The story of little Miss Lara May

Hi everyone,

Today I want to draw your attention to a special little girl that so many from my Stampin’ Up! team have fallen in love with (even if most of us haven’t met her personally) who needs our help.  Little Miss Lara May Dunn is a gorgeous 2 year old who needs a special chair to help her move around her family home

This is a photo of little Lara in the sort of chair that we are fundraising to buy for her.  The chair that Lara is sitting in is only on loan so that she can test it out.  Anyway, I’ve copy/pasted a letter from Lara’s mum, Madonna Dunn after the photo so you can read all about little Lara.  I’ve put a Paypal button on the right hand side of my blog for easy and safe donation – if you can help out in any way whatsoever, we would all be so very grateful.  In the meantime there will be other fundraising efforts and I will be back to update you all on those soon.

lara

Here’s Lara’s Story:

Lara May Dunn, my fourth child, was born on the 5th of November 2008.  The first sign that something was not right were Lara’s feet which were twisted and turned.  At 6 weeks she was back in hospital for failing to thrive.  A gamut of testing was started to try to find out what was going on…blood tests, x-rays and even an MRI.  Her head hadn’t grown – Microcephaly was diagnosed.  Nothing could be detected.  There were no answers to be found in the genetic testing.

At 5 months Lara was back in hospital.  This time the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane for laser surgery on her floppy voice box.  Another gamut of tests and a diagnosis of severe reflux and Cerebral Palsy.  This time they put a nasal gastric tube in and all her feeds were directed through there.  By October of 2009 the NG tube had been replaced with a “button”, which is a direct line into her tummy for feeds.  She will never eat a meal with our family conventionally or “normally”.

Over the last {almost} two years, Lara has been in and out of hospital with many different complex medical issues.  She is so fragile and yet has a core of steel and is such a fighter!!  She has grown so much!

With her growth has come a need for more specialised equipment.  One of which is a Leckey Hi Low chair.  A specialised seating system that can be adjusted to fit Lara perfectly.  It’s on a wheel base which means she can be more a part of our family.  She is able to be moved to where we are.  She is not limited to where we can take her in and around our house.  She can be exactly where the action is at any given time!

We are trying to fundraise the money to purchase one of these wonderful chairs – how much money??  They are upwards of $6000.  We are trying to get funding for some of it but I am working with other stampers and dear friends to find ways to get the rest.

I don’t want to limit where Lara is able to go in our house. She will never walk or run or play with her siblings in any conventional way and yet she can still be present as they do those things.  Your help in our efforts is very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Madonna Dunn

Stamps for Haiti Disaster Relief

Help make a difference in the lives of those who continue to suffer from the effects of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January. From now until 28 February, 2010, Stampin’ Up! will set aside $2 from the sale of every I {Heart} Hearts stamp set and donate it to the Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. The Red Cross is already well-established in Haiti, and this money will be used to provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need.

Haiti Fundraiser Angela

Email me now to place your order for this lovely stamp set while helping out this worthy cause

Special Promotion to Join Stampin’ Up!

Woohoo! This has got to be the best Stampin’ Up! promotion yet!

Start your own papercraft business with Stampin’ Up! and receive a free pack of Rasperry Tart Designer Series Patterned Paper PLUS a Pretty In Pink Inkpad.  Best yet… for every person who joins, Stampin’ Up! will donate $5 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

This promotion is valid only from 1st October to 31st December 2009.

Email me now for more information and to receive your free information pack on joining Stampin’ Up!

demosrasperry tart

Retired Stampin’ Up! products

Last month in my FAQ & Freebies post, I received this question from Suzanne: “What does Stampin’ Up! do with all the retired things that don’t sell?”.  I thought now would be a great time to answer this since I have lots of people ask me this question in April each year.  Stampin’ Up! are an extremely generous and big hearted company, and so they donate all products that have retired to various charities.  These charities are either ones that Stampin’ Up! choose or are nominated by others.  Occasionally Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators will ask Stampin’ Up! for product donations when they are doing Fund Raising and Stampin’ Up! will generously give them boxes of retired product to help raise money for charity.

Here’s something else that’s a fabulous idea… in Kanab in the US,  there is a park that Shelli Gardner, the CEO and Co-Founder of Stampin’ Up! had built.  The ground of the park (under the play equipment) is covered with pieces of rubber which is not only more soft to fall on than bark and other kid’s playground coverings but it’s also a fabulous use of excess rubber.  You can literally pick up the pieces of rubber and see if you can spot which stamp set it comes from!  Very very cool. :D

So there you go.  All of Stampin’ Up! retired products get put to very good use to help others.

Thank you for your great question Suzanne :D

Do you sell your cards?

Hi everyone,

About a month ago I did an FAQ and ran a competition.  I’m pleased to announce that I’ve drawn Karyn’s name out to win this competition.  Karyn, I’ve emailed you for your address to mail you your prize of a pack of sample Stampin’ Up! papers and ribbons.  Congratulations Karyn!

And now to answer Karyn’s question.  Karen asked if I sold my cards.

Actually I donate all my cards that I don’t give as gifts.  Each month I send my “top 10 sales” team members a ‘congratulations’ card for their efforts in their Stampin’ Up! businesses.  Other times I send cards to team members, customers and friends just as a ‘thank you’, ‘thinking of you’ or other such occasions.  Then any cards that I have left over I donate to The Ronald McDonald House.  I have thought of selling my cards but I get great pleasure in being able to pass them on to be given either to the families that are being supported by Ronald McDonald House, volunteers who give their time to help out at Ronald McDonald house or to sell to raise money to help the charity.  I also donate my Christmas cards that I have created to various other charities who particularly want Christmas cards.

Thank you Karyn for entering my competition.  I will be answering the other questions asked of me over the next week or so.

Thank you to my customers!

Earlier this month I pledged to donate my commission from the first two weeks of June sales to Alzheimers Australia.  I would like to say a very big thank you to my customers who bought Stampin’ Up! products from me during that period.  I have donated my commission (and matched the amount too) to Alzheimers Australia in memory of my Father who passed away from this horrid disease last year.  If you would like to also donate to this very worthy charity then please go the Alzheimers Australia website to make a donation.

Thank you again to my customers for helping me to be able to give back to the community.

Buy for a Good Cause

From today until 14th of June 2008, I will donate all profits from my Stampin’ Up! sales to Alzheimer’s Australia. According to Wikipedia, Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia, afflicting 24 million people worldwide. Alzheimer’s is a degenerative and terminal for which there is currently no known cure. In its most common form, it occurs in people over 65 years old although a less-prevalent early-onset form also exists. The disease can begin many years before it is eventually diagnosed. In its early stages, short-term loss is the most common symptom, often initially thought to be caused by aging or stress by the sufferer. Later symptoms include confusion, anger, mood swings, language breakdown, long-term memory loss, and the general withdrawal of the sufferer as his or her senses decline. Gradually the sufferer loses minor, and then major bodily functions, until death occurs. Although the symptoms are common, each individual experiences the symptoms in unique ways. The duration of the disease is estimated as being between 5 and 20 years. If you’re wondering why I’m doing this and why until 14th of June, well I like to give back to the world where I can but in this case, 14th June 2008 will mark the one year anniversary of my Father’s death from dementia.

Dementia or Alzheimers is something I never want anyone to go through or anyone to experience by watching loved ones deteriorate, it’s one of the most terrifying things I have seen. Please find it in your hearts to either purchase some Stampin’ Up! product through me from today until 14th June or if you would like, donate directly to Alzheimer’s Australia by clicking here.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

All In The Family

I must say that when I joined Stampin’ Up! I really thought they would just be my supplier for craft items for me to sell. How wrong I was. It’s extremely rare to find a company like this but Stampin’ Up! are truly like a family.

You may recall that last month we lost our Australian General Manager, Dave Abbott, to a rare blood disease. This was made even more tragic by the fact that Dave was only 41 and left behind his wife and three very young children. Stampin’ Up! being the incredible company they are have just released the stamp set called ‘All In The Family’ in Australia in order to raise money for Dave’s family. 100% of the proceeds of the sale of this stamp set worldwide will be donated to Dave’s young family – not just the profits but 100% of the sale price worldwide…. now that’s a company with heart!
All in the family.jpg

Now is the time to buy this extremely versatile stamp set. All In The Family is available from today, 1st November, to 30th November 2007 for $73.95 for 28 stamps in the set – however in order to help you out and to sell more sets for the Abbott Family, I will forfeit my commission and drop this price to $59.15 plus postage & handling. E-mail me now on angelasargeant@gmail.com to order.
Things to note: Yes, that is a photo of Dave and his family in the photo above. Here’s a handy link to a lady in the US who demonstrates using the All In The Family set with the Stamp-a-ma-jig (stamp position) – it’s a video tutorial and quite cool to watch: http://kwernerdesign.com/blog/ (currently the second post in the blog, dated 29th October).

Ronald McDonald House

Do you like making lots of cards, maybe to send as RAKs or swaps?  Then you might like to join me in helping out Ronald McDonald House.  Currently, Ronald McDonald House buys all their greeting cards so sending them some of your lovely handmade cards would be helping out this great charity.

What does Ronald McDonald House do?  Well you can read more about this charity here: www.rmdc.com.au – but one of the things they do is to provide a “home away from home” for families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals.

If you’d like to help (other than sending a monitary donation), you can mail some of your lovely handmade cards to Ronald McDonald House.  The sorts of cards they’d like are ‘Thinking of You’, ‘Happy Birthday’, ‘Sympathy’, ‘Thank You’, ‘Get Well’, ‘Baby Cards’ and Christmas cards.  Unfortunately because many of these children are terminally ill, Ronald McDonald House needs Sympathy cards that are for children passing away. :(

You can mail your cards to:

Ronald McDonald House
100 Angus Smith Drive,
Douglas,  Townsville   4814

or

Ronald McDonald House
22 Garrick Terrace
Herston QLD 4006

Just put a note in there saying that the cards are a donation to them.

Thank You!

Hello everyone. :D

I hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas and are gearing up to enjoy a great New Year’s Eve.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who bought Stampin’ Up! products from me this month.  In case you missed it – I pledged to donate all my sales profits from the month of December to the Cancer Council in honour of my Mother who passed away in September this year.  I’m happy to say that today I have donated a decent amount of money to the Cancer Council thanks to my lovely customers.

If you missed out this month then you can click here: http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/editorial.asp?pageid=3 to donate some money directly to the Cancer Council. Or you can do what I do and that is join “Breakthrough” (same link) where you can pledge to donate a certain amount of money monthly directly out of your account (the money I’m donating from December sales is an extra donation).

Keep checking out my blog regularly during 2007 for more charity initiatives.  Coming soon will be charity for Ronald McDonald House and Alzheimers.

Next Page »