Smile With Me Saturday

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First off, smile with me :) You made it through another week and deserve a big smile. You've got the whole weekend ahead of you so make it a good one!

This week's featured Smiley Hopper is Morela from I Heart Toy Studio!!

I asked Morela a few questions about herself and her blog so you could get to know a little bit about her.

1) When did you first start blogging? Why?
I started blogging on May 2010 because I have always enjoyed writing. After having my two daughters and becoming a SAHM, I really needed a creative outlet. Writing seemed to be a good option, and I wanted to try and make some money. My blog didn't make any money by itself so I opened an Etsy shop and joined the two.

2) What's your favorite part about blog hopping?
I love blog hopping because I have found a lot of interesting people I wouldn't have met otherwise. Blog hopping gives me the opportunity to find creative and inspiring people
that I can share my thoughts and ideas with.

3) What's your favorite hobby
I have a few hobbies, but my favorite is photography. I love capturing my daughters' expressions, special moments and the world around us and preserving them forever.

4) Who's your role model?
My first and foremost role model is Jesus. I strive to be more and more like Him on a daily basis. If we are talking about a role model here on earth, however, it would have to be my mother. She was so strong and so giving. She was brave and resourceful. She was a wonderful as a mother and a devoted wife. Her family was her life and did worked hard beside my father to take care of us. She is also the inspiration for my work. I watched her create all my life, and I am so glad to be able to follow in her footsteps.

How it Works

* Follow Me and the Smiley Hopper of the week! (Spots 1 & 2) Leave us a comment with your blog url so that we can follow you back

* Grab the Smile With Me Saturday button then post on your blog to give your new followers a place to comment

* Add your blog to the list- (NOT YOUR BLOG HOP or GIVEAWAYS PLEASE) These entries will be deleted.

* Follow as many blogs as you would like, Make sure you leave them a comment so they know you stopped by. Then Follow Back everyone that follows you & comments.

You can link your blog every Saturday at 12am EST. Have fun!!

Announcing the WINNER of the Giveaway!

Carly's story inspired me to offer this giveaway because I saw how much it blessed her life.  Now, I hope this doll will bring a little bit of joy to the life of another little girl with special needs. 

I am pleased to announce the winner of the giveaway inspired by Carly's story!

This is Sophie.  She is 10 years old, a HUGE doll lover of all sorts and has a rare neurological condition that has affected her similarly to CP.  She uses a wheelchair full time but really leads the life of a normal 10 y/o.  

Sophie will receive a custom made doll from I Heart Toy Studio.  She will get to pick the color of her hair, shape and color of her eyes, fabric for her body and much more to make her look as beautiful and unique as her.  Congratulations Sophie!

LAST DAY FOR GIVEAWAY!

Today is the last day for the Giveaway inspired by Carly's story.  The giveaway will be open until 11:59 pm so all entries should be in my then.  All of this information is in the post with Carly's story, but I'm posting it again here so you can enter.  

If you know a little girl with special needs that you'd like to bless with a doll from I Heart Toy Studio then I would like to make that happen.  If you would like to see samples of my custom dolls you can click here, or you can click on the "Shop" tab at the top of the page.  Please note: the custom doll in this Giveaway will be the one without the skirt.  Here are the entry requirements for the Giveaway. 

Mandatory Entry Requirements:

1.  Become a follower of ihearttoystudio.com through Google Friends Connect.

2.  Like I Heart Toys Studio on Facebook OR follow I Heart Toys Studio on Twitter.

3.  Post the text in red on Facebook OR Twitter: Come checkout ihearttoystudio.com and enter to win a FREE doll from I Heart Toy Studio for a special needs child.


4.  Then send an email to ihearthandmade@hotmail.com with the little girl's story and why you feel that she deserves a doll from I Heart Toy Studio.  Included in the email should be the little girls name, a picture of her and the email address where you can be reached if you win.*

Make sure you leave me a comment letting me know you have completed all four steps.  Also, leave your Facebook or Twitter name to verify.

A winner will be selected by me and will receive a very special, one of a kind doll that looks like your special little girl.  I will announce the winner here, at ihearttoystudio.com, on June 8, 2011.  The winner will then receive an email from me with the Custom Doll Order form so they can pick all the details for their doll like Kelly and Carly did.

*Information provided in email entries, including story and picture, will be kept confidential and will only be published in this blog if you win the giveaway.
**Giveaway will end on June 8, 2011at 11:59 pm EST. Open to US and Canada only. Please make sure your email address is public on your profile or leave with your comments so I can contact you should you win. 
***When entering a giveaway, you MUST complete the mandatory entry requirements.  If you do not successfully complete the mandatory entry or leave a valid email address, then you will be disqualified from the contest.
****The winner will be chosen by me and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

Winky

Today, Memorial Day, we decided to leave the house and go for a drive out of the city.  We had some lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, jumped on I-85 and began our journey.  We had no set schedule and no definite destination -- our favorite kind of trip.  We stopped at some thrift stores along the way, picked up some snacks when we got hungry and kept on driving. 

On our way to our next unpredictable destination, we pulled over on the side of the road to tend to one of my girls and discovered this child's bike.  Had we not stopped, this memorial to Winky would have gone unnoticed.  You see memorials on the side of the road all the time, but this one really made us think about who Winky might have been, and what might have happened to him on this road.  Was he on that bike when it happened?  Anyway, I thought it would be an interesting picture to share on Take a Photo Tuesday.

Re-purposed Coffee Bean Bag Handbags

Eco-friendly, going green, sustainability...What does it all mean?  Wikipedia defines it as "goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment."  We see it everywhere -- at the grocery store, car dealerships and now at the mall.  Environmental responsibility has been embraced in different ways by the fashion industry.  I believe Edun, a clothing label founded by Bono and Ali Hewson is the very definition of environmental responsibility.  In an article in The Business of Fashion, Christian Kemp-Griffin, chief mission officer at Edun, sums up their credo, "Ethical companies make thoughtful decisions and sell product thinking about the people who make the clothes — wages, human rights, health and safety — and the planet — energy use, biodiversity, organic — which boils the definition of sustainable, ethical clothes down to: product that benefits people and the planet.”

I came across these handbags last Christmas.   They are a good example of this concept of sustainability in fashion.  They are made by Kim Rosner a fashion designer who uses reclaimed materials in her creations.  She is currently moving from Savannah to Delaware to get her masters in sustainability at the University of Delaware and to teach fashion there as well.  These handbags are emblematic of environmental responsibility, plus they look great, so I felt the need to share them with you.

Made of recycled coffee bean bags, these handbags represent the direction in which the fashion industry is moving. Even though this issue in fashion is yet to be adequately defined it is evident that the future of fashion is greatly being affected, in one way or another, by a sense of responsibility not only to the environment but also to society.

You can view these handbags and other re-purposed fashion and accessories at www.kimrosner.com, email her at misskim123@comcast.com or visit her on Facebook.

"Just because it’s a minivan doesn’t mean it won’t play Zeppelin." ~Tina Neidlein

My husband and I have started having the minivan talk.  I am currently driving a solar yellow Nissan Xterra, and it's a pretty cool ride.  I have owned many cool cars in my day, but my favorite, by far, was the Jeep Wrangler.  Oh, that was a sweet ride.  On a nice day, I would take down the top and just let my hair blow in the wind.  We had so many great adventures in that vehicle. 

I've been through a few cars since then -- among them a PT Cruiser convertible, and a red Mini Cooper.  Both were very cool cars, but none were car seat friendly.  My husband almost had a stroke when I made him exchange the Mini Cooper for the Xterra.  He took it to a couple of drag races in Miami.  Oops, I wasn't supposed to say that.  He swore we could fit the car seat fine until my cousin and I went out with her son who was just a few months old.  We ended up having to pull him out through the hatchback door.  Oops, wasn't supposed to say that either.

So now, I drive an Xterra -- a very practical car for two kids.  It has plenty of cargo room, yet it's cool enough to blast Zeppelin, or Metallica in my case.  Unfortunately, no one else fits but our little family of four because our daughters are still in car seats.  Fortunately, my husband drives an Avalanche that will fit one more person besides us -- i.e. his mom -- but no one else.

Now, there is talk about a third child, and we definitely can't fit him/her in either truck...enter the minivan.  Oh, how I've dreaded this part of my life -- to give up my last connection to my youth and to breath my last breathe of "cool".  Since I got pregnant with my first child I feel like I have been losing my "cool" little by little (check out my post You Must Be This Old To Ride This Ride).

So, if I must drive a minivan, I will put on my Converse and take it out on my own from time to time.  I will wash out The Wiggles or Veggie Tales Silly Songs with Larry out of my brain by blasting Metallica one more time.  I will roll down the windows, and let James Hetfield help me declare to the world that nothing, not even a minivan, can take away my "cool" because..."life is ours, we live it our way...and nothing else matters."  (electric guitar starts to play, crowd roars, applause!)

"Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way 
All these words I don't just say
and nothing else matters"  

~Metallica                                                      

So, I want to know, what helps you feel "cool" while driving in a minivan full of toys, a car seat and sippy cups?

Let Them Be Little

My daughter will be turning 3 years old on Tuesday.  She has grown and learned so much in the last three years.  Time has flown by so fast.  It feels like yesterday that we brought her home -- a little delicate baby so dependent on us.  It feels like only a short time that she's been around yet I love her like she had been part of my life forever.  She has changed my life.  I want to be a better person because of her.  I want her to admire me and look up to me and want to be around me and learn good things from me.  I love her so much that it hurts.  I go to sleep feeling guilty about not giving them enough attention or raising my voice at them or whether I'm feeding them right. 

My mother died just a month before my daughter was born.  She was looking forward to her arrival but didn't make it.  It hurts to know that my daughters will never know their grandparents.  My father past away just 6 months after my mom.  I don't even know how to begin to explain to her that I have a mommy and a daddy too when she has never seen them.  There is so much she could have learned from them -- there love of God, their love for each other, and their unconditional love for us and our families.  There is no better mother-in-law than my mother.  My husband can tell you, she practically adopted her sons-in-law.

Anyway, we are celebrating her birthday this Saturday with a cookout with our friends from our small group at church.  We took her birthday pictures this morning in our backyard.  We dressed them up and set up the table from her playroom outside and let her and her sister have a tea party with some teddy bear guests.  I went crazy and filled up an 8 GB SD card with pictures.  They loved the tea party and were gracious hosts with the teddy bears.

I found the cutest song for a photo montage I made of her pictures.   It's by country singer Billy Dean and it's called "Let Them Be Little."  You can watch the video of the song below.  It's so cute.  I look forward to their developmental milestones, and it's so great to watch them learn new things.  I think sometimes we forget to just enjoy them as they are today and just let them be kids.