HEARTS 4 HAITI

About a week ago, I received a request from a dear friend in Canada. She wondered if I could help out with a fundraiser her daughter Cadence was hoping to do in her school. Cadence is a Valentine's baby who has a history of using her charmed birthday for good, so when she asked me to create a logo for her latest charitable venture, I jumped into action. Cadence's beautiful idea was to sell hearts in her middle school, rather than the usual candy grams and carnations, for Valentine's Day and donate all of the money to the Red Cross to assist the people in Haiti. A genius idea, don't you think? She called it Hearts for Haiti and with that, the heart above was born.

As I played around with the design of the heart, my 11 yr. old son (you know him as Pumpkin) was looking over my shoulder. You should know that he suggested using the "4" rather than "for" in the design to make it cooler (these are middle schoolers you know!). When I told him what it was all about, he thought he may like to do the same in his school. So as Cadence reviewed the proofs and approved the final design, Pumpkin got busy writing a proposal of his own to submit to his principal. Here is that proposal:

Hearts 4 Haiti Charity Fundraiser Proposal

Dear Mrs. XXXXXX:

I would like to propose a fundraiser for the people of Haiti who have been affected by the Earthquake. My mother was asked by a middle school girl in Canada to design a logo for a Hearts 4 Haiti fundraiser that she wanted to do in her school. When I heard about it, I thought it was a good idea and decided to see if we could do it at XXXXXXX School too.

The idea behind Hearts 4 Haiti is very simple. In the weeks before Valentine’s day, students, teachers and anyone can buy a Heart for $1 (see attached). They can sign their own name on it or buy it for someone else and we could hang the hearts in the school. I think a good place for the hearts to be hung could be the cafeteria, but they can really be hung anywhere. Then we can donate the money to the Red Cross to help the Haitian people with food, clothes, clean water, medical supplies, toys for the children, etc.

The benefits of having this fundraiser at XXXXXXX would be:

1. We would help the Haitians in their time of need.

2. It would bring awareness to the problems that the earthquake created in Haiti.

3. The school would look nice and be decorated for Valentine’s Day.

I would be happy to sell the hearts at lunchtime and find other students who would like to help. My mother also said she would help me organize and maybe a teacher would volunteer to help too.

Thank you for considering this idea.

XXXXXXXX XXXXX, Room XX

I am so pleased to report that Pumpkin's proposal was approved by his principal and Cadence's project is catching on like crazy with Hearts 4 Haiti being sold in not only her school, but many other schools (and other venues!) in her area.

If you would like to start a Hearts 4 Haiti fundraiser in your community, we will be happy to provide downloadable files to get started. Simply comment here with contact information or go to Hearts 4 Haiti's Facebook fan page and let us know you're interested!

Thank you Cadence for a wonderful idea and for inspiring my own son to take action on behalf of the people of Haiti. You are an amazing girl!

And if that's not inspiration enough, I've had this on replay all week long.

VALENTINE SALE!

In celebration of our new Valentine's Day products, we would like to give you 20% off your order this weekend using code: VALENTINE. Get a jump start on your Valentine's Day shopping with a great discount!

Let your little one wear their heart (and name!) on their shirt this Valentine's Day! Beautiful quality, luxe onesie or t-shirt available either short or long sleeve in sizes Infant 3-6 mos., 6-12 mos. and 12-18 mos. and toddler 2T, 4T and 6T.

Our new aluminum water bottle design featuring the same vibrant heart as the tee and, of course, your child's name makes a wonderful and practical gift that will be loved and used well beyond Valentine's Day.

And don't forget about our fabulous Valentine's Day Gift Set which includes both the water bottle, the shirt and matching, personalized notecards that are only available as part of this set!

"Valentine" discount valid now through Sunday, January 24th at midnight PST.

REMEMBER TO BE KIND

Katie Daisy Lombardo via Kind Over Matter

PEACE OUT

Origami Crane Art Poster by fieldtrip

VALENTINE COOTIE CATCHERS - FREE DOWNLOAD!

ETA: Many are having trouble with scribd. To download directly from this page, simply click on the image and drag to your desktop. Then simply print and fold as instructed. So sorry for the inconvenience. It seems that scribd has changed their user policies.

Almost immediately after posting the Valentine Cootie Catcher free download yesterday, I realized that I really need a boy version as well. After all, boys love cootie catchers too and it really does make a fun and unique classroom Valentine, so we definitely do not want to exclude half the population! So without further delay, here is the "Boy" Valentine Cootie Catcher.

And just so everything is neat and organized, I've added the "Girl" Valentine Cootie Catcher here too. Better to keep them both in one place. Download the girl version here.

Download the boy version here. Then Print off as many copies as you need, trim on the solid line and start folding!

A note about printing: fortune tellers look and hold up best when printed on a crisp paper like parchment paper.

To see more of my free Valentine printables, go here!

NEW VALENTINE PRODUCTS AND A FREE PRINTABLE!

I am so excited to introduce some new Valentine's Day gifts that are both useful, practical and really cute! First, we have a new aluminum water bottle design that features a fun and vibrant heart and, of course, your child's name.

Next up, the first of several new onesie and tee shirt designs that we will be introducing over the next couple of weeks. Let your little one wear their heart (and name!) on their shirt this Valentine's Day! Beautiful quality, luxe onesie or t-shirt available either short or long sleeve in sizes Infant 3-6 mos., 6-12 mos. and 12-18 mos. and toddler 2T, 4T and 6T.

We have also put together a fabulous Valentine's Day Gift Set which includes both the water bottle, the shirt and matching, personalized notecards that are only available as part of this set!

I was so excited to introduce these new products that I just had to include a Valentine's Day freebie as well! How fun is this Valentine's Day Cootie Catcher? Also known as a fortune teller, at least in my day!

Download the Valentine Cootie Catcher here and print off as many copies as you need. Then trim on the solid line and start folding! How's that for a unique and affordable classroom Valentine? Just go ahead and print to your heart's content!

A note about printing: fortune tellers look and hold up best when printed on a crisp paper like parchment paper.

I ♥ THIS FACE

I ♥ Faces is celebrating their first birthday with a Best Face Photo challenge. I always hesitate to play along because the photos entered are always ah-mazing! Being a self-proclaimed hack at photography, my photos just aren't in the same league as the other entries. This week was particularly challenging because the photo had to be taken in the last 6 weeks, so I couldn't search my entire library for a photo where all the moons and stars were accidentally aligned and I actually captured a quality shot.

So what made me enter this week, other than the opportunity to show off this sweet little expression on Peanut's face? Well, I ♥ Faces has a new logo and I just love it. So much so that it inspired me to give this week's challenge a try. Truly. I know. Geek-alert! But I do love a good logo.

To see all of the beautiful faces in this week's challenge, just click on the heart!

THE BEST OF 2009

I hope you all are having a wonderful start to the new year! I am taking some time to regroup and get organized after a busy and fun holiday season. I promise I'll be back on Monday, kicking off with some great Valentine's Day ideas. Until then, I am thrilled to share with you some of my favorites from Holiday 2009.

Yes, you counted right - 11 kids!

Did you hear that yellow is the new chocolate brown? Actually, that's gray, but don't you just love this in yellow?

A red plaid with light blue - LOVE! And the children's eyes? Gorgeous!

Modern and playful, I think I'm ready for summer!