Monday, June 1, 2009

Giveaway Closed!

it's 12:13 according to my computer, which means that the big giveaway is closed!

thank you so much to everyone who came by to visit and to comment! i really want to to check out the blog of everyone who commented, not to mention reply to a bunch of those comments, so i'll be working on that over the next little while.

the whole experience has been really interesting for me. i've really enjoyed myself, doing a new prize a day was definitely challenging, but it was so much fun too! in the future i'd need to plan better though, this time around i didn't have enough time to actually go enter other people's draws! i tried to this evening after i got home from the Yarnbombing workshop, but quite a few people had closed their giveaways early! after some frustration (i was doing this while waiting for meds to kick in, so i was grumpy and hurting!), i gave up. i didn't want to comment unless the prize was something that i knew i'd really love or appreciate, so i felt like i was just doing a lot of clicking! and you know, really, that's cool. i LIKE giving presents! i'm the same way with swaps too, i always get so into crafting for my partner that i forget that i'll be receiving too!

i'll definitely do this again, and i think i'm going to try to do some random smaller giveaways too. if asked, i think my two items of constructive criticism for the future would be to have a set ending time for all of the giveaways that's followed across the world, and to possibly separate all the prizes that were kid specific. it's not that i don't appreciate kids stuff, i LOVE crafting for all my friends who keep having babies! but i don't feel comfortable entering a contest for something that i myself won't use either, you know?

but anyway, ya da da, whatever amy, get to the point! who won what? that's what you really wanna know!

so. this is what i'm thinking. the problem with giveaways with so many different things like this one is that people might enter because they like one item, and then win the other one instead. i thought about just assigning prizes, and then suggesting that y'all trade among yourselves, like a blog version of tacky christmas party gifts, but thought that would get complicated shipping wise!

so what i'm doing is assigning winners in order. the first person drawn will get first pick of the prizes, second person drawn will get second pick, etc. i think that's the best way to make sure as many people as possible end up with items that they'll actually want/use!

i couldn't just do random numbers, because comments on other posts counted as chances too. there were 255 entries total! as the e-mail notifications came in, i've been saving them in my e-mail under a separate folder. once they were all there, i did screen prints and pasted them into photoshop files, and then printed them out on scrap paper and used my paper cutter to chop them into little strips.

and then i folded them all in half and put them into one of my cool vintage rubbermaid canisters and drew names.

i'm sure there are more technologically savvy ways of doing this, but i'm a cut and paste kinda crafter anyway!



the Prizes are -
Cheerful Bird Song Vinyl Wristlet
Pillowcase Apron
Kitschy Coasters
Vintage pillowcase Set
Vintage Fabric and Notions Set
Paper/Ephemera Bundle 1 (with the walnut ink crystals)
Paper/Ephemera Bundle 2(with the gold glitter)


i've e-mailed the first few winners, and once i've heard back from them, i'll e-mail a few more, etc, working my way down the list of names i drew. Once everyone has claimed their prize, I'll post the winners!


In the meantime, i hope some of you come back and visit again!I'm hoping to get a "vinyl 101" type post up soon, since people seem to scared of it (it's not that scary, i promise!). i have some machine embroidery to post, and i realized the other day that i never got around to posting the pewter casting that i did ages go!

3 comments:

Peg said...

I think that's a great way of doing it! My kids are grown, with no grandkids in sight I didn't enter any for the children's prizes. I went one step further and I wouldn't enter if I didn't already or plan to follow their blog. It's not that there weren't some great prizes and sites out there, but I felt that was fair. Now I do admit my reader is quite full..so much talent and wonderful sharing of ideas! Looking forward to your vinyl 101 - I've played a little and being self taught I'm sure I'll learn something!
Congrats to the winners!!!

Brittany said...

As you probably know, I'm all about the vinyl, too. I'm surprised more people don't do it! I recently found a good place to buy vinyl in Salt Lake City. They have a MUCH better selection than ol' JoAnn's.

amy dame said...

thanks peg! i'm glad someone thinks my idea is cool! i have a tendency to over complicate myself, but it seemed like the best way to do it!

i didn't feel like i had enough time to really get a feel for anyone's blog, to decide if i wanted to follow them or not, but i'm hoping to go back to the master lists and wander through them a bit more another day.

i'll look forward to your comments once i get the vinyl post up! in the meantime, feel free to check out my vinyl label to see all the stuff i've made and remembered to post!

Brittany, i was going to disagree with you, and then i realized you were right! ha! there do seem to be quite a few people making vinyl and selling it, which can be difficult sometimes because the practical logistics of the material can lead to some similar designs. but you're right, not many people just work with it as a craft! people seem to be really intimidated by it.

i'm super lucky to have an amazing family owned fabric store really close to my house who have a huge selection of vinyl, including some awesome vintage deadstock! i buy the vast majority of my vinyl there, and i recently discovered a smaller selection at another family owned fabric store in a close town that carry PASTELS! i'd been searching for baby pink vinyl for YEARS! i was so excited!

i sometimes stock up on base colours like black from the chain stores, because sales make it hard to resist, but most everything else, even my zippers, is from the indie shops.

i'm super jealous that you guys have joanns though. when the dollar was better i'd try to make the trip every few months to stock up on "cooler" prints. i went down on halloween last year and arrived around 8:30 - their halloween stuff already 60% off! i got such cool fabrics!

plus, with having both joanns and micheals, they give each other a bit of competition, so the prices are so much better. micheals in canada is sometimes 2.5 times the price of the same items at micheals in the US!

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