teeny tears!

Hello hello!~

I have a massive update to drown everyone with. As I'm thinking about it though, I think I'll break it into separate entries just for ease and convenience. As a blog wanderer, I prefer when shit is separated by what I'm looking for, unless it really compliments each other then whatever. But my topics are very different.

This entry will be all about babies.
And the organization Teeny Tears.

If anyone is reading this and would like to help out in any way, please contact Teeny Tears directly or even comment here if you'd rather. I feel quite passionate about it and want to tell everyone in hopes that someone will get inspired and get involved as well. I mean, just look at how tiny those are. Guh. Breaks my heart.

Today, well technically yesterday the ninth, I made my very first Teeny Tears donation drop off to a local hospital. I'm very excited and pleased that I was able to do this. It's actually where I was born and where my dad works (for 40+ years!) so you can easily say this hospital is fairly entangled in my life. Thankfully, it's not for medical issues for myself or loved ones. My medical entanglements lie at Jules Stein and UCLA. But that's a different story. 

As I mentioned in my last entry, I've got the donation bug bite. Well I jumped into Teeny Tears. I made 24 sets of diapers (half large, half small) which are all tied up and ready to go to the right there. I stacked them and magically made it look like I have a fraction of how many sewed. Hurrrrr. And I'm buying some more flannel and going to crank through 10 sets of large this week to send off to a far away hospital in need.

I have not personally been involved with any angel babies, be it me or friends, but I can only imagine the massive hole that must burst through every parents' heart. I actually don't even want kids and wouldn't say I enjoy kids that much. But that doesn't mean that I don't respect and understand the love and adoration that others have for their children. Kids just aren't for me basically. This project is one that when I stumbled over it, it just hit my heart and made me sad and I knew instantly I wanted to help. And I think those are the charity projects you should invest into. So here I am, sewing tiny little flannel diapers. I hope that these diapers can bring some comfort the the ailing parents.

I really got involved with this project because it somehow emotionally tied into my medical emergency trauma mess from almost 5 years ago. The anniversary is actually coming up on Feb. 23. I can't believe it's been 5 years. I was in a very traumatic roll over car accident. And by roll over, I mean we barrel rolled for nearly two football fields and somehow I maintained consciousness. It was a hot mess. I received an orbital blowout fracture of my right eye socket. Basically, the entire floor and back of my eye socket was completely obliterated. My eyelids were torn back and my tear duct was severed. I also had an overwhelming amount of splinters and debris in the muscles and tissues of my socket. Somehow my eyeball miraculously came out unharmed. It just fell back down into my cheek and hung out for a few days while I waited for surgery. I waited for over 48 hours to go into surgery with a huge open wound mess of a face. My family were in shreds and I was just kind of on standby, waiting. If someone had given us something sweet and touching, like in the manner of offering these grieving parents some diapers, it would have been amazing. It would have been so moving that someone would do that for someone they don't know in their ultimate time of need. If I had been given something to touch, that would have been so calming. I was so bewildered as I spent my entire hospital stay practically blind as opening my left eye made me dizzy and nauseous as hell. And I was in a sterile hospital bed and it's just awkward and uncomfortable to say the least.

Long story short, if someone would have given me a comfort item in my time of distress, it would have meant the world to me, and I know my parents feel the same. So when I stumbled over Teeny Tears, it was perfect for me. I can now give back to strangers in need.

And I actually did have strangers help me. People stopped to help us on the side of the road. They tried to pour water on my face and hand to wash off all of the dirt and blood. They also tried to wrap the large cut on my left hand with a first aid kit someone had in their trunk. It ended up being the most painful bandage to remove in the history of the world, but it was a bandage made out of love. I know they tried their best to help me the only way they could, and for that I am so thankful and touched that they would do that. Someone also put their snow jacket over me. I'm sure I bled all over it. But it was a very kind gesture. And now it's time I repay, so to speak, to others in need. I can't just go out looking for horrific car accidents to help people how they helped me. So Teeny Tears is my starting place. I'm literally just thinking right now if there is something I could offer to the Jules Stein Eye Institute where I was treated to the patients coming out of surgery. Or to UCLA where I waited in a bed. Something. I don't know. It's still overwhelming to process some of my stay.

Onward to helping others!

Soooo, on that downer awkward note,  I'll be back soon to do the next installment, all about the new pendants I'm making! Eeeeek! I'm loving every minute of it.

And once again, please go check out Teeny Tears. They need help in all kinds of ways, so even if you can't sew, you can still help.

Toodles for now~

donation bug

Ello' ello' ellllllo'!

I definitely gushed over some Labyrinth delightfulness the other night with the man. He had never seen the whole movie. He got disturbed by the "Dance Magic Dance" song and shut it off many many years ago. But I convinced him to watch it all, because it's AMAZING. Ffffff

Anyhow, I'm writing a journal because I'm super excited about some stuff I'm about to embark on concerning donating handmade goods to hospitals. I decided the other night to wander about the internet, checking out charities looking for handmade goods. I had done this over a year ago and never committed to anything. But this year will be different. Also, when I searched this year, sites have improved and the community seems to have grown and expanded, which is great to see.

Teeny Tears is an organization that runs off of handmade donated flannel bereavement diapers. A set of 2 diapers are given to the family, one for the baby and one for the parents to keep if they wish to. The diapers are super tiny, made for preemies and micropreemies that are in the NICU or were stillborn or have passed away. These babies are too tiny to fit any commercial diapers. Also, these diapers are meant to help comfort the parents during this terrible time in their lives.

I have decided to start making diapers. I simply have to because I was so touched by everyone's stories about losing their babies. I can't even imagine how hard it must be to go into premature labor and then lose your baby, or even worse, in my mind, giving birth to a still baby that died in my womb. That is so terribly heartbreaking. I also found out that two hospitals near me are accepting locations, so this makes it even better since it's right in my community. Of course, I don't meant that any other hospital doesn't deserve the diapers I make. But being able to just go drop off the diapers does mean that I can spend more money on supplies and making more diapers than spending some of that money on shipping. 

I also found out that flannel is half off at Joann's. Fuck yes. Means I'm buying lots. 

I will be donating burial sets to Mikayla's Grace. Each burial set consists of 2 sets of each item, of a gown, booties, and hat. It's the same idea as the diapers, that the baby will be buried in one set and the parents can keep a matching set for their memories.

I'm also going to be donating headbands and bows to Bow Dazzling. They are a organization that donates handmade hair accessories to girls going through chemo and other illnesses at the hospital and are just trying to make them feel pretty and girly again.

I'm very personally inspired to give back to these families in need after my own intense hospitalization almost 5 years ago. Granted it was for severe injuries from a nasty car accident, but if someone had given me something handmade to try to comfort me, I would have been so touched. I probably would have sobbed my brains out. I did have things given to me but in a different way, and after I was more coherent and thinking about things, I was touched by what people did for me. Some people had stopped to help us after the accident. They tried to wash the dirt and blood off my face. They wrapped my hand with a little care bandage that they tried so hard to do. They put their jackets on my bloody mess of a self. They tried very hard to do what they could.  

I want to donate some hats to the children at a local children's hospital as well. I've made my own pattern for Pokeball hats and when I think about if I was a kid and I was given a Pokeball hat, I would be puuuumped.


Sooooo I've decided to set some goals for myself. 
I will make at least four burial sets this year. I'd like to try to make one a month eventually.
I will make at least 2 yards worth of diaper sets a month. 
I will make at least 6 headbands a month. 
I still need to figure out a proper blanket goal.

After I get these ones underway and in rhythm, I will add in some hats for kids. 

So yes. I've been bitten by the charity bug and will make this year be filled with giving to others. I can make this happen. I would love to be able to keep increasing the amount that I am donating and I plan to be keeping a tally of what I donate so that I can at least keep it consistent, but really I'd like to be able to kick my own numbers' asses next year. I'll update on here at the end of each month with my tally and where the things are going to.

Here's to a year of giving to those in sad places. <3

new year, new commitments.

Hello everyone and anyone.~

It's a new year and I've left this blog to fester and rot like a unloved corpse. Shame on me. I haven't posted shit since July. Fffffff. So much failure. But while I was wasting time on Facebook, a friend of mine was pondering whether to start a blog or not to and it reminded me of this unloved creature so I ventured on over and felt inspired to get this thing going again, and for real this time too.

I've decided to commit to keeping this thing updated. I've also started a Facebook account as an artist under my extended artist name painted maru. Oh, how that name has traveled with me for so long. Who knew that a lame myspace name would attach to me like a leech for almost 8 years now. And I still love it, if not love it more.

Since it is late and I promised myself to be crafty productive tonight and make some bracelets, I'm going to wrap this up.

I will be posting on here much more frequently with the crap I'm working on as well as more inspiration posts and such. I've been doing a few DIYs that are from the internet, so I should actually post my outcomes of those said DIYs and help continue to spread the DIY love. Maaaaaybe I'll actually make some tutorials myself. But don't hold your breath because I hate the digital composition side of doing that crap. But anyways, I'll do another post very soon, a legit post.

Welllll, I really hope to get this creature growing and maybe even actually get some followers. I have this pipe dream that I could have a blog that people frequent and get excited about. But to even get anywhere towards that crazy idea, I need to actually post on here.


Here's to a new year of expanding and growing!~
<3