April 2009 Newsletter: Spring spring spring!

I can't wait until I truly feel spring in the air! Winter has just been so darn cold and the first week of Spring was actually the cold spell of March!!!


I know sales have been slow so I am hoping that you utilize our Crafting for Animals Guild to the maximum of your ability. Any and all exposure helps - so try out some of these tips.

• I personally invite you to Creative Animal Relief's Earth Day Savings promotional campaign. In celebration of Earth Day, C.A.R. is hosting the Earth Day Saving from April 18-26, a promotional campaign in which you are invited to offer great savings to your handmade loving customers. You choose the discount but the savings must last the entire duration from April 18-26. Sign up for the newsletter for upcoming information: http://www.eciammaichella.com/newsletter/mail.cgi
  
  
• Write an article for our blog and add a byline about you and your store. Writing on topics not directly related to your art (such as how you help animals) helps people get to know you! Check out Woven Dreams article on her rabbit rescue, Dance with the Bunnies Rabbit Rescue.
  
  
• Run your own blog and post at least two to three articles on your website each week.
  
  
• While you are at it, add our 125x125 ad image and link it to http://crafting4animals.blogspot.com/ - the more relevant links you have leaving and entering your website, the more likely you will be found by google searchers!
  
  
• Find relevant communities that you can post and share your ideas. The more people get to know you, the more they may find your store interesting and exciting.
  
  
• Join our facebook page, loving administered by recupefashion. Join now!

Our New Members!
We are growing growing growing! Perfect for spring. So please welcome our new members: Cherrytree, shesbattydesigns, cre8ivecomforts, daisycakessoaps, and CherilynnFineArt. That's 33 members strong! If you know any verified artisans that would like to join, just send them an invite by clicking here.

Get to Know Your Fellow Members!
Get to know your own community by reading a little about our members.

• Woven Dreams is a foster mom of many many many bunnies!!! Check out her Dance with the Bunnies Rabbit Rescue.
  
• Some of our members make items for animals or animal lovers (like us), donate proceeds, or volunteer their time to the animals - you can read more about them here.


• Are you doing something for Earth Day? If so, let us know. Email El at el@tantalizingstitches.com.
  

Thanks and have a wonderful Earth Day!
El
http://tantalizingstitches.artfire.com/

Dance with the Bunnies Rabbit Rescue

Here is a very inspirational story of how one of our members, wovendreams.artfire.com, began saving rabbits.

Story by Bonnie of wovendreams.artfire.com
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On my 13th birthday, my grandpa gave me a rabbit. He was a little “blue” gray and white dutch. No one in my family had ever had a rabbit. We all had to learn the basics from the start. My Dad built Lollipop, his first hutch. It was a grand home that we kept next to the side of the house. Being a military household, Lollipop moved with us from California to Kansas and then to North Carolina.

Lollipop often stayed in the house with us and had free reign until he started eating the cords. Mom still tells the story of how he chewed the telephone cord while she was still on the phone to her mother long distance.

He was a brave little boy. In the 1960’s we would never have thought of neutering a rabbit. Most people in the USA had never even thought of having a rabbit for a pet. They were considered to be similar to a guinea pig and were therefore kept in aquariums.

When I went off to college, the job of taking care of Lollipop went to my parents. We hadn’t thought about who would take care of the bunny at that time. That was fine with my parents because they loved him as much as I did. He was family.

It was much later that I brought a bunny in into my house again. I heard that there was a bunny at the Humane Society and nobody knew how to take care of him. I went to visit him and he was petrified in a cage in the cat building. I had to take him home. My children were thrilled. They were in middle and high school and wanted an additional pet to our dog.

That started numerous bunnies being rescued through my home. Whenever a bunny showed up at the Humane Society, I was called. After I adopted 3 rabbits for my family, I started looking for homes as the rabbits would come in. I advertised them through the veterinarian’s offices and the Humane Society. That was eleven years ago. Since then, I have rescued over 100 rabbits. I have files on every one of them. I now have each rabbit on PetFinder, BunSpace and the animal shelter’s web site. I network with many rabbit organizations and other rescues. This all helps find these bunnies find a family.

Through the years, my knowledge of bunnies has grown. I know personally each of the bunnies that I have worked with. I plead with each of you to adopt from a shelter instead of purchasing from a pet store or breeder. Your bunny rescue will already know their temperament and have them spayed/neutered. And, it is so rewarding to give an abandoned bunny a home.

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Bonnie of Woven Dreams runs Dance with the Bunnies Rabbit Rescue, is a foster home for Friends of the Pitt County Animal Shelter, aka Friends, that solely rescues rabbits. These rabbits consist of shelter turn ins, animal control and turn in by owners, in that order. The rabbits are spayed/neutered upon placement. The foster home and rescue runs only on donations. Bonnies is also part of the Rabbit Rehoming Alliance.

What Our Members Do

Our members do a variety of things to help out the animals. Please take a look!

Items for animals

• http://bagsandmorebypam.artfire.com/ (collars for dogs and cats, sweaters for dogs, small rugs for all animals to sleep)
• http://unique_garden.artfire.com/ (dog treats and herbal grooming products)
• http://3peepsdesigns.artfire.com/
• http://endlesswhimsy.artfire.com/
• http://mydoggieandme.artfire.com/
• http://cre8ivecomforts.artfire.com/
• http://leighsarver.artfire.com/

Items for animal lovers

• http://www.bakidagain2.artfire.com/
• http://unique_garden.artfire.com/ (nature oriented ornaments, dog/cat inspired jewelry, pet scrapbook pages)
• http://petsinglass.artfire.com/ (stained glass portraits of your favorite pet)
• http://3peepsdesigns.artfire.com/
• http://endlesswhimsy.artfire.com/
• http://shesbattydesigns.artfire.com/
• http://daisycakessoap.artfire.com/
• http://cre8ivecomforts.artfire.com/
• http://cherilynnfineart.artfire.com/
• http://smiss00.artfire.com/
• http://leighsarver.artfire.com/
• http://thehouseofmouse.artfire.com/
• http://glassworksnorthwest.artfire.com

Donation of store proceeds to animal organizations

• http://bagsandmorebypam.artfire.com/ (flat amount)
• http://tantalizingstitches.artfire.com/ (5% of the purchase price goes to http://paws-saipan.org/)
• http://angeljimbo.artfire.com/
• http://recupefashion.artfire.com/ (to the SPCA Montreal)
• http://unique_garden.artfire.com/ (5% of sales goes to non-profit no-kill shelters)
• http://petsinglass.artfire.com/ (Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs and The Magic Bullet Fund)
• http://3peepsdesigns.artfire.com/
• http://endlesswhimsy.artfire.com/
• http://shesbattydesigns.artfire.com/
• http://mydoggieandme.artfire.com/
• http://daisycakessoap.artfire.com/
• http://cre8ivecomforts.artfire.com/
• http://smiss00.artfire.com/
• http://acornalley.artfire.com/
• http://thehouseofmouse.artfire.com/
• http://glassworksnorthwest.artfire.com

Volunteers at animal organizations

• http://tantalizingstitches.artfire.com/ (Crafting for Animals Guildmaster)
• http://unique_garden.artfire.com/ (boardmember/officer of http://creativeanimalrelief.org/)
• http://endlesswhimsy.artfire.com/
• http://shesbattydesigns.artfire.com/
• http://cre8ivecomforts.artfire.com/
• http://cherilynnfineart.artfire.com/
• http://acornalley.artfire.com/
• http://leighsarver.artfire.com/

Our guild roster

March 2009 Newsletter: Spay Day Everyday

Welcome to the second newsletter at Crafting for Animals (CFA)!

SPAY DAY
How was your Spay Day? If you volunteered your time and energy to help promote the spay or neutering of animals, please let me know! We'd love to write an article about it. If you haven't heard of Spay Day you can read more about it here. Make everyday Spay Day!

OUR NEW MEMBERS

Please welcome 3PeepDesigns, 6060, HighStrungDesign, FrumsGlassMenagerie, UniquebyKarlee, bitspeaces, aguavino, mydoggieandme, bubblesnsuds, BlueHorseDesign, sharonfostervintage, thisisit, Dogonwear, Wovendreams, BowWowzerZ, BlackIceDesigns, and endlesswhimsy to our guild! That's a 100% increase in our membership in one month!



A Little Info from You
I'm trying to figure out how our members help animals so please take the time to reply to this email with the following information:
-Do you make items for animals?
-Do you make items specific for animal lovers?
-Do you donate a portion of your store proceeds to an animal organization?
-Do you volunteer your time to an animal organization?



Please email this info to El or send it through artfire to http://tantalizingstitches.artfire.com/.


Please join us in our CFA activities!

• February contribution reporting time!
  By reporting your contributions (monies and volunteer time) we can show our Guild's growth and strength. You name will not be revealed. More information is available here.
  


• Join our facebook group graciously administered by Recupefashion.
  


• Follow our blog! We have a new blog at http://crafting4animals.blogspot.com/ - You can follow us with your blogger account.
  


• Check out our featured members recupefashion and sewstitchedup. Be on the look out as bagsandmorebypam may just surprise you with a feature request!
  


• Read our inspirational stories column hosted by sewstitchedup.
  


• Join our flickr group and add your images to our flickr pool! Add CFA as a contact and join our flickr group.
  

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

***We want to do more but we need your help to do it. Contact me if you're interested.***

• Forum liason: Help keep a thread up in the general Artfire forum thread and spread the word about CFA!


• Flickr group liason: Accept and invite members to join our Flickr group.


• Help tally monthly contributions.


• Contribute an article or host a column on our blog.


• Administer our blog - become a blog mommy.


• Invite your friends to join CFA.

Would you CFA to do more? If you have any ideas and suggestions, please send it to me! Better yet, offer to start the project :)
Thanks again!

El

http://tantalizingstitches.artfire.com/