Happy Anniversary to Indie Fixx!

Well, they do say that time really flies when you are having fun and I can sure attest to that, since Indie Fixx is turning one-year-old today, August 6th, and I can’t honestly say where the time has gone. I know that I’ve discovered a lot of amazingly talented and creative indie crafters, artists and designers over this first year. I have also met a lot of really super nice people including my blog friends, readers and indie shop owners. It was one year ago today that I wrote my very first post about Wendy Mink and it’s a real whirlwind ever since. Thanks for reading.

To celebrate my one-year anniversary, I’m having a great big contest. There are two ways to win. Firstly, when you enter the Indie Fixx 1st Anniversary Contest you will be entered into the random drawing for the Grand Prize, which includes prizes valued at $485 and donated by over 15 different indie shops. ***edited Plus, the first 200 people to enter the contest will win a swag bag made up of donated samples! The swag bags are all gone.*** Now that’s what I call a contest.

In addition to the 1st Anniversary Contest, I’m implementing some fun new features on Indie Fixx to celebrate my anniversary. It’s important to me to keep Indie Fixx fresh and interesting for both you and me and I am excited about these new features and I hope you will be too.

On Artist Fixx Wednesdays, I will interview and spotlight a particular indie artist/designer and their biz. I want to help you get to know some of the amazing and talented people out there in the inide world. The first Artist Fixx Wednesday feature will take place this Wednesday, August 8th.

Reader Fixx Thursdays will see a post devoted to one reader’s top ten indie picks. I get tips all the time from readers and I thought this would be a really way to give you guys a voice and a chance to share.

Each Mintd Fridays’ post will feature a Mintd treasure that catches my eye. Mintd is an online buying and selling community for people who make and buy indie stuff and I’m always finding great indie products that I’d love to share and promote

Some more upcoming plans include the Fall Jewelry Guide, a Fall and a Holiday shopping and gift guide, more great contests and the biggest news of all is that I will be opening an Indie Fixx Shop. The Shop has been in the works for some time now, it’s actually quite a lot of work to open a shop and I want everything to be just perfect before opening my virtual doors. Our expected opening will take place in fall 2008 and there will be more details coming closer to the grand opening.

So that’s some of the new stuff, but some of the old stuff was pretty cool too and this first year of Indie Fixx has sure been action-packed. There have been contests, like the I Support Indie Knockout and the Looking for Love Contest. Plus, I’ve put out six gift and shopping guides, including My Birthday Wish List, the Summer Wedding Guide, and the Holiday Gift Guide. Of course, there are always my witty, slightly irreverent, and spot on (if I do say so myself) posts about the latest and greatest indie finds that come across my desk. In just my first year, I have posted a total of 415 posts… now that’s not too shabby.

The Grand Prize includes items donated by the following indie shops:

Bag from Tinkering Textiles
Bag from Miggi Pyn
Chalkboard coasters from Fancy
Painting from Dolan Geiman
Baby shirt from Bitty Braille
T-shirt and cards from Tina Seamonster
Necklace from Erica Burns Designs
Jewelry from Jewelry by Jennifer Casady
Ceramic wall time from Little Flower Designs
Soap from feto soap
Fabric pouches from Uplifting Arts
Prints from Absolutely Small
Little Name CD from Sleepy Records
Cards from ZeVin Creations
Jewelry from Tilting Swiftly

The 200 Swag Bags contain items donated by the following indie shops:

Head Full of Pixies
Midnight Firefly
Artful Sentiments
Tilting Swiftly
Armato Design
Imagine That Art Studio
Shortcakes
Yndigo Designs
Dichroic Jewelry by Lis Kidder
little JULES

Swag bag winners will not receive a prize from each participating shop, but all donated samples were divided evenly distribted between the 200 swag bags.