My Creative Space

A new school year is underway in our household. Middle and oldest started school mid last week, and littlest started kinder. I was thinking I would have more time for crafting, but I am still waiting for that to materialise. Littlest phases into her regular kinder schedule over the next couple of weeks, so still not much child free time. And I forgot with school also comes all the children's other activities (swimming, ballet, netball) plus all of my related volunteer work (toy library duty, school council, parent's association).

That's all to say I didn't get too creative this week. I made a wonky pencil case for middle (to her credit, she wanted to keep it even though I wanted to start again), sorted two containers of fabric, did some fabric cutting and started thinking through a new crafty project using a vintage tablecloth with Australian flora on it that has lots of stains (but it's still more of an idea than an actual project). I guess I need to be more patient with the transition to our new school year routine and lower my crafting expectations just a little:)

You can find lots more creative spaces over at Our Creative Spaces this week. Cyndy Pin It

My Creative Space

With the children back at school, I have finally finished all the thank you gifts (including packaging them up nicely) for the parents who helped plan our school fundraiser (a Trivia Night and Auction) at the end of last month.

I shared an in process version of the thank you gifts here, but now I have added the days of the week to the pegs. I did this by printing the days of the week on colored vellum paper which I glued on top of the patterned paper I had already placed on each peg. For the magnets on the back I used the magnet tape you can buy at any craft store or even $2 shop. The one I bought was wider than my pegs, so I simply cut it in half. Each peg can hold about 8 sheets of paper. I originally planned to make each set all one paper/color, but when I finished them I decided it was cuter and more versatile to mix up the sets so that each was made up of different papers/colors.

We are having a meeting tomorrow where we will debrief the event so it will be the perfect time to express my thanks to everyone:) I hope they like them and know they are appreciated!

For more creative spaces this week you can visit here. Cyndy Pin It

Volunteering Makes Your Heart Grow Stronger

 (image taken by me featuring the hottie cover created by Julianne Negri)

For 20 years I worked professionally in the field of volunteer management in the United States. I helped non profit organizations figure out how to use the time and talents of volunteers. I loved what I did:)

Four years ago I underwent a major life change. I left my career, moved to Australia, had my third child and became a stay at home mom. I also learned in a new way what my professional career had been about as I threw myself whole heartedly into being the thing I had helped others to recruit and manage - a volunteer.

As a professional I used to hear organizations lament about the difficulties of finding volunteers. Now that I am  on the other side I do understand these challenges in a different way, but I am convinced more than ever that people can give, if we expand our thinking about what one can do to "volunteer."

A great example is the Hottie Challenge. The aim of the challenge was to make a hottie cover. These hottie covers are now being exhibited in the gallery space at Open Drawer Art Textiles and Learning Centre from Friday July 1 to Sunday July 24, 2011 to raise money for the Margaret Pratt Foundation. The Margaret Pratt Foundation Heart Lung Transplant Trust is a registered charity whose aim is to encourage, develop and maintain Australia’s world class expertise in the field of organ transplantation by supporting research that addresses the problems faced by children and adults after heart and lung transplant. The aim of the research must be to improve the outcomes for heart and lung transplant recipients.

Over 100 people created a hottie cover. These people may not have looked at themselves as volunteers, but that is what they are; they gave of their time and talent to help the Margaert Pratt Foundation.

You can help too. Until July 24th you can visit the exhibit at the Open Drawer. You can buy one of the hottie covers (each is being sold for $50). You can also vote for your favorite hottie with any amount of good old fashioned Australian currency. All monies raised will be donated to the Foundation.

We visited this last Sunday. My two oldest had fun picking out their favorites to vote for and we even bought one!

If you can't help this cause, I hope you will think about what you can do where you live. Remember, volunteering makes your heart grow stronger:) Cyndy

PS If you can't visit you don't have to miss out on seeing many of the lovely hotties, you can visit them in the Flickr Group. You can see mine here.

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