Rayela's Fiber Focus Participates in One World, One Heart 2010

The Magic Carpet ride is over!
It's been parked until next year...

I'm pleased to announce the winner of my prize:  CreativSpirit, a blogger from Australia with beautiful work.  You can go see for yourself:  http://creativspirit.blogspot.com/   I used a random number generator to pick her as the winner.

Something special will fly from Rayela Art's Etsy store, from the United States to Australia.  Truly appropriate in keeping with our magic carpet theme! 

Congratulations, CreativSpirit!
Thanks to all of you who have visited Fiber Focus.  I hope you will be back again!

Come ride the magic carpet!

One World, One Heart is an annual event hosted by Lisa Swifka of A Whimsical Bohemian.  This is the 4th year for this event, inspired by the idea that bloggers from around the world might get to know each other a bit better through a massive give-away effort in an "open house" format.  See more about the event further on down in this post.

Welcome Bloggers!

First, a quick introduction:  This blog focuses on fiber art and textiles with a special emphasis on how both impact society.  Special interest is given to fair trade, recycled materials, and green practices.  Guest artists are always welcome!  If these themes interest you, follow the blog through Blogger, your reader or on Facebook and come back later to explore more.  I know people do a crazy run around during the event, but the whole point is to find new connections, so don't lose us in the shuffle!

Fiber Focus is part of Rayela Art which sells ethnic textiles and provides technical assistance for craft related businesses.  I have been working with crafts for over twenty years and have good knowledge that can help other businesses increase their visibility and sales potential.  See my website for more info.

Rayela Art Giveaway

Every blogger participating in One World, One Heart is giving a prize to participants.  In order to qualify, leave a comment on this post.  You must also have an active blog and provide a link or email so that I can notify you if you win the giveaway.

The magic carpet ride ends on February 15th.  At that time, all of us will do a random pick from those who posted on our comments and notify our winners.  Last year, I gave away a textile stamp from Afghanistan and a vintage printing block from Kentucky, the state where I live.  I absolutely love this year's theme!  Afghanistan is a country close to my heart and one of the top producers of an art that is quickly dying, carpet weaving.  So, this year I decided that I would let the winner pick what they want as long as it is from Afghanistan.

Winner gets a $30 Gift Certificate 

from Rayela Art's store on Etsy!

At the time of this post, I have 66 items listed on Etsy that are from Afghanistan.  Click here to see what is in stock now.  My most popular sellers are the textile stamps, but I also have lots of Kuchi beaded patches, other textile remnants, handcarved beads made from semi-precious stones, and, yes!  even a magic carpet!!!

Note: The gift certificate can only be used towards product.  Winner pays for shipping. 

When I notify the winner, I will explain how to redeem the gift certificate and will post the winner and her or his links here.  No products will be reserved as special requests.

More about One World, One Heart

When Lisa started this event, she had no idea it would take off like it did.  Last year, 2009, there were over 900 participants!  She states in her text:

"This is more than wanting to win something.......that is only the means.......in the end it's about finding kindred spirits. Someone who may be fairly new to blogging, not sure how to navigate, find others and have others find them....Some are long time bloggers and in some cases well known in the blogging community. Whatever the case it brings all of them together. 

This is an INTERNATIONAL event that has and had participants from the US, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Malaysia, Brazil, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, England,Wales, Slovenia and more. It transcends geographical location, socio economics, political affiliation, religious beliefs......it's a coming together like the giant community we are on this planet. If only it took a simple giveaway to create PEACE everywhere, in the mean time here we give from our hearts. We are not solving the worlds problems nor are we curing anything nor are we changing the world. We are merely generating a closer community between humans through blogging. What more could I ask for, my little idea has surpassed my wildest dreams of what it could become."

The excellent level of participation shows a true desire of bloggers seeking to connect with each other.  I do think it goes beyond wanting to win something.

Now, with so many participants, it's hard to navigate the list which is set up chronologically from those who entered first.  The ones listed in the beginning will obviously get more traffic, so here are a couple of suggestions:

• Start from the bottom and work backwards.
  
• Look for blog names that might relate to your interest.
• Jump to every 10th name.  (If 900 participate, you will have looked at 90 blogs!)
• Use this as a learning tool.  Don't just look at the prize.  Look at how the blog is set up.  Take notes on ideas you could use for your own blog.  What platform is it on?  How quickly did it load?  Are the links useful?  Are they using Project Wonderful? 
• If you like it, don't lose it.  I add blogs that I like on to my blog roll.  It got so long that only the top most recent posts show, but whenever I have time, I refer to it and go visit.
• Leave personal comments (rather than canned ones) so that the blogger might want to visit you back.  "I hope I win!" is not an interesting comment...
• Have fun!

Finally, a big thanks to Lisa and A Whimsical Bohemian.  This is a mammoth project and we all appreciate your time, energy and spirit in doing this!

Thank you, Lisa!!!

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Rayela's Fiber Focus Participates in One World, One Heart 2010