Weekend Update with Crunchy Fey

There’s no top story here, because they’re all super top stories.

Things you’ll love.

Or hate.

I can’t predict your moods. WHY DON’T YOU JUST TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL?

Ahem. Let’s get started.

1. There is a Giveaway Happening in the Community

Check it. The gorgeous Lucy from Herbal Philosophy Teas agreed to be the very first in what I dearly, dearly hope are ongoing giveaways sponsored by handmade artisans. Eventually, these should happen every week, and I won’t be announcing them here on the main blog.

So keep your eye out on the area at the top right of the screen there for the giveaways and the lovely sponsors of them. Then hurry your crunchy little butts over to the Crunchy Community to read about the artisan, the items, and how to enter.

If you ARE or KNOW someone who owns an Etsy or Artfire shop who’d like to take advantage of this idea (along with the giveaway and the promotion thereof, they also get free advertising on the site for the entirety of the giveaway) email me and we’ll all work something out and be happy as little clams.

Ultimately, I just REALLY want to promote and highlight artisans who are doing awesome stuff with their very own hands – creating unique products that should be in stores, but are not.

So, when you’re done reading this blog post, head over to THIS THREAD in the Crunchy Community and enter to win the incredible 3 set of loose leaf teas handcrafted (and deliciously, at that) by Lucy at Herbal Philosophy Teas.

2. Pre-Pre-Order the Next Crunchy Betty Scrub

As promised in the last post, I’m going to now tell you what’s happening with the poll results and the (now) $113 I have in my Paypal account thanks to awesome donations by … YOU!

First of all, the option that won, hands down, in that poll was: Use it to invest in ingredients to make scrub and facial moisturizer to sell on the site. With 39 of 109 votes.

I’m not going to do that. So there.

You know why? Because, instead, thanks to a fantastic idea from Dawn at Monday Morning VA, I’m going to take preorders for this scrub for 2 weeks, and then use that money to buy all the ingredients we’ll need. Then, I’ll know how many of you want this scrub. And there won’t be 12398 trips to the store (like last time) because I think I’m done making it, and then 5 more people order. (That really happened. 12398 times.) (Not really.)

I’m going to do a full post on this scrub on Monday or Tuesday of next week, EXACTLY like I did the last time. You’ll get the exact recipe and measurements of everything I’m using, so if you don’t want to order it premade, you can easily go out, buy the ingredients yourself, and make it in your home.

Quickly, though, I will tell you that the scrub is formulated to be effective for all skin types, but it’s especially targeting oiliness and detoxification. It contains things like activated charcoal (the awesomest scrub ingredient ever), ground chamomile and calendula, ground oats and almonds, turmeric resin, evening primrose oil, clay, rice flour, and peppermint oil.

Right now, I’m only shipping to the US and Canada for this price, but if you’re overseas elsewhere and don’t mind paying a bit extra for shipping, hit me up and we’ll figure out the right price for it.

They won’t ship for about 3 weeks, though. We’ll do preordering, and then I’ll take a week to put it all together, package it, and ship it out.

I may limit this to only 100 orders this time, just to be safe (so I don’t overextend). Each order will contain 1 cup of the scrub (which is about 3 months worth if you use it every day).

You’ll hear more about this soon. So on to the next item.

3. Get Your “I’m A Crunchy Betty” Button

Dawn of Monday Morning VA isn’t just full of awesome ideas (and she’s not just a fabulous coach), she also took some time to create these adorable, catchy buttons that you all can add to your blogs or websites or noses or wherever.

Here they are, with the code, but you’ll also find them in the Resources and Buttons page (which is linked now at the very top of the blog), so you can come back and get them whenever you want.

THANK YOU, DAWN. You are a true crunchy goddess. My life is literally changed because of our conversation. In a good way.

4. Giving to Charity and a Crunchy Betty Giveaway

The two runners-up for winning the poll on what to do with your money were “buying food and sundries for a charity that gives to the homeless” and “using the money to buy ingredients for a Crunchy Betty giveaway.”

These two things were neck-and-neck for a really long time (though the charity idea won out in the end).

I want to use the money to do both of these things.

So, I’m going to take $60 from the Paypal account, go down to the local community store (which sells awesome organic foods at unheard of low prices) and buy stuff to take to one of my favorite local charitable services: Silver Key. They assist senior citizens in need, and are always looking for donations (both monetary and physical) to help assist the elderly who are struggling to survive in the community.

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for them, and try to help out when I can. If you feel it in your heart to donate to them, as well, there’s a donate section on the page I linked above.

“What if MY grandparents had been in need?” is what I always think about here. It breaks my heart.

Crunchy Betty Giveaway

So the rest of the money will be used to host a “Few of My Favorite Things” giveaway, where I’ll come up with 3-5 things I LOVE to make for myself, and then we’ll do a giveaway for 5 gift baskets where  you can win.

This will hopefully happen in the next 3 weeks (though my sister’s about to have her first daughter (3rd baby) and I have to throw all things in a suitcase as soon as she goes into labor and drive to Kansas City with my mother … so my time and access to many of my ingredients may be limited in the next few weeks). I’m working on it, though.

The remaining money will most likely only pay for shipping, but that’s okay. Have you SEEN the prices of shipping at the Post Office lately? Ugh. I just shipped a 3-pound box, and it was $10.87 total. My goodness.

5. Happy Easter!

You are now (mostly) caught up on everything that’s going around here.

So now that you are, please breathe easy (because I’m sure it’s all been a huge weight on your shoulders) and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

LOVE you guys.

You complete me.