Are you in the military, know anyone who is? Whether you are or not I am sure you can imagine how heart wrenching it is to not be able to be home for the birth of your child. Be they first born or fifth a birth is a special time, indescribable feelings overwhelm mommies and daddies alike. Help those daddies who are out in the field and unable to come home to be with mommy and baby in those special and precious first moment. http://www.blanketsfordeployeddaddies.com/?q=node/4 This is not a non-profit as of yet, but they are working on it. Even though they are not officially non-profit (meaning not a tax write-off) this is still a great charity. Having been in the military, my husband having been in the military, my dad having been in the military, my grandpa having been in the military, my uncle having been in the military, my aunt having been in the military most of my friends having been in the military.... well you get the point. I have a lot of military in my background. As such I firmly support our troops in any way that I can and a blanket seems a sweet (and easy) way to do it. They only accept at least 50% cotton yarn so that it is soft and cuddly, washable and most importantly holds scent well. These blankets are not for the daddies so much as from the daddies. The idea is that the blanket will hold the scent of the daddy so that the baby will feel daddy is close even though he is far away. Daddy get the blanket, keeps it close to get his scent on it and sends it home to welcome and warm baby. When daddy finally gets home baby will already be familiar with the scent and be more welcoming and less scared. My favorite part of the site is the Hear from our Families. Reading the stories and seeing the cute babies really makes you feel special and warm inside. If you want to send a blanket, at least 50% cotton and size 14”x20” mail it to:
Blankets for Deployed Daddies 3591 Boardwalk Cir Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 Please consider helping out these families with your donation. The other day we were looking at our cloth scraps and decided to try some wall art. In our search we found a piece that had two giraffes nose to nose over some palm trees - Meet Me at the Oasis was born!
We added some other scraps with a tropical or jungle kind of feel, we cut out some assorted creatures and found a cool piece of scrap for the backdrop (it even already had the wide hem to slide a rod into!). I tie dyed a bunch of shirts this week and they turned out pretty good. I made them specifically to make tarn necklaces but then got to thinking what could I do with the shirt scraps? So I tried to think of a few different items I could make all from 1 t-shirt. I have several more shirts to go so any suggestions and ideas are welcome!
Kristina here! Having a great day? I am, I had an eye opening experience, let me share with you. The most recent Steve Pavlina article I read was very enlightening. It was his opinions on branding. When we started our business everything said Branding Branding Branding. It is super important! You have to pick a brand and then fit everything in it. Your colors, your name, your wording, even your items and all the pictures you take. Everything has to look the same, everything has to promote your Brand, everything has to be uniform. Guess what? I am not uniform. I am very organic (as you may have noticed) I like all different things, I like all different colors, sizes, shapes, styles. I like experimenting with crochet, with sewing (a little), with spinning. I am even learning to knit. I don't want to stop here either, I want to learn leather working, maybe pottery, maybe painting, I'm thinking of learning felting. I didn't like punch needle embroidery but I do like cross stitching. Anyway my point is.... I can't be branded! What am I to do?!? We have fought with the idea of branding since we started. What will our brand be? What will it say about us? What can we do to fit with that brand image and what will tarnish it? How can we fit ourselves into a nice and neat little package?
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