The Etsy Angels Answer the Call

♥ Etsy Angels show their support to the Answer the Call Fund in March ♥

ANSWER THE CALL:
As human beings we are all charged with the idea to love one another as we love ourselves, but there are those among us who live and breathe these words to their very souls. They are represented in every race, color and creed and together they vow to protect and serve their fellow man.

The “Answer The Call” fund was established in 1985 to give financial comfort to the spouses & children of the New York City firefighters and police offices who lost their lives in the line of duty.


Within 15 minutes both of the World Trade Center towers were intentionally struck by aircraft. We knew as a country we had been attacked. While thousands of people rushed to leave the burning buildings hundreds of first responders answered the call and rushed into the inferno to help save those they could.
On September 11th 2001 - 343 New York City Firefighters, 23 New York City Police Officers, 37 Port Authority Police Officers and 15 EMT Personal were killed in a horrific act of terrorism. The families, spouses & children of these heroes are left to carry on after this senseless & catastrophic attack.

The Answer the Call fund has been depending on the generosity of citizens for it’s funding since its inception in 1985. In 1987 the fund provided 320 families with annual financial assistance. After 9/11 their efforts expanded to include the families of Port Authority officers and EMS. By 2008, they made the same annual financial commitment to nearly 700 families.
Don’t let the words “We Will Never Forget” become a cliché or a passing thought – please won’t you Answer the Call to help the families of those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice without question or hesitation.


During the month of March the Etsy Angels team will be helping to raise money for the Answer the Call fund. You can help in three ways either by donating proceeds or a portion of the from sales you make as an Etsy shop owner, by making purchases from the participating shops or by making a monetary contribution to a paypal account that will be set up to collect the funds for this months drive. Please remember that even small donations when combined with others can make a difference.

The families of these heroes still need our help we need to show them.


WE WILL NEVER FORGET.
-Written by Annie of MyMiniMocs


Please visit the following link for more information about this benefit, and find out how YOU can help.
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6062197

Thanks! Cindy Joy of Bundles of Joy

Blockhead Radio and the Etsy Angels

Yay!!

The Etsy Angels have been invited to an interview show on Saturday, February 28th, at 1:00pm, Eastern Standard Time. Our host? Lily of TulipsTreasureBox on Etsy!

Install Microsoft Silverlight for best listening experience.

Come join us as we chat amongst friends and other artisans. This is a perfect opportunity to bring new faces to your shops and blogs!!

Blockhead Radio is a free 24/7 music and more venue, featuring independent artists and live shows and chat. For more information about Blockhead Radio, visit their blog at http://blockheadradio.blogspot.com/

On the first day of Christmas, the ETSYKIDS team members gave to me….a Christmas event you really must see!

November 28th – December 10th, join EtsyKids for 12 days of fabulous, festive fun and dreamy holiday prizes.

Here’s how to play:

Each day the EtsyKids blog will contain a post showing an image that’s hidden in an item listing on a few different EtsyKids team members’ shops, along with a clue on how to find it. When a contestant finds just one of the hidden images, they send an Etsy conversation to the day’s entry collector with a link to the listing where they found it. Once their conversation is received, they’ll be entered into a drawing for an amazing EtsyKids prize. Those who find images for all 12 days are entered into the grand prize drawing!

Participants may use one of two methods to find the images:

1. Begin by looking at each of the 7,000+ EtsyKids listings, or

2. Decipher the clue to the keyword to narrow down the listings to under 100.

The clues are word association to the keyword. After you think you have the keyword, enter that word and "etsykids team" into Etsy's search, and start looking!

Example: Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus...........nativity

Thus, you would enter "nativity etsykids team" to narrow down the listings to hunt through. The clues start out easy, and they get harder!

Please do not post the answers anywhere - all answers will be revealed at the end of the game.

If you don't jump into the game until after it's started, no problem! You can still enter that day's drawing, as well as the remaining days, then go back and find the previous days to enter the grand prize drawing.

The Etsykids blog will also let contestants know who to contact to enter, as well as the prize(s) that will be awarded that day. The number of prizes will increase each day and the winners will be selected at random.

***Contestants can enter once each day.

Within 24 hours of winning, the lucky winners will be contacted via Etsy Conversation, and MUST contact (via Etsy Conversation) the prize donor with their mailing address within 2 days of being contacted. If they fail to contact the prize donor within the given time, a new winner will be selected.



Written by:

planetpudge.etsy.com & thecleverkitty.etsy.com & littleelephantco.etsy.com

Etsymom SUPERGIVEAWAY is here!

The Etsymom Street Team is prepping for the holidays by taking the time-honored tradition of gift-giving to another level! Riding the wave of unity, harmony and excitement inspired by the Etsymom Trunk Show in September, our team tossed around a few ideas about our next team event. A little idea of having a giveaway, where Moms would donate an item to be given away each day of November on our blog has morphed into a SUPER GIVEAWAY!! When the call for volunteers went out we had an overwhelming response of over 60 shops willing to donate a $10.00 in value item to this cause. Two winners will be randomly chosen every day to receive one of over 50 prizes. Donations will range from an assortment of hand embroidery, vintage finds, hair clippies, baby accessories, paper crafts, earthenware pottery and more. Perfect for gift-giving! There is a little bit of everything, so whether you like trendy, shabby chic, traditional or retro styles, you're sure to find something! Don't miss this ONLINE EXTRAVAGANZA. Visit us here beginning November 1st for giveaway rules and deadlines!

We're moving to Lake Tahoe!

When we decided that Corwin would be accepting a job with Zephyr Associates on the shores of Lake Tahoe in Nevada, I created this Treasury with Lake Tahoe and Reno Etsy artists work in it. I thought it made a good opener. After a couple months of searching in Houston, Corwin turned his job hunt national. He quickly had many more interviews a couple offers to choose from. If we were going to move out of Houston, we wanted to make sure that we moved to someplace that we would enjoy. What could be better than a resort town? It has hikes of all challenge levels, beautiful views, skiing in the Winter, Craft and Art Fairs in the Summer, clean air, and little traffic. Since it is a resort town, it also has more culture than you would expect from a small town. It has a Shakespeare Festival in the Summer. Corwin and Gabriel just attended a Salmon Run Festival where Gabriel got to play the boy Salmon in the audience participation play. It has boutiques that I can market my stuff to. It is a three to four hour drive to San Francisco (bonus!) and a one hour drive to Reno, which has the closest airport.

Corwin accepted the job on the Thursday before Hurricane Ike hit. We carefully plotted out how much time it would take to wrap things up in Houston and get up to Lake Tahoe. We set his start date as September 29. Well, that did not go according to plan. Corwin and Gabriel had to leave on the Wednesday before the 29th in order to get to Lake Tahoe by the 28th. Our power was not yet back on. We had lost a pecan tree. Our roof has been damaged. We've got some other minor repairs to complete. Our Realtor did not get power back to her office until after the 29th and could not get our house on the MLS. Here's the Treasury that the chaos of Hurricane Ike inspired:
I suppose you can tell that our plans were blown out of the water. So, here Ethan and I sit in Houston, madly trying to get our house ready to show. Some friends have been a really great help, and I'd like to give them a shout out here:

• Monica and Jeff Hartley gave me my first Internet access and spent a day helping me sort through things and get the house organized,
• Barbara Smith and her daughters, Megan and Emma, gave me several evenings of air conditioning and dinners and have periodically come by and hauled away truck loads of all kinds of things from treasures to recycling,
• Suzanne and Simon Powney provided me with hot showers, electricity and a sewing machine so I could get some work done,
• Sarah Edmonson spent a day helping me organize and store things and kept Ethan occupied while I got flowers to make the garden pretty again,
• Tiffany Tyler Kuffner hauled away a carload of recycling and helped me cull clothing and prepare consignments,
• Letitia Taitte-Lynch spent the afternoon entertaining Ethan while I cleaned,
• Amy Price came over and gave me a break and adult companionship,
• Several people had Gabriel over for played dates as he became completely bored with the hurricane-induced break, and
• Many others have provided moral support during this stressful time.

I am grateful to all of you for your help, your support and your friendship. I am really gong to miss you all.

While I slave away at the old "Pay, pack, and follow" (to which you can add "repair and sell"), Corwin and Gabriel are enjoying Lake Tahoe. Gabriel loves his new school and is busily making friends. Corwin is still getting oriented at his job, but it seems likely to be one he will enjoy for a very long time. The people he works with are all wonderful, happy, smart people who enjoy the outdoors. They are camping out in the house that we have rented. Some quirky things about Tahoe: they don't deliver mail to your house - you have to get a Post Office Box, and
trash pickup is not automatic and has to be arranged. I won't have a mailing address to give to people until after I am in Lake Tahoe. You can request that mail be delivered to your house, but you have to install a mail box at a specific point in your yard. Something to do with snow plows. I haven't lived in a place with snow since I was 10. It is with a great deal of trepidation that I move Northward. I know I'm going to love the Summers; I'm just not sure about the Winters.

Did I mention that we'll have a real live guest room in our rental house with its own bathroom? Come and visit some time. And wish us luck. Right, I'll leave you with this picture I took while on the house hunting trip:



I told you it was gorgeous, right?

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

And it is time for the Etsy Angels to champion another charity. This time, we are trying to raise money for the Susan G. Komen foundation. I have supported this charity for many years and am happy to participate in this fund raising effort. I created the above Treasury to help get the ball rolling. you can visit the Treasury at: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=27645 - please leave a comment and click on every item. Come meet my other team members and find some fabulous things at: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5833906 . I promise, we don't bite. All the shops listed on the first page of the Forum Thread are giving some portion of their October sales to the Komen Foundation. Look for our "THINK PINK" sections to make us donate a higher percentage! Go to http://www.komen.org/ for more information about this worthy charity and what you can do to protect yourself.

Well, I've gone and gotten myself volunteered again.

A bit over a month ago, I was reading posts on the Etsy Texas Crafters Website, and noticed that someone, Pam from Serendipity Rose, was trying to get the Houston area people together to see if there was something we could do to help each other out, boost sales, join together to fill booths at craft fairs, and generally create a synergistic environment where all our shops would become better and more profitable. I figured it was worth at least one evening of my time to see if we could get something worthwhile going. I contacted her. She had a general area that she wanted to meet in, but hadn't picked a meeting location. The area was Sharpstown, so I suggested Fung's Kitchen on the access road to US 59, just past Bellaire. They have long lines for dim sum on the weekends (and rightly so), but Thursday night at 7:00 pm, no problem getting a big round table to accommodate up to twelve people. Well, between the two dinner meetings we have had, seven people showed up, and lots of discussing of many topics ensued. It has been determined that I suck at formatting Blogs, so the list of people is followed by two pictures from each person. The pictures are in the same order as the list of people. I'll try to figure out what I need to do later. Here are the seven people who attended the first and/or second meetings, along with a sample of their wares:

Carol Staley of Emeline Blue Bead and Jewelry Design,
Cindy Joy of Bundles of Joy,
Connie Ramirez of Jewels and Beads,
Diane Sullivan creates stained glass and turned wood pieces,
Jo Leland of Cotton Eyed Jo,
Linda Jones of Visual Smiles Gallery, and
Pam White of Serendipity Rose.

So, what did I volunteer to do? In order to effectively get our group moving in the direction we want to go and recruit other Houston artists, we decided that we really needed to form our own street team instead of being a subset of the rather enormous Etsy Texas Crafters Street Team. For that, you need someone with a little computer skill and some knowledge of navigating the setting up of social networks. Everyone else dithered when I threw out words like "set up" and "administer" and "send invites" and "social network" and "Ning" and "proboards". Groan. So, here's the deal I made: I will set everything up and help guide people on their way. I will be the official Team "owner" on ETSY. When I asked who wanted to own the team, some of the people thought that there would have to be a payment to ETSY to set up the team. Double Groan. Right, so I'll set up the team, Ill set up the Ning site, and Pam will forge forward as our actual leader. I will be a puppet owner. We'll see how it goes. For now, we are going to focus on identifying craft shows to participate in and recruiting new members. Later, we'll work on having our own Trunk show. Oh, and I'll probably have to set up a blog for the "Artisans of Houston" (with a "Greater Metropolitan Area of" inserted by implication in front of Houston). Darn it all. Okay, that can wait until we've come up with a logo, right? Have a great weekend everyone!