2010 Handmade Olympics - Silver Medal

With very exciting news.......

.....we won silver in rikrak's 2010 Handmade Olympics!!

The silver prizes are a $50 gift certificate to little bit of pretty and a $50 gift certificate to open stock party.

I've asked if we might be able to translate that into something to sell in the shop, perhaps the gift certificates themselves.

Great work spreading the word everyone and thank you for all your votes!

♥ Victoria

HeartsforHaiti has been nominated in the 2010 Handmade Olympics!

We just received this hot off the press!From Etsy seller rikrak who wrote

Congratulations!

Your wonderful group has been nominated for the 2010 handmade olympics on my little blog, and now it has been shortlisted by the judge for your event! Thanks for doing super things! Yay!

There are over $2000 worth of fabulous handmade and vintage prizes up for grabs - so best of luck to your group. In the event that a group of folks win, we will leave it up to your organization to divide up the prizes!

Hope you'll encourage others to vote for you! You can grab a vote for me button from the sidebar.

You might also be interested in seeing who nominated you for this event, in the original post for event #5.

Thanks again and happy handmaking!

k. @ rikrak

Click here to read more and click here to GO DIRECTLY TO VOTING!

From the blog of Three Little Birds Boutique

Jill of 3littlebirdsboutique has been busy on HeartsforHaiti, making donations and purchases, as well as promoting the shop wherever she can. This article is a reprint from the blog of Three Little Birds Boutique on Febuary 5, 2010.

It has been over 3 1/2 weeks since the catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti. Although donations have poured in, how much will it really take to rebuild an entire city? To care for the wounded, traumatized survivors? The sad truth is that no matter how shocking reports of hunger, homelessness, and disease in the wake of a disaster are, people lose interest once the camera crews leave the scene of a crisis.

It is important to remember that these people will need help long after the media moves on. One of the ways that I have chosen to help is by supporting an Etsy shop called Hearts For Haiti. They have vowed to stay open as long as there is an urgent need there. I have watched this group of women tirelessly volunteer to organize, manage, and promote, and am deeply touched by what can be accomplished in such a short time. The best part is 100% of the proceeds go directly to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti Relief.

I wanted to help in some way too, but like many people, was short on time. With a busy household of five children and a full time business, I chose to contribute in a small way by donating a few items, making purchases, and prompting people to spread the word through social networking. The beautiful thing about this shop, is that there are many ways to support this cause through it, that do not have to involve large amounts of money or time.

Why not do all of your gift shopping for the year through Hearts for Haiti? I know I will be. It gives me a good feeling to know I am not spending frivolously, when others are merely just trying to survive.

Here are a few of my fabulous purchases so far:

This copper bracelet (which I've shown previously, but oh, so LOVE) symbolically represents the heart, generosity and love of the people involved in this collaborated effort. Obviously, I am not alone in admiring this, as the seller, Jen of mintyfreshfusions has generously donated and sold so many!

A birthday gift from the kids to their Dad, appropriately titled "Old Hank" (his name is Henry / Hank) from a very talented photographer, and fellow IndieJunction gal Kelly Warren, of happyshackdesigns. I can't believe I scored this...the colors are amazing!

Another piece of jewelry with the most gorgeous pendant ~ I may or may not be gifting this one!

It's beautifully handcrafted by charmedbyheather.

Here's a great and very unique gift for the macho men in my life. Brass bullet pens...what a conversation piece! The bonus is that this seller, Kathy of awelldressedbullet, is one of the people so dedicated to making this shop a success, through her many donations, support and with the creation of the Hearts for Haiti blog.

If that's not enough, she is super sweet too. (a bit unexpected from someone selling "bullet paraphernalia" ;)

Everyone can get involved by spreading the word. Don't let this become "old news."

Go out and blog, tweet, facebook etc. and if you have time, post your efforts here PLEASE BLOG about HEARTS for HAITI! or leave a comment on the Hearts for Haiti blog and let people know about it.

For Etsy sellers, create a treasury (look for several great ones already there), add a link to your shop announcement, or volunteer to help behind the scenes. I'm sure a few of the current volunteers could use a "coffee break!"

These are just a mere sample of the great offerings there. Hundreds of sellers have donated a huge variety of items in many price ranges. Oh, and did I mention that shipping is FREE?

Just a warning though, this shop is addictive, due to the warm, fuzzy feeling you will get from supporting this wonderful cause. Shop at your own risk! HeartsforHaiti.etsy.com

Hearts for Haiti featured on Etsy

How wonderful it was to see that Alison, a writer and editor for Etsy's blog, interviewed Victoria, the organizer behind HeartsforHaiti.

How did HeartsforHaiti come to be?
How does HeartsforHaiti work?
How can Etsy sellers get involved?
What charities does the money go toward?
At what point does the project end?
How would you sum up the project?
Any final thoughts?


Find the answers to all of these questions on the Hearts for Haiti: Etsy Sellers Do Their Part article on The Storque.

From the Blog of Frayed at the Edges

This Glasglow Girl wrote "Don't you just love technology for bringing people together in a common cause.

This article is a reprint from the blog of Frayed at the Edges on January 23, 2010. She has also generously donated a beautiful Brown and Pink Tartan Heart Brooch and also bought this lovely Felt and Fabric Round Brooch.

No-one can have failed to be moved by the plight of Haitians and this photograph summed it up for me. The agony, helplessness but will to go on of the people is astounding.

Like so many others I wasn’t sure how I could help and to be honest I am wary of phoning/texting donations as the service providers take such a large chunk of your proceeds. Through twitter I heard about crafters coming together in ETSY to sell items to help Doctors Without Borders and decided to donate an item.

Going under the title of Hearts For Haiti there are 757 items for sale (1143 sales) from crafters from all round the world. I have a lovely tartan brooch for sale and am tempted to buy so much.

To date we have raised $13,342.84 after fees which in one week is amazing. Please have a look at HeartsforHaiti as there’s something for every budget there. If you love blogs you can also keep up-to-date with their work on their blog.

Thanks for reading.

From the Blog of Molly Lee Cards

Molly wrote "after seeing so many news stories of the devastation in Haiti, I jumped at the chance to be able to do something to help. I've been so pleased that my pop-up winged hearts card has been selling so well (11 sales an counting!).

As soon as a card sells, I get a convo from one of the Hearts for Haiti administrators who give me all the information I need to ship the cards, along with a nice thank you. I'll usually follow that up with a convo letting them know that the card is being shipped and asking them to relist the card on their shop.

I posted a note on my Etsy greetings team discussion boards and received so much feedback from my fellow teammates who were as excited as I was in being able to help out.

It's been a wonderful experience being a part of this effort!"

This article is a reprint from the blog of Molly Lee Cards on Sunday, January 17, 2010. Molly has also generously donated eleven Pop-up Winged Love Cards for Hearts for Haiti and she says she intends to continue making and relisting them until she is no longer able to make any more :-)



If you are looking for a creative way to help the people in Haiti, here are two ways you can assist the men, women and children in this devastated area: craft and/or shop!

Hearts for Haiti is a new etsy shop that was created for the sole purpose of accepting donations from etsy sellers and selling them to benefit the people of Haiti. Their shop has already raised thousands that goes directly to Doctors without Borders to help fund their humanitarian efforts.

Want to donate your handmade crafts to help Haiti? (incidentally, this will likely get your product and shop a lot of great exposure, if the notion of helping out the world isn't enough motivation for you) Send an email to etsyforhaiti2@gmail.com. Victoria needs this information:

• Your shop name
• Your location and country
• Item Name/Title
• Item Price (please do include this! we don’t want to undervalue your work :)
• Item Description
• 6 tags
• Materials used
• Up to 3 clear photos of the item

Be sure to check out the shop -- there are lots of wonderful products that have been donated already (they'll be posting my Pop-Up Heart card soon). All shipping is free, so this is a great time to snag some good deals (again, if the idea of helping the world isn't enough motivation). Remember, all the proceeds go to an excellent cause!

How Etsy Hearts for Haiti Began

Hearts for Haiti - Support Doctors Without Borders

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010

After the horrific earthquake on January 12, 2010 hit Haiti, crafter Victoria [owner of Etsy shop exlibrishandmade] knew that she had to do something to help. Within a few days Victoria had amassed hundreds of artisans from the artisan website Etsy.com who wanted to donate their creations to a shop set up specifically to raise money for Haitian relief... Hearts for Haiti was born. With artisans from around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.A., Hearts for Haiti has become one of the largest non profit shops on Etsy. Established within 3 days of the earthquake, Hearts for Haiti currently has close to 700 items for sale with 100% of the proceeds (minus transaction fees) going to Doctors Without Borders. This collective of artisans has helped Hearts for Haiti raise $12,495.00 as of 4:45pm PST [01-22-10]. A special Paypal account and bank account have been created to preserve the integrity of the shop. Please take the time to browse through the Hearts for Haiti shop and think about purchasing an item to support those in desperate need. You can also follow the Hearts for Haiti blog here where you can get the latest information on how much has been raised, what's been sent to Doctors Without Borders and other latest news.

Please visit the Doctors Without Borders Website for more information on their organization.

This article was written by HPD designer Heather Palleiko. HPD has also donated an item for Hearts for Haiti which you can find here.

submitted by Sunny