So here is THE BOOK, published by Lark Crafts! You can preorder the book now, it will be available in stores in August. Aaack! I can hardly believe my eyes. The book is chock full of patterns by incredibly talented designers/bloggers that you all know and LOVE. Plus, each pattern has charities linked with it. So you can continue to CRAFT HOPE on your own terms. And don’t you think for one minute I’m going anywhere. The Craft Hope site will continue to reach the far corners of the world and your very own backyard.

I got a call that it was up online and just about freaked out. Okay, in all honesty I freaked out. Craft Hope was started just over a year ago, with 27 dresses. And today, we reach around the world. We heal broken hearts, we step up when called upon, we give of our time, ourselves. We sacrifice, for others. Goodness, what an amazing community. You guys rock my world, you really do.

The crafters that contribute their skills, the shoppers that stepped up to support Haiti, the bloggers that spread the word, the designers that donated patterns to this book, the charities that welcome us with open arms. Alone we are just one person, but together we are an amazing force!

Twenty-ten is going to be a GREAT year.

Believe that, be that, live that.

Spread hope!

{Photo credit :: Bella Gioielli}

We just wrapped up Project 6, benefiting the Orphan Foundation’s Red Scarf Program. What an incredible response with over 420 scarves collected! I was able to see a few of them on flickr and through my email, but will contact them to see if we can get some photos of the piles of scarves. Thank you all so very much for clicking those needles and making red scarves. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

You can see a few Craft Hope superstars rockin’ the red scarves above! Thank you ladies. You look fabulous!! To see their awesome photo shoot, go to our flickr group. Pretty funny.

{Photo credit :: Hollis Queen}

A red and aqua photo, I couldn’t resist. Look at all of those beautiful red scarves.

Our next project will be announced very soon.

And without further ado, GORGEOUS pictures from Carin at Margaret’s Hope Chest. Here are your quilts from Project 5!!!

Look at those sweet faces. Wrapped in LOVE.

Friends, thank you. Your willingness to give when called upon humbles me and brings me to tears. Every. Single. Time.

Good morning! Due to some lovely and generous donations from Lark Books and Amy Butler, we have added one last update to the Craft Hope shop. There are 10 gorgeous mini quilts from the upcoming book Pretty Little Mini Quilts, three bags from Amy Butler (the actual bags – not patterns!), autographed books from Amanda Soule, and more. The shop will close its doors for good on Sunday night, so be sure to browse one more time and make sure you haven’t missed that perfect something.

Thank you again for all of your support of Craft Hope for Haiti and for helping the shop go out with a bang!

The Craft Hope for Haiti shop on Etsy has been a success beyond our craziest dreams. We want to thank all of you for being a part of it. We have a few more donations that we will be listing in the shop today, and then we will be closing it down. Running a shop on Etsy that draws from so many sellers is simply not something that we can manage longer term, and we hope you understand. It has been an amazing time and we’ve gotten to know so many people who have been involved with donating items, buying them, and often both. As I’ve said before, the crafting community is full of wonderful people and we’re lucky to be a part of it. We will spend the next few weeks wrapping up the sales and paperwork associated with the shop. We are so proud of the $30,000 that we have raised together for Doctors Without Borders. It’s a remarkable gift from so many people.

We plan to forward the funds to Doctors Without Borders in approximately 45-50 days, due to some unforeseen delays at Paypal. Because of the huge volume of transactions that flowed into the Paypal account in such a short period of time, Paypal has put a hold on the funds, other than to refund to customers as necessary. While we’re not happy about this at all, we do understand that Paypal has those security measures in place for good reason. The 45 day delay will allow us to show that any unhappy customers have been treated fairly and that there will not be chargebacks to the account that would leave Paypal holding the bag. At that time, we will review the account with them and arrange for a funds transfer. If they are still holding funds after that review, then we will force the issue with them and ask for your voices, as necessary. However, at this point, we feel that giving them 45 days is reasonable, given the whirlwind nature of the fundraising and the risk of removing that much money from the account before potential chargebacks have surfaced. Frankly, we will feel better sending the funds knowing that everyone has received what they purchased or has been refunded their money. That way, we’ve all achieved our goals. We will let you know if and when it’s time to start making noise.

So the question is, where do we go from here? Craft Hope’s other projects will continue as they always have. The Orphan Foundation scarf project has an approaching deadline of February 14th and over 300 people participating. The next project is in the planning stages. The Craft Hope book is at the printer and will be released in August. There are all sorts of ways to help coming up.

We would like to continue to operate a shop for fundraising, not just for emergency needs like Craft Hope for Haiti, but for ongoing support of children in need. We’ll be doing some research on different ways of doing so and getting everything set up properly. We want to offer a craft marketplace that allows sellers to find a wide audience for their wares and donate part of the sales to charity while still benefitting from their own hard work and talent. So stay tuned while we put all of that together.

Thank you again for all of your support of the Craft Hope for Haiti shop as well as our other projects. None of this would happen without you. Remember – the shop is open until Monday. Shop while you can!

In gratitude,

Jade and Sarah

Pattern for the scarf can be found in the sidebar. It’s a downloadable pdf.  There’s still time to make a scarf, deadline is February 14th.

Sarah again. I’m writing to you today from the happy place of having posted most items and notified shippers of nearly all sales. I can’t tell you how good that feels after days of having hundreds of unread emails full of generous offers and even more notifications of excited buyers. As I look back over the last several days, the picture of a snake eating an elephant keeps coming to mind – where the snake thinks it is eating the elephant’s tail, discovers it is consuming the whole elephant, and slowly works back down to the trunk. I am happy to announce that we have made our way to the trunk of the elephant. There are still some great things in the shop. If you’re all shopped out, then please pass the word to your friends, your neighbors, your Facebook and Twitter networks. We’d love to see all items sold. We have a few more treasure to add over the next few days, so keep paying attention!

I think my kids are pretty excited that I’m doing things like making dinner again (or not, since last night’s dinner was not a big hit). Working on the Craft Hope store has been a joy and an incredibly rewarding experience,  but I’m ready to get back to making things myself! Once we open the new version of the shop, we will be able to maintain it and still have lives. Systems are a good thing, people. Never forget it like we did in all of our excitement and desire to help right NOW.

Some housekeeping notes:

1. I am finishing up the sale notifications from the last 3 days that were difficult for my lovely volunteer – my mother – to locate, despite her organized, and persistent nature. If you are a donating seller and you have not heard from me regarding a sale, please contact me at sarah (at) crafthope.com rather than by leaving a comment on the blog. I will have your information to you quickly. I am also auditing the Etsy sales data and verifying that each item has an accompanying notice to the donating seller. Please communicate with your buyers when you ship the item so they know their order has been processed. You have all been so generous in giving of your talents and time and I can’t thank you enough.

2. Buyers – please email me if you have not had contact with the selling donor by the end of this week (January 30). Most items should be shipped by tomorrow, and I know that hundreds of them are already out the door. If you have not received a PDF pattern or printable that you purchased, then please contact me immediately at sarah (at) crafthope.com so I can make that happen for you. Leaving feedback at http://crafthope.etsy.com is a very helpful way of letting us know that you have received your item. Also, as Paypal reviews our account (which they are doing due to the sudden high volume) they do check feedback as proof that buyers are receiving items. If you receive the wrong item or the wrong quantity of items, please email me immediately so I can track down the right item and make sure everyone has what they ordered. In the event that your item simply does not show up, then your money will be refunded. Mishaps, unfortunately, are inevitable with this volume of sales and number of sellers. I’m asking in advance for your patience and understanding as we sort through whatever problems may arise. Thank you all for your purchases and your understanding as we work through this process.

3. As of yesterday, we have raised over $27,000 for Doctors Without Borders. I am working with them and Paypal to efficiently transfer the funds to them in the next few days. I am still astonished at what we have all accomplished together. We should never ever underestimate the power of the crafting community to make things happen.

Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you have done. We could never have done it without all of your enthusiastic support and giving and love.

Sarah

Every little thing makes a difference. It is that sweet comment, posting our button on your site, and twittering about our effort. You are spreading the word. You are showing the world you care. And that matters.

Last summer, we did a project (project 3) to benefit the Miracle Foundation. We collected blankets, beanies, booties, burp cloths, crib sheets, blocks and balls for children in orphanages in India. The first item that I received, out of the 2,809 items we collected, was a beautiful quilt by Ronit. It was the only I thing I had in my possession when I went to visit the Miracle Foundation’s headquarters downtown Austin. I sat there and held that sweet baby quilt. Thinking about my own baby soon to be born, and the new baby in India that would soon be wrapped in love by that beautiful quilt.

Caroline, the founder of the Miracle Foundation, held up the quilt and was in love. She asked if Ronit would mind making a few more to hang on the walls of the orphanages. They are concrete walls, with no decoration. Not like your home, or mine. No pictures strewn about of their families. No cheerful artwork. I quickly emailed Ronit and was greeted with an ‘of course.’ And not much longer, three beautiful quilts arrived for the children in India.

Thank you Ronit. Thank you Craft Hope community. You are the most loving, caring group of individuals I have ever been blessed to know. You are appreciated and you are making a difference.

Although the listing and management of the shop can be exhausting. We are having a wonderful time behind the scenes. Admiring your donations and timing how quick certain items will sell. A beautiful quilt, pictured below, sold in all of THREE MINUTES!

So we wanted to just catch you up on what’s going on. First and foremost, Project 6 is still happening! We are still making red scarves so please join us. Please leave a comment in the Project 6 post if you would like to participate. Many of you are new to Craft Hope and this is what we do. We have projects where we make things and send them to deserving organizations. You can see the list of projects we have done in the sidebar. Join us!

As of this morning we have raised just over $20,000 for Doctors Without Borders, 1,155 sales, and currently have over 155 items for sale in the shop. We have approximately 300 more listings to add to the shop. Please do not be confused and think the shop is closed. We are OPEN for business. We just need to take a two week break to get a more formal system in place for accepting donations. Please spread the word that you can support Doctors Without Borders by shopping in the Craft Hope for Haiti Etsy shop.

We will continue listing these items to the shop throughout the week. Once they are all listed, we will continue to process purchases. No rest for the weary right!?!

If you are a seller, please allow 2-3 days to get your buyers address. I know you all are such amazing sellers. You have donated your time and things you could actually get money for. THANK YOU. Know that the buyer understands that it is going to take a few days for us to get the information to you. Sarah has got her mom on board and between the two of them they are getting these out as quick as humanly possible. Seriously folks, our entire team is working around the clock. And our families have all been recruited into the process.

We will begin accepting donations again in TWO WEEKS! In the meantime, shop until your heart is content! And start whipping up new things to add to the shop. The need in Haiti is not going to let up anytime soon. If you follow Doctors Without Borders on Twitter you can read stories and see photos of what our donations do for them in Haiti.

A HUGE welcome to those of you who have come to us through Twitter, Facebook, the thousands of blogs, Canadian Living, Ohdeedoh, Apartment Therapy, Huffington Post, Discovery’s Green Planet, Casa Sugar, DIY Life, Playgrounder… the list goes on. We are glad you joined us on this ride. It is truly amazing what a collective group of individuals can achieve.

“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead

As I’m sure you’ve seen on the Etsy shop, we’ve been listing and selling items nonstop since Friday morning. The response from the craft community has been amazing and overwhelming. You are a remarkable bunch of people. Jade and I and the other volunteers are humbled by your willingness to give when often you don’t have much yourselves. This experience has been a testament to the power of a connected community.

Jade and I started this effort as a quick offshoot of Craft Hope because we wanted to help and knew that sending things was not a viable option. We hatched a little idea about the shop on Etsy and figured we’d raise a few hundred dollars. We had this pie in the sky idea that we’d maybe get to $5,000 eventually. You all got us there by yesterday at noon. As of now, we’re rapidly approaching the $10,000 mark. Amazing. Overwhelming.

From a housekeeping perspective, you should know that listings are taking up to 72 hours to place on Etsy. Currently we are notifying sellers of the shipping information the day after the sale, and we will try to maintain that pace, but it may go to 2 days. We ask for your patience as we process a tremendous number of transactions. We may make an occasional listing mistake, and we’ll hope you forgive us. We have streamlined and slowed down our pace a bit so we don’t make hurried errors. There are only a few of us, and so many generous gifts.

This operation is being run by a mom with 3 kids under 5, including a 3 month old baby and by a mom who is 7 months pregnant and has 2 homeschooling kids. We are relying on the kindness of our wonderful friends (who are also all moms with babies or homeschooled kids or jobs) and our husbands who have given up their weekends to help out. The task at hand has become far larger than we can maintain for any length of time. We don’t want the program to become a victim of its own success because we were so excited to help that we didn’t take the time to set up sustainable systems.

We have decided to stop accepting donations on Wednesday evening, January 20. We will list everything we have received by the following weekend, and we will keep the store open until everything has sold. The plan is to be closed to new donations for 2 weeks while we regroup. This has taken us in a direction that we never anticipated Craft Hope going. In order to serve the community better, we are going to take a break and organize our thoughts, our systems, and our mission. While we would LOVE to just keep on going, we have to do so in a sustainable way so that we do it well and still have time to feed our children, take showers, and interact with our families on occasion.

Over the next few days, we will be forwarding funds to Doctors Without Borders and will post the transactions to this site, so you have verification of the donations. We understand that donating and buying is an act of trust by all of you, and we are committed to living up to that trust. Thank you, all of you, for giving us the opportunity to help the Haitian people in a meaningful way. Because this isn’t about us at all. It’s about the generosity of each and every one of you.

We are all so grateful to be a part of this effort, which is a small part of the larger effort to help the Haitian people. We hope you understand our reasons for regrouping in order to serve the effort even better. Thank you again for everything you have done and continue to do.

In hope,

Sarah

Behold the Tom Selleck pillow! Unfortunately it sold before any of us on the Craft Hope behind the scenes team could snatch it up. But we were all keeping our eye on it, hoping at the end of the day when we had time to shop that it would still be there. Alas. Tom is gone.

Today was an AMAZING day. We have buyers and sellers from all around the world. Twitter is on fire with mentions of Craft Hope and the shop. Matt Lauer hasn’t called yet, but we are holding our breath.

So are you ready for this? So far we have raised $7,000 for Doctors Without Borders. In TWO DAYS! You are all amazing!! Thank you all so very much for your patience as we get items listed and get back to you. This has turned into a huge undertaking and we are moving as fast as we can. This entire community is making a difference!

There are now so many of our friends behind the scenes. Many crafty mamas that you all know and love, typing as quickly as possible listing items. We are all spread out around the country working for you.

Here are the mamas behind the scenes at Craft Hope:

Chris :: Pink Picket Fence

Beki :: Artsy Crafty Babe

Courtney :: The Woodland School

Marjorie :: Auburn Doll House

Sarah :: Green Clogs

Molly :: A Foothill Home Companion

And moi :: chikaustin

If you get a chance, pop in and tell them thank you. You are keeping all of us very busy, but it’s a good problem to have don’t you think?!?

I found this following quote rather appropriate for what this community is all about…

“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” — Nelson Henderson

Spread hope.