a bag of chips

Scraplift!

Lain Ehmann has been the host at www.writeclickscrapbook.com this week and she did a scraplift challenge. Oh, how I love to scraplift!  As Lain mentioned, it's a great way to get out of the mojo doldrums and step into another scrappers shoes for a while.

And one of my favorite scrappers (out of a list of over a hundred or more) is Lisa Dickinson, another of our WCS team members. I've adored Lisa's work for a very long time and give her a good amount of credit for the jump in the number of layouts of mine that have had machine stitching.  Here's Lisa's layout which was her submission for our very first WCS gallery:

lovelovelovelove this one of hers.  Isn't she adorable?

And here's my take on her design:

Do you scraplift?  Who are your favorite liftable scrappers?  Here are a few more from my list:

Emily Pitts

Jamie Waters

Waleska Neris

Jody Wenke

Kim Kesti (love her cards)

Jennifer Johner

Laura Kurz

Tina Azsmus

April Foster

I'll be heading out to CHA in just a few hours, picking Marnie up from the airport on my way. Believe it or not, this will be the first time Elizabeth, Marnie and I have ever been in the same room together since starting WCS just about a year ago. And it'll be my first time ever meeting Marnie. We're all REALLY looking forward to being together and enjoying the show.

For photos, fabulousness and top show picks, please check in WCS next week. Yeah!

Handmade for Haiti.

The amazing ladies at Craft Hope have created an Etsy shop where 100% of the sales go to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.  So far, after just a few days, the shop has raised $7000.  I've already made, posted and sold out of the cute felt garlands I made.  I'll be making more garland and finishing up a quilt for sale in this shop. I've also got a few other things I'll be putting together in the next few days.

If you're interested in making something and posting it for sale in the Craft Hope for Haiti shop, please go to the Craft Hope website to get information.   

Thank you!

Please help Haiti.

As you may know, our sweet boy Aidan is a Haitian adoptee. We spent a collective 100 days or so in Haiti during his adoption and met so many amazing people and saw so many amazing things. While Haiti may be the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, in my eyes it was anything but poor in spirit.  

On our last trip there to bring him home in October 2003, we spent several days at the Hotel Montana.  It is reportedly now a complete loss with over 200 people missing in its ruins, including several Americans.

The people of Haiti need your help. Donations are needed to provide such basic life necessities as water and fuel.  Opportunities abound to donate money to aid in this unbelievable tragedy.  Here are some options:

Partners in Health

Doctors Without Borders

The American Red Cross

Heartline Ministries (Our friends, the Livesays, have been living as missionaries in Haiti with their six children for the last four years. Follow their blog and tweets as they do what they can to help their friends and neighbors. Heartline Ministries is one of their sponsors.)

If you are a crafter and want to help, Craft Hope has created a special Etsy shop where 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the goods in that shop benefit Doctors Without Borders. I'll be making at least one quilt and several oil cloth bags in the next few days to post in this shop. 

There may even be opportunities to be a host family for a Haitian child who might need to be transported to the States for medical procedures. This is just one such place to go for information on how you can help in this way.

I've spent the last four days glued to the computer for updates on the situation there, and feel utterly devastated and helpless. We've made as much of a donation as we can afford to Partners in Health and that did make us feel a bit better, that at least we have done what we can from here for now.

Aidan knows what is going on and we've told him as much as is appropriate for a seven-year-old. While we haven't heard anything about his birth mother or birth siblings in the last six years, we pray for them all everyday. We've been praying much harder since Tuesday.

Thank you, and please pray for the people of Haiti and those who are there to help.