Important: Please read this entire post! There are some changes to how you subscribe to this blog. Plus, there are some fabulous giveaways at the end. So, stay with me on this one.

The Good News:

A lot has happened over the last few weeks! I hit 150,000 page views per month last week.

This means that I’m empowering more people than ever before, and this thrills me because that has been the goal for my blog from the beginning. I’m not going to lie, sometimes it is hard to look at those figures and not get a little pumped. But, then I remember why I’m spending hours on tutorials and taking photos and I realize that y’all are really reading and learning. And this has me…

Did you know that originally I wanted to hold some small workshops in my garage to help women learn how to use power tools? How may women do you think I could have reached in a year? Maybe 100? And yet — thanks to the encouragement from my husband, friends, and all of you — I’m now reaching many, many more than a few hundred!

Can I tell you a little something without it sounding like I’m bragging? I was given the opportunity to compete for a spot on a reality craft show. But, when I stepped back to think about it, I realized that it really didn’t fit with who Pretty Handy Girl is. She’s not in this journey for fame and fortune. She’s not trying to strike it rich. She’s just here to say “Hey, I believe in you! I know you can do this too. Let me show you how to complete your own DIY project.” That realization helped me turn down the opportunity. And, now that you know this, I am counting on every one of you to make sure that I maintain that goal.

The Bad News:

Right before I broke my blog, I was dangerously close to reaching 5,000 subscribers to this blog. Like only 85 people shy of 5K…

…but then Feedburner delivered a smack down and reduced my followers by a over 1,500 handy peeps! (If you are one of the unlucky people that got the axe and don’t receive emails or feeds from Pretty Handy Girl please let me know and I’ll make sure you are added back.) This is upsetting to me to think that just one subscriber isn’t getting the tutorials that they thought they were signing up for, let alone over 1,500.

AND, I have some more bad news. In March, anyone who has subscribed to follow my blog in Google Friend Connect will also get the axe.

Any blogs that you follow that are NOT hosted by Blogger will sadly no longer appear in your reader. I actually took the above widget off my sidebar so no one else will join only to be disappointed on March 1st when they can’t receive their updates.

The Good News:

After an hour conversation with my new tech guy, I decided that the time had come to step up to a more reliable service for delivering my posts to you. I have signed up with MailChimp to improve my RSS feed delivery. Unfortunately, that means that I  have a new monthly fee, but so be it. You are so worth it!

All you have to do to insure that you don’t miss a single post, is to follow this very simple tutorial. It is one of the most important tutorials I’ve written to date, so just know that I took a lot of time getting this right. Are you ready?

How to receive the latest tutorials from Pretty Handy Girl in your in box

Materials:

• Pointer finger
• Mouse (or scroll pad, button, whatever)
• Enter key (or Return if you are an Apple user)

Step 1: Use your mouse to position your cursor in the open field box below. Click inside the box.

Step 2. Use your pointer finger to type in your email address.

Step 3. Move your cursor over the “Subscribe button” and click on the button.

Step 4. Sit back and wait for the tutorials to arrive to you every time a new one is posted! That’s it!

(A confirmation email should arrive in your inbox and ask you to verify that you want to receive my posts.)

Note: If you received this post in your email, then you don’t need to re-subscribe. I was able to import my subscriber list when I signed up with MailChimp.

As a celebration of reaching 150,000 page views (previously the 5,000 follower giveaway)…

I’ll be picking one winner for each prize listed below

Winners will be drawn at random on Tuesday, January 31st

Here are the prizes:

3 Pairs of Women’s Work Gloves:

His and Hers 3M Tekk Tinted Safety Glasses:

Several Rolls of 3M ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape:

Illy Italian Ground Coffee and Insulated Cup

Set of 2 Irwin Tools Groove Lock Pliers:

Simplify101 Organize Your Paper Clutter online workshop
Starts Feb 16th – 7 week workshop worth $79:

$100 gift certificate for a Mirror Mate Frame for your mirror:

A Huge Box of Sharpie Markers:

$50 gift certificate to Cutting Edge Stencils:

The ENTIRE line of RIT Liquid Dyes*:

RIT Dye bottles photo courtesy of Tatertots and Jello

*Plus, I’ll mail you a white scarf so you can make your own ombré scarf (like in my profile picture)!

FINALLY, 1 lucky winner will win the Pottery Barn knock off sliding chalkboard organizer:

So, here’s the deal. Your chances of winning one of the fabulous prizes above are great! And, you have up to four entries per person. Simply leave one comment on this post for each number you complete:

1. Subscribe via email below (or let me know you already do.) Leave one comment.

2. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ (or let me know you already do.) Leave one comment.

3. Share the empowerment. Tell a friend about this blog by tweeting, facebook / google+ status updating, pinning, or stumbling. Leave one comment.

4. Let me know what prize(s) you are really excited about. Leave one comment.

What are you waiting for? Get busy commenting on this post! Best of luck to all of you! I’ll see you back here soon for another DIY tutorial.

A super big thank you to the companies that graciously donated items for this celebration: