spotlight for my back to school designs. Later that year, I had the amazing opportunity to work a brick-and-mortar in St. Marys, GA, partnering closely with MWRs, FRGs, command support teams, and even countless commanding officers. I helped keep boat emblematics stocked and created countless meaningful pieces for retirements, change of commands, and milestone events. I was even honored to have designs approved by big NAVY for certain uniform pieces.
Some of your boat leadership teams and squadrons even entrusted me with digitizing and cleaning up old command crests to bring them to the current century, a privilege I approached with deep respect for the heritage of our submarine community. Iโve always taken pride in honoring that legacy and in making sure every design reflects the authenticity and dignity it deserves.
I've even made efforts to reach out to old customers and recreate orders when I was better educated on the shapes of our submarines, ensuring I wasn't creating a submarine shape reflective of our adversaries.
When my husband received orders and we moved away from Kings Bay, I was so thankful to continue my business online and keep serving the military community I love.
Over time, my business became much more than a creative outlet. With a husband frequently at sea and two of my children living with a rare and incurable disorder, Savage and Bird became a lifeline, one that gave me the flexibility to be present for therapy appointments, endless specialty visits, medical care, and the unpredictable rhythm of Navy family life. It even allowed me time to serve as an ombudsman under several commands, giving back to my country in some capacity. Itโs been a challenge, but one filled with purpose, connection, and pride.
From the very beginning, Iโve believed in โcommunity over competition.โ Iโve built friendships with other small makers, referred customers to others, and celebrated the incredible creativity that exists within our community. Iโve also intentionally avoided almost all advertising (unless tagged or asked about something unique to my design and trade skills) in other spouse groups where I no longer live, because I want to give space to other artists and makers in that geographical area, and believe they should be front and center.
But one thing I hold sacred is originality. I donโt copy othersโ work. I pour myself into creating something new, whether itโs a design, a quote, or a style that reflects the heart of military family life.
Unfortunately, it still happens and people copy. Sometimes down to the smallest detail. Is it deflating? Yes. Is it defeating? Without question. Is it hurtful? Almost always. But when itโs another military spouse or submarine family doing it, it hits even harder.
I always try to take the high road because professionalism matters but I also think itโs okay to admit that it hurts when something personal and meaningful is taken and duplicated.
This recent situation came from a creator I respected and admired, someone I didnโt believe would replicate one of my original designs. The ornament in question is one that carries so much of my heart.
I created it when my husbandโs command was preparing for a six-month deployment over Christmas while I was also preparing for the birth of another baby girl. I wrote the quote myself and spent hours designing a layered, puzzle-style ornament that mixed materials and textures. It quickly became one of my best-selling and most loved designs. It was the "it" ornament for submarine families and FRG fundraisers that year and continues to be a best seller.
That first season was one Iโll never forget. I had a newborn, two small children, all while my husband was at sea. My parents drove over a thousand miles to help after hearing I was pulling all-nighters on fundraiser orders. My father tied cords onto ornaments, my mother boxed each one with elastic bows and my business card, and I worked late into the night while literally nursing a baby in front of a table full of piles of each individual pieces-- the water, the santa and reindeer engraved in the frosted acrylic, the wood, and the tiny black submarines, all with a sail in the shape of the boat class it was honoring. It was exhausting, but it mattered. The FRGs raised funds for morale events, and I knew I was contributing something meaningful. Families placing orders shared stories of the challenges of Christmas without their sailor home.
That very design even hung on a Christmas tree at the White House in honor of the USS Delaware when she was deployed over the holidays.
So yes, seeing it copied, detail for detail, is crushing. Especially within the very community that has supported and inspired so much of my work and I have supported in return.
Iโm not sharing this out of spite, but out of hope that we, as creators and consumers, can do better.
If you see a design you love, take a moment to find the original artist. Ask around. Support the source. Respect the time, creativity, talent, and emotion that go into handmade work.
To my loyal customers and supporters over the last 10.5 years, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Youโve helped me keep going through every challenge.
I look forward to photos of your submarine themed Christmas trees, many of which are made almost entirely of the ornaments you have bought from me every year.
As I have printed on my branding cards that go into every order, "this is a dream come true of a dream I didnt even know I had."
Hereโs to believing that someday, the high road wonโt always feel quite this rough.
๐ค Birdie
Savage and Bird
Link to ornament:
https://savageandbird.com/products/santa-and-submarine-christmas-ornament
