Save handmade!!

On february 10th of this year a new law named the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act will go into affect, requiring all manufacturers of children's products to get expensive third party lead testing on all items they make.

Who are these manufacturers? Well, they are the really big companies you automatically think of, and they are the little guys. The sole proprietors of small and home based businesses. They are the local artisans at your favorite craft fairs and farmers markets. They are Etsy, they are ebay, they are your family, your friends. " they" are me! 

 

Think this wont affect you? Think again!

Please take the time to read this and at the very least sign the petition. Help us save our hand made in the USA!

The Sky is Falling - CPSIA Issue
December 17th, 2008 by Daria
Article by: Heather Flottman
Owner/Designer
liliputians NYC

The sky is falling! Yes, I feel a like an overly dramatic Chicken Little. And I wish it were true considering recent congressional legislation is about to crush the life out of the handmade clothing and toy industry. I’m talking about H.R. 4040, the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) signed into law August 14, 2008, and the ramifications it will have when it goes into effect February 10, 2009 (now being popularly referred to as National Bankruptcy Day).

Make no mistake. CPSIA was necessary in principle and has noble intentions, keeping our children safe and holding companies accountable for importing toxic toys. We all demand safety for our children and this is the intent of CPSIA; specifically to ensure safe levels of lead and phthalates in all products manufactured for children under the age of 12. Unfortunately this legislation lacks common sense, is ambiguous and fails to take into account the handmade industry.

What you see is not what you get with CPSIA. There is no distinction between big, small, or even micro one-person businesses. Whether it’s a large-scale manufacturer importing apparel to be sold in big box stores, or a work-at-home mom (WAHM) selling customs on ebay, the legislation applies the same to all.

Unit testing will be required on finished products, regardless if the components are natural materials or if you have documentation from a vendor stating that buttons, for example, are certified lead-free. As it stands, H.R. 4040 fails to recognize that textile products are inherently lead-free. Why then is an organic cotton shirt being tested for lead exactly?

Unit testing is extremely cost prohibitive to small business, but worse, it is unnecessary. In fact, it is completely redundant if the components that comprise the whole have already been tested and due diligence can prove they meet the guidelines.

To put a real dollar amount to testing one of my products, I solicited a lab quote. I was told it was $75 to test for lead per garment component and each substrate. Coated or painted items such as buttons are $100. So my Little Red Riding Hood Shirt, a 100% cotton knit shirt with an appliqué made from 7 cotton fabrics and 2 buttons eyes would cost $625 to test for lead. Flammability testing is also required and is either $50 for a certificate per component stating it meets weight code or $100 for actual testing. So add another $400-$800 for a grand total of $1,025-$1425. in testing costs for a shirt that retails for $40. If the shirt is offered in another colorway, the same testing is required despite the fact that the same fabrics are used throughout.

Small manufacturers have no way of absorbing the price of such redundancy. And all manufacturers will be required to test a finished component/item from each batch. Easy to do in mass production—simply pull one sample from a lot of thousands. But how does one comply when your “batches” are made-to-order batches of one? SKUs will also be required for each product with a permanent label on the item itself.

CPSIA will be retroactive and takes a guilty-until-proven-innocent approach with extremely hefty fines for violators. As written, any product used by children 12 and under (such as toys, footwear, carpets, clothing, bedding, luggage, lamps, toys, books, magazines, baseball cards, consumer electronics, school supplies, office supplies, jewelry, housewares, sports equipment and so on) without the newly required certification would be deemed hazardous, whether the item poses an actual threat or not. So on February 10, 2009, any unsold merchandise (in big box stores, the corner boutique, your fabric stash, Good Will donations, etc.) will be deemed “hazardous goods” and illegal to sell unless 3rd party testing proves otherwise. By the way, there are only 14 said labs currently in the United States.

Think you won’t be affected?

I hope not, but the sad truth is that hundreds of thousands (if not millions) will be. Do you make children’s clothing, toys, jewelry, hair bows, accessories, furniture, artwork or anything else “intended for use by children age 12 and under”? Are you a retailer of children’s goods? Do you resell used children’s clothing or toys on ebay? Do you participate or shop at craft fairs? Do you donate used children’s items to needy organizations? Do you belong to a church that has rummage sales as a fundraiser? Does your child play sports and get their uniforms from a local screen print shop? Are you a consumer shopping for alternatives to mass-produced toys? If so, this law takes away that freedom.

Surely this legislation can be amended by incorporating some common sense and still make it possible to ensure our children’s safety without further hurting the US economy. According to the 2002 Economic Census (the last survey of its type), small U.S. clothing manufacturers (with fewer than 20 employees) contribute over $900 million dollars [consider: nearly $1 billion dollars] annually to the economy and comprise 68% of total apparel manufacturing in the U.S. This is clearly a vital and contributing asset to our economy. Multiply this fallout exponentially when you take into account the myriad other manufacturers, retailers and businesses that will be hurt or ultimately driven out of business.

So, why should you support amending this legislation?

Because the CPSIA isn’t fair and will not function as written. It inadvertently punishes American industries unrelated to toys and will ultimately result in fewer alternatives to mass produced merchandise made in China. The concept that small producers should be subject to the same rigorous standards but with lesser regulation (and common sense) has already been fought for and sustained in the food industry, which is why your local farmers market still exists. Now this same idea needs to be applied to children’s products.

What can you do?


Email or call the CPSIA - the office of the CPSC (888) 531-9070.
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Comments on Component Parts Testing accepted through January 30, 2009.
CPSCE-mail Address.
Email or snail mail your representatives.
Contact Congress
Call your representatives. For their contact information just enter your zip code. Contact Representatives
Make your voice heard by voting on this issue. The top 3 in each category will be presented to President-elect Obama.
Change by Obama
Sign the petition.
CPSIA Petition
Spread the word! Write about this on your blog. Tell others about this issue and encourage them to do the same.
Join others in fighting this cause.
Facebook Group
Twitter Search
http://cpsia-central.ning.com/notes/Notes_Home
Join the Etsy community in the virtual chat with CPSIA Small Business Ombudsmen or send a handmade children’s item that will become “hazardous goods” as of 2/9/09 to Bobby Rush, founder of H.R. 4040.
Etsy Group
Etsy Thread

MORE INFORMATION:

Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/e...SIA/index.html
About the bill:http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/legislation.html
Read more about what's being dubbed National Bankruptcy Day here:
http://nationalbankruptcyday.com/

I am Pro- life

The thought of ending a life, any kind, sickens and saddens me. I definitely have my opinions on abortion, murder is murder. I feel there are certain exceptions to those opinions, and those choices aren't to be made lightly. 

I did not vote for Obama, and here is one of many big reasons why:

Dear Family and Friends,


As most of you know, last night Obama made a public announcement
that he is going to sign the Freedom Of Choice Act, which will allow
all types of abortions including partial birth abortions, also
allowing babies who are born alive due to botched up late term
abortions, to be set aside without any medical care or nourishment and
left to die (most of these babies have no medical problems and most
of the ones that do, have things like cleft palates, club feet, things
that are correctable, still they are murdered in the most cruel and
inhuman way. They feel everything that is happening to them. There is
more mercy for dogs that are put to sleep) This Bill also will make it
mandatory for doctors and nurses to perform this murderous act even if
they do not want to do so. This act also allows under age teens to
have an abortion, even partial birth abortions, without parental
consent.

Catholic Bishops have pleaded with Obama not to go ahead with this
horrible murder of innocent babies. They have also told Obama that if
he persists in signing this Bill which would require even Catholic
Hospitals to perform these acts of murder, they will have no choice
but to close all Catholic Hospitals. Please let us join with these
courageous Bishops who will go to any length to change Obama's mind.
Please take a minute to sign this statement and let our voices be
heard.

http://www.fightfoca.com/

This is a great, informative website. You can click on the video
of Obama's speech to the Planned Parenthood group where he promised
that the first thing he would do if elected President would be to sign
the Freedom Of Choice Act. He isn't even in the White Houseyet and
he made a statement last night that he will go forward with his plans
to sign this outrageous bill. He still can change his mind because
the Bill cannot be signed until he is actually the President.

Please let your family and friends know about this Bill and ask
them to also sign this petition. Even those who voted for Obama would
not want him to sign this Bill.

Please feel free to comment.

Please go and sign this petition. It takes two seconds of your time and it's literally a matter of life and death. Pass this on to as many people as you can.

a note from the "break-ee"

My blog ebbs and flows. Some months I have a lot of time and a lot of things to say, other months my life is crazy and blogging comes last. I have restructured my blog at least once, and I have recommitted to blog more at least a dozen times.  Do we see a pattern emerging here? 

I am not very good at commitment. I have always been that way. Just ask most of the guys I used to date. Nothing serious please, and if it ever began to head that way, I would pretty much freak out, start acting all weird and mean and then they would break up with me. ( pathetic? ..yes) I wasn't very good at confrontation either, so I didn't want to be the " break-er" I would rather be the " break-ee" ( wierd?.. oh yes)  Even with The Man, its a miracle we ever got married. We broke up at least three times during our 8 month courtship and even the day of our marriage I felt like a witch all day!! I wanted to be mean to everyone! ( I wasn't of course, I held it all in like a good girl!)

So taking all that into consideration, I have amazed myself this year and committed to some pretty heft new years resolutions. They mostly have to do with weight loss, so that is a big motivator in and of itself. And I have a few others I have yet to write down, which I am told, repeatedly by my husband, is oh so helpful. Those are more to do with personal flaws and spiritual growth. It feels great to take on a big task and I have made little goals along the way to help bolster up my spirits as I work toward making my "big" ones come to fruition. 

Even with all the great feelings I have now and the fun little rewards I am planning on giving myself along the way, I can't help but have little tiny doubts about my ability to see it all through. I mean, we have all read  (to my embarrassment) about my commitment patterns,or lack thereof. How am I really going to do it? Here's an old blog post that sort of sums up how I normally feel about resolutions.

How do any of you do it? What are you tips and tricks for reaching your goals? Do any of you go to commitment anonymous? maybe I should start a group...

I have actually thought about starting a separate blog with my progress and support information, but then again..thats a big commitment....

We had a doctors appointment yesterday. 

In my mind a few weeks ago, as I was on the phone with the nurse making the appointment, it made sense to get all three done with at the same time. In real life however, it turned out to be a rather big mistake. Two babies getting shots at the same time wasn't pretty! And a five year old boy is bound to assume that biohazard containers must be filled with exotic new candy not yet tasted by his ever sugar craving mouth. And if he could just climb on here and then scootch his way across here, he might just make it to taste it before mom busts him...WRONG!!! But all in all I was glad we went. I talked with him about the whole rice cereal incident and he was pretty sure it wasn't an allergy. ( although he also said vomiting wasn't a sign of an allergy. He definitely has never been around Little Girl when she has accidentally ingested peanuts, thats the first thing to happen, it all comes back up..all over the floor..) But I guess it took a lot longer for the rice cereal to re- appear, so he said 

it must have just been something her stomach didn't like. ( uh..duh..) He said she was old enough and big enough to start eating other things though. 

So last night I drove myself ( all alone..hallelujah!!) to the supermarket( who says that anymore?) and picked up some barley cereal, which is supposedly gentler on a babies tummy, and some various other containers of what used to be vegetables but are now colorful plastic boxes of slime. Before I put Infant girl to be we tried a little sweet potatoes. 

Her reaction? 

A picture is worth a thousand words:

Yea, she didn't like that too much! But, I would probably pull the same face if I had that stuff shoved into my mouth repeatedly against my will. It was so funny because she wouldn't swallow it, she would just sit there with her mouth hanging wide open until it mixed so completely with her drool that it all just slid right back out! I couldn't stop laughing!

We tried again today.. a little better. But she still doesn't quite know what to do with it! ;-)

Hopefully she'll learn to love it and we can all get a little more sleep around here. Waking up every two hours all night, every night is RIDICULOUS!!

I am thankful

I am thankful for my family. For a husband who was wiling to give up everything and transplant his family all on a desire to do and be better.

I am thankful for health, for my life, for my children's lives.

I am thankful for the spirit that guides and directs my life. For the happiness I find from living the gospel. I am thankful for a savior who gave his life that I might become better than I am.

I am thankful for all I have.


This year I have a lot to be thankful for. As I have thought about the things that are important to me I realize that it isn't my stuff, it isn't the things that surround me that are inanimate. It is the living, breathing people that fill my life with joy and it is the spiritual things that give my life meaning. I want to teach my children to be grateful for the same things.

I was disheartened as I entered a large department store the very day after Halloween to find that it was already Christmas inside. Thanksgiving had completely been overlooked, brushed aside, treated as if it didn't even exist. In fact, what little thanksgiving decor they have was already on sale! It doesn't make them the money they need, the money they have to have. I don't see Christmas there, I see greed.

This very reason is why I have decide to do a home made Christmas this year. All the presents will be handmade or found at a thrift store. I don't want my children to expect to have things just because its a certain day in December. I want them to be grateful for what they already have, to know the real meaning of the holiday and to think about Christ and all he has done for us, instead of how much stuff they have. Stuff that will be broken or discarded in only a matter of time.

Here is a video that I got off of my friends blog that I really liked. I am so tired of all the commercialism. What if we spent our time and our means to better the life of someone else? To help out a friend or a neighbor, or the world? What would it be like?

Have a wonderful safe and thankful thanksgiveing everyone!~