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!

Only the Good Friday

This Friday I could only wish that this optimism virus of Shelly’s could spread like a wildfire; no- better yet, that it could spread as fast and ferociously as the fear mongers would have us believe the swine flu is spreading.

Today, while Shelly and her muse spend the day crying in the rain and writing lovely La La stories, I want to help spread another bit of good that I’m sooo in love with: The Good Medicine Project.

According to the traditions of many Native Peoples, a medicine bag contains Medicine (or “magick”) items attributed with various supernatural abilities. Many times these items were discovered in a tribal custom of vision quest. The passage ceremony of vision quest is often one of personal sacrifice including fasting, prayer and isolation from the community. The purpose of the vision quest is to make contact with natural spiritual forces that help or guide one. The spirits or totems give signs of the magical items, which are kept by the seeker to bring knowledge, comfort, healing and aid personal growth, to aid in fighting skills, healing allies, and to hinder one’s enemies.

At Camp Sanguinity there this July there will be 140 children enjoying some fun and fellowship: Camp like we went to as kids in the summer. They will play and tell ghost stories around the campfire, I’m sure. Maybe someone will even get their hand in a pan of warm water while they sleep, or awaken with a toothpaste or peanut butter hair cream. Remember that?

There’s one thing a little different about this particular summer camp, though. The children there this July will be kids who are battling cancer along with some of their siblings.

If these kids haven’t been undergoing a time of personal sacrifice; a time that has included “fasting, prayer and isolation from the community”, then I don’t know who has.

So once again, that crazy Redheaded Texas Storyteller has come up with a way to let those kids know that they are loved, and a way to honor their sacrifices and bring a little magic into their lives. That is what The Good Medicine Project is all about. 3 charms-1 each from 3 different bloggers in a medicine bag made by a 4th.

Simple. Sweet. Good!

I finally figured out the kind of bags I wanted to make. I really wanted to sew little leather bags, but my sewing machines (all three!) are on the blink, so looks like I’m crocheting after all. And although Shelly has gotten quite a few charms, I have a few special trinkets I intend to send along with my bags. See the little orange tags on either side? If you pull on them it opens the bag, while pulling down from the bottom of the bag closes it. I didn’t write down the pattern, so I hope I can make it again! Hahaha! I’m such a dork, sometimes!

So get on board, ya’ll! Spread a little good for some kids with cancer. Head on over to the Good Medicine Project and see what you can do to help. Make some bags, send some tiny magick, or even go grab a sidebar banner and help to pass the good word for good medicine!

That’s my Good for this Friday! Leave yours in comments and I’ll repost it here, and be sure to stop by and leave a comment at Only the Good Friday Home and see what kind of good others are gettin’ up to this week!

Peace, out!

And I love it. This time all you non crocheting folks can get in on it and give!! These medicine bags are for Camp Sanguinity kids, just like the granny square afghans last year. I love this idea. Don’t you have a bit of magick layin’ around somewhere?? A drilled penny, a shiny stone, a smooth piece of colored glass? Maybe a feather or a milagro or a pretty button or bead?
Head on over to This Eclectic Life and see what you can do to help. These tiny treasures could make a world of difference to a kid with cancer, or even one of their siblings!