Name that Pattern and Win!

I've been fabric shopping.  I have some new patterns to debut, but this one is missing a name. With lots and lots of flower patterns, I'm running out of ideas.

Help me decide on a name and if I pick your suggestion, I'll send you the wipes case of your choice!

Please don't suggest proper names, as I assign those as friends and family have babies :) Post your ideas on the Made by Angie Facebook page.  Thanks in advance!

Angie

PS Happy birthday to my sister, Lindsay!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm no Adam Lambert or Justin Bieber (they raised over $260,000 and $46,000 in lieu of gifts this year for their birthdays!). This year I want to help too so I am donating my birthday.

On Monday, March 7th I am turning 38 years old and will donate $38 to Charity: Water. Please consider a small donation to Charity: Water in honor of my birthday. Or all March birthdays - go Pisces! Or your birthday this year.

It's not going to me, of course. All of it is going to build freshwater wells for people in developing nations.

A billion people in the world are living without clean water - but how much are they really living? Millions contract deadly diseases from contaminated water. 45,000 people will die this week alone. The lucky ones won't, but still walk hours each day to get dirty water to give to their families.

My birthday wish this year is to give clean and safe drinking water to some of the billion living without it. I want to make my birthday matter this year.

I know that so many of you helped us raise funds for Charity: Water back in December. Our Hot Cocoa for Water was such a successful campaign - we raised over $730! I'm excited to keep the giving fire burning with my birthday campaign. $3, $8, $38 ... 38 cents. Whatever you can spare!  Please join me. Thank you!

please note: Because of charity: water's unique model, 100% of all donations go directly to direct water projects costs, and each donation is "proved" and tracked to the village it helped when projects are complete.

Introducing ... a rewards program that really PAYS!

As if buying great products from Made by Angie wasn’t rewarding enough, we’re excited to announce a new program to make it even more rewarding!  

Made by Angie has partnered with Free Tree Rewards, which is a rewards program where you earn free goodies with every Made by Angie purchase.  And because Free Tree Rewards is a cooperative program, you will also earn points by shopping with any of the other amazing small businesses in the FTR partner network.  We’re excited to be in great company with the other businesses in the network - Ellie Bellie Kids, Julian & Co., Hand Picked Pumpkin, Pop & Lolli, and Tiny Tales.

Free Tree Rewards offers these amazing benefits:

1. Points never expire
2. Completely free to join and no annual fees
3. Simplicity - 10 points are worth $10 towards goodies at any of the partner shops
4. Low minimum to redeem - rewards start at just 5 points
5. High earning rate - earn 10% of purchases back in FTR points (most rewards programs are 1% - 2%)
6. Grow your balance even faster by referring friends and liking the FTR facebook page

If you join Free Tree Rewards by February 15 you’ll receive 10 points, which is $10 in your pocket to spend at Made by Angie.  We’re excited about rewarding our loyal customers, and hope you will jump on over to www.freetreerewards.com and join the program.  It’s very easy to sign up, and once you do you’ll receive information about how to get credit for your Made by Angie purchases.

To learn more about the program, visit www.freetreerewards.com.

Happy New Year

Hope you all had a great holiday season. After returning Friday afternoon from a fun Florida trip, our New Years Eve was rockin' ;) Pizza at home with friends and asleep by 11:01pm, as soon as the New Yorkers began their midnite celebration. 

We were so excited to watch football all day on Saturday ... and see our Wisconsin Badgers bring home a victory in the Rose Bowl. Sadly, the win did not happen but it was a great day in front of the cozy fireplace and so much fun to see Max get ultra excited about the game, players and team. He learned a lot about football this season! Nate, not so much - but he checked in for score updates a few times between Sponge Bob and iCarly episodes.  I even dug out my photo album from '93/'94 and looked at pics from the Rose Bowl we did win -- Marc & I both went to that game, but didn't know each other yet :)

Final update on the Hot Cocoa for Water campaign. We collected and donated $541! Enough for 27 people to have safe drinking water for the next 20 years. Yay!

Happy and healthy year ahead...Angie

Hot Cocoa, Warm Hearts

We excitedly opened our door yesterday to friends and in return they opened their hearts (and wallets!) to donate to Charity: Water. Thank you to all that stopped by (and brought yummy treats) and all who've helped us with our cause.

We are thrilled to share the update: yesterday, we collected $166 and in addition to the donations made through our Charity: Water donation page, we'll be sending over $370 to them this holiday season.  This money is enough for provide 18.6 people safe and clean drinking water for 20 years. How cool is that!?

If you could not make the shindig yesterday, please consider donating through our Charity: Water page. The campaign runs through December 31st, so click before then ... and of course their website is always open year-round for donations!  The founder suggests "giving your birthday" ... donating your age on your birthday ... I thought this was a great idea ... just something to think about!

Here are some pics from yesterday - thanks again - I hope you learned as much as we did about the gift of giving!

Hot Cocoa for Water

With all the gift getting this holiday season, I know Max & Nate don't need another thing. But we thought it would be nice to help those who do need something pretty important: access to clean WATER.

I recently learned of an organization called Charity: Water. Thanks to Jen from Ellie Bellie Kids for the introduction! You may have seen their 20/20 feature last night (see video clip below).

Their goal is simple ... to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations who lack access to this necessity. This is obviously something we all take for granted as we fill our water glasses directly from the fridge or turn on a hot shower. 100% of Charity: Water's donations go directly to fund water projects in an effort to bring safe water to the almost 1 billion people who need it.

We will be hosting a Hot Cocoa party (think Lemonade Stand in December!) on Wednesday to raise money for this cause. Another genius suggestion from Jen! (check out her blog post here - you can further help buy supporting some of the wonderful businesses donating sale proceeds to Charity: Water). I promise to keep the atmosphere cozy with a fire burning. We'll offer delish hot chocolate with fixin's and plenty of sweets to go along with it.  Kids are off school and it's a tad nippy outside, so what better way to spend part of the afternoon. I am excited to help raise money and awareness and have some dedicated chat time with friends.

If you are local and interested in stopping by, please send me an email for our address.  For those of you out of town next week or busy on Wednesday, you can still help :) I've set up a donation page through Charity: Water. Click here to help us out!  An amazing fact: just $20 can give one person clean water for 20 years. Consider donating your Starbucks allotment for the day.


All the best, and Happy Holidays!
Angie

Thanks a bunch

I was so lazy yesterday I didn’t even get to post this.

Ahhh, Thanksgiving Day. I have so much to be thankful for ... for starters, Max is still sleeping, and it’s 9:08am. Thank you, first born for channeling my love of slumber. Secondly, I am not hosting Thanksgiving this year, so I really don’t care that the house is a mess.

Finally, and in all seriousness -- I am thankful for family, friends & my business.

I’ve lived in Chicago since graduating college (go Badgers!), having grown up in Maryland. Although my sister and her husband live here too, my parents have remained home in MD ... until this year. My dad is teaching at Northwestern Law School and as a result, they’ve decided to get a place here.  So now, I get to see Mom & Dad all the time (and they’re hosting Thanksgiving this year!), my kids get to spend extra time with Grandma and Papa and although I am not originally from this area, it finally feels like home. Special hugs to Marc & the boys (and Bela too!) - Marc, for keeping my heart warm and also my toes with his obsessive fire-building and Max and Nate for being loving, happy brothers ... how’d I get so lucky?

I recently spent a long weekend with some amazing friends. Lots of laughs, wine, yummy food and most importantly, togetherness. Although our homes span the country, I look forward to our yearly get-together for the same sense of comfy-ness I get from my own family.

Having just celebrated 5 years of Made by Angie, I am thankful for the ability to stay home with my kids, use my brain to run a business and exercise my creative side daily all while making lots of mamas happy with their funky wipe containers :)

A reminder that this Saturday, November 27th save 30% at Made by Angie -- use the code SATURDAY at checkout.  Until then, I hope you get the shopping deals of a lifetime you are searching for and some good warm and fuzzies from those you spend Thanksgiving weekend with this year.

Feel free to post great deals that you've found in the comments!

Angie