chalk it up to kindness

This month I'm going to be participating in Random Acts' Endure 4 Kindness. It's kind of like a marathon run, except that you get to marathon whatever activity you want. Some people are baking for 24 hours straight, some people are doing gymnastics, etc. I love this idea because it opens up the world of fundraising pledges to people (cough cough) who wouldn't last ten minutes in a normal marathon. All of the money raised from the event is going to support Random Acts, a charity that promotes and helps fund random acts of kindness around the world.

For my marathon, I'll be chalking up the driveway with kindness-related messages from dawn to dusk on October 19th. I have enlisted my brother's help and we'll be filming a time-lapse of the whole thing and then posting it on my youtube channel when we're finished.



Of course, the whole point of the event is to raise money so if you'd like to pledge to support my fundraiser that would be SO amazingly awesome! My mom and grandmom chipped in $15 to start me off and so far that's all I've raised, way short of my $500 goal, so I would appreciate anything you can manage. And as an incentive, I'm giving away some gifts to pledges that reach a certain amount!

- If you donate $25 or more (and you're a US resident) I'll send you a complimentary kindness brooch from my new store, The Kindness Shop. (They're also available to purchase there if you didn't want to pledge, but pledging means that 100% of your money goes directly to Random Acts!)

-  If you donate $100 or more (and you live on planet Earth) I'll make a custom brooch with whatever design your heart desires. Literally anything, the possibilities are endless.

I am so excited about this! If you want to help me reach my goal, you can pledge RIGHT HERE.





10/19 Update:

We just finished our marathon and the time-lapse video is available to view here. Thank you so much to those of you who donated, I really appreciate it more than you can imagine ♥

october giveaway: black cat purse

This year I'm doing one giveaway every month (in addition to my blog anniversary giveaway) There's one catch -- to enter, you have to perform a random act of kindness today. If you're stumped on what to do, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has a list of ideas right here!



What you'll win: One person will win this black cat purse from asos

How to enter: Perform a random act of kindness today and use the rafflecopter widget to enter. You can also earn extra entries in the widget by tweeting about your RAK or making a donation to your favorite charity. 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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Giveaway ends November 1st at 12:01AM EST.

August giveaway: Bait Footwear shoes

This year I'm 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!

This month I'm super excited to be teaming up with Bait Footwear, who is offering one lucky girl a pair of my favorite shoes, the Ida, in any color you wish! I am beyond thrilled that Bait Footwear supports this giveaway series & wants to help spread some kindness, too! :)



What you'll win: One person will win a pair of Bait Footwear Ida shoes in any color

How to enter: Pledge to perform a random act of kindness today and use the rafflecopter widget to enter. You can also earn extra entries in the widget by tweeting about the giveaway, tweeting about your RAK, following me on facebook and bloglovin, or making a donation to your favorite charity. 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!) Twitter entries from accounts used solely to enter giveaways will not be counted. This giveaway is open to everyone on planet earth.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Giveaway ends August 31st at 11:59PM EST.

July giveaway: pink instax mini camera

This year I'm 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!



What you'll win: One person will win this pink instax mini camera

How to enter: Pledge to perform a random act of kindness today and use the rafflecopter widget to enter. You can also earn extra entries in the widget by tweeting about the giveaway, tweeting about your RAK, following me on facebook and bloglovin, or making a donation to your favorite charity. 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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Giveaway ends August 1st at 12:01AM EST.

April giveaway: green scalloped purse [closed]

This year I'm 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!



What you'll win: One person will win this scalloped edge green purse

How to enter: Pledge to perform a random act of kindness today and use the rafflecopter widget to enter. You can also earn extra entries in the widget by tweeting about the giveaway, tweeting about your RAK, following me on facebook and bloglovin, or making a donation to your favorite charity. 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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway ends May 1st at 12:01AM EST. Giveaway has ended.

WINNER: Andrea M.

March giveaway: pink record player [closed]

This year I'm 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!



What you'll win: One person will win this pink Crosley record player

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 don't have to say what you did) 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 pink record player 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 April 1st at 12:01AM EST. Giveaway has ended.

Winner:

February giveaway: scalloped edge purse [closed]

This year I'm 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!



What you'll win: One person will win this scalloped edge light pink purse

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 pretty 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 March 1st at 12:01AM EST. Giveaway has ended.

Winner:

try a little kindness #4

This week's free printable is a photograph that I took (with my trusty new camera! yay!) with a wonderful quote by Amelia Barr. The dimensions of this one also make it suitable as a desktop background, too, for most monitors. You can download it for free here (just right-click and save) and it's also available on society6 here.



A group of high school students went around late at night and put happy, encouraging messages on every locker in their building. I think this is such a beautiful idea, especially in high school when a lot of kids start off each day feeling blue (at least I know I did.) The students got the idea from tumblr after another group had done the same thing. It would be so cool if this idea spread and more and more school kids were greeted one morning with a sunny note pinned to their locker.



1- Have a bit of a knitting addiction? Knit some hats and scarves and donate them to local shelters.
2- Think of someone that you've lost touch with and send them a sweet note, asking how they're doing.
3-Clean out your cabinets and donate any non-perishables that you aren't going to use
4- I've been noticing Girl Scout's selling cookies outside the grocery store lately -- feed two birds with one bagel by supporting young girls and getting yummy cookies at the same time!
5- When you're at the store and someone has a lot less in their cart than you do, let them go ahead of you.

One of the easiest ways to show kindness is with patience -- letting other people go ahead of you in lines, when you're driving, etc. I tend to do this whenever possible with one major exception-- if I desperately have to go to the bathroom, kindness takes a backseat to getting home immediately, lol!

try a little kindness #3

I was a bad blogger and just whipped this up really fast to make sure I still got a kindness post up today. Oops! I was up until 4am working on a different project (I'm sharing it later this week, it was definitely worth the sleep deprivation!) and was just way too tired to work on this post until this afternoon.

This download includes a set of printable notecards that you can hand out to show your appreciation to the kind human beings in your life. Sometimes the best random act of kindness is acknowledging and showing appreciation for a different one.

If you'd like you can download an 8.5"x11" free printable of this design right here (just right click and save!) They print two per page.



You probably already heard about this but I think it's pretty awesome and wanted to share.

Ok, so Jezebel offered $10,000 to anyone who would send them the unretouched photos from Lena Dunham's Vogue photo shoot. Then someone gave them the pictures and they presumably forked over Ten. Thousand. Dollars. And then the awesome Nicolette Mason and Brad Walsh stepped in and decided that that much money could be much better spent.

They started an indigogo campaign to raise $10,000 for women's empowerment -- specifically Step Up Women's Network. You can see their campaign page (and contribute, if that floats your boat!) right here. I absolutely love this story and I hope so badly that they meet their goal. It's wonderful when a crappy internet thing turns into an inspirational internet thing :)



1 - Shovel your neighbor's sidewalk
2 - Slip a happy note into a library book for a stranger to find
3 - Go on a loose-change treasure hunt in your house and donate the money. You can take the change to a coinstar machine if you don't want to manually count it out.
4 - Next time you're at the grocery store keep an eye out for donation bins near the exit. Mine has one for donating animal food and one for canned goods, so I usually get an extra can of cat food and an extra can of beans and drop them on my way out. It's less than a dollar per shop but it makes a small difference.
5 - If you have a friend that's feeling blue, make them cookies or send them a card.. give them a call or order a surprise pizza! It's amazing how much one small thoughtful gesture can brighten someone's mood :)

try a little kindness #2

I'm really excited about this printable, I've been wanting to figure out how to do faux cross stitch in photoshop for a while and I can't wait to make more designs now that I learned how. I want to learn how to do physical cross stitch too, I just need to find the right pattern to start with (I'm thinking one from kitschy digitals will be perfect, though!)

If you'd like you can download an 8"x10" free printable version of this design right here (just right click and save!) It's also available in my society6 shop here.




Last week this Pennsylvania pizza shop owner offered to deliver food and medicine for free to any elderly residents in his town who were trapped in their homes because of the arctic vortex. I've read so many heartwarming stories about people helping out during the storm. There's also this story about a man who put his snowblower to good use and cleared the snow from his neighbors' driveways in below-freezing weather.



1- If you have netflix or hulu plus and pay $7.99 a month for those services, maybe consider signing up for a monthly charitable contribution in the same amount. I'm by no means rolling in money but I figured if I can find $8 every month for reruns of The Office I can find it for the ASPCA :)
2 - Put some of your spare change in a parking meter that's running low
3 - Let someone know how much you love their work. I tweeted an author today to say how much I loved his book. Hopefully he'll see it and smile :)
4 - If you follow me on twitter you know I'm not the biggest fan of USPS but I do admire the individual mailmen who have to battle this weather to deliver our mail. A little "thank you" note in the mailbox wouldn't be a bad idea!
5 - Go out of your way to say "hello," smile, and say "thank you" every time you're at a cash register (thank you to Mary for this one!)

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! :)

January giveaway: mint scalloped satchel [closed]

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. Giveaway has ended.

Winner:

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