try a little kindness #1

I've really been enjoying reading the comments on the January giveaway post! So many fantastic random acts of kindness -- I get the warm fuzzies every time I approve new comments :) If you have a chance definitely read through some of them, both for ideas and for renewed faith in humanity.

Part of my new kindness resolution includes this new weekly series, kind of like Friday Favorites except everything is related to being kind :) Each post will include a free printable, a happy news story and ideas for random acts of kindness to perform during the upcoming week. Ready? Here we go!





First up, my first free kindness printable! The quote is from the series Derek (if you haven't watched it yet, it's on Netflix and I highly recommend it!) and I just thought it was the absolute perfect one to start with! Kindness really IS magic. You can download a free high-res PDF of my illustration here (just right-click and save!) and it's also in my society6 shop here.



You may have already heard about this but just in case you didn't, it's a pretty awesome news story! One web developer decided to give a homeless man a laptop, 3 textbooks and 1 hour of coding instruction each day for two months. The result? His student is now the proud author of an app that debuted last month. It's a carpooling app and it hit #1 in the travel category after only being in the iTunes app store for five days! Isn't that awesome?! You can read more about them on their Facebook page here.

And some random act of kindness ideas that are super easy and free --

1 - give a compliment to a stranger
2 - leave a positive comment on a blog that you usually only stalk
3 - call your mom and thank her for something
4 - let another car into traffic ahead of you
5 - collect your old towels & donate them to your local animal shelter

If you have any ideas for random acts of kindness (inexpensive or free acts are preferred) let me know in the comments and I'll include them in my next post! :)

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January giveaway: mint scalloped satchel

This year I'll be doing one giveaway every month (in addition to my blog anniversary & birthday giveaways) There's one catch -- to enter, you have to perform a random act of kindness today. It's on the honor system, obviously, I can't actually make sure that everyone does it, but I trust that you will. If you're stumped on what to do, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has a list of ideas right here! You can also get an extra entry by making a donation to your favorite charity (once again, honor system, but I trust you!)



What you'll win: One person will win this mint green faux leather scalloped satchel

How to enter: simply leave a comment letting me know that you performed or are planning to perform a random act of kindness today (you can choose to share what you did or not, it's up to you!) and some way to contact you (email, twitter, blog, whatever floats your boat!) You must be a follower to enter (and, please, none of this follow-and-leave as soon as the giveaway is over jazz.. that's super rude!) This giveaway is open to everyone on planet earth.

For additional entries: (leave a separate comment for each entry)

1. Tweet this "I just entered to win a mint scalloped bag on @kategabrielle's blog! http://www.scathingly-brilliant.blogspot.com" (Only counts if you use this exact tweet. Entries from twitter accounts used solely to enter giveaways will not be counted.)
2. Tweet about your RAK and inspire others to do the same!
3. Pin the giveaway on pinterest

4. Follow me on facebook
5. Follow me on bloglovin
6. Make a donation in any amount to your favorite charity

Giveaway ends on February 1st at 12:01AM EST.

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happy new year!

I hope everyone had fun ringing in 2014! I'm more excited about starting fresh & resolutions & such than I think I've ever been before. My mini personal goals for the new year are to go back to school to finish my degree, thrift more of my wardrobe, and to start cooking at home more often (Chinese food & pizza are major weaknesses for me!)

My big huge super resolution is more of a life mission. I've decided that I want to do everything in my power to spread kindness. In my day to day life, online, in my business, at school, everywhere. I want to find new ways to appreciate the kindness I receive and reciprocate it. I want to find ways to intertwine the things I do on my blog with my favorite charities (more on that later this week!) I want to come up with ideas for fostering a higher level of civility on the internet and spreading those ideas as best I can. I want to create artwork that inspires kindness and thoughtfulness. I want to shine a spotlight on sweet souls doing kind deeds and lovely bloggers who brighten the web with their good-hearted warmth.

In this era I think we're surrounded by negativity more than any generation has been before, but the world would be such a happier, more lovely place to live in if we all lived by one simple rule -- be nice to each other. I know it would be impossible for me to actually make any sort of dent in the collective rudeness of our species, but starting this year I'm going to try so hard.

dress, shoes, and hat - vintage

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Christmas freebie

Last year at Christmastime I got really discouraged by the number of people who were sending me very rude e-mails asking where their etsy orders were, completely out of their minds with worry that their presents might arrive late. As any internet seller can tell you, we do our best to get our orders in the mail as quickly as possible, but once we pass the package into the hands of the post office the delivery date is out of our control. Instead of getting unreasonably upset about snail mail living up to its name, this year how about we all just take a deep breath and enjoy the season of goodwill. Let's be kind towards one another and consider the feelings of everyone we come across during our shopping adventures -- be kind to the cashiers, the clerks, the baristas, the internet sellers, and keep in mind that our loved ones will appreciate the sentiment of our gifts whether they are given on the 25th or beyond.

I made this free printable & I'm including links to it on my invoices -- if you're an etsy seller or blogger I hope you'll consider passing it along, too! Way too many people let themselves get so overwhelmed by the stress of shopping that they forget the reason they're doing it to begin with -- to show love and appreciation for another human being. You don't need to do that on December 25th, you can do it on December 29th or January 2nd. You can do it every day of the year! :)

You can download the freebie on Kitschy Digitals here (they're having a 30% off sale, by the way! Use code "wootwoot" at checkout)

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some thoughts on the christmas spirit

// image links back to source

I've been an active etsy seller since May 2009, so this is my 4th holiday season on etsy. And it might be my last. I'm still going to sell on etsy, but I think next year I might close my shop on Black Friday and re-open on January 1st. Let me explain why.

My family is pretty gung-ho about Christmas. We put the tree up super early (usually after Halloween) and start playing our seasonal albums even earlier. My mom bakes dozens and dozens of cookies, and in December we watch countless classic movies about goodwill towards men, and everything else that goes with the fabled Christmas spirit. But here's the thing -- after 4 years of etsy Christmases I'm starting to feel like that spirit just doesn't exist in the world. I'm starting to feel a lot colder about my fellow man, and I'm losing my faith that most people are nice and kind and good.

Here's something to remember if you're a buyer on etsy (or ebay, for that matter, where my dad is a top seller and is having similar feelings of disillusionment) You are dealing with a human being. Usually just one single human being on the other side of the computer. Not a big huge company or a customer service representative -- just one person who's handling the emails, the shipping, the production, everything. At this time of year they're probably having a harder time handling it unless they're lucky to have enough money to hire seasonal help or friends with enough time to lend a hand. They're probably feeling a little stressed out right now. So now, more than any other time of the year, would be a good time to be polite.

If you need an order rushed for Christmas, how about "If possible, could you please rush this? Thanks so much!" Instead of "Need for Christmas! Rush my order!" I'd like to feel like one of Santa's elves, not a member of a crafting chain gang. But that's really just a small pet peeve to me. What REALLY bothers me is how impatient, demanding and rude people are when they're following up about the status of their shipment. Quite frankly the vast majority of customers are patient and polite -- out of the 700+ orders I've received in the last month, only a handful were rude, but they were enough to make me want to chuck it all next year.

First of all, I find it absurd that so many people are "concerned this isn't going to make it for Christmas" when it hasn't arrived by December 12th. Did somebody move Christmas and not tell me? Last I heard it was the 25th, and as of today there are still seven whole days when the mail is being delivered. This morning somebody opened a dispute against me on etsy (sidenote: the fact that etsy has made it easier to open disputes without contacting the seller first really gets my goat) because their order hasn't arrived yet and now they don't think it will make it for Christmas. The tracking shows that it will be out for delivery tomorrow. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's over a week before Christmas.

What upsets me more than my frustration over how early people seem to be getting frantic over delivery dates is how cruel they are to me. FYI -- I'm a human being. This is Christmas for me, too, you know.. or at least it used to be. If USPS is taking five days to deliver a first class package, that's not actually my fault, but you'd never know it by the way some people treat me. It's a fact that USPS can take a little longer during the holiday rush because of the sheer volume of mail they're dealing with, and this year in particular because they've cut back so much. Lucky for them, though, any complaints about slow, lost or missing packages are directed at people like me, not them.

I've been feeling this way for a while now, but it sort of reached a crest this weekend. After hearing about the terrible events in Connecticut, I personally feel a lot less upset about trivial things. If you have your family and your health right now, you should be so incredibly thankful. To me Christmas is always more about being with the people you love than gifts, but this year even more so. The fact that anyone right now could be consumed with outrage over something so inconsequential as a gift that hasn't arrived before December 15th, that just breaks my heart. Be happy that you still have the person for whom the gift was intended.

And here's a thought: if your present doesn't arrive before Christmas, if the worst possible scenario happens and you are *gasp* sans-present come Christmas morning, make a little card that says "Christmas isn't over yet! There's still one more present, but it won't be under the tree for a few more days!" or something like that. So what if you have to give a present a few days after Christmas? As we know all too well right now, it could be much worse.

I know this is a really strange thing for me to be posting here -- and generally these sort of thoughts are reserved for my family and very close friends -- but I felt like it needed to be said. If just one person reads this and it makes them think twice before sending off an irate message to another etsy seller, it's worth it.

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