Happy Australia Day!

What a beautiful day it is in the Sunshine state today! The perfect kind of day for celebrating all things Australian and being thankful for all this great country has to offer. As most of you would be aware, over the past few weeks, parts of Australia have been torn apart by devastating floods. While the floods were nothing short of heartbreaking it has been amazing to see the generosity of individuals and communities from all over the world who have pulled together and raised much needed funds for all of those affected.

We would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank-you to all of our Aussie fans who have supported our Handmade Ark Appeal over the past few weeks. So far we have raised over $3277 as a result of your generosity. You can keep a watch on the Handmade Ark tally in the side bar of the blog under the Handmade Ark blog button.

On a celebratory note, selected Australian Etsy street teams are also participating in a mega 'Australia Day' promo. To see a list of all of the participating items and stores all you need to do is search "ausday" on Etsy or click here. It's that easy! Shops will be offering 15%, 20% and 25% off selected items. To ensure you get your discount, you must enter the code "ausday" in the coupon code on checkout! The sale will run from January 26th to 31st. Below are some of the lovely items from participating BrisStylers:

I Love Orange Shoulder Bag from alipink - get 15% off this item!

Pink Chandelier Earrings from Angelene - get 20% off this item!

Summer Stripes Hairclips from Chelley Bean Designs - get 20% off this item!

Innocent Crush Layered Skirt from Hot Fudge - get 20% off this item!

So to all of our Aussie fans out there, thank-you for you continued support and enjoy browsing the shops participating in the Australia Day Etsy promo!

3- BrisStyle's Handmade Ark Flood Appeal - THANK YOU!

We really don't know where to begin when it comes to saying THANK-YOU to everyone who has supported and continues to support the BrisStyle Handmade Ark Flood Appeal. Over the past two weeks 75% of Queensland has been devastated by flooding, with lives, homes and possessions being swept away from beneath so many. It would be hard to find anyone in Queensland who hasn't been affected by the flooding in some way. Thank-you to everyone who sent messages of encouragement and well wishes our way. We are so blessed to be able to say that all of our members are safe, although many were directly affected.

Mitre St, St Lucia

Westerham St, Taringa

Gyatt Park

All images courtesy of shelley berelli

You can also check out this great blog post from shelley berelli

To show our support to all those in need, we put a call out to our members to donate items to the BrisStyle Handmade Ark Flood Appeal. We were absolutely overwhelmed with their response, with some members offering to donate 100% of their sales to the cause. They really did turn passion into purpose! So far our members have raised and donated over $3250 to the Queensland Premier's Flood Relief Appeal. I'm sure you will all agree that this is an amazingingly generous effort and is testament to our communities unbreakable spirit.

So, we would like to take this opportunity to say a special thank-you to all of our members (and non-members) who donated goods and to all those who tweeted, facebooked and blogged about the appeal. Your support has been truly inspirational!

A special thank-you also to {KID independent} for their heartfelt blog post as well as to Morgan and all the Etsy Team HQ crew in New York, peppermint magazine, Little Jane St, Poppytalk and DAYDREAM LILY for mentioning our appeal on their blogs / websites / newsletters

Some lovely Etsy treasuries were also put together to help promote the BrisStyle Handmade Ark Flood Appeal. The below treasury was put together by Fruits OF the BLooM all the way from Alabama in the United States. Loren and her sister Caitlin experienced the effects of Hurricane Katrina and were really moved at the similarity in stories and images coming from Qld.


This next treasury was put together by one of our members, Sam, from Jetta's Nest.

We would also like to thank everyone who purchased an item or two from the BrisStyle Handmade Ark. We would not have been able to do this without you! Your generosity and overflowing words of kindness have been greatly appreciated. The below message was sent to one of our members, Lesley, from Oz Wildlife Art in support of the BrisStyle Handmade Ark Flood Appeal.

'I'm very touched to find an Etsy shop helping the flood victims and was delighted to buy the print of the two little lorrikeets. They look as though they need comfort from one another, just as all those unfortunate people and animals now need comfort'........Carol (from the NSW Central Coast).

We cannot express in this post how much your support of the BrisStyle Handmade Ark Flood Appeal means to us, our members and the greater Queensland community. There are still many handmade items available to purchase as part of the Handmade Ark Appeal, so pop over to this blog post for a full list of participating Etsy stores.

And again, we would like to say THANK-YOU, from the bottom of our hearts! xoxo

2 - BrisStyle's Handmade Ark Flood Appeal Continues

TOTAL RAISED SO FAR: $3259.15

With the overwhelming response from the BrisStyle Members the BrisStyle's Handmade Ark Appeal is now bigger than ever with lots of amazing handmade goodies up for grabs!


Donating is simple and all you need to do is make a purchase from any of the BrisStyle etsy stores listed below that have 'BrisStyle Handmade Ark Appeal' listed in their item listings or etsy tags.
You'll also find listing fro other generous etsians throughout our national and global networks who are also participating in the comments below

To make it SUPER EASY

you can just go directly to Etsy HERE and see all of those participating and start shopping.

The participating stores will continue to be updated and we will keep a running tally of funds raised here on our blog.


Please extend your generosity via our "handmade Ark" and know that in some way you have made a difference to the flood affected communities in Queensland as well as our members.

SMBoutique (Donating all the proceeds from entire store)

Beckybean (Donating all the proceeds from entire store)

3 GIRLS + a goat (Donating all the proceeds from entire store)

edward & lilly (Donating all the proceeds from entire store)

WarmSigh (Donating 50% of all the proceeds from entire store)

made by Maisie (Donating all the proceeds from entire store)

catamation ( Donating 50% of all the proceeds from entire store )

Wimcee (Donating 50% of all the proceeds from entire store)

Forever Inspired by Liv (Donating 25% of all the proceeds from entire store)

Marjon Scheffer (Donating 20% of all the proceeds from entire store)

2Much2Handle (Donating 20% of all the proceeds from entire store)

Ruby 2 Go Go (Donating 20% of all the proceeds from entire store)

ruby red studios (Donating 20% of all the proceeds from entire store)

Small Town Carousel (Donating 20% of all the proceeds from entire store)

angelene (Donating 20% of all the proceeds from entire store)

Shelley Berelli ( Donating 15% of all the proceeds from entire store )

pass the parcel (Donating 15% of all the proceeds from entire store)

Noogal ( Donating 10% of all the proceeds from entire store )

rachel darling girl

A Creature Strange

Little Chrissy

Mrs Smiley's Lockets

Designs of the Heart

Jellygnite

Mon Petit Poppet

Red Revival

Kimono Reincarnate

Bamboo Belle

Lady Aux and Menfolk

Bon Tons

Dash Robin

Cute as Buttons

Good Boy Cracky

Kitty Boo Boo

Little Mary Moo

Wildlight Studios

Sweet Simplicitee

Curiouser & Curiouser

Alipink

Jettas Nest

Oz Wildlife Studio

Wicked Child Designs

ReRead

Kitty Hugo

Create & Be Happy

Rock N Wrap

My Nostaglic Feeling

Love, Marriage, Baby Carriage Gifts

Treeparty Design

Hungry Designs

Retro Bird

Denim Days

Hot Fudge

Nan's Garden

Boorah Designs

moose & bird

DAUGHTER of James

paper tree design

HIP BROWN

collecting feathers

Paluma Print