29 Leaps - Get Involved

I found out about this video from my friend Jeff (Guelph has quite an active local community on Twitter) who passed this video onto me (and 28 others)   with the message to spread the word and help get people involved in something  called the 29 Leaps project.



 The premise

The idea behind this project is that since this February is a leap year, we have an extra day to help those who are sick. lonely, homeless, or hurting, and try to make a genuine difference in other people's lives. I know I don't spend enough time doing this kind of thing, and it always feels good to give back to the community in some way.

How to get involved


Use the magic of the number 29 to do something special to celebrate this month that helps others in some way. Be creative, use your skills and strengths and do something meaningful.

Some ideas  include donating  29 cents, 29 dollars or some other amount to charity, spending 29 minutes helping someone else, crafting  up 29 things to donate to a charity, or passing the word on about this project to 29 people, like Jeff did. One participant, A Crafty Cupcake, is donating 29 knit hats to her local NICU for premature babies.

Above all, be kind, help others and be creative!


Connect 

You can connect with 29 Leaps on Facebook, Twitter (hashtag #29Leaps or #Guelph29 to check out what's going on in my town) or on Youtube.

If you participate in any way, make sure to count your 29 leap on the website's Leap counter!

My first leap? 

To spend 29 minutes to watch the video, research the project and write this post to get you all informed, and hopefully involved in this great project !

What's next

I'm brainstorming a few more ideas that I'll share throughout this month on the blog. If you're going to get involved, I'd love to hear any of your 29 things! If anyone would like to collaborate on a project, also leave me a comment or send me an email.

♥ Craftzilla

</span><a href="http://www.29Leaps.com" target="_blank"><img src=" https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEoPjmlkb2HMczbQ2TPld4llLP1OWgVItT57HajTWG-D-G3Q019sKbTR0DuWtfEbL57hhiCOfZae6-LiLL0F8RzOPsfjjgxZ3prIzX2k3eXHMVQ19rPLuY0nzUxx2m4NPluK3-_-hCFA/s1600/29+leaps.jpg " alt="29 Leaps" /></a> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: 'courier new'; font-size: 13px; ">

Craft Hope : Craftivism and Project 16: Beanies and Tote Bags for Kids with Cancer

Have you heard of Craft Hope? I've written about my involvement in some of their previous projects making  a quilt  here and fun bracelets here, but thought I'd let you know about their latest project, and hopefully inspire you to participate!


Project 16: The Littlest Warriors 

The latest project is calling for knit beanies/hats (sized from babies to teenagers) and tote bags filled with fun things such as small toys and colouring books to send on to kids who are currently battling cancer. Inspired by 41/2 year old Pierce, the song of a friend of Jade who runs Craft Hope who is fighting a battle with leukemia, this project is easy to do, can be done by yourself and in a group, and will definitely help touch the lives of kids like Pierce who could use some brightness and cheer.

I thought I'd collect a few ideas for totes and hats to get you (and myself) started!
(click the images to go to the tutorials)

This tote would be perfect for stashing some crayons and a colouring book:

Source: mygratitudeattitudes.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Totes made of tshirts would be fun and functional

Source: moredesignplease.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Felt or fleece bags would be really soft and customizable with shapes and animals for younger kids

Source: marthastewart.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Easy knit hat for kids

Source: petitepurls.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Aborable hat--love the bow!

Source: fiberflux.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Easy hat for older kids

Source: store.cocoknits.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

For more information, check out the Craft Hope Facebook page.

♥ Craftzilla 

Things I Made and Saw : Muffins, Beads and Hello Kitty

It was another day of fabulous walks, but silly me, I forgot my camera :( But trust that there was beautiful countryside, lots of Mennonites out in their buggies for Sunday drives, fields of growing things and cute puppies romping about (though a little too much, Jesse got hot and laid in a stinky puddle, much to my dismay and his for the inevitable bath he would receive on our return home).

Anyways, once I recovered from the walk, which took much Pita Pit pita eating, coffee and episodes of Doctor Who, I did some cooking.

 Banana chocolate chip muffins are so awesome --one got ate up before I could even get a picture:

And also some tasty pasta casserole!

Since the pasta casserole is pretty easy and I just sort of made it up as I went along today, here's my recipe:

Recipe for Pasta Casserole 

Boil up 1 box penne pasta in salted wate. Drain and set aside when finished.

Boil (or steam) 1 head of brocoli for about 5 minutesx


While the pasta and the brocoli are cooking, make up the sauce:

Sauce:
Fry up in a pan until soft and cooked:
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 tomato
1 green pepper

Add all the vegetables to:
1 can pureed tomatoes that is seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, hot pepper flakes

Cook the sauce for about 10 minutes over medium heat.

Mix together the cooked pasta, sauce and a package of ricotta cheese broken up into pieces into a large casserole dish. Cook at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Let cool a few minutes and then enjoy!

While I was relaxing, I was also working on some bracelets for Craft Hope Project 12 which is a project to send bracelets to orphans in Russia in affiilation with the organization Orphan Outreach.

For anyone not familiar with Craft Hope, they have done a lot of amazing crafty projects such as quilts and sock monkeys through various charities and organizations to give hope to people who are ill, poor, or victims of recent tragedies. They also have an amazing book of  projects that are good for donating to charities called Craft Hope.

I've got a good few bracelets done so far, and hope to get a lot more done before I have to mail them off to meet the June 15th project deadline.

Additionally, I am looking at a cute Hello Kitty (aka Hello Knitty) that I made for the boy back when I still lived in Toronto....I just finally got around to taking a picture of her in all her fabulousness:

If anyone wants to make their own Hello Kitty, you can find the patten here. I think I finished knitting this in a few hours, and it took a few hours to sew together and stuff --overall it was super easy and fun to make !

I'm off to get some rest after all my adventures --good night all!

Craft hope---quilt all done

I'm feeling inspired today, I'm going to be dropping off my donation to the Craft Hope/Margaret's Hope Chest Quilt drive which makes me feel good, as well as putting to use the baby quilt that I finished and have not been quite sure what to do with. It feels nice to exercise a bit of "craftivism" to help make the world a little bit of a better place.

Next Crafty project along these lines : Baby wraps for the June Callwood Centre for Teenages (http://torontocraftalert.ca/2009/10/16/help-wanted-wrap-up-baby-and-mom/)

I used to volunteer here in the nursery back when it was still called Jessie's Centre, and I think this would be an easy and rewarding project as well!