Hooray! CPSIA testing relief. Happy Valentine's Day!

Long live etsy! Long live small businesses! Well, at least for the one year 'stay'. No longer will GCC forms be required with shipment as of February 10, 2009. For children everywhere, I am happy that the CPSC is upholding their stringent lead and phthalates requirements, without burdening small businesses with the huge testing requirements, yet.

Although this news arrives AFTER I have invested significant time and some money, I am happy to see a move by the CPSC that will save the many unique handmade offerings for children in the USA!

Here are the articles:

CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products

CPSC Clarifies Requirements of New Children’s Product Safety Laws Taking Effect in February
Guidance Intended for Resellers of Children’s Products, Thrift and Consignment Stores

To celebrate, how about a little Valentine's Day sale?! I'll be adding sweaters, slippers and boots throughout the weekend - most will be red or pink! Happy Valentine's Day.

This is great! (an option for CPSIA preparation in Denver)

Several small businesses in the Denver area came together to lead test with a certified XRF tester. This blog gives the details about their testing 'party'. Another NWEM small business owner sent the information to me. (Thank you!) I am interested in a similar effort here in Seattle. Anyone else want to participate?

In the meantime, I sent many products to The Smart Mama to lead test with her wealth of experience using her XRF machine. This will ensure that I have the proper GCC forms for customers for February shipments. However, I would like to help organize a 'party' here for my new products to arrive in late February and several more small quantity handmade items that are in my current inventory. (These items are not availabe in the online boutique currently.)

And, of course, I am planning to do the required digestive testing for August 2009. I am in the queue for setting up the testing with an approved third party tester.

(The photo has nothing to do with the post. I just adore the woolly white yak made from fabric scraps.)