ANNOUNCING THE INDIESMILES CHARITY BIRTHDAY BASH
EXCITING CONTEST FOR BEST PET AND BEST HANDMADE ITEM TO BENEFIT ASPCA!

Image courtesy of 1959creations

Come join our celebration starting 9/1/10! Why are we celebrating?  It’s our birthday!  Indie Smiles and its columnists have been sharing news for a year and we want to give back to the community.  

Our articles feature various Indie shops including those affiliated with specific venues such as Etsy, Folksy, Zibbet and ArtFire together with shops that are not affiliated with a specific venue and cover a variety of topics.  

Here is just a small sampling of some of the fantastic articles that have brought to you by a few of Indiesmile’s outstanding columnists that have been presented over the past year:

Inspired Mosaics by Barb from All About Buttons

(http://www.indiesmiles.com/inspired-mosaics/),

Make Your Own Boppy by Nikkie of Sugar Shox Crafts (http://www.indiesmiles.com/make-your-own-boppy/), T

The Sultan of Scrollsawings by Jay of Haffina Creations (http://www.indiesmiles.com/the-sultan-of-scrollsawing/),

Let Flyby Linda

(http://www.indiesmiles.com/let-fly/)

Collar Up (your) Pup by Donna of Glass and Wire Gems (http://www.indiesmiles.com/collar-up-your-pup/).  

Our goal is to make a difference through charity and community work as well as bring you exciting and educational articles.  

This year, to celebrate one year of contributing articles, we are supporting a nationwide charity, it’s a charity most of us have heard of, it’s ASPCA! It was the charity of choice for our Indiesmiles Charity Birthday Bash!

When she heard which charity we were supporting, Linda, one of our columnists, wrote:  I love the ASPCA. They need all the help they can get! I got my 2 babies, which includes Peanut there, in NYC along with her brother. Y’all should know who Peanut is by now if you've looked at my Etsy shop. Domino lived to be 11 yrs old and Peanut was on this earth for 20 years. Very loving and caring people work there as well. Even if they have to put some of the animals to sleep. While they are there, they get the utmost care, I think, at least the one in NYC does, that I know of. They have so many animals that need homes, it's overwhelming.  You can view the artwork Linda has created out of her love for Peanut in Linda’s shop by going to http://lindagj.etsy.com

Amy, an ASPCA member who is shop owner AmyCreates, shares the following:  My husband and I have adopted 6 cats (5 girls and 1 boy)–4 from the Humane Society and 2 from the hot Arizona streets. It's really more like they adopted us! Our 2 from the streets each came to us in the summertime (a year apart), and were "foreclosure cats," pets conveniently left behind when people moved out of their houses. That anyone could do such a thing to a precious and innocent life is just horrifying.

We never set out to have 6 cats, it just happened that way. But I wouldn't change our family for anything. We all love each other and there's a good balance, and the best part is that no matter where I am in the house, a cat is sure to be there with me!

A special thanks goes to Donna of Glassandwiregems, Nikki of Sugarshoxcrafts. They have been the coordinators for this event. Andy whose wife owns Incredibleangels has put together special programs that will allow you to upload your own picture (handmade or a pet). There is no limit top how many pictures you upload but there is a donation requirement for each pic you enter into the contest.
Also a very special thank you to 1959creations for puting together a host of images for us to use in our Charity Birthday Bash.
And a special thanks to anyone who joins our celebration by donating, entering their pics and voting! Thank you to all of loyal readers of Indiesmiles, we couldnt’ do this without you!

So get started by getting your favorite pics together because starting on 9/1/10 you can donate $5.00 using the left side donation button and go to the birthday bash handmade or pets and upload a picture. When you are ready to vote, you can go in either category and vote, vote, vote!
Plus, for more fun, the best Pet and the best Handmade item that draws the most votes will win prizes with values over $100.00! Don’t miss it!

Here you’ll find items that completely benefit the animals. Each week El and Sue will choose items that donate 100% of their proceeds to animal charities. These items are from shops that may or may not belong to our smile program, but are certainly from animal friendly shops. Links to the items are provided below the image section.

Please note: Each of the shops that have submitted an item pledge to donate 100% of the items proceeds  (displayed below) to an animal charity of their choice, Indiesmiles does not make any guarantees of such donation.

We want to spread smiles for the animals, so if you have an item in your shop that completely benefits the animals (100% of the proceeds) and you would like to see it pictured here, please fill out our Smile for the Animals Form. These smiles are shared free of charge! By filling out our form and submitting an item that completely benefits the animals, you can receive our Smiles Subscription at a reduced rate!!! Check it out here.

These items were listed here free of charge to benefit the animals. If you would like to have your item listed here and it completely benefits the animals (100% of the proceeds), then please fill out our Smile for the Animals Form.