Pay It Forward - Handmade Gift Exchange

Thanks to the amazing and very sweet jewelry artist Sheela of Eclettica who posted about this in the etsy forums, I have joined in her Pay it Forward (PIF) and now it's my turn to post about this wonderful opportunity to give to others! I'm sure some of you have seen this floating around in blogland, but if not, here's how it works:

I will send a lovely handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment here requesting to join this PIF (pay it forward) exchange. I'm not sure what that gift will be yet- it will be a surprise! The only thing you have to do in return is to pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Once you sign up, I'll email you to let you know that you are one of the three. Then copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work.
Let's keep this going and share the handmade love and spread some holiday cheer - Pay it Forward!

Oh, and you can of course still comment without volunteering for this :)

I'm feeling the guilt here. I took the handmade pledge and then this weekend bought buttons and some cards that weren't handmade. Bad Bejeweled! Everything else this month has either been crafted by me or a fellow creative indie soul, so it's OK, right? :) I've been looking for vintage style pear cards with a French feel for forever. And the buttons? Well, just look at them - especially those fleur de lis ones that look like hammered pewter.

Still working on writing that tag - I'm up to number 8! Almost done :)

(image from Better Homes and Gardens)
Blogging today has been a bit like surfacing for air. It has been CRAZY busy around here! Orders, post office, client meetings, more post office, a birthday party to plan, yet more post office, crafting, home maintenance issues, and my favorite.....buying our first artificial tree and getting the kids all excited... then dismantling and repacking it 20 minutes later to go back to the store. Because ..... it had lead warnings on it!!

Did you know that almost all artificial trees have toxic lead in them?? That you need to wash your hands after touching them? And that they can shed lead-laced dust, which may cover branches or shower gifts and the floor below the tree??!!? I didn't. How horrible to have such a happy thing for children, the Christmas tree, be contaminated with lead that could give them lead poisoning. Back to the store for our new tree!

**upate** links for more info on lead in artificial trees: here, here and here.