Archives for December 2011

Canada is a long ways away from Phili. Wish it weren’t though because I’d love to get to know this couple.

Married at 19 and now, 5 years later, a full family of 5 with a 4 year old daughter and 1 year old boy-girl twins. Martin and Jeannie and their little ones live in an 800-square-foot house built a century ago in Iron Springs, Alberta, Canada.

Nearly 3 years ago, they learned to knit together. It’s their “thing.” They sit, relax together, and knit. And, it’s one of those things they can put down and easily pick up again when little ones need some attention. They carefully and painstakingly unravel old knit sweaters back into balls of yarn and reknit them into hats, scarves, mitts, and more–resurrecting them into new creations.

It dawned on them as they were creating all sorts of beautiful things that they could make money doing this. But, they decided not to.


Martin asked me:

Can you imagine the global impact it would make if everyone found a realistic way of donating their spare time, even if it were only ten minutes a day? If we just worked hard with our hands and started creating valuable things and giving to those in need?

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Martin and Jeannie give every penny made from their Etsy store Resurrection Knits (they are personally covering the cost of supplies) to the International Justice Mission, a fearless organization committed to ending modern day slavery and oppression of vulnerable people around the world.

Their goal? To sell out. Every last item. Sold.

Come on, folks. We can help them do that. Every penny goes to International Justice Mission. And, you get an incredible handmade item that I can personally testify to is really a treasure (though I rarely get to wear it myself since I am finding some little people in my home keep stealing it)

And, in an effort to get people over to their site and rally them around the cause, they are offering one of these adorable headband, ear warmer, scarfette in ivory to one very blessed winner (and any little ones who might want to steal it from that very blessed winner).

Please can I enter my own giveaway?

fooey.

Olive Handmade is one my new favorite haunts. Can pillows be delicious? I think so.

Fallon taught herself to sew and just opened an Etsy store “for fun.” But, she’s realized she could actually make this a career. What is now her 2nd job after working in retail with her family will, hopefully, become a full-time gig for her soon. And, at the rate of how much she is selling there, I think it will be soon.

What makes her things even more beautiful to me is the generosity that comes with them. A portion of shop sales go to her local Rescue Mission which houses a few hundred homeless folks in Las Vegas and feeds many more than that daily. They care for their physical and spiritual needs there and help them get their lives on track again.

And, Fallon has another special project–all of her With Love pillow sales are donated to the family of a teen girl named Kassidy who is battling brain cancer. Her treatments cost nearly $10,000 a month, and Fallon does what she can to give to help defray that cost.

And, just to encourage you to head over to her shop and remember it when you need a purposeful gift, she’s offering an Olive You pillow to one very lucky winner here (again, fooey it can’t be me)

When you purchase this Salts of the World Gift Set, Beth uses $25 of the $48 purchase price to finance a microloan to a low income entrepreneur, a real person somewhere across the world who would not otherwise qualify for a traditional loan at a bank. You can even tell her what part of the world you’d like the person you support to be from. Or, you can go to Kiva’s website and choose the individual yourself from their listing.

Beth loans the $25 and donates 15% ($3.75) to help Kiva cover operating expenses. Beth then will post to her blog about the individual you both have supported. You get your awesome salt set and can follow the progress of your entrepreneur together.

Now, THAT is a good Christmas gift people.

Perfect gift for the person who has pretty much everything already. And, a perfect way to give PURPOSEFULLY.

To get you over to her site and supporting this cause, Beth has offered one salt set here as a giveaway.

You all are so lucky.