My mother is an amazing artist who paints in oils. She has sold hundreds of paintings through the years. She has donated two paintings to help raise some of our adoption funds. They are up for auction for a week over at my adoption blog: www.BagsForZaza.wordpress.com Please go take a gander and bid to help bring our darling Nora home.
Here is one of the paintings:
Thank you!
Two newbies needing homes.
Check ’em out. Bid and help bring Zaza home!
Adoption rocks!
Bags For Zaza took a day breather this week and the bags, well most of them, posted this morning. There’s something for everyone… the career woman, the teenager, the traveler, the book worm, the chic shopper. I was the delinquent picture sender as I worked past midnight and went to bed mad at the bag. The flap was too long and went to the bottom edge of the front of the purse. It just didn’t look right and the length would be a bother when digging inside. After many futile attempts at tricky solutions, I gave up and hit the sack.
Fortunately, I awoke with visions of grandeur and a fringy idea. Here are the results of 7.5 hours of sleep:
For those new to MSJ, Bags for Zaza is an adoption fundraiser to help bring home our little girl from Colombia. We have requested a daughter between the ages of 3 and 7… and chances are really high that she will have black hair, like her daddy. BFZ was started by my sister-in-law, Jennie, who is also adopting a sibling group of three kids who happen to be the same ages as our three children. Incidentally, Jennie is also the one who bequeathed the name Zaza for our little girl. We hoped and prayed that we could raise $500 for this worthy cause. Well, we haven’t heard official tally numbers in a while (due to double staffing with our head seamstress and bookkeeper) but I believe it’s nearing $4,000! Woooo HOoooo!
A heartfelt thanks to bidders, sewers, auction junkies and YOU for going over, taking a looksie and telling ALL your friends about Bags for Zaza. www.BagsForZaza.blogspot.com.
Another adoptive family that we know has started an auction site for Blankets of Love to raise funds for their adoption of siblings. Here is Kristy’s description of her blankets: “These blankets are made from Anti-pill fleece print with a coordinating fleece on the back. The back fleece is most often a furry fleece that can be short hair or long hair but VERY soft and cozy! There will be some that are from “ultra cuddle” fleece or with that on the back. However, rest assured that they ARE warm!” I would add that she only uses the expensivefleece that is fabulously snugly and durable and the blankets are HUGE! Check out the sizes and pictures at her site: http://blanketsoflove.blogspot.com/ and help bring a set of siblings to their forever home.
I truly wish that international adoption wasn’t so expensive, but alas, it is. However, when God places a dream in your heart for an orphan He provides the needs in His time and in His way. It is such a blessing to see where He has the adoption funds “hidden” for each family. What a privilege to share the joy of adoption with others and give them an opportunity to participate in bringing a child HOME.
Christmas blankets will be a sure hit all year round! Check ’em out!
www.BagsForZaza.blogspot.com has some real beauties up this week, if I do say so myself. In fact, I just did. There is something for every gal on your Christmas list, young and old. For those new to MSJ, this is an adoption fundraiser to bring our daughter home from Colombia. It started as a family project and has blossomed as we found more people to call family. :o)
The bags and/or purses go up for auction on Tuesday and the highest bidder on Saturday night at 9:00 pm has a little bit more of their Christmas shopping completed. Purses are the rage, in case you haven’t been out of the house lately. Big bags, handy bags, cutesy bags and just plain versatile bags are IN.
BFZ has also become an addiction for many, but especially my mother. I truly don’t know what she used to do all day long before she was designing award-winning bags… and checking the comments for every single bag dozens of times each day. She took a sewing break last week, which we have all done in turn, but she had a difficult time knowing that she wouldn’t have as many comments to read. Dad even put a computer in her sewing room, right next to the Singer, for easy access while stitching and ripping out and stitching the beautiful bags. Such dedication.
Seriously, how easy are we making your Christmas shopping for you? It couldn’t get any easier. You don’t even have to stay up on the auctions, if you choose not to. Just pick out a dazzling Bag for Zaza for that special someone on your list, bid $175, and you will read your name up in lights on Saturday night. It’s that easy. (The bidding starts at $25….. shhhhhh!)
Thanks to all those who have donated fabric, trim and buttons. Thanks to all who have bid and bid and bid, and STILL don’t have a bag. Thanks to all of our models across North America for showcasing BFZ when you wear your bag. Thanks to those special women who are spending their not-so-free-time sewing for Zaza. Blessings upon you ALL! (Only 72 shopping days until Christmas! Don’t get caught in the MALL on the 24th!)
After a week of holidays, we’re back in full force. Here’s a sampling of the gems up on the auction block.
There’s something for everyone… little ladies…. farm girls…. cool teenagers… www.bagsforzaza.blogspot.com.
This 70s charmer is a peak for next week.
I’ve been busy sewing this week. It’s because Scrapping in the Pines is in four more sleeps… a four day scrapbooking retreat in the coolness of Prescott, AZ. Ahhhhhh. So I’ll be busy scrapping, not sewing this coming week. Trying to stay on top of it all.
Keeve is much better today. I’m amazed at how wounds inside the mouth heal so quickly. Yesterday was pudding and jello. Today was corn-on-the-cob and birthday cake. (Happy 71st Birthday, Dad!)
Here is a sneak peak at a Lucky Jeans bag that is hitting the auction block on Monday. Ooooh La La.
I’m not what you would call a name brand girl. Comfort, style and quality are more my idea of a good buy. Label schlabel. So, when my friend Connie donated a pair of Lucky Brand jeans for www.bagsforzaza.blogspot.com, I was not aware of the quality of the donation. Muchas gracia, mi amiga, Connie. I am now in the know about Lucky Brand Dungarees of America. I thought dungarees were from Australia, but no. Waltzing Mathilda….. and the billabong tree and all.
I purchased a black pant suit for speaking about a year back. It has a short fitted jacket and white piping on the edges. It’s darling. My mother, who is much more proficient at recognizing designer labels than I am, asked who made the suit. I said I didn’t know. But I did go to my closet and check…. to my amusement the label read, “Who’s Tracy?” Exactly!
My sister and I bought these adorable little scrapbooks titled “All About Me!” It’s the first of about 35 scrapbooks I’ve made that doesn’t include others. There is one page where you are supposed to put your favorite labels. The only ones I could think of were Jockey, Campbell’s and Reese’s. See!?!
Bags for Zaza, the fundraiser for our adoption, has four new kids up this week, Junie B. Jones, Pudd’nhead Wilson, Caddie Woodlawn and Danny Lynn! The FIRST REVERSIBLE wonder of a tote bag created by my brilliant sister-in-law, Jennie!!!
A go-go wooden-bead surprise, by yours truly.
Dellynn, eat your heart out! Thank you to all the faithful fans, bidders, watchers, linkers and word-of-mouthers. We are so appreciative of everyone’s support for Zaza. www.BagsforZaza.blogspot.com
We’re busy this week preparing for school starting. Larisa starts on Aug. 22 and the boys start on Sept 2, the day after Labor Day, when school is supposed to start. Remember? Back in the good ol’ days? This is my first year teaching homeschool high school, so I’ve been prepping for a while so as not to feel quite so utterly inadequate. You’d think with a teaching degree I’d have some moxie, but no. It made me feel even more incompetent reading a recent study that showed homeschooled kids with non-certified moms do BETTER than my kids. Great!
As I’ve been previewing the topics and objectives for History of the World 1 (HOW1) from www.Konos.com I was elated and jubilant that my Art History class knowledge and text from college are actually going to be useful! Dust off the expansive volume Art History by Janson. I never thought I’d be looking in that creaky old book in this lifetime, especially to teach my kids! If wonders never cease. Janson has since improved the blue canvas cover of old (of mine!) to this spectacular man wearing an entire king-sized red bed sheet on his noggin. Impressive. Especially if you like turbans. There, my friends, is a knot tying class in the making.
1433 Jan van Eyck – Man in a Red Turban
Oil on panel. The National Gallery, London, UK.
Jennie, my talented and brilliant sister-in-law, has started using an auction format for Bags for Zaza, the fundraiser for our adoption. What a great idea! Please go check it out and help bring Zaza home.
She put on four new bags for this week and the auctions will close on Friday. They are beautiful bags. Go have a looksie.
I spent my weekends working on the bags and I must say, it’s sort of like adoption therapy while we are waiting. I feel like I’m actually doing something concrete to bring our girl home…. well, because I am. Our tidy loft has been transformed into mounds of fabric, notions and trim that looks like a messy garage sale of an upholsterer waiting to happen. My mom joined the fun and scooped up a gargantuan bag of matchy-matchy items just waiting to be transformed into chic bags for YOU.
AND, if that isn’t good enough…. a Bag for Zaza is being given away by Jennie’s sister, Leah, HERE: http://pluckymama.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/blog-giveaway./ Go and enter to win!
Bags for Zaza has raised $520 so far! Wooo HOoooooooo! Way to go, Jennie! Thank You!
My Sister's Jar 