Well, that was exciting! And nerve wracking. And outrageously inspiring. I’m talking, of course, about my Furoku Membership post. You, my wonderful, wonderful friends, have given me so much to think about, hope for and strive toward. I pored over every comment, teared up anew with every considerate and helpful email, gasped and shook my head in wonder every time someone signed up (!!). Even if I harangued you with thank yous every minute for the next decade, it wouldn’t be enough…
I spent a good chunk of time setting up and creating furoku #1 last week, which will go out tomorrow. Given that I leapt blindly and headfirst to get this going without a lot of forethought, this first one is going to end up on the lo-tech side of things and I’m researching ways to build the membership site (I’m getting excited about offering video tutorials). Still, I’m pleased with what I was able to cull together in the short time, and I’m determined to make next month’s even better.
I’ll keep the subscribe button active till the end of the day today and will open up membership again some time in the middle of next month when I post the monthly income report. I may change this and have an option to join any time, but my technical know-how is still in its infancy and I have a few things to figure out about tracking and such. How many joined, you may be wondering? For now, I’ll just say: a small yet mighty number. I’ll share exact numbers and other tidbits with the report!
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“Enjoy the little things” — that charming note up at the top is from my Secret Valentine partner, Mirta of Modern Botanics. Her gift embodies everything I adore: neutral colors, graphic elements, linen, a bit of wabi-sabi flair. I am smitten with her hand-stamped linen tea towels and the soothing lavender sachets:
Thank you for the loveliest of gifts, Mirta! Your message is so on point – it really is about enjoying the little things.
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SVE was one of the inspirations for the membership idea, and it holds a special place in my heart because it was borne out of collaboration. Ute and I accidentally stumbled upon a community of generous women willing to make and ship gifts around the world, to celebrate Valentine’s Day in a non-traditional way. We ended up with 100 participants (I’ve listed them all down below, though I think there may have been some additional folks who joined in later that maybe didn’t get captured in our list?) in 20+ countries. Wow. It was, more than anything, a celebration of creativity and thoughtfulness. Perhaps it’s just my own impression, but a quick glance at what’s popularized on the internet leads me to believe that thoughtfulness is an under-appreciated and precious quality.
Here is the list of SVE participants in total. I’ve included blog URLs and linked the names to instagram accounts where applicable (check out #2015sve for a roundup of in-progress and completed projects). There’s also much to admire on Flickr. What a talented and magnanimous bunch! I know some gifts took longer than others to arrive and Ute and I greatly appreciate everyone’s patience — we really had no idea so many people would participate from across the globe! Let me know if I missed anything, and we hope you all had as much fun as we did! Mark it in your calendar: #2016sve!!