Help your kids get along this summer with our FREE printable!

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/56274473/Play-Together-Chart

My Little Lambs are 3 years apart, just far enough to really get on each other's nerves, but close enough to reasonably be expected to play together ;)  I had one of those "ah-ha" parenting moments last week and told them if I "catch" them playing together throughout the summer, they get a sticker on this nifty chart I made. When they get 5 stickers, they get a special treat. So far the treats we've thought up are going to get ice cream, hitting at Total Baseball, and getting balloons at the "party store." (For those who know my Little Lambs well, guess whose idea was what!?!)

Click on the link above and you can download and print this chart off and post on your fridge as I have done. So far, they've gotten 5 stickers last week...but only 1 this week...hopefully it's not going to be a LONG summer ;)

Ellen

Thank You Notes by Jimmy Fallon

Have you heard about the hilarious new book by Jimmy Fallon?

It is called Thank You Notes, and is really, really funny. The BEST thing about it, though, is that he takes out an actual piece of stationery and writes these "thank you notes" on them. LOVE it!!!

Raise them right!

Yesterday afternoon I took my Little Lamb to get a new bike since he's outgrown his last bike. Since we're preparing to leave for the National Stationery Show shortly, I had to go back to work last night, so Daddy took him to try it out. When I got in last night, he had left me this thank you note!
  


I gotta say, I am really proud ;)  After making him write thank you notes for birthday presents for the past 2 years, I feel like I've given him the gift of good manners!  Although he has an entire drawer full of thank you notes that I've designed for him, he chooses a piece of notepad paper, but I couldn't be happier...and prouder!

Ellen

It's Graduation time!

Hard to believe graduation will be a month or 2 from now. Check out our new photo graduation announcements / graduation invitations!  Graduation is all the buzz at our office this year because Stella has one graduation from high school and another from college!

 

 

Little Lamb Design Stickers put to use in Bangladesh

This past fall we had the pleasure of working with Tommy Obenchain as he took the next step towards realizing his dream of using his for-profit company, Taylor Pearl, to help fund his non-profiit, Pearls for Life.

In 2005 he traveled to China and saw an opportunity to import pearls and re-sell them in the U.S.
At the same time he knew he had a passion to provide for the basic needs of some of those most in need.
His concept was born to use a portion of the funds from the sale of fresh water pearls to fund fresh water for children and their families in Bangladesh.  In 2009 he traveled to Bangladesh  to research the problems and the best options to help.  Tommy also worked with several professors at Vanderbilt University, where he is currently a senior. The solution that he decided would have the greatest impact was a Sono filter, which uses rocks, sand, and an arsenic probe to eliminate bacteria, metal and arsenic from the water. 

This fall Tommy used his fall break to travel to Bangladesh and oversee the first installation of the filters.  Our stickers made the trip too, leaving the Pearls For Life logo on the filters provided by his team's efforts.

Over 77 million people drink contaminated water every day in Bangladesh. He has already provided water to about 300 hundred and hopes that number will reach the  thousands in the coming year . He will work full time on Taylor Pearl and Pearls for Life for 18 months after graduating this spring, before starting work for Huron Consulting. 

It has been a pleasure working with Tommy and learning more about the great work he is doing! If you would like to read more about Taylor Pearl and Pearls For Life check out .taylorpearl.com

aTeam Ministries' Heart to HeART Gala

I got an email several months ago from an old friend asking if I wanted to do invitations for a charity event. We get asked to do this a lot, and I am always happy to do whatever I can, but I had no idea how amazing this event was actually going to be. What a blessing to have received this request and to have been invited to the event!  Here is the invitation we created. It was an adaptation of our IV500 design.

Just in case you haven't noticed from my previous posts, I graduated from the best university in the country...and they happen to be 2010's national football champions. Coached by Gene Chizik, I couldn't have been prouder this past year to be an alumna! But this past Saturday, my pride pretty much doubled!  Coach Chizik and his wife, Jonna hosted this benefit for aTeam Ministries  It was actually Jonna's idea and vision and aTeam was blessed to have been chosen by Jonna. Long story short, 10 local childhood cancer patients were partnered with 10 renowned artists and each of the artists and children created artwork to be sold at an auction. Here is an example of the artwork:

 

The evening began with the children arriving by limo!!! Coach Chizik greeted each child, took a photo with the family, and then the children and family entered the event "paparazzi style" down a red carpet. It was SO exciting! Here are the founders of aTeam as their son just got out of the limo.

Coach Chizik spent the next hour or so signing autographs and meeting everyone. Wow, was that exciting! I don't usually get star-struck, but I so was this time...lol! Luckily my husband thanked Coach for the email he sent our brother-in-law when his wife passed away last Fall...because I could think of NOTHING to say ;) Except maybe to say, "I'm taller than you in my heals," but maybe that wouldn't have been the best choice?

Afterwards was dinner, and because Jonna sadly had to miss the event, Coach's 13 year old daughter stepped up and filled in for her mom. I will tell you, they are doing something right with that girl. She spoke so eloquently about her faith and about how much her mother and father loved the Lord. I doubt there was dry eye in the room.

Next was the AUCTION! It was SO exciting. So fast-paced and cut-throat ;)  So fun to see how much money the paintings went for and how much aTeam benefitted.

 

Being the art lover and Auburn girl I am, this was pretty much the highlight of my year...at least until my son caught an amazing hit in left field the next day at his baseball tournament ;)

Help needed to support a great cause!!!

What a privilege I had last Fall to be asked to design a State of Alabama license plate that will benefit Cystic Fibrosis research, and treatment and care for those affected by it.  Not only is it super cute ;)  but of the $50 it costs, $41.25 will go straight towards the fight against CF. It was an honor to work in conjunction with Laps for CF, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and Children's Hospital.  Will you consider helping this worthy cause? The organization must have 1000 of these commitments to purchase to make the funding a reality. They still need to sell a few hundred and through this Sunday they are half off, so visit http://www.lapsforcf.org/licenseplate and fill out your commitment to purchase!