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