Merry Christmas giveaway worth $90!!! - yours for free - if you win.

How would you like to win this??? A beautiful and professional END-GRAIN Cutting Board 12" x 16" x 1" thick crafted from Cherry, Hard Rock Maple and Red Oak valued at 90.00!! 

Cutting boards are a kitchen "must-have" for all the cooks on your holiday shopping list.  And with all the holiday cooking just around the corner, make sure your own kitchen gets this gift as well. Read on to find out how you can win...

Meet Gary Lindsey...a family friend and a new shop owner on Etsy. http://www.etsy.com/shop/GaryLWoodCreations  Gary lives in Savannah Georgia, a place known for it's history, beauty, and the arts.  He is a father of 5 (#6 bun in the oven), a musician, a photographer, and an active member in his church's praise team . Gary has two special needs children and is very active in his local Autism community. Gary was in the "corporate America"  for 20+ years.  The recent poor economy has led him into another business venture...his own. Gary creates BEAUTIFUL, top of the line, professional grade cutting boards made by hand.  Get to know this artist better; here is my interview with him:

How been have you been working with wood? I can't remember not doing it.  My dad "got me hooked" building with wood at 15 years old.  I have been building a variety of wood creations 35 years now.

Do you remember the first thing you ever made? A Dachshund dog shaped tie rack for my father. I made it in high school wood shop.

What is your favorite wood to work with and why? Walnut, it is beautiful and rich.  Walnut is even more luxurious looking when finished.  It smells good when you are cutting it, too.   This high - end wood always turns out beautiful when properly crafted.

What do you like about woodworking? I love the creativity of taking a raw piece of wood and then molding,  shaping, and crafting it into a beautiful finished product. I enjoy the smell of it and the feel of wood. I enjoy repurposing things and the connection to nature.  Taking a tree and  transforming it into a cutting board, a doll bunk bed, etc is a great creative challenge and fulfillment.   I must admit, the alone time of escaping into my little garage wood shop to do my work is also a nice break when you are raising a village of children.  (We parent crafters can relate to that!)

What made you decide to open an etsy shop?

After years of creating a huge variety of wooden creations that have included large farmhouse-style tables, monster-sized wooden porch swings, cutting boards, picture frames, etc...people would see them and say, "You need to sell these!"

After much encouragement through the years, I decided to open a shop. An Etsy shop had much less overhead and allows me to exercise more creative control than a traditional store
 The Etsy Community is great to! The community has opened up so many possibilites like networking with other crafters and being encouraged by the success stories on the blog.  It provided an opportunity to offer my creations all over the world.  In addition, the opportunity to create an income stream on Etsy to support my growing family is unlimited in this very challenging economy.  My wife and I have made the decision to homeschool our children, so every little bit helps.  And because two of our kids are special-needs,  the "make your own schedule" flexibility allows me to help my wife raise our children even more.  Also, I'm able to be an active member of the music ministry at my church.

Is it hard to balance your Etsy shop and your kids, your church commitments and life in general? How do you balance it?  Yes it is.

The fact that my wife is the combination homeschooling /

stay-at-home mom, allows me the opportunity to spend a few hours "working my Etsy shop" during the day. We generally put the kids to bed earlier than most and then I'll be able to work into the night as needed.

Side note: his wife, Erin, also has a budding shop on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/myellidesigns .  She makes adorable kids clothes.  I have seen some of her recent creations that she needs to post...A D O R A B L E!!!

What is your long term vision? 

To create items that "wow" the recipient. I see that more and more folks are going "back-to-basics" by opening Etsy shops.  The country is looking for quality versus quantity nowadays  and there is something to be said about the appeal of handmade, meticulously crafted one-of-kind products.  In this difficult economy, I believe your own business is your best bet at stability, since it is all on you and you're not subject to the whims of executives at some distant corporate office.  An additional goal is to produce enough income to work in the home, allowing me to be a maximum part of helping to raise our children. Raising kids is a difficult job, and raising special-needs children...even more so. 

I know you are a christian...how do your morals tie into how you run your Etsy shop? I treat every customer with integrity and will always endeavor to go "above and beyond".  Any opportunity I can, I will exceed my customer's expectations.  My reputation and long-term success is dependent on it.  These values are not only good values, but Godly values.  Christ calls us to bless our employer, bless our customers,  bless those around us, and bless those that are less fortunate.

What advice do you have for my readers when purchasing wood products? Make sure to select the right wood for your purpose. For example a table  that will take much abuse (the kids or a family table), needs to be made out of a harder wood to last.  It is worth the investment.  Harder woods include: Maple, Oak, Cherry.  On the other hand, some softer woods would be a great choice for a table that you want to look rustic, like the farm table I made for my family.  Pine will show up every nick, but if rustic is what you are going for, stick with the pine because the nicks will give it more character. Soft woods include, Pine, Cedar, Cypress, Spruce.  Keep in mind that the softer woods are cheaper for a reason.  Harder woods are more expensive because they will out last all of us!

What can we expect new from your shop? 

I am about to roll out a few pieces of "American Girl" type furniture.

American Girl is the wildly popular 18" doll that seems to need every accessory under the sun :)  These items I roll out will be 100% applicable to any 18" sized doll.  Yay!  I am putting my order in for my girls.

Being that you are a bass player, Who is your favorite rock star and why? Sir Paul McCartney of the Beatles.  Why? Because he is a great bass player, composer, and he always delivers.  The man is 70 years old and he is as good now as he was in the Beatles.


I want to thank Gary for his time in this interview and most of all his GENEROUS giveaway.  I myself bought a few of these for myself and family.  They are beautiful and his completion of them was done in a great timely manner.  You almost hate to cut on them.  They are so beautiful, that mine stays out on the counter as a decorative piece in my kitchen as well.

So here is the scoop on the giveaway:
Giveaway will be active from Dec. 12  - 17 
in hopes that you will get it by Christmas!  
Entries will be drawn on Dec. 17 at 10pm East Coast time via Random.org.


HOW TO ENTER FOR THE GIVEAWAY:
Do one of the things below...get one entry do all four...get four entries into the giveaway.  Do the two extras also...you will have six entries!  The more entries, the higher your shot at winning!

1. Like Gary's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Lindsey-Wood-Creations/286373721462960
2. Favorite his Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GaryLWoodCreations
3.  Favorite one item in his shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GaryLWoodCreations
4. Share a link to his etsy shop or facebook page on your facebook and get 2 extra entries!
5. Don't forget to come back to this post and comment your name and email and what you did for the entry.  How else will we be able to contact you if you won?

extra entries (these only count if you did the ones above):
1. like my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/lillollipopsdesigns
2. like my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lillollipopsdesigns