Dare to DIY: Give Handmade Link Party

Party time, party people! This week’s Dare to DIY theme is Give Handmade—what have you made to give away this Christmas?

On Friday, the co-hosts and I shared our handmade projects . . .

Chelsea from Two Twenty One made a state necklace, Kim of NewlyWoodwards made scrapbuster personalized kitchen towels, I made a crochet bedspread, and Michelle of Décor and the Dog made a wood bead necklace.

I can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to this week. Share your handmade gifts below!

Each Monday, the link party goes live for that week’s Dare to DIY challenge. You can link up as many projects as you wish, as long as the posts correspond with the theme of the week.

You can link up on any of our four blogs listed above. The linky below will stay live through Wednesday. This Wednesday, each of us will spotlight at least 3 projects we loved from the week on our blogs. We’ll also pin those projects on our shared Pinterest board.

The only rules:
1. Please follow the Dare to DIY theme of the week (this week is ‘dare to give handmade’).
2. Please link back to Dare to DIY by linking to at least one of our blogs (or copy this: I’m sharing this at the Dare to DIY party hosted by Decor and the Dog, Maybe Matilda, Newly Woodwards, and Two Twenty One!)
3. Please go to at least one other blog and comment. This is a party. So get to know a few other bloggers.

Free Feature on BB Daily Deals

Just a quick post to let you know about a cool promotion happening right now at my mom’s Boutique and its online deal site (if you aren’t familiar with her site, BB Daily Deals, you can read a full post about it here, but I’ll give you the sparknotes version: twice a week, subscribers are emailed awesome deals on boutique products from the Bungalow Boutique and other fantastic sellers, all at a sweet markdown from in-store/online prices. Check it out!)

So here’s the deal for the cool promotion happening now: you can enter to win the chance to sell your product FREE on the site. No commission, no sales fees, nothing. Just an awesome free feature for you and your fabulous product, sent out to hundreds of subscribers who are searching for great items at great prices.

To enter to win, just head over to the Bungalow Boutique’s blog, use the linky list to enter YOUR product(s) that you’d love the chance to share and sell, then head back on Friday to vote for your favorite product that you’d like to see shared on BB Daily Deals.

The item with the most votes will win a completely free feature on BB Daily Deals—you won’t hand over any of your earnings. So if you make and sell handmade items, run an online store, or are interested in getting your foot in the door to sell a great product, go enter! You can link up an item from your online shop or blog, then tell your friends/fans/followers/etc. to vote for you to win!

Head over and enter your product! Go! GO!

CAL :: Link up your cowls!

It's time! I sure hope your cowl is finished up, being worn with pride, and ready to show off because today's the day to share your work! I'm so excited to see everyone's finished piece. (And this link list will be open for a few days, so if you aren't ready just yet, you can still join in when you're finished.) Voting won't begin until Friday, so make sure to come back then and vote for your favorite! (I'll post about it to remind you.)

(There's my finished cowl--I held two strands of Bernat Super Value in Redwood Heather and shortened the pattern quite a bit to have a snugger-fitting cowl [not entirely sure that "snugger" is a real word, but I'm makin' it happen], and I really love how it turned out!)

If you'd like a reminder of the prizes that are up for grabs, I'm happy to oblige. The person with the highest number of votes will get the first pick from the prizes; second person gets to pick next from the three remaining prizes, and so on. I just couldn't rank these prizes (they're all fantastic!), so these aren't first/second/third/fourth place prizes . . . they're just the prizes the four winners will get to choose from.

So, in no particular order . . . one lucky lady (or sir, I guess, . . . it would be pretty rad if a dude crocheted one of these cowls with us) will receive this fox scarf crochet pattern (as well as another pattern of his/her choice) from Bees Knees Knitting!

Two winners will receive two patterns of their choice from Crochet Baby Boutique!

 Crochet bib pattern

And one winner will receive the Rainbow Amigurumi ebook, with patterns and instructions to make 7 adorable little friends, from Fresh Stitches!

Thanks again to our great sponsors for providing such wonderful prizes! I'm already excited for the four crocheters who will get their hands on some great new patterns . . . that's sure to get you excited to keep crocheting!

One last thing before you link up. Everyone who finishes and shares their cowl on this post gets to choose a pattern to receive free from my etsy shop, remember? After you've linked up your cowl, head over to this post and fill out the little survey so I know which pattern to send you. Please, please, please visit that post and fill out the survey--I'm really not going to hunt you down and toss patterns in your lap, so make this easy for me, okay? (And if you need any help linking up your cowl, visit this post.)

EDITED: If you visited sometime in the last, oh, 20 minutes or so, the link list wasn't working--I realized it's because the list automatically closes and won't accept submissions once voting starts (which I had set to start the same time as the link list opened). So you can't vote just now. So add your link, and I'll let you know when the voting is open! Thank you!

CAL :: How to link up your cowl for Wednesday

Are you almost done with your cowl for our crochet along? This Wednesday (Oct. 5) is the big day, when you'll link up your cowl and start voting for your favorites! I can't wait to see everyone's finished work! It's been so fun to have this project to work on together, don't you think?

(Ahhh, one last ridiculous crochet comic. That feels good. Jockstrap for our next crochet along? Anyone? Anyone?)

So, in case you haven't participated in a link party before, I'll let you know how it's going to work. Remember way back when you added your name to the crochet along participants list? (And if you never got around to adding your name, that's fine--you can still link up your finished cowl on Wednesday!) Linking up your cowl is going to work basically the same way. 

In order to link up your cowl, you'll just need to post a picture of it online somewhere. That means you can either:

1) Make a blog post about your cowl and include a picture of it. (If you have a blog, I'd love if you'd post about it so we can come visit you, and your friends and readers can come here and vote! Just make sure you include a link back here in your post so they know where to find the voting.)

2) Upload a picture to the Maybe Matilda flickr group.

3) Or have a picture of your cowl elsewhere online.

When you head over here on Wednesday, you'll see this at the bottom of the post (just like the original sign up list):

Click the "add your link" button and a few info bars will open up:

 

If you've blogged about your cowl, copy and paste the URL of that specific post (not your blog's main page, but the post about the cowl) into the URL box. If you're grabbing a picture from somewhere else online (flickr, photobucket, picasa, or wherever you put your pic), open the page with your photo and copy and paste the URL into the first box. Then put your name or your blog's name or your cowl's name or something, I don't care, into the name box, and your email (no one will be able to see it, don't fret), and click next.

If you're confused about where to find the URL, or how any of this works so far, head over here and check out this help page from inlinkz.

A page will show up with all the pictures it could find at the URL you entered; just select the picture you want to show up here, and you're done! 

We'll end up with a nice pretty list of participants' pictures here, and there will be a little vote link under each entry, so take a look through all of the entries, vote for the one you like best, and pass the word along to your family and friends so they can come vote for a favorite as well!

So finish up that cowl if you haven't yet, snap a couple cute pictures, and get blogging (or flickring, or whatever) and meet me back here Wednesday to add your cowl! I can't wait to see your work . . . make me proud.

And check out our crochet along sponsors' awesome shops!