Give To Others

These are the 3 organizations we have chosen to donate to.
If you are interested in donating any proceeds from the sale(s) of item(s) in your shop, you can check out their information here:

Kiva
Wateraid
Doctors Without Borders

Also, make sure that you edit your listings so that buyers know that part of their purchase price will go to these charities.

When you make your sale you can either donate directly on their respective websites, or you can wait until March, June, September, or December and we will pool all charity donations from all members and split our donations between all 3 organizations. Receipts of transactions will be available to all members and will be donated from "Carried Away: The Etsy Bag Makers Team"

If you have items in your shop whose proceeds you would like to donate, please email me with:
THE LISTING URL and at least ONE PHOTO
so that I can link to them on facebook and our blog so you get recognition and hopefully sell those bags! When you sell an item please let me know so that we can congratulate you on your sale. My direct email is jandem [at!] me.com

Carried Away Team Challenge #2

It's time for our second team challenge. This one is called "Change Purses for Change". To participate you need to design a change purse, wallet or pouch suitable for holding money. Your submission can be made out of any material, in any color, any size. So, the sky's the limit! The deadline to submit a change purse is September 30. For more details visit our Team Ning Page. *** YOU MUST BE A MEMBER OF THE CARRIED AWAY TEAM TO PARTICIPATE ***

We will be donating the proceeds from this challenge to Women for Women International. To identify the listings for this charity, there will be a Women for Women logo in the listing. We already have 4 submissions in the shop for this challenge, so check them out and join in the fun! It's all for a great cause.



Since it’s creation, Women for Women International has empowered over 153,000 women survivors of war to move toward economic self-sufficiency with it's year-long program of direct aid, rights education, job skills training, and small business development. They have distributed $42 million in direct aid, microcredit loans, and other program services. Since 1993, Women for Women International has mobilized more than 125,000 women and men in 105 countries worldwide to reach out and support women survivors of war – one woman at a time.

In October we'll host a giveaway on this blog. Readers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite change purse. More details on the giveaway later.

Thanks to all who participated in our first team challenge. The "Summer of Freedom" proceeds support Herobox.org. Handbags made for the challenge are listed in our team shop-http://cabteam.etsy.com. Sales of these bags will continue to allow us to send care packages to our adopted marine and her unit. You can identify the Herobox bags from the logo in each listing. Check out older blog posts to see what we've been able to send.

Calling all sewers and quilters

Hey this guy's wife and mom and sisters all say that quilters and sewers are the most generous people on the planet. I think he's right and I am going to pack up an Iraqi Bundle of Love in the next week or two.

Iraqi Bundles of Love is a short-duration project, set to last about six weeks, to surge fabric and sewing materials into the area around which I live in Iraq. It is timed to coincide with both Ramadan, and the departure of my units from Iraq.

It is intended to be a simple project, requiring little effort and little expenditures from those wishing to participate. It is based upon my assessment that sewing fanatics and quilters tend to have stashes that far exceed their actual needs, and that sewing fanatics and quilters are passionate both about sewing / quilting, and about sharing with others.

The general premise is this. I am in Iraq, and I can get mail through the US Postal System. Willing contributors can send to me a flat-rate box of sewing / quilting supplies, all bundled up. I’d open the box, pull out the fully-contained bundle, and hand of off (with others) to our counterparts in the Iraqi Security Forces (Army and others) or the local police, for them to distribute. The stated intent of this operation is to put sewing and quilting supplies into the hands of two types of recipients: locals who desperately need such things, and local sewing co-ops who have received grants or loans (typically to puchase sewing machines, rent space, etc).

Have you got some fabric and sewing notions you can live without? Bet you do, if you think about it. There are very few fabric shops in Iraq and I like the idea of leaving something good behind as our units pull out and giving people a way up to independence.

Just a bunch of Linus Lovers here

As we mentioned, Carried Away Team Members are spending some time this summer making up 12" blocks to create quilts for donation to Project Linus. So far, we've had an enthusiastic response from the team. These shops will all be making blocks, whole quilts or assembling blocks for the team.

Wendy of Bags and Buds
Barb of Baggaroos
Cynde of Cynde's Place
Dawn of D's Chic Boutique
Krystal of Solsisters
Regina of Miss Gina Designs
Leslee of Tropical Crush Bags
Kim of Kim's Crafty Apple
Penny of Pennamite
Nichole of NiChern Designs
Masko of Siam Square

GO LADIES, GO!