Birth-Day Bird

Here we go. Been working on this idea for the last week and finally got around to beading it. (It's been a crazy week of playing catch-up around the house after a couple weeks of 5k, visiting guests, crazy crafting for craft show prep)

But I just finished this one last night!

        The coloring on this one is the most accurate.

Now,  this one is is mine to keep. BUT it is a sample for you to see. A sample of another type of bird that can me custom ordered.  Actually it's two samples in one!  It's a sample of a new paint style I was trying out, AND the baby birth date.

I love these little frames I found too!  Just slip out put photo between the two clear pieces and slip it back in!

A lovely little way to welcome the new "itty bitties" who come into your life!  Though honestly, you could use this for any date you want to remember! Wedding, anniversary, graduation, not just births!



In fact, on the flip side of it, someone suggested these could also be ordered in a more somber tone for someone dear who has passed away as a memorial bird. (Or just in a favorite colour of the one who passed) What do you think of that idea?  Good idea? Or too sad of an occasion for something like these?


Anyways,  off to go change up the order form and make room for this option.


Till next time, keep crafty! Linked up:

A CUSTOM Bird For Every Reason

Look! Look! Up there! See it?! *does a happy dance* I made a thing! I made a form thing! 

 *cough*

Sorry, wait, what? Yes, a form. A custom order for to be exact. Now I've just made it much easier to place a custom order for "A Bird For Every Reason"!

 Up in the menu bar you'll see the tab "A CUSTOM Bird For Every Reason"  If you decide some day that you'd like a Bird but want something a bit more personal or specific, that is where you can go! 

I have to admit I'm quite pleased with how well it turned out. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to go about it but a quick Google search lead me to two options.

Google Forms  (through Drive)     or      123contactforms.com

123contactforms required a sign up and seems all fancy and stuff and I figured I already had a gmail account so I figured I'd give Google forms a go first.  The edited was ok. A little clunky but I had the option of using the same look as my blog seeing as they are both hosted by Google. So it looked pretty. But when I tried to access the test run forms that were filled out my option was a not to pretty and hard to read spreadsheet that had to be re-downloaded every time.

So I decided to give the 123contactforms a try and found the editing much smoother with more options, better design, and the info gets emailed to me directly in a nice neat easy to read order form. It helped a lot that their site has options for what kind of form you want (I chose order form) where as Google forms seemed to be mostly for making surveys.

So there you have it.  A much easier way to place a custom order with "That Thing I Made" for "A Custom Bird For Every Reason".  

 Enjoy! 

Till next time, keep crafty!

And the winner is . . .

Thank you to all of you who stopped by and entered the giveaway this week! And welcome to my new followers!  

And now what you've been waiting for. 

The winner of this little guy here . . .

is ATABANANA29!!! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Here's what she had to say in the comments:

atabanana299 May 2013 15:14

I love the awareness ones! My daddy passed away from a fairly unknown and very aggressive cancer called Multiple Myeloma. My daughter has since been selling Myeloma bracelets to raise money for a cure. Our main focus is bringing awareness so people now what they are up against. When my dad had it, it took us off guard since we never have heard of it. Thank you! 

Thank YOU atabanana. Sorry to hear about your father but props to your daughter on her fundraising and awareness work! 

Thanks again to everyone who entered.  I had so much fun reading all your comments!  And your responses about the birds have really given me the extra lift I needed to really push to get these little guys out there. 

I'm also hoping to start doing the "My Monday Treasury" soon now that I have a new active Etsy shop!   And I'll try to add at least one new bird a week to the shop as well. 

A custom order item will be listed soon but in the mean time if you would like to order a custom bird just email me directly and we can work something out!

Till next time, keep crafty!

Lyme Green

Today I learned some interesting things about Lyme Disease. Why was I doing that you ask?

Well today was the first 5K event for a locally started, but nationally effective, Cause Group for Lyme Disease suffers.

After hearing Kevin, president of lymeSavers, speak at the running room about the group and the event a few weeks ago, I decided to make a special Awareness bird in their colors for them and donated it to the silent auction they held at the event today.

I was informed earlier today that the bird ended up going to the highest fundraiser and that it was much appreciated. I was very happy to hear that.

It's actually very interesting though that it seem, if you are Canadian, you're rather, well, screwed, (for lack of a better word) in terms of getting tested or treated for Lyme Disease if you have it.

It seems there are some funny laws about how long you're allowed to be treated, what color the tick has to be in order to test you, and the main test that is used here provides a lot of false negatives which lead the infected to not being allowed the better test.

So most of these people end up having to go to the states, where it's not covered and very very expensive. I was told because of the lack of proper diagnosing, many Canadians who suffer with lyme disease and no treatment often commit suicide because the illnesses it causes in the body are just too much to bare. Top that with the fact that Lyme Disease is known as "the great imitator" and that most doctors who have never seen it before often mistake it for everything BUT Lyme Disease.

These poor folk have it pretty rough.

Enter lymeSavers.

From their site:

About Us

---

Founded in February 2013, lymeSAVERS is not for profit organization dedicated to providing financial support to Canadians affected by Lyme Disease. Without the support of the Canadian healthcare system, many Lyme patients are forced to seek medical advice and treatment out of country. This results in high costs, with many patients receiving little to no financial compensation.
Our organization aims to provide eligible Canadians with bursaries in order to relieve the financial burden associated with this disease. Through various fundraising efforts and events, lymeSAVERS and its supporters hope to not only relieve financial stress but to raise awareness about this debilitating disease.


 So I wanted to help at least a small bit.

For more information on Lyme Disease and lymeSavers visit: www.lymesavers.ca

Linked up to help spread the Cause:

     

Slow and Steady

More birds going up into the shop every day! Shipping is included in the prices.  Anyone local can just contact me for an in person sale for a sans shipping price.


On top of that, That Thing I Made now has a facebook page!  Weeeee! 

https://www.facebook.com/ThatThingIMade   Just another way to stalk me. :)

I'm also now using bloglovin as you can see from the link on the right menu bar.

Been working hard this week to spread out a bit. 

Sew Mama Sew's giveaway day sure does make me productive! 

Speaking of, it's the last day to enter!   I'll announce the winner Sunday morning!

A tumor related update.

We all sing with the same voice , the same song, the same voice. We all sing with the same voice , and we sing in harmony! 

*cough* er . . . um . . .

Sorry, what was I saying? Oh yeah, tumors.   

So, I'm long over due to give you and update on the run, and the Jen.

So, you all remember the Spring Sprint I was going to be running in honor of my friend Jen?  I ran it!  And in 32.33 minutes! 

Now it was a bit shorter than it was supposed to be when I went back and checked my mapmyfitness app. 

I used to to record my time.  But when I checked it came to only 4.74k.  But that's ok.  I did the math and it would have only taken me about another 2 minutes to finish that last .26k.  

Team Running For Love!

My two team members gave their best though they walked as I ran. But that's ok! We all show our support in our own way.  
 





        Even Puppet What What came to give her support! 

 

Complete with cute little running shoes! Though, she's not to bright, (being made of socks and all) and was caught running with scissors. . .

 In all it was a really fun run and event all in a beautiful park.  It was a fun run so it was open to anyone and everyone. Definitely family friendly.

A little something that made me go awwwwww.

And I even tied a ribbon for Jen. . .

 

In total,  with Carla's help, I ended up raising a total of $420 for the Brain Tumor Foundation of Canada!   Thank you everyone who donated!!!!
 
So after the run is was time for more Jen time. She had gotten scary news about where the tumor was located. And they were suddenly rushing around trying to book her ASAP.  So I said we need to have a party! Cause you know, things like this require parties, right?  

Before the party  I went to her house to attempt to cut her hair. She said she liked it though I think I should stick with A-line bobs as those are the only thing I've have success cutting.  :P

She said she wanted to cut her hair short before the surgery so there would be less shock when they shaved it all off.
Well with the help of a few of our friends I tried to plan a surprise party for her. It didn't quite go as planned and ended up just the 5 of us hanging out at a park with some food while our little ones played. 

But it was time well spent and she was touched.  :)


The red head in the picture is Steph. She makes cakes for a living so when I ended up short on time and full of germs she grabbed a spare and make an awesome butter cream frosting for it!

And remember that amazing giveaway Carla was doing to help me raise funds for my run?  The winner of the tote bag not only made the biggest donation when entering but then decided to pass her prize onto Jen!  Such a big-hearted lady! Turns out her life had also been touched by brain tumors in friends and family and so she wanted to give her something to brighten her day.   Jen loved it!

So that's where things are and I will leave you now with a personal message from Jen herself;

"Thank you all so much for your kind words and support! I have been overwhelmed by the love of complete strangers! The lady who won the bag graciously asked that it be given to me, and I absolutely love it! To follow up a bit further, my surgery date has been set for the 30th, and unless some further testing shows something urgent, that'll be the day of my craniotomy. If there is one thing I can't stress enough to everyone, it's that if you think something is seriously wrong, or if you're having some scary symptom or another, do not wait to bring it to your doctor. You never know what you might find!"


Till next time, keep crafty!

BIRDS!

Yes!  They are here! They are finally here!  Finished and made and real and. . . ok many have been made for a while now.   And now with the 2 craft shows done and gone that I was working double time for I finally have pictures all taken and cleaned up to share!   So without further ado  I present. . .

I'm pretty pleased with my label design too.  And I've so fallen in love with that font.  I find I'm using it a lot lately. 

So yes, A Bird For Every Reason!  And that is my aim.  So far I have birds for . . .

                                     

 Luck                           and for                              Love

                  For            Christmas                        and for                           Christening . . .

                                                                             (Or First communion, or Confirmation)

For Mom . . .

For Fun . . . 

  

For any old reason you can think of!

There are big birds . . .

                     

                                                                                                         And small birds . . .

                                                                                                            (4 sizes to be specific)

(Mini bird group shot!)

The printed label in there is 1.5" x 1.5"  for if you want size reference.

I even have an Awareness Edition!

Above you see the Brain Tumor Foundation of Canada bird, the Breast Cancer bird, and the Autism Speaks Canada bird.  Any time one of these little guys sell, 25% of their sale goes to the Cause or Foundation they represent.

In the planning are birth date birds (I've made a sample with my Badger's date on it but it's not wired or beaded yet), and a Nana and or Grandma bird. A Daddy bird, and "tweet" bird. A blue jay, a robin, and a red winged black bird.  And many many more.  I will also be accepting custom orders! (as far as colors, words, and size. ) 

Keep your eye on the "That Thing I Made" Esty Shop as most of the birds I have in stock so far will be in there before the week is up.

And to help bring these little lovely to the public I'm joining in on Sew Mama Sew's

and offering up one for grabs!

This one to be specific!

                

                        

                              Pay no attention to the crappy makeshift price tag that won't be included . . .

  He's a lovely light teal with a light brushing of copper on some of his edges. A little brass key and a turquoise colored bead in a brass spiral.

And here is where you enter to win him!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


So there you go!  Birds!  A Giveaway!  And as I said before keep an eye n the shop as they will slowly be added in throughout the week. Thanks for tuning in! 

Till next time, keep crafty!