Bracelets for Awareness

Just thought I would let everyone know about one of the things that helps fund MJ's Memories. When we first started our project, we knew that we would have to have a way to fund our project. My husband came up with the idea of awareness bracelets - and I totally loved it! We make these bracelets and sell them for $10 each. (Which if you look around is a great price for an awareness bracelet with glass beads!) All of the proceeds benefit MJ's Memories. We have recently sold a lot of bracelets with a baby angel cherub charm, so I thought that having the option to make a charm bracelet was a good idea. So now we have the pregnancy and infant loss bracelet available with charms!! I have a photo of all of the charms available below.

Well, Saturday was our big craft show to sell a ton of bracelets and raise lots of money for our gift bags. Yeah, right. We got to the 'big' show bright and early at 9 am (show started at 10 am) to make sure we got a good spot and set up so our table looked great. We were all ready and set to go at about 9:45 am and all we had to do was wait until people started showing up. Well, we waited, and waited, and waited. Then we started looking around and realizing that this was not at all what we had thought we signed up for. There were only about 20 vendors there (I thought there would be about 60+), and the place was very rundown and not in a very good neighborhood in Kansas City. As we waited and waited for people to show up, we started talking to the people around us. At about 11 am there had been literally about four people who showed and they just walked through and left. The lady next to us was selling crocheted purses and scarves and I asked her if this was how it always was (they have these shows every weekend), or if they expected more people to show up. She replied that they had already had double the amount of people that they had last week. I literally almost choked. Why the heck did we pay $25 to sit around all day?? After waiting about 30 more minutes and still not having anyone show up, we decided to book it. I did not want to sit around until 5 pm getting more and more mad. The website made it seem like a ton of people showed up and that this was a hugely successful show every weekend. Being that we live in Topeka, KS, about an hour away from Kansas City, we really had no way of knowing if they were telling the truth, or not. And they weren't. Very disappointing, but what are you gonna do? In the end we lost $25 and about three hours of our life. It could have been worse, we could have stayed all day. So glad we faked illness and booked it!

So we decided to not waste the day, and do something for MJ's Memories, at least. When I was at Hobby Lobby the other day, I found these way cute wooden plaques and things to put on them, and I bought a bunch. Being that we were in Kansas City, we stopped at that Hobby Lobby and bought some more, and some paint and went home to get started. They are so cute! We only had enough for 26, so we need to buy some more, but we bought both our Hobby Lobby, and Kansas City's Hobby Lobby out. I think they are just so cute! I would have loved one for MJ's isolette. Here is a picture of them, and my husband, Willie, working on them.

So after finishing our name plaques and resting on Sunday, today I woke up bright and early for our big news interview! We had to be there at 6 am, so I woke up about 4:30 am. We got there and Will was a super happy baby! I was so nervous he was going to be fussy, but he was such a cheeseball! Laughing and giggling at the news anchor, he worked the crowd for sure! The interview went great, it was about three minutes and I talked about MJ's story and what MJ's Memories is and then asked for donations. I really hope that they have a link to the story up on the website, I forgot to ask, so I emailed her and asked. It would be so cool to post a link! Hopefully we get some donations, or at least some interest. We got like four responses from our news article in the paper, so hopefully this will generate some interest, too. Regardless, I am just super happy that I was able to tell people MJ's story. Talking about him helps me and makes me remember him more. I emailed them several photos ahead of time, and they showed all of his photo, too, which made me really happy. I love looking at photos of him! Here's to hoping I get on in a few hours with link!

Busy Weekend Ahead!

Tomorrow we go to another Art Show to sell Awareness Bracelets to fund MJ's Memories! If you live in Kansas City area, come check it out -

1522 Holmes
Kansas City, MO

The show is from 10 am to 5 pm. Bracelets are only $10 each and come in TONS of Awareness Colors. Check out Bracelets for Awareness for examples of the bracelets we will be selling

Then Monday if you live in Topeka check out ...27 News at 6 am - they are going to interview me about MJ's Memories!!!! Hopefully they put a link on their website to the interview, because then I can post it here, as well. But if not, I will be sure to tell you how it goes on Monday afterwards. I am going to be bringing Will along with me, so he is going to be a superstar! I am pretty nervous about going on the show, but excited at the same time. I really wanted Willie to come with, but they said they just do not have enough room for both of us to be there. Which makes me sad, Willie and I are completly doing this together, and I really wanted both of us to be included. I almost backed out of it, but at the last second, I decided not to. I just hope that I don't cry. I always cry. I am pretty sure that I cry everyday. But I know when I do it in front of people it makes it wierd and uncomfortable. But maybe our sob story will get us some more donations, so maybe I should cry, :) LOL. We'll see how it goes.

Right now I am just excited about tomorrow. I really hope that we do well. There are going to be a lot of vendors there tomorrow, so hopefully that means a lot of people! We need to buy the bags soon, which I think will cost about $2 a bag. Not too bad, but I would ideally like to buy a lot of bags now, so we don't have to keep buying them every three months. We'll see how it goes. Wish us luck this weekend!

Another Busy Week . . . and We're in the News!

Well first off, before I start anything about what we have been doing, I gotta post a link to the Toepka Capital Journal, who came and interviewed us about MJ's Memories. We made the front page!!



http://cjonline.com/news/local/2009-11-15/project_keeps_babys_memory_alive



Also, as of 10 am on Monday morning (the day the paper came out), I have received three emails from people who would like to donate things! How amazing is that!



So anyway, on Thursday of last week, after I posted last, Willie called me and said that he had an opportunity for us to get into an Arts and Craft Show on Saturday. As much as lounging around all day sounded appealing, we decided to go ahead and do it. It only cost us $25 to get in, so we only had to sell 5 bracelets to at least make our money back. It was a very small show, so we decided that our goal was to sell 10 bracelets. It would also give us an opportunity to prepare ourselves for December 5, when we go to the big art show in Kansas City. The show was from 9 am to 4 pm, and we brought Will along to help us sell. And he really did! We ended up selling 14 bracelets, and we have an order for 10 more! It was really funny because when Will was awake, we sold more bracelets then we he slept. Guess on December 5 he won't be sleeping at all! (Yeah right, then he'll be grumpy and screaming).



Anyway after our amazingly successfull day on Saturday, we were spent! But my parents were in town and we had been planning all week to make baby eye masks, or baby bling, as my friend Chanda calls them. Chanda lost her daughter, Ireland Rose, to CDH the same day that I lost MJ. Chanda makes them beautifully, I don't know if mine are as good as hers, but yesterday was my first time on the sowing machine since high school! Here is a link the her blog:



http://mybabysbling.blogspot.com/



So anyway, last week when my sisters were in, we picked out some fabric, and yesterday, with my mom, we got down to it! We had a great assembly line going, My mom traced the pattern, Willie cut them out, I sowed them and turned them inside out (to hide the seam), Wille trimed the edges, my mom ironed and finishe sowing the hole by hand. Willie has decided he is our project manager, which I am very glad! He is super organzied, which I am not, and he has it down to a great system. Here is a picture of our bags to the left.










So far here are the things we have completed and/or ready for our first 50 bags:



Eye masks

Decks of Cards

Baby Girl Bows

Handpring/footprint Kits



Slowly we are starting to get some donations in as well. Jen, from my group on babyfit.com sent us a huge box of donations, along with 10 handprint/footprint kits! If you are reading this, thanks again Jen! Her daugther was in the NICU for a few weeks due to being premature and Jen had preeclampsyia, which I had as well, but not nearly as bad as she did.



Things are really progressing well for us, I am so excited about the next few weeks! Next week we go to Nevada for Thanksgiving and to see Willie's side of our family. (We can't wait to see them). Shannon, my sister-in-law has organized a CDH Awareness Benefit the day after Thanksgiving, which I am super excited about! We are also going to be able to meet another CDH family that lost their son to CDH in March of this year. We met on facebook, so it is so amazing to be able to meet them. Then comes Christmas with my family, and my mom has organized a MJ's Memories benefit December 27, which we are also very excited for. All in all, as hard as the last few months have been, I feel like I am able to do something for MJ, even though he is gone. The song Second Chance, by Shindown reminds me so much of MJ. Here are the lyrics:



My eyes are open wide,

by the way

I made it through the day.

I watch the world outside,

by the way

I'm leaving out today.

I just saw Hailey's Comet she waved

Said, "why are you always running in place?

Even the man in the moon disappeared

somewhere in the stratosphere."



Tell my mother, tell my father

I've done the best I can

To make them realize this is my life

I hope they understand.I

'm not angry, I'm just saying

Sometimes goodbye is a second chance.



Please don't cry one tear for me

I'm not afraid of what I have to say.

This is my one and only voice

so listen close, it's only for today.



I just saw Hailey's Comet she waved,

Said, "why are you always running in place?

Even the man in the moon disappeared

somewhere in the stratosphere."



Tell my mother, tell my father

I've done the best I can

To make them realize this is my life

I hope they understand.

I'm not angry, I'm just saying

Sometimes goodbye is a second chance.

Here is my chance

This is my chance!



Tell my mother, tell my father

I've done the best I can

To make them realize this is my life

I hope they understand.

I'm not angry, I'm just saying

Sometimes goodbye is a second chance,

Sometimes goodbye is a second chance,

Sometimes goodbye is a second chance.





Maybe MJ's second chance is up in Heaven, welcoming all the CDH babies, and our second chance to help all the families we can here on Earth, until we can meet again. Maybe . . .

Sold my first bracelet online!

Woohoo! I am pretty excited tonight because I logged into my email account, and someone bought a bracelet! I am VERY excited about this. I was getting pretty down because we hadn't sold any (other than to my mom and sister - and they don't really count) yet. I was starting to think maybe the bracelet idea was not a good one, and it was gonna tank. Hopefully this will be the first of many, because surprisingly enough, making bracelets is NOT cheap. I thought that buying the beads would be fairly inexpensive, but that was not the case. All the beads I bought, I bought on sale 50% off, and we still put a lot of money into them. Basically if I don't buy the beads at 50% off, then I don't make any money at all, only a break even. So I have to buy strategically. So hopefully this first sale will start a trend and I will be able to get a few sold. If not, I always have my back up plan of attending craft shows. My first craft show will be December 5th in Kansas City. I want to make a lot of bracelets for this event, and I really hope that people will like them. It is an all day affair, so I hopefully we will do well. We have to sell a minimum of five bracelets there to brake even, as it costs $25 to be in the show. If we can do well there, I think I will try and attend a show every other month or so. I don't want to overdo it, and get burnt out, so I think that every other month will be a good plan. Right now I am pretty excited, I just hope that it will continue and I can do well.

This is all for MJ after all, and I just want to make him proud. I am so proud of him, and I can only hope that I can make him feel the same way he made me feel. I miss him so much, sometimes it just doesn't seem real that he is gone. But that is the reality, as much as I want to deny it, I just can't. MJ's Memories will mean so much to me, I just want to be able to do well.

Bracelets Made!

Well, I have really gotten started here! Over the weekend, my mom, sister, and I made about 32 bracelets for MJ's Memories. They look so good, I am so happy with how they turned out! I am really surprised at how good they look, because I was a little scared when I was buying the beads. And, WOW were the beads expensive. Thank goodness Hobby Lobby had a half off sale, other wise I would have to sell them for a lot. And I really didn't want to do that. I am selling them for $10 each, which is a really good price, I think. I know when my dad had cancer, and I was looking around for a nice awareness bracelet, all of the bracelets were around $20 each. I am VERY happy with how they turned out. I just hope that people will want to buy them. I have gotten good feedback from people on facebook, but still no one has bought them. I put a lot of money into the bracelets, so I hope to at least get the money back, but I really want it to be a good fundraiser for MJ's Memories. I will be attending a Craft Show in December, so hopefully I can sell some there, as well. Alas, I am having fun doing it, and I am doing it for MJ so I guess that is all that matters.

Bracelets are for sale at http://braceletsforawareness.blogspot.com/

I also ordered tins and bought plaster of paris to start making handpring kits over the weekend. Both of my sisters will be in, so hopefully they will be up for some work! Haha!

Well, things are really starting to get rolling for MJ's Memories. Willie and I hope to be delivering bags to the NICU in January. Next weekend my parents will be in town and I am hoping to get started making my bracelets, and I am currently looking into getting in a craft show that I can sell them at. I am also going to be selling online, at the Project Sweet Peas website, but I will start that once I get a few bracelets made. I just can't wait to get fully started and ready to go.

I have a few other things in the works, as well, which is really nice. My dad is a teacher at a school in the Chicagoland area, and his one of his classes wanted to do a fundraiser for us, which was amazing! They had a spaghetti lunch yesterday and raised over $200 for us! This is going to help so much with getting MJ's Memories started and bags filled!

My parents, who live in the Chicagoland area, in a town called Mundelein are getting together a fundraiser/bag filler for over Christmas. I am very excited about this! This event will be the a huge one for us, and will hopefully fill a lot of bags!

Well the next few weeks are going to be very busy for me, but everything is really started to roll out for MJ's Memories, which I am very excited about. I will keep everything updated and posted as it happens, thanks!