NEEDED:  VOLUNTEERS TO SEW PILLOWCASES FOR THE GIVE KIDS THE WORLD (GKTW) PILLOW TREE.  Crops of Luv is very proud to partner with Give Kids the World (GKTW) in Kissimmee, Florida.  GKTW provides every criticallty-ill child and their siblings who visit with a special "dreams and wishes" pillow made especially for them.  GKTW sees thousands of children a year and has an on-going need for pillowcases.  So, if you're a seamstress (or know one) and would really like to make a difference in a child's world, please join the effort and help make pillowcases for this worthy GKTW project.

GIVE KIDS THE WORLD PILLOWCASE PROJECT.  This project will make four finished pillowcases.  You do not have to provide a pillow foam insert.  Both boy and girl novelty fabrics are needed, as well as prints for younger children and teens.
WHERE TO SEND COMPLETED PILLOWCASES: Please be sure to include a letter with every shipment to include the following information--name, address, phone number, e-mail, quantity of cases enclosed, and approximate value.  This information will allow GKTW to properly thank you and let you know your contribution has arrived at GKTW Village, as well as let GKTW to record your donation as required by law.  Mail your completed cases and letter to:

Phillip E. Torres, Support Services Manager
Give Kids the World
210 S. Bass Road
Kissimmee, FL  34746

STEP-BY-STEP TUTORIAL WITH PHOTOS.  Following is a step-by-step tutorial generously shared by Ellen Benny, who also has this information on her own blogsite:  http://ellenbenny.blogspot.com/2011/04/give-kids-the-world-pillow-program-info-i.html .  Much thanks to Ellen for sharing her pictures and instructions. 

First:  cut a 1 yard (36 inches) length of 44-45-inch wide cozy flannel (solid color)

Next:  cut 1/3 yard (12 inches) length of 44-45-inch wide cozy flannel or soft cotton (coordinating children's novelty print; novelty prints for older teens are also needed and welcomed)

Hem a narrow hem along one cut edge of the novelty print and along both cut edges of the solid flannel.

With the hemmed edges aligned and right sides of fabrics together, sew the two fabrics together along the cut edge of the novelty print fabric.

With the two fabrics sewn together, lay out the fabrics with the novelty print on top

Fold the novelty fabric along the seam so the wrong side of the novelty fabric is against the right side of the flannel.

Measure 15 inches from the seam:

Fold the flannel back over the novelty print at the 15-inch mark you just made:

Fold the other end of the flannel back at the seam where it meets the novelty print:

Now you should have right sides together, wrong sides out, and the hemmed edges of the flannel overlapping about 2 inches over each other (this will become the back opening of the finished pillows where you can insert the pillow form):

Cut your folded "package" of fabrics into fourths (approximately 11 inches wide)

Take one of the folded pieces and sew seam along both edges, then surge or zigzag the edges of the seams to finish and prevent fraying.  Do this for all four folded pieces.

Turn right sides out:

You should have an now have an overlapping opening at the back of the flannel and a pocket on the novelty side of each of the four fabric "packages" which have now been transformed into pocketed pillowcases:

Your finished pillowcases should measure approximately 9-3/4 to 10 inches wide and 15 inches long with a pocket approximately 9-3/4 to 10 inches wide and 11 inches long.

Thanks to everyone who joins this effort and another special thanks to Ellen Benny. :D

LOTS OF WAYS TO DONATE TO CROPS OF LUV

Great news for all our supporters:  There are many ways you can donate funds to help support the Crops of Luv mission: 
(1) Donate directly through the link on this blogsite located on the righthand side of the page;
(2) Mail your donations to Crops of Luv at 11424 S. Pawnee Circle, Phoenix, AZ  85044;
(3) Donate through the Give Back Foundation website (founded by Oprah Winfrey and Steve Paletta).  It's a secure website where you can make charitable donations to your favorite charities, including CROPS OF LUV!  You can donate funds, but you can also donate by shopping online through the http://www.giveback.org/ site.  There are hundreds of popular online shopping sites working with the GiveBack organization, and if you access the shopping sites through the giveback.org site, then make your purchases, the online site will donate a portion of the sale to the charity you indicate on giveback (Crops of Luv is a great choice to contribute to!)  It's painless giving!  You get to shop and buy the items you would have already purchased anyway, and the store donates money to Crops of Luv on your behalf.  Easy-cheesy.  It's a secure and reputable site to use, so please check it out:  Go to http://www.giveback.org/, click on "Find a Charity" and type in Crops of Luv.  It will bring up a link for Crops of Luv.  Click on the link and it will give you donation/shopping options.....fun, fun, and a feel-good experience.
(4) Donate at your workplace through the United Way Campaign!  This is a new option available to all our wonderful supporters.  All you need to do is designate Crops of Luv as the recipent and then your donation amount; Crops of Luv will be added to the United Way registry.  You will need our Crops of Luv address to donate through United Way.  The address is:  11424 S. Pawnee Circle, Phoenix, AZ  85044.

If you have any questions regarding donations, please contact us.  Thanks in advance from everyone at COL for your big hearts and continued support.

AUGUST 2011 -- Crops of Luv Neighborhood News--About Our Volunteers

Crops of Luv has so many faithful volunteers who work tirelessly to support our cause, we wanted to regularly highlight our volunteer stories.  The Crops of Luv Neighborhood News will be a regular blog to let our volunteers know how very much we appreciate their hard work and support. 

Crops of Luv sends a big ol' "THANK YOU!" to Rita P. in Roseville, California.  We met Rita through Cricut Circle.  Rita organized an event with over 60 participants (WOW!).  They sent Crops of Luv a huge box full of beautiful layouts, Cricut embellishments, and much more.  Amazing effort and COL is so grateful! 

Crops of Luv would like to again thank Rochelle and Tracy in Canada for hosting their upcoming second "Crops of Luv" Crop Night in Canada.  It will be on Wednesday, 31 August from 6 pm to 10 pm at the Salvation Army Church.
Also, a huge shout out to Anita Trowbridge from ScrapMuch in Brantford, Ontario Canada, for offering to donate supplies to this Crops of Luv" Crop Night event.  ScrapMuch--A Scrapbook Paradise, is a wonderful online shopping site (https://www.shopscrapmuch.ca/ ) and they also have a terrific blogsite (http://shopscrapmuch.blogspot.com/ ).  Be sure to check ScrapMuch out; they have all the latest scrapbooking products and carry lots of name brand products.  Crops of Luv is so very grateful to all the fantastically talented and caring supporters we have in Canada.

WINNING WEBSITES

From time-to-time we'll be highlighting websites we love to visit and recommend to our Crops of Luv friends.  Once such website is Fontifier (http://www.fontifier.com/ ).  It's a really cool site where you can create a font in your own handwriting.  Having a customized handwriting font will do wonders for your layouts, especially if you do digital scrapping.  It makes it personal and you don't get writer's cramp.  There are easy step-by-step instructions to follow on the site and you get to preview your font prior to purchasing it.  The personalized Fontifier fonts currently sell for $9.00 and are worth every penny if you do lots of journaling like I do.  You can download and use the finished font like any other font in your library.  I personally think my "printing" handwriting works better as a font than my "cursive" handwriting, only because of the connecting of the letters to one another...printing looks more finished and cohesive.  Anyway, go to the site and try it out for yourself, experiment with different writing, and most of all--Enjoy!   

The Green Spot

Summertime...lots of popsicles, ice cream bars, fruit bars, and leftover popsicle sticks.  Don't throw them away!  Repurpose them on your scrapbook layouts.  First, wash and thoroughly air dry the sticks to remove any sticky treat residue.  Then you can do a million things with them.  You can paint them, color them with permanent markers, write captions on them, put rub-on's or letter stickers on the sticks and use them to highlight a photo, use them to create an instant photo frame, cover them with scraps of scrapbooking papers to match your layouts and give it added dimension.  I've done all of these things and more.  One layout I created was a layout documenting my son's employment at Home Depot.  I used some popsicle sticks to create a work sawhorse.  I "stained" them with brown marker and cut them to fit into the shape of a sawhorse (see photo).  The layout turned out so cute and the popsicle sticks were free!  Can't beat that for the price of an embellishment!  Hope you like these ideas and will try some of them.  (p.s. If you didn't save any popsicle sticks from your summer fun, Halloween is just around the corner and the sticks come with the caramels to make candy apples.  Save them and go to town on your layouts!)   Have fun!  --L :D

Popsicle stem for flower embellishment  



 


 

Popsicle Stick with rub-on decoration

 

Sawhorse workbench made from repurposed popsicle sticks



  



Popsicle stick with handwritten journaling