That’s right! Yay Shelly, it’s Share a Square 2010! I won’t (although I could) tell you at great length about The Share a Square project. I could tell you about it’s awesome inception by a crazy Texas RedHead with a heart as big as her home state, about the amazing bloggers and other folks from around the world who made squares and sent them to Shelly to be sewn together into colorful expressions of love and support for the kids with cancer, (about the huge mess in Shelly’s spare bedroom that overflowed into the rest of her house… hahaha); but I won’t. I’ll let you go check it out at This Eclectic Life if you want to know more about the history if this great project.
Instead I’ll direct you to the FaceBook group page that Shelly has set up for this year, and the FAQ that she put together with her experience of 2 years doing this great thing.
What I’m here to do today, is give ya’ll some visual images and ideas for making your tags. (I’ll be crocheting like a madwoman come Fall/Winter. In the first place it’s too darn hot in the Mojave Desert to crochet in Summer; in the second- I admit… I’m a last minute kinda gal).
Having learned the lesson of crumpled and torn tags in previous years, and knowing that part of the thrill for the kids is being able to see and keep the tags from 150 different people from all around the world, Shelly has come up with a basic format for tags this year, and has graciously added to her workload by offering to laminate, punch and tie them all on to our squares when we send them. She’d like them to be standard business card size, and plans to include a binder ring for the kids to use to keep their tags.
Idea Number 1:
What I did last year was to use my business card. This may seem impersonal to some of you and I suppose it depends on your business, but I kinda thought the kids might get a kick out of having a square crocheted by a tattoo artist (and my cards are pretty colorful, which I like.) If you choose this option, be sure to write a personal note on the back! It will mean so much to the kids.
Idea Number 2:
Print your own and cut them with a paper cutter. Easy to do. Most WP programs these days have business card templates that make it super easy. Just pick something colorful or fun and type your message and print n cut! Perfect! My printer is having fits right now, and jams the paper every time, so I think I’ll be mixing my tags up between Idea 1 above, and
Idea Number 3:
Buy a pack of blank (or already decorated) micro perf business cards and add your own personal flair. I’m using stickers and a hand written message, (but if I can dig out my stamping and embossing stuff I may do some of that, too. If I do, I’ll post pics.) Have fun and do good. What’s better than that?!
Peace!

…even when it’s hard.

Friends are good. Gratitude is good. I am full of gratitude on this Only the good Friday. Thornie has been MIA again. Me n the GirlyBoi been workin’ hard to get the Stained Glass studio all unpacked from storage and set up. I have to admit that although it’s been fun and even exciting, it’s been a bitch on this damned fibromyalgia of mine. I’m a gal who really hates most medication, and I’ve been having to take more pain meds than I care to in order to function, but hey- desperate times call for desperate measures and I guess that’s what is called for right now. Yesterday I crashed and burned- the ol’ body wouldn’t stand for another day of it, (naps are good) and today I figured it was time to do some work that’s a bit easier on the body and doesn’t require medication!

So here I am with some good pictures from the studio, and my heartfelt thanks for good… no, the best friends in the world. Namely, my red headed Texas wild woman blogger friend, Shelly from This Eclectic Life, who is as generous in friendship as she is everywhere else in her life. I think I mentioned some time ago that my poor lil camera had taken a shit- died; ganz kaput. Sweet Shelly (conspiring with another Texas sweetie, Mr. Shelly) sent me a camera. She will modestly tell you that it was an old camera that they don’t use anymore. She’ll protest that it was just laying around, taking up space and she had been meaning to get rid of it anyway. But let me tell you that it is 10 times better a camera than my little cheapie that died, and I couldn’t have afforded a new cheapie, let alone a camera of the quality that this one is.

So, courtesy of Shelly and Mr. Shelly come photos of the studio and again thanks to them I’ll be able to get better pics than the ones I have up now at my new Etsy Shop. I only have a couple of items up over there so far, but I hope you’ll stop in and have a peek. And drop by now and again. Happy weekend to all!

Peace, out.

So what’s good in Thorne’s World today??

What isn’t!?!

Seriously, if it weren’t Only the Good Friday, I could prolly give you a long list of not-so-good stuff, but as I have said before, nobody likes a whiny witch! So… here’s what is good today:

• A visit with my Mom and reminiscing about some of the homes we’ve lived in and the unique experiences we had there. We talked about mud parties, feeding ants, possums in trees and dogs pulling skateboards. Good times!
• Playing World of Warcraft again. I’ve been giving myself permission to play again. I’ve made a lot of in game advancement and achievements in the last several play sessions, gotten some nice gear, had an ingame head change, visited with gaming friends, made new ones, reconnected with my guildmates and enjoyed the game graphics and scenery. I’ve even done a little fishing! (and if none of this makes sense to you, stay tuned; Imma write about my online gaming with screen shots of the gorgeous graphics, soon!) Too much fun.
• The laundry/kitchen porch is clean and I’ve made a serious dent in the laundry (which includes craft and sewing fabrics that got dusty and dirty when we moved them from storage unit to storage unit, and clothes that needed to be washed and sorted for donation.) The mountain of laundry is looking a bit less formidable and all the clean clothes smell sooo nice! (I just love that; don’t you??)
  Phase one of the reclaiming of the studio is well under way. Shipping boxes and packing materials have been sorted and organized, tools and building materials have been put away and/or stacked, and random crafting mats have been moved to the cellar for future sorting. It’s all good!
• The GirlyBoi got enough work to pay for the week’s groceries which is really freaking good!! I even got to splurge and buy a pound of precious, tasty, espresso roast beans as a treat! (Gods, it’s been months since I’ve bought good coffee!) Soooo good!

So yeah… it is a good Friday, at the end of a good week, and I’m ready for a good weekend! Don’t forget to stop by This Eclectic Life to see what other good everyone is up to this Friday!

Peace, out!