Cause Related Marketing - merging our passion with our profit by volunteering (and other acts of bravery)

I would rather do business with a company that stands for more than just profits - I think everyone would.

If you have a crafty business - aligning yourself with a charity or cause that you passionately believe in can become a corner stone of your marketing plan.

There are many ways to create the type of partnerships that can get your company name out there and generate goodwill (plus good karma) for your biz.

It used to be when I would register as a volunteer I would use my name (beach clean ups, etc), but this year I have been registering as my company.

(yes, I sometimes have to drag Olive along or some of my human family posing as my "staff")

I made some great connections, would probably be doing the things anyway and who knows who might see my company name on the registry and look me up later.

I think it is important to be authentic with this and work with causes you believe in - people will sense your passion and see that you care - and they'll realize you will probably care just as much about your work.

When you fill out your name on those cardboard pink ribbons and shamrocks and hearts at the local store when donating your dollars - sign your company name instead of your own -

maybe a buyer from Anthropologie will be chowing down on her Happy Baconalia at Denny's

(yes, I just googled them and this week they have a Happy Baconalia breakfast pretty much guaranteed to send someone to the emergency room)

and see your little donation ribbon with your company name over her head and pull out her blackberry or ipad or smartphone or whatever techno doodad buyers from Anthropologie are carrying these days and check out your shop, get uber-excited over your awesome offerings, run out of the Denny's

(you probably just saved her life which I'm sure will be taken into consideration when she writes her order, another plus)

screaming your business name and call you the same day.

... or maybe your little donation ribbon will be taped up in such a haphazard manner that it will fall to the floor within minutes, be trampled by a gaggle of girl scouts (I forget what you call groups of them) and only be seen by the cleaning woman ...

... who will happen to be moonlighting from her real job as a reporter for People magazine where you will find your little gizmo next Christmas in the holiday gift guide ...

you can't go wrong with this stuff ... really.

xo

*small acts transform the world print by Fresh Words Market

Meditation - trying this again - week 1 practice

I have tried to work meditation into my life as a daily practice a few times.

Several years ago when my mother was living with us and at the end of her life with emphysema (please, please don't smoke) things felt way out of control.

I had just lost a job and career I thought I would have forever -
and it was a good one, too - one that didn't require me to wear a name tag, use the words "would you like fries with that" or refer to my co-workers as my "Apple-buddies".

(this loss, OK firing, this firing turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me, but at the time I was lost in the injustice of it all and working my way through it)

My daughter was in one of those phases where a mother could do nothing wrong right, my husband was stressed out himself and always working and in a place where a wife could do nothing wrong right, I was getting strange rashes and headaches, my mother was bedridden, addicted to watching the food network and requesting daily Rachel Ray recipe sandwiches where the stuffings should be fluffed and not folded onto the bread (I spent alot of time muttering "fluff you ma" to myself) ... things were going from worse to worse.

I had meditated back in high school

(note- in a funny little freudian slip while typing this post I wrote- I was medicated back in high school :) which I wasn't but maybe should have been)

and thought I would give it another try along with daily affirmations and some lightweight law of attraction healing stuff with the books of Louise Hay.

I signed up for a local yoga class which I promptly quit, but the meditation portion was something that I really began to look forward to. I started meditating about 3 times a day.

One day while meditating I felt like I had jumped into the top of my head and could just jump right out of my body - I started crying and couldn't stop - now I would see this breakdown as a kind of breakthrough, but at the time I decided I just needed a break and stopped meditating.

Somehow I never got back to it.

Lately I have been feeling the need for some centering and a greater ability to control my thinking and emotions; all things meditation works miracles for, so I am back into it this week ... slowly ... the way I did it the first time.

I am going to publish my weekly practice in case anyone has an interest in any of this or has tried meditation and found it difficult to still your mind and difficult to stick with - maybe this way will work for you, too.

Week 1 practice : select a room where you can be alone and a time when you will not be disturbed, sit erect, be comfortable but not too comfortable, let your thoughts roam but sit perfectly still - start with 15 minutes and work up to a half hour (do this everyday at the same time) -the object of the first week is to get control of your physical body (we are not working on stilling our minds at this point) - it may take more than a week before you can sit without scratching or twitching or you may be able to do it the first time, but keep with it for 7 days anyway - the teacher I worked with felt it was essential to secure complete control of your body before you proceed with your thoughts. For this week, you can let your thoughts roam - next week we will work on the next step.

The Mother's Day Giveaway winner is (chosen by random.org) :

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 462
Result:
60

Tracey3!

*let go of your tears print by the amazing jess swift

GIVEAWAY - Jessica Alpern Cuts Paper - Short Stories Hand Cut on Paint Chips CLOSED

Jessica Alpern is an amazing hand cut paper artist. Her work will blow you away! I especially love her short stories on paint chip series.

Born in Rota, Spain - Jessica arrived in the U.S. a year later and grew up in 6 states and countless houses. She joined the Navy in 2000; serving as a photographer and stationed in Yokosuka, Japan onboard an aircraft carrier until she left to pursue "wackiness and shenanigans".

She settled down for awhile after graduating from the New England School of Photography, but eventually gave in to her nomadic tendencies and left her home to join the crew aboard a 36 foot catamaran that crossed the Atlantic and eventually landed in, of all places, Rota, Spain!

Jessica is currently wrecking havoc with her Xacto in Austin, Texas.

We are so lucky to have some of her amazing work for this week's giveaway!

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive Jessica Alpern's four In Our Summer Skin hand cut paint chips (how cool is that - she cuts these intricate, amazing and original forms from paint chips) floating in plexi and ready for your 8X10 frame!

HOW TO WIN:

It's easy, peasy - just leave your contact information below!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone.

DRAWING:
Enter by midnight, Sunday, May 15th! Good Luck! CLOSED- WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED 5/20!

What I Will Do for A Blog Giveaway Prize or please turn down the volume, cover your eyes and have an amazing weekend

I so know I will regret this after hitting publish, but I have been promised a totally awesome blog giveaway for you guys from a very popular shopkeeper if I post a video of myself saying "wash" (how the hell do you say wash anyway?) plus I am trying to get my nerve up to do some video tutorials (great for SEO), so even though I blanked on "mischief night", "sunshower" and " inch worm" (I think?) - (I totally blame mommy-brain which I have somehow had since 8th grade and blame for all missteps) here is my NJ dialect saying the words below - see if you can hear the 'fogetaboutit' Carmella Soprano in me:

(not sure why my face is so white - I blame weeks of rain and the spotlight I have Olive carry around trained on my face):



Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

Now answer these questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

If anyone wants to try this on their own blog- leave a link and I will add it in here - there is also a link on Leigh-Ann's wonderful Freckled Nest site here. I was once asked by a speech therapist if english was my second language because I pronounce every syllable which left me very smug until he added - "whether they should be pronounced or not" - aargh!

Anyhoo, Happy Friday everyone - I am posting this Thursday night, but plan to get up at 4am to watch the wedding and drink margaritas (winks at Cinders).

The winner of Bullfrog Laserworks Custom Rubber Stamp is (drumroll please)

Chosen by random.org True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 611
Result:
105

Elena Rosenberg of Tickled Pink Knits! Congrats Elena!

Don't miss this week's giveaway it is only up through Sunday!

Wishing Everyone a Happy Ever After especially Will and Kate!

Upcycled Corkboard Tutorial - from Blah to Cork-tastic in 10 Minutes!

This is another easy-peasy tutorial

(not sure why I am doing all these cork tutorials lately - it just seems to be working out that way)

all you need for this one is a piece of cork or your existing corkboard, some scrap fabric and furniture tacks.

I made mine with a vintage hanger, but this is equally awesome on your existing corkboard.

(you can also make this on solid wood and furniture by drilling starter holes - it is alot of work though - I did something like this once using paint for the petals instead of fabric on an old cabinet - you need to measure the starter holes so the furniture tacks are placed exactly where you want them and you need to use a very small drill bit)

1. Cut a cardboard petal template 2. Cut out your fabric petals 3. Lay out your flower 4. Add your furniture tacks securing the fabric as you go

STRANGE BUT TRUE

After writing this post I was suddenly so tired that I had to lay down on my front porch - well not on the actual porch floor if that is kind of what you are picturing, but in a wicker chair on the porch with my feet on the railing -

one moment I am staring at my dandelion garden and listening to Harry Chapin sing that sad song about the taxicab and the next moment I am shooting Lance Armstrong in the foot ... uhuh - at least no vital organs were involved - even in my dreams I only maim, never kill - I'm kind of nice that way.

I have no idea where or how I got the gun or why I decided to go all Clint Eastwood on his Nikes but I clearly remember seeing Lance sprawl backwards onto my shipping table, landing squarely in a pile of customs forms and manilla mailers.

What this says about my subconscious I don't really want to think about - I was on the livestrong site looking for recipes the other day or it could just be my brain's way of reminding me not to eat tylenol pm for dinner ... again

BTW is anyone getting up tomorrow to see the wedding?? Maybe if I really do slip myself some tylenol pm this afternoon and fall asleep around dinner time I can get up early enough ...

Creating Special Spaces for Our Stuff

I was so happy to find this amazing yellow toolbox at a little antique shop in Red Bank, NJ (simply one of the best towns on the planet) a while back and it seemed the perfect place for some of my favorite old books.

I am not usually "a lamp on the left and a lamp on the right" kind of a girl but lately have been craving a bit more symmetry and structure.

I have also been wanting to move real furniture into my kitchen and move out the prefab cabinets and this is the first step - an old dresser with some black paint, covered with turquoise and sanded (sand where real wear and tear would occur - around knobs, corners, etc) as a sideboard under my pot rack (excuse the messy pots!)

If you have about 15 minutes you might enjoy Dan Phillips TED talk about the homes he builds from reclaimed and cast off materials.

Saving the Planet by Trusting Ourselves and creating a wish garden that may get you uninvited to the annual block party

Some days the news is so bleak I can't watch it.

My hubby was getting nosebleeds during the early weeks of the Japan nuclear crisis and we reached a point where we turned it all off.

I felt guilty over this because I do not want to be one of those people who turn from things I do not want to look at - the kind of person who steps over the homeless, avoids looking at the scarred and pushes her own stuff down so deeply that neither years of therapy or a two ton John Deere can unearth it.

(we were thinking - "I just can't go there. It is too hard to look at this stuff. It is too hard to feel this stuff." We put the brakes on.)

These are challenging times (and I am talking about things other than Japan here and many of us are feeling it) - times maybe we will be telling our grandkids about if we are lucky enough to have any. I think we are all here for a purpose, meant to be right where we are, right now.

None of us know what is going to happen. We believe things will get better, but suspect that maybe things will get worse first.

So maybe the greatest, most powerful thing we can do is to simply say, "What the hell, I will go there. I will look. I will feel what I need to feel. I sur­render."

Maybe we don't have to worry about being centered while we are in this place at this time.

If we intend to always be in control we are out of luck. Control is like a box that will never allow us the range of movement that is needed to knock down boundaries and belief systems anyway. Control has always been highly overrated.

My Hindu guru artist friend says to me, "Is the world really collapsing around us? Or is it lift­ing itself around us while everything that stays the same just feels like it is falling?"

Maybe we will know exactly what we need to do, exactly when we need to do it. Maybe we just need to not be afraid to look. Maybe we just need to not be afraid to feel. Maybe we just need to trust ourselves.

I am writing this post on Earth Day after a neighbor asked me what I am doing about my 'dandelion problem' - I told him I'm not sure and he said to me, "well, I thought knowing you, you were probably growing them on purpose"

*sigh*

I do know we are not about to pour toxic chemicals all over the tiny little piece of the planet's skin that we are the caregivers of right now.

I will never understand how a dandelion is any less beautiful than a daffodil.

Maybe there is some organic remedy I could look into or maybe I should wait until they turn into little puffballs and then erect a little fence around my dandelion patch with a sign that reads - blow me.

:)

*never trust a blonde print by franticmeerkat
*dandelion print by briole