I found this via Queenvanna’s blog, although it appears to have been making its way around the Internet for awhile in various forms. Basically, it’s based on the idea from that movie, Pay It Forward, where (Cotton Spice says it nicely), “acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness” will continue to pass on their own acts of kindness.

If you are interested in how this meme has traveled, try googling “handmade pay it forward.” All sorts of participating blogs (too many for me to chronicle here) come up.

Now, the rules for the interation of the meme that I’ve signed up for:

I will send handmade gifts to the first three people who leave a comment and tell me they would like to participate. You must have your own blog and must continue to ‘pay it forward’ by promising the same thing to your readers. As for the particular handmade gifts, I don’t yet know what they will be. Hopefully you will be able to tell from browsing through this blog, my flickr, or my Etsy shop that I’ll make you something nice, whatever it is. (And who doesn’t love surprises?) Another level of surprise is that I don’t yet know exactly when I will send your handmade gift, but I do promise that I will send it to you within the next 365 days. Imagine, some day when you aren’t expecting anything special, a handmade present just for you will arrive at your doorstep. How nice!

To summarize:

- anyone with a blog can join.
- the first three people to leave a comment with a valid email address (I need to be able to contact you!) on this post will receive a handmade gift from me.
- I will send your gift within 365 days.
- in return, you have to pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog (whatever you want to make, no rules or limitations.)

Who wants to play?