Why People Stop By!

It's interesting to see what people are searching for when they land on my blog. Lately a lot of people coming have been searching for information on The Weekend To End Women's Cancers (Formerly the Weekend to End Breast Cancer) http://www.endcancer.ca/

If this is something you are considering signing up for - DO IT! You will not regret your decision. If you're worried about fundraising - just get creative! When I signed up for my first walk (only last year) that was my big worry too. How will I raise the minimum required $2000 to be able to walk. It took some work, but it was great and you know - I raised more then just the $2000!

What did I do? I sent personalized emails to people asking for donations and explained why I was walking. Cancer effects so many people. Chances are if your asking someone they've either been effected by cancer or knows someone who has been. Which sucks.

I also got my community involved. I found a local organizer of a huge used clothing sale and my team set up a bake sale table. I had a friend having a street sale and she invited our team to set up a table and sell stuff - all proceeds going to the walk. We signed it well and told everyone - this way we had very few people haggling over prices! Some people even brought us stuff to sell or just handed us over a donation and we did bottle drives.

I also made stuff and sold it. Which inspired others to make stuff! Within the past 2 years I've made hats and lip balm cozies which I've sold and donated the proceeds to the walk which here benefits the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. Then it grew - I had an amazing glass bead maker make handmade lampwork buttons that I used on my lipbalm cozies, an incredible seamstress made beautiful wallets made out of pink ribbon material that were sold, a bath and body maker made custom lip balm with our team name and url to go with my lip balm cozies! It's a snowball effect. If you start it and get the word out it grows. People want to help! Bookbinders, jewlery makers, card makers and more have all helped me by making handmade items that they've sold and donated the proceeds.

What can you do? Do you bake? Cook? Have a girls night in party with a min donation required. Does your local grocery store allow charities to hold bbqs? A garage sale and ask everyone you know for stuff to sell. Ask a store manager if you can set up a table and ask for donations from their customers (hand out ribbons, or our kids made pink and white zipper pulls/keychains!). The biggest thing that you may have to overcome is asking people for money. It's a good idea to remember that you're not askign for a handout. You're asking for money to help make a difference it the lives of millions. Don't you want to be a part of that?!?!

Yes, committing to this walk is a bit of a commitment. Yes, the idea of raising $2000 can seem scary. But you know what?!?! Anyone can do it - including YOU! You just need to put that thinking cap on and get to work. Ask your friends for ideas! It's not hard. And the memories you make from the walk will be worth it. So much so that you may find it a bit addictive:)

Fundraising for The 2010 Weekend To End Cancer

I was so excited to go to my mail box last night to find that the lip balms from Carvel Country Soap had arrived! I ordered 5 cherry, 5 raspberry and 5 strawberry lip balms to go with the new breast cancer awareness lip balm cozies I'm making with the handmade lampwork buttons from Brilliant Beads! Carvel Country Soap even made a custom label for our team - Groovy Boobie Girls! They're the perfect match for the cozies!

I'm selling the cozies for $15 (includes cozy, lip balm and shipping!) at both my iCraft and Etsy shops. So far I've only listed one in each but there are more to come.

I have enough buttons to make 20 cozies, although I will admit I finally kept one for myself! I didn't last year so this year I kept the first one I finished!

This is the one I kept for myself!

The proceeds from the sale of these lip balm cozies and lip balms are being donated to the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation to support the continued research, education and patient care for women with breast and gynecological cancers. Our goal is to raise $20,000 and help provide hope.

Sneak Peek of What's to Come!

I think it's obvious by now that I'm participating in the 2010 Weekend To End Women's Cancers again this year? lol I'm on a personal quest to raise $2400 and to help our team achieve a goal of raising $20,000! In order to do that there's lots of fundraising involved. Besides asking friends and family to donate I try to get my craft involved!

Last year Gillian from Brilliant Beads made me some gorgeous handmade lampwork pink ribbon buttons. I once again asked her if she would do the same for me this year and she agreed. So these beautiful buttons are on their way to me right now! Soon I'll be able to add them to lip balm cozy key chains.

Also on their way are fabulous lip balms from Carvel Country Soaps! She's even made up some great labels for our Groovy Boobie Girl team so I can't wait to see them! They'll be in strawberry, cherry and raspberry flavours! I'll be selling some of the lip balm cozies with lip balm and some without. And of course the proceeds from the sales will be directed towards my 2010 Weekend to End All Women's Cancers!

As soon as I get them completed I'll be posting them on my Etsy http://www.loopy4ewe.etsy.com/ site and my iCraft site www.icraft.ca/loopy4ewe I have about 9 cozies that are just waiting for buttons and won't take me long to complete! Hopefully within a week I'll have some listed.