Act Fast to Benefit Elder Craftsmen!

Fred Flare is hosting a fund-raising event that sounds like a whole lotta fun besides being for a good cause. Here's the scoop from FF:

1) MAKE A VALENTINE
You can make it out of anything… Construction paper, collage, paint, crayon, a print of a photo you took, write a poem, make a mix tape, whatever ya feel like! Be sure to include a matching envelope.

2) SEND YOUR VALENTINE + ENVELOPE TO FF BEFORE JAN 15TH
Ya can just pop both in another envelope and send it regular mail to SNAIL MAIL VALENTINES c/o fredflare.com, 300F Kingsland Av, Brooklyn NY 11222. Hurry! Your valentine MUST be postmarked no later than Thurs, Jan 15th to participate. That’s less than a week away!

3) YOUR VALENTINE WILL DEBUT ON FF THE LAST WEEK OF JANUARY
All valentines will be sold online and in our new Brooklyn store for the super friendly price of ONLY $4 EACH and ALL the proceeds from the sales of these valentines will go directly to Elder Craftsmen, an NYC based organization that brings craft workshops to local senior citizens. Our last charity event raised $5K. Can we beat it? With your amazing creation in the mix, I know we can!

There is a flickr group where you can view the completed valentines that people have made, it is called FF's Snail Mail Valentines for Charity.




I'm thinking about stitching some colorful fabric hearts onto a blank notecard, but I haven't decided if I should leave it blank or put a generic "Happy Valentine's Day" on the inside.

Hopefully I'll get time over the weekend to make a few of these; I also want to make a few new cup cozies with Valentine's Day fabrics. FUN!

Wednesday Welcome: One Curly Girl

Each week I'm using Etsy's Pounce feature in order to discover new items "from undiscovered shops waiting for their first sale" as the Etsy site states. This week's welcome is extended to One Curly Girl in the Las Vegas area. A quote from their Etsy shop announcement sums it up nicely: "Our cards make a statement by pairing simple, clean design with charming expressions and hip, colorful envelopes." The artist, Eppie Wyckoff, and her (straight-haired) husband created this business together. The cards are blank inside, allowing you to personalize your message. I found myself smiling while reading ALL of the cards but have chosen just a few to post here.



















The one above made me giggle, even stay-at-home-moms like me deserve a day off once in a while too, right?!?
This one you can give to your sweetie anytime, or maybe for Valentine's Day:



















And here is one I can truly appreciate as a 40-something gal:



















Which of these is your favorite? You can see more designs at their website, maybe you'll discover your favorite card there!

Wednesday Welcome: Southern Crafts

Today I discovered a brand new card shop on Etsy. If you check out Melanie's blog you'll see she is much more than a greeting card maker. I don't know if "scrapbooking wiz" is the correct title she has earned, but she has won awards, been published, and is a talened designer. Here is a small sample of her shop offerings: