Creating Kindness Blog Hop: Because We Care

Hello Everybody! I'm glad to have you here today because today is another fabulous Creating Kindness Design Team blog hop. Our theme today is Because We Care and it such a fitting theme for this time of year when we have so much opportunity to care for others.

I have a few different things to share with you today and I'll be the first to say that my photos aren't spectacular as I hadn't actually planned to share these first two (until I realized that they fit this theme perfectly), but, stay tuned for a third project with a VIDEO TUTORIAL (bottom of post). I live in a tiny, little mountain town in California, USA. Our town's recreation department recently purchased an abandoned country club with the intention of turning it into a rec center for our community to use. This would be so great for our community as our summers are hot and we do not have a community pool. It would also be fantastic for our local youth to have a safe place to go for summer activities. Now that the property has been purchased the Recreation Department is in desperate need of funds to renovate the property. Our town held a fundraiser (an epic Chilli Cookoff!) with a huge raffle to try to help the Rec Department out. I donated a huge stamping/crafting basket and a gift set of cards to the raffle. 

My basket was full of card and project kits many of which were put together from leftover Paper Pumpkin Supplies. I also added Stampin' Write Markers, adhesives, embellishments, some finished cards and projects and some treats as well (chocolate). I have no idea who won it but I sure hope they loved it!

Here's a pic of the card set I donated. It was a set of four different customs cards. I closed them up in an acetate box and added a belly band to pretty it up. 

I also did something fun at the On Stage event in Salt Lake City, Utah this past month that I think fits the theme of "Because We Care." There is of course a small back story... Earlier this year (April) I attended the OnStage event in San Diego. I had been selected as a stamper for one of the Display Boards and I spent the time leading up to the event stressing out about creating pretty things for my display board. I didn't have time to prepare swaps and I decided that I would just have to be ok with that. But, guess what...?  My heart was absolutely melted by the kindness that so many showed to me that day. Many people asked me to swap with them and of course I didn't have anything to give. The first time that someone smiled huge and pressed a beautifully wrapped chocolate bar into my hand and told me to "take it anyways..." brought the hugest smile to my face. And folks, it didn't stop there. Many more people gifted me beautiful handmade creations throughout the day. I went home feeling so happy, so lucky, to be part of this beautiful community. 

This time as I prepared for OnStage I had originally decided not to do swaps because I was so busy and didn't need the stress. But then I remembered the kindness I had experienced in April and decided that if I could only get ten swaps done then hopefully that would be enough to put a smile on a few people's faces. I suddenly felt that it was really important to pay it forward. I ended up making over fifty "swaps!" Of course, they didn't end up being swaps as I gave them away to anyone who wanted one. Thirty of them were these treat boxes that I'm sharing with you today. The other 20-30 were smaller and had sticky hands inside (I love sticky hands!). 

Anyhow, the most special part of my day came when I was explaining why I was just giving my swaps away to a table of people. I explained how good I felt being the beneficiary of other people's kindness and that I just wanted to do the same. I was Paying It Forward I guess. One woman at the table was so thrilled! She was so happy and excited that she said she was gonna do this same thing at the next OnStage! How cool! I plan to do it again too as seeing people's happy faces as they received an unexpected gift was really quite the treat. Ok, I'll stop rambling now. Here's my project.

Each of these little boxes held a Hanuta treat, was wrapped with a DSP belly band and had a touch of Black Shimmer Ribbon popping out the side. 

The sentiment pieces were stamped with Basic Black Archival ink onto Shimmery White Cardstock and spritzed with Island Indigo, Lemon Lime Twist and Berry Burst (rubbing alcohol mixed w  re-inker in a spritzer). Please not that if you got one of these from me and your colors blended more than splattered like these examples.... It's because I accidentally refilled my re-inkers with water and it does give a different look than the alcohol mixture does. So, some of my sentiment pieces had a splatter look and some of them blended and bled together a bit more. 

Want to see how I put these together and get some measurements too? Here's a quick video tutorial for you. Enjoy, and then check out the description in my video to see a list of awesome videos from my Creating Kindess Friends. 

So glad to have you stop by today and I'll see you back here soon! I hope you'll continue the hop by clicking the button below and heading over to see what the fabulous Cheryll Miller has made to share today!

Maria

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Email: mariawillis@hotmail.com

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Friendships Old and New

I'm home from OnStage Live in Salt Lake City, Utah and I cannot wipe the permagrin off of my face every time that I think of my friends. Yes! OnStage was great but you know what was even better... these people (and so many more who I didn't get pics with but still contributed to an amazing weekend). 

Some friends and I decided to rent a house so that we could spend even more time together during our trip. It was so much fun getting to do this! We did a house gift swap, stayed up late and laughed our tails off and had an amazing time together. We dubbed ourselves the Backpack Brigade as we were all carrying backpacks around. In back: Kathleen, Sara, and Adrienne. Bottom: Carolynn and myself. These ladies made my trip!

I met Adrienne West in April at the San Diego Local OnStage event. We live in the same county and  had chatted a little bit on-line but met for the first time on the plane heading to San Diego. She's amazing, has a great mind for business, and I was so glad to share another event with her. I'm even luckier that she is local and we can hang out in person when we have the time. She just started blogging and you can check her out here.

There are two special people that I spend a lot of time talking to on-line (don't roll your eyes at me!). Whenever my husband wants to know who I'm messaging with and why I won't put my phone down... it's one of these two. On the left is Carolynn Sander from Canada, and on the right, Sara Sauve from Idaho. They took this picture after I was already gone (Adrienne and I left early Saturday evening and these two had another night to kill) and I love it! You can probably tell just by looking at the pic why I love them...beauties inside and out.

I met Sara through the amazing Lee Conrey who I finally got to meet as well!! Lee has adopted me  as part of her team and has become both mentor and friend. I'm lucky to call her part of my SU family. We all went to dinner at an amazing Brazilian Barbecue restaurant!

Here are Sara and I grubbing down. My favorite thing was the bacon wrapped chicken-yum! Funny story: Sara's husband was worried that I might be some pervy, fat man luring Sara into my lair to do her no good. Hahahaha! Sara is a total bad a$$ (ex-military) and wasn't afraid to come meet me anyways. Friday was Veteran's Day. Thank you Sara for your service! This woman is one of the smartest, wittiest, most hilarious women I've ever met. She almost killed me of laughter one of the nights as she held a long, and totally amazing, conversation with Siri. I had to leave the room because I laughed so hard I started seal barking uncontrollably. Meeting Sara for the first time was one of the best parts of this trip. 

Carolynn Sander and I started talking sometime around the last OnStage (April) and it was funny because it turned out that we were both big fans of each other's work. If you want to check out her awesomeness you can find her at carebearstamps.com It was so good to finally meet this woman. She lives up to her Carebear name and is a total sweetie-pie. She was one of the display stampers at OnStage and her creations are so stunning! After spending the weekend with these women I realize the importance of good friendships. I don't have a lot of friends at home because I'm always running around taking care of business. That made the weekend with these ladies even more special to me. 

If you can believe it there are a few more lovelies that I am going to quickly mention. This pic is of me, Carolynn and the amazing Jenny Hall. Jenny is one of the sweetest and classiest people you will ever meet. I am on the Creating Kindness design team with her and Carolynn and was so glad to   finally meet her in person. 

And then there's Charlet Mallett! I "met" Charlet when we were on a design team together a while back. Since then I've been a huge fan of hers and was so excited and happy to find out that she has been selected as part of this year's Artisan Design Team!! Only 16 people in the entire world were chosen and you really have to be a step above the rest to be selected. Congratulations Charlet! This honor is so well deserved! Glad to finally meet and spend some time with you. Looking forward to seeing all of the inspiration that you will continue to bring the stamping world as an Artisan.

And then there's this beauty! Lisa Leslie is a newer Canadian demo and was honored for achieving Quick Start! She was so fun to hang out with and even let all of us crash her hotel room for an evening hang out while we waited for the Mexican food restaurant to have room for us. She is such an awesome lady and her enthusiasm for SU is contagious. I'm feeling pretty darn lucky to have made Lisa as  a new friend. 

Last but not least, Carolynn and I snapped a quick pic with the incredible Brian King. His presentation at OnStage was one of my favorites. He said he was exhausted but he is such a pro that it never showed. 

Ok, folks. That's it for today. I always hear people say that they go to OnStage for the people... I'm here to tell you that's a real thing. The people I have met, and the friends I have made, are what have made my experience priceless. I miss these people so much already and can't wait to see them again soon.

Hugs to all,

Maria