Operation Julie's Smile

Happy Monday everyone! I'm not sure if you all have heard about this yet so I wanted to share! I'm not sure if you all know Julie Ranae, but she is a very talented lady in the scrapbooking world and she has such a sweet heart! When my friend Nicole asked me if I'd be interested in this blog hop, I jumped right on the bandwagon! This is a great cause, so please read up and spread the word!

Here is a little more info on this taken from Julie's Blog:

There are times in this life when I just
shake my head and think...
'how did I become so blessed?'

I BEG you to please bear with me
through this post because there is
some pretty amazing news to share.....

Many of you may have heard that I recently
had to have emergency oral surgery which resulted
in the removal of my front teeth.
As a child, I struggled with brittle teeth due to
some health concerns and my parents did all
they could to ensure that I went into adult-hood
with the best teeth possible. Unfortunately with age,
the brittle teeth became a problem again and well,
long story short, the dentist recommended that
I bite the bullet and have them all replaced.

I made the appointment, had the consultation
and was handed a piece of paper that said to
bring $4,000 with me to have the rest of the teeth
taken out. I was in shock because the dentist made
reference to the idea that 'it could all be worked out' ; )

Well, here I am today, missing front teeth (and a few others)
and being frustrated because I believed that this was
a procedure that would be taken care of quickly.
The unfortunate thing, is that THAT amount was JUST for the
removal of the rest of my teeth...it does not account
for the 'permanent teeth' that would need to be put in place.

When my teammate Nicole Rixon of
Sweet Stamp Shop
heard what had happened, she contacted not only
our design team, but a variety of other friends
and teammates of mine and the following was born...

There will be a benefit blog hop called
'Operation Julie's Smile'
that will take place Oct 7-9.
There are a variety of
companies and design teams who will be participating
in this hop to help raise funds for this benefit.
So far, nearly $500 in prizes have been made available and will be awarded for both participants
and those who donate.

Operation Julie's Smile
is now asking for designers/teams who would like to
be a part of the benefit hop.

If you are interested
in getting involved in this creative fundraising event,
please contact Nicole Rixon at nicolehrixon@gmail.com
The deadline to be
a part of the hop is Wednesday, Sept 28th.
Participants will be notified of the blog hop order
between Oct 3rd-5th.
This blog hop is an opportunity to have fun,
feature your blog and raise money for a friend in need.
A donation button
will be made available to all who participate.

Every little bit helps and each donation that
comes in makes it possible for me to regain
a true smile...whatever your part in our
event, I thank you from the
bottom of my heart.....

To donate to Operation Julie's Smile, please click the button below

PLEASE Help by Voting For Me!!! (There might be a little prize if you do!!!)

If you are looking for the Beach Party Blog Hop CLICK HERE

Hello everyone!!! I am posting this blog post to ask for your help! I need help from every single one of you!

Do you remember this set of cards that I made a few weeks ago?

Well, these cards have made it as one of the Top 4 on Scrapbook Etc's Craft It Forward contest this week! This is a contest for charity, so if I win, the prize $ will go to the Bradley Angel House for women who have suffered from abuse and domestic violence. I am currently in 2nd place, but there is 1 day left to vote for the week! PLEASE go and vote for me! You can vote once per browser per day (but I have been able to vote more than once on some days!) Share it on your facebook walls, ask friends and family to vote, etc. Just whatever it takes!

CLICK HERE to vote!!!

Please leave me a comment letting me know that you voted, and IF I make it to 1st place, I will give one lucky voter a little prize pack. I think that I will make it a nice prize pack and give 1 DIY album kit, a couple of blank albums... AND a mini album made by me :-) Does that sound good? Ok, well... what are you waiting for? GO VOTE!!!

Thanks everyone!

Royal Purple Freedom Blog Hop

Welcome to the Royal Purple Freedom Blog Hop! I hope you've enjoyed hopping along this far! If you just stopped by my blog, make sure you start at the beginning of this hop HERE and check out all of the fabulous cards that were made!

I decided to make several cards for this hop. It touched my heart that Faith was doing this and I wanted to contribute as much as I could!

All of my cards feature the same elements, but I used different paper and different colors of cardstock for each one to mix them up a little.

Each card is 3.5 x 3.5 inches in size.

Recipe for cards:
Bazzill Violet Monochromatic Cardstock
Basic Grey Wysteria Paper
Pink by Design Save The Tatas SVG Files
Market Street Stamps Simple Joys Stamp Set
Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
Ranger Ink Holographic Embossing Powder
Ranger Ink Seafoam White Embossing Powder

About 4.8 million intimate partner-related physical assaults and rapes occur every year while many more assaults and rapes go unreported entirely. Over 3 million children witness violence in their home each year and those who see and hear violence in the home suffer physically and emotionally. These statistics are sad and overwhelming, but help IS out there for those that choose to break the silence.

Together we can make a difference! Help us instill some hope where very little probably exists and give 24 families a chance at recovery when we are able to donate 1k dollars to the Bradley Angle House. Your purple themed card(s) with a hope filled message inside could make all the difference, not to mention give YOU a chance to win the grand prize for this hop...what is it you ask? A prize basket valued at more than $100.

Want more chances to win the grand prize? Additional entries will be given for each $1 donation you include with your card. Would you prefer 1 entry, 10 entries, or is 100 entries more of what you had in mind? It's all up to you! Cards must be postmarked by June 30th for inclusion in basket drawings and can be mailed to the following address:

Royal Purple Hop
c/o Vicki Smith
P.O. Box 1496
Millbrook, NY 12545

If you are interested in blog candy, you are in luck! Faith has gotten numerous donations for giveaways for this hop! I also chipped in and decided to give away this "Girlfriends" DIY paper bag album kit like the ones you can find in my etsy shop.

Make sure you stop by Faith's blog as well as all of the rest of the blogs in this hop to be eligible for any blog candy!

Your next stop along the way is Kristal. To start at the beginning or see all the blog candy being offered be sure to check out Faith's Blog and in case you get lost along the way, here's the entire line-up:

Faith: http://faithfulecreations.com/
Raven: http://love4stamps.blogspot.com/
Linda: http://www.thefruitofmyhands.blogspot.com
Brie: http://vintage53.blogspot.com/
Erin: http://www.spantastikreations.blogspot.com/
Tanya: http://www.ScrappyScavenger.blogspot.com/
Amanda: http://www.scrapanddash.com/
Kimmarie: http://kimmarieskorner.blogspot.com/
Jackie: http://jackrabbitscrappin.blogspot.com/
Lori A: http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/
Gina: http://californiascrappin-gcinderella21.blogspot.com/
Monica: http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/
Anita: http://anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/
Sue: http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/
Gaby: http://www.gabycreates.com
Debbie W: http://craftydeb-ddscrafts.blogspot.com/
Jen R: http://www.memorieswithjen.blogspot.com/
Deborah: http://www.scrappingmamma.net/
Ellen: http://www.cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com/
Gill: http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com/
Lori: http://lorisartsyobsession.blogspot.com/
Krista: http://www.kristaspapercafe.com/
Carol: http://www.cardstockscissorsandglue.blogspot.com/
Nancy: http://fancywithnancy.blogspot.com/
Vicki: http://paperandprims.blogspot.com/
Emily: http://www.createserendipity.net/
Kristal: http://www.gettingcricky.com/
Amy: http://amychomas.blogspot.com/

Scrap For A Cure!

Recently, Chrissy from LLDT asked a few of us in the group if we could contribute to her local scrapbook store's silent auction for breast cancer. Every year I try to contribute something to the Susan G Komen foundation and I thought this would be a wonderful thing to do! Here is a pic of what I donated, it's a paper bag album and mini keychain album. The paper bag album says "Home is where our story begins" and was made using Heidi Grace papers. Chrissy informed the group that the silent auction brought in over $800, which is absolutely amazing!!! I plan to contribute more in my ebay listings later this week so be on the lookout for that!