I’m just going to say it. I want to go to SXSW Interactive this year. No. I really really REALLY want to go to SXSW Interactive this year. I was fortunate enough that last year I was able to attend through my day job, and I met so many amazing people and learned SO MUCH. So much that I’m pretty positive that I learned more in 5 days at SXSWi than I did in my 4.5 years of college. I thought for sure I would be going again this year, but it looks like if that’s going to happen, I’ll need your help. So I’ve come up with a deal for all of my awesome readers, family, and friends.

The SXSWi Snailbird Proposal

If you help to send me to SXSWi, I promise you I will bring to you all the latest, greatest news and education from the most awesome conference ever hosted in Austin, Texas. I will create a separate SXSWi page where I will write up all my notes, post all my pictures, and share all the downloads, tweets (both on designcoyote and rescueanimals), and resources I find. I’m even going to create a special #hashtag for Twitter usage so all you have to do is follow it to see my SXSWi tweets.

Some of the sessions I hope to go to (which is also all the things you get to learn about as well!) include: Storytelling Beyond Words: New Forms of Journalism, Security and Privacy in Social Networks, Taking Your Brand Back from Your Customers, Voices Carry: Why Authentic Brand Voices Matter, Social Media Boundaries: Personal/Personnel Policy, The State of Social Marketing, The Promise and Pitfalls of Real-Time Marketing, Social Media in the Underground World of B2B, Epic Battle: Creativity vs. Discipline in Social, Sparking Real World Action with Social Media, How Comics Journalism is Saving Your Media, Can Gaming Make the World Better?, Tech Superwomen: Mentors and Mentees FTW, and oh so much more that are on my list but I don’t have room to post.

OH! And don’t forget I would totally take pictures and share notes from speakers like Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon. Because hell yes, you know you want to hear from the two of them.

We all love learning. And you already know that I love sharing knowledge – on here, on @designcoyote, on I Love Rescue Animals, and on @rescueanimals – so you know that I’m only going to be bring you the best quality and create a stellar resource for those of you who can’t make it to SXSWi yourself. This is your chance to be a part of SXSWi for just a small donation (and some fantastic incentives).

How Much Will This Be?

I didn’t find out until today that I would have to come up with creative ways to get myself there, so the total amount of money I’m trying to raise is $950 – which is JUST the price of one SXSWi ticket. Since I live in Austin, all the lodging expenses are taken care of, and I’ll pay for my own food and goodies. I just need help getting the ticket.

What You Get For Helping!

Don’t worry. You won’t be walking away empty-handed either. Besides the shared knowledge of all I learn, you will also get an awesome incentive depending on what level you donate to. These are as follows:

$1-$15: Join the list of other donors on my SXSW page.
$16-$29: The above and an individual shout-out on the designcoyote twitter (1,700+ followers).
$30-$49: The above and a pencil sketch of your pet/favorite animal (in The Family Menagerie style).
$50-$74: The above and the pencil sketch gets inked and colored with marker.
$75-$99: The above plus a 100×100 pixels digitally colored avatar of your choice (in TFM style), as well as a shout-out on the rescueanimals twitter (17,800+ followers).
$100-$199: Be included on the donors page, receive a twitter shout-out (on both), a sketch of a pet/favorite animal, and a 100×100 pixel digitally colored avatar, and 1 month of advertising on the blog.
$200-$349: Mention on donors page and twitter accounts, marker-colored image of pet/favorite animal, 100×100 avatar, 2 months of advertising on the blog.
$350-$474: The above AND a full-colored digital illustration of your choice.
$475: SPONSORSHIP LEVEL 1! You will get all the above PLUS 6 months of advertising on the blog and a full blog post thanking you on Snailbird.
$950: SPONSORSHIP LEVEL 2! You will get all the above PLUS 12 months of advertising on the blog and a full blog post thanking you on Snailbird AND I Love Rescue Animals.

ChipIn to the Send-Nikki-to-SXSWi Fund!

So you can all help keep track of where I am in donations, I’ve set up this nifty ChipIn that’s connected to my PayPal account. Once you donate, you will receive an email from me confirming the amount and the prizes you will receive. Just click on the ChipIn widget below to donate or go straight to the ChipIn page.

What If The Goal Isn’t Reached?

Good question. If I don’t receive the goal of $950 by March 9th, all of the donations will be fully refunded. That’s right, you’ll get all of your money back and I’ll just have to wait to go to SXSWi next year. If however, it IS funded, as soon as SXSWi is over (March 13th is the last day), I will begin work on all of your prizes. It’s a win-win situation (the very best kind)!

The Final Plea

I want to go to SXSWi so much. It was an incredible experience last year and I don’t want to miss out again. I learned so much, and I feel that this year will be even better. So for just one donation, you can help send me to this awesome conference full of great opportunities and in return you get to learn all that I learn and some (you know those incentives are pretty awesome). Pretty great deal, yeah?

So please please help, and share with your family and friends! I will be forever grateful to you and so very honored. Thank you! You guys rock!

*drumroll*

…

Number 1: Ash & Kimmy of Green Eyed Monster!

I will send your information out to the sponsor and hopefully you’ll hear back from them soon. Congratulations on getting your new custom letterheads!

If anyone else has never checked out Green Eyed Monster, you should. It’s one of my favorite blogs and websites out there and Ash and Kimmy are an awesome pair of sisters. Be sure to stop by and see what’s new over on their blog and shop!

Congrats again, girls!

The Prize!

500 Prints with Custom Letterhead
5.5″x8.5″
70lb Offset
Front Only Printing

The Rules

01. Limited to US residents only.
02. Got to be 18 years old and above.
03. Comment on this entry and tell me what you’ll use the prize for! I want to hear all your creative ideas!
04. The Deadline: Saturday, April 23, 2011 – 11:59pm CT.

On the 24th I will pick a winner using a random generator and the winner will be contacted about the prize. Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive letterheads for hosting. Check out more information about envelope printing.

And don’t forget to tweet about the contest!

Come back April 23rd to find out who the winner is!

I lied when I said I’d be right back. But for a good reason! I currently have 17 (SEVENTEEN!) posts in the wings waiting to be published, but I have yet to find time to actually edit any of them. This is because Snailbird is getting a massive content re-haul and a slightly smaller re-alignment of its design. Things are going to be more blog-oriented with a focus on green lifestyles, independent artists, local musicians, organic arts and crafts, eco tips, and more! We’ve always been a little green around the edges, but now we are really going to really give it our all. Just wait and see!

If you’re still itching for some of my writing (aw, shucks!), I can still be found blogging weekly with our team at I Love Rescue Animals and usually once a week over at Fuel Your Illustration, and of course, you can always find me messing around on twitter. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about this blog. It’s going to be exploding with new ideas soon. Keep checking back!

BREAK! I shall be scarce from the web this week as I prepare for BlogPaws 2010 West, a conference that has all to do with pet bloggers and celebrating the love for our furry friends. This is the second conference and this time I will doing a presentation about some tips and tricks for basic WordPress design. I’ll make sure to make it available after the conference. Ash and I are representing I Love Rescue Animals and will be gone from Thursday to Sunday to beautiful Denver, CO. Until then, we’ll be running around trying to get everything done and prepared in time for us to make our flight. We’ll get back on the normal blogging schedule on Monday. Be well, all!

Updated 9/16/10: We made it back from Colorado safe and sound, but the BlogPaws buzz has not died (and I have not had a chance to catch up on blogging here). I will write about it here next week after my life gets back to normal (and I catch up on emails and projects), but for now, please head over to the I Love Rescue Animals blog and read about our journey and all the people we met. It was incredible. Thank you to all who support our group and our mission!

That’s right! Fuel Your Illustration, one of the many awesome online magazines brought to you by the Fuel Brand Network, has two new editors working to bring you the best content in online illustration. Who are these awesome individuals, you ask?

Well one of them happens to be me! After writing for the magazine since February, I am now officially with a new title. The other editor is my new friend and partner-in-crime, Rondal Scott of GhostLabs Studio and Strange Kids Club. Together, we are bringing fresh new content to our favorite FUEL site. You can read the Fuel Brand Network Announcement here. Join us for some awesome illustration and comic resources over at Fuel Your Illustration! And don’t forget to follow us on twitter for even more fun links.

Vote Again!

But it’s not over! Now that we’re in the final four, how about trying to get us to #1? I know we here at ILRA would be absolutely estatic if we managed to take the top spot, and we feel that with your support, we have a good chance.

So please take a moment to vote for iloverescueanimals.org in the “Best Cause Related Blog category. If you support what we do and what we stand for, this is a great way to show how much you appreciate it. With a few clicks, you have helped us take one step forward to getting our message to a bigger audience.

Thank you so much for getting us this far! Feel free to share this with friends and family. We could use all the support we can get it. Voting ends on August 20th so please get your votes in!

If you haven’t noticed, I Love Rescue Animals is bursting with brand new content in our blog. Not only do we try and have a blog a day up now, but we’ve also got four, count them – FOUR, different series going on that I wanted to take a minute and showcase here. AND we’ve welcome on a new member of the team! How awesome is that? Check out what we’ve been up to!

• Shelter Sketches: I’ve talked about them here before. This is a project that came from the lovely Chelsea Conlin, who is now an official member of the ILRA crew. She gets artists from all over to take part in this weekly project to save pets in need.
• Product Reviews: With the help of our fuzzy puppy product testers, this is a series we’ve started to show our readers what we use, what we like, and what we’d recommend to everyone else. Sometimes they’re sponsored reviews, but more often it’s just because we want to.
• The Truth Behind TFM: By now you should be familiar with my comic The Family Menagerie. At ILRA, we’re going to be writing up and sharing with you the real story behind each comic, sometimes this will even include pictures and videos. This just proves that almost everything you see in the comic is at least slightly true.
• Pet Parent Files: I consider this to be the most important and the most helpful to all of our readers. We have a lot of pets, if anyone has guessed, and while this doesn’t qualify as to be vets, it does give us something of an expert status on how to deal with certain things. These videos are going to be thorough and hopefully helpful to everyone who needs them.

That’s just some of the stuff we’ve been doing at I Love Rescue Animals. Don’t forget to check out our blog and make sure you follow us on twitter: @RescueAnimals. Is there something else you want to see on ILRA? Let us know!

Drumroll, please!

…

Congratulations to Jenifer of Brown Dog Designs!

I’ll be shooting you an email in a few minutes with some information for you. Thanks to everyone who participated and look out later this month for another contest giveaway!

The Prize!

250 Stickers/Labels on 70lb Label Matte
2×3.5″, 2×4″, 3×3″
Full Color Front and Blank Back

The Rules!

01. US Residents only, sorry guys.
02. Must be 18 years or older.
03. Gotta comment on this post to enter the giveaway, of course. Tell me what you want to use this for if you win. I love creative ideas!

The Deadline: July 27th, 2010, 12AM EST. One comment per person. On the 28th I’ll choose a winner via an online random generator and he or she will be contacted about their prize. Don’t forget to let me know what you want to do with these awesome stickers, and tell your friends to take part too! Who doesn’t want their own custom stickers?

And don’t forget to tweet about the contest!

Come back July 28th to find out who the winner is!