Category Archives: Charities

Day 3 Projects for Creative Chemistry 101 Class with Tim Holtz

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This is almost too fun to be a class.  Plus it keeps my mind off of other things.

Oh, and to anyone who thinks, “I can’t do it! You need to be coordinated!”  Nothing could be further from the truth.  These are mostly messy techniques that are pretty forgiving.  The key is that Tim Holtz is all about Distressed Art Objects.  That means that if you make a goof, you use something else to make it art.

Today we learned three more techniques –  plus why Tim never cleans his stamps. He believes that just wiping with baby wipes, or such, is cleaning enough since stamps are tools.  And he seems to think that it is beneficial for folks to actually leave a permanent-type ink on their acrylics so they stamp better.

Now for the techniques we learned:

  • Alcohol Ink Agates
  • Archival Resist Technique
  • Stamping with Reflections (Embossing Folders Involved)

I need to get some sort of yellow in the Alcohol Inks and remember my high school art class color mixing.  I might just have to hit up some of my artist friends for a refresher tutorial.  This technique was a lot of fun –  even if I screwed it up a couple of times.  You only get to see the most successful card.  When did I screw it up?  Stamping on glossy paper.  It is soooooooo easy to slip when stamping on glossy paper, that, well, I did. 

The successful card for Alcohol Ink Agates is the first one displayed in the photo below.  I used lots of reds and greens and both mixatives from Ranger.  Then I used a Great Impressions Christmas stamp or two to complete it.  I think I’m in love with the Archival Ink colors Viridian and Emerald Green.

The next card was the Archival Resist Technique.  I decided I wanted a nature scene, and by gum if it took me all day (which it seemed to), I would make the scene in my head come to fruition.  I used a variety of Tim Holtz stamps for the background.  I stamped in the Archival Ink colors of Pale Ochre, Viridian, Chrome Yellow, and Sap Green.  After drying the ink, I used Ranger Distress Ink Stormy Sky.  Dried that, and then stamped the sentiment from Whimsy Stamps in Cobalt Archival Ink.

Day3classprojecttimholtz101

Please forgive the lack of color correction.  I haven’t really gotten the hang of that on my camera –  or in my various graphic programs.

The third technique, Stamping with Reflections, I used a embossing folder I got off of a clearance sale at of all places, Meijer’s Thrifty Acres.  I stamped the Harlequin background stamp from A*Muse in Coffee with the Archival Ink.  I then used a Gray Wolf Graphics (love supporting such a wonderful local artist) old truck stamp. 

Personally, my favorite is the second one.  It really doesn’t show up as pretty as it turned out.  I really need to get my Brother-in-law to give me a crash course in photography.

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November 7, 2009 Is Princess Madiha’s 18th Annual Charity Benefit

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Every year I participate in some way with this event filled with Metro Detroit’s top bellydancers. Here are pictures from the 2007 St. Jude’s Benefit.

It is an incredibly entertaining event with all styles of Middle Eastern Dance represented – and even a Western dance style or two thrown in. The actual show is in 3 acts – with dinner served between acts 1 and 2. There is lots of glitter and glam as well as good food. DH and I try and make it every year.

Here is the information from PrincessMadiha.com:

Princess Madiha’s 18th Annual Charity Benefit will be Saturday, November 7, 2009.

This annual event includes a Middle Eastern Dance Workshop ($55 USD before Oct. 22; $60 USD after Oct. 22):

Register from 8:30 to 9:00 AM

Warm-ups with Amira from 9:00 to 9:45 AM

Class with Aziza from 10:00 to 11:45 AM

Lunch Break from 11:45 AM to 12:45 PM

Class with Yasmina from 12:45 to 2:00 PM

Class with Aida al-Adawi from 2:00 to 3:30 PM

Later that evening enjoy a family-style Middle Eastern dinner with local and international Middle Eastern dancers providing a night of entertainment. ($55 USD per person before Oct. 22; $60 USD per person after Oct. 22.)

Doors Open with a cash bar at 7:00 PM

Dance Concert starts at 8:00 PM

Family Style Dinner at 9:00 PM

To purchase tickets by credit card, please call the St. Jude Office at 1 800 5533 or visit htt://www.stjude.org/princessmadihap.

Pre-purchased tickets will be held at the door.

Where?

Farmington Hills Manor
23666 Orchard Lake Rd
Farmington HIlls, MI

For additional information call Princess Madiha at 1 248 924 2717.

Last Day of Ovarian Cancer Awareness September 2009 Giveaway

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Giveaway is now closed. Comments will remain open.

September 30, 2009 means that Ovarian Cancer (and Gynecological Cancer) Awareness Month is over. Time to start planning for next year, but first, some things to think about, and even be glad of as September closes and October comes into being.

I was contacted via email by L’Oreal Paris to help make people aware of what they are doing to help support the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund – and have been doing for 12 years.

This all came about after I blogged about the L’Oreal Hope Line (1-877-OV-HOPE-1) without being contacted. The nice lady at the publicity company they are using sent me information about what L’Oreal Paris is doing to support the fight against ovarian cancer. (I didn’t ask permission to use her name, so won’t be naming her.)

The publicity company also sent me a L’Oreal Color of Hope make-up bag to use as a giveaway to help raise awareness.

Grants Given By L’Oreal Paris

As part of L’Oreal Paris’ support for ovarian cancer research over the years, they have awarded three grants to researchers working to fight existing ovarian cancer and find an early detection test.

Jonathon Berek, M.D., M.M.S. is a professor and the chair of the Department of Obstretics and Gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is also Co-Director of the Women’s Program at Stanford. His work is focused on facilitating communication among the various researches working on the vaccines and immunotherapies that are showing promise in the fight against Ovarian Cancer.

Dr. Berek’s grant title is Cooperative Ovarian Cancer Group for Immunotherapy (COGI).

Heidi Gray, M.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Obstretrics and Gynecology at the University of Washington. She is working on finding the elusive screening test that could save thousands of women every year from hearing the words, “You have Stage 3/4 Ovarian Cancer. No, there was no way you could have known this early as the symptoms are so hard to detect and easy to think are something else.” Her research is focused on looking at immunologic markers to determine early signs of ovarian cancer.

Dr. Gray’s grant title is Identification of an Immunologic Signature of Ovarian Cancer for Use as an Early Cancer Screening.

Anil Sood, M.D. is a physician scientist and Director of Ovarian Cancer Research at the University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. His research is focused on identfiying and controlling proteins involved in ovarian cancer that seem to influence life expectancy. This is part of the tumor target therapy research that many cancer patients hear about.

Dr. Sood’s grant is titled Novel siRNA Based Therapeutic Approaches for Ovarian Carcinoma.

I think we should all support L’Oreal Paris as they support the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund by funding these important grants!

(This is my layman’s translation of the much more technical explanations sent me found here as a graphic . If I got it wrong, please tell me and I will fix it!)

The Contest/Drawing for L’Oreal’s Color of Hope Make-up Bag

I am going to do a random drawing on the comments on this post – unless you say you don’t want to be in the drawing and comment anyway. Why would you comment anyway? Well, because as September 2009′s Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close it is time to start thinking of how September 2010′s Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month can be more successful.

  • How can we make women more aware of the symptoms? Currently there is no early warning sign that can’t be mistaken for something else.
  • What types of fundraisers for ovarian cancer research and awareness would people like to see – including what would get the media’s attention? (This isn’t just about the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. There are other missions that are just as important.)
  • Who should those of us who want to raise awareness be targeting in the media? What magazines, newspapers, television shows, and web sites would reach the most women? (Publishing plans issues as much as a year in advance, so NOW is the time to start pushing those stories.)

Leave a comment with your ideas and suggestions. Don’t worry if it is the same as someone else’s suggestion, that just means it is something that needs to be looked at more closely! I have smart readers, so I know you will have ideas I would never think of without your help.

The drawing will be October 6, 2009, entries must be entered by midnight ET October 5, 2009.

Two Worthy Charities – Resolve and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital

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And, the weird thing is, they are related to one another.

National Infertility Awareness Week First, this week is National Infertility Awareness Week. November 4th to November 10th Resolve is having a series of events about infertility – and how it is not just a man’s or a woman’s disease, rather, it is a couple’s disease.

Most people think of it as something that happens only to older women. There is a very nasty attitude displayed by the majority of people who encounter couples struggling with infertility – as if it is somehow their own fault. Sorry to disappoint, but the majority of cases are medically based and completely out of the control of the couple involved.

There is a dire need for education about this disease. Yes, I said disease. Too many people dismiss this as lifestyle medicine. It is not. One of the scarier things that I have seen is that women who are ignored by their regular gynecologists find out they have diseases such as PCOS, endometriosis, and even ovarian cancer, only after seeking help for infertility. Their concerns having been dismissed by the generalist gynecologist.

Some of the more insidious ways people become infertile include cancer, which brings me to my next charity:

Princess Madiha’s St. Jude Benefit LogoPrincess Madiha’s 16th Annual Dance Workshop and Concert for St. Jude Children’s Hospital of Memphis, Tennessee is held every year to benefit the children undergoing treatment for a variety of diseases that cannot be treated anywhere else.

Many of these children do survive to adulthood and are productive members of society. One of the unfortunate effects of many of these treatments is infertility. So, it seems appropriate to me that the benefit is being held in the same week.

I have gone to this event – even performed once – for the last 4 years and need to remember to buy my tickets! It is a worthy cause and, if you are in the Metro Detroit area this Saturday (Nov. 10), you should not miss this night of some of the best bellydancers anywhere!

Trust me, no one compares to Madiha’s students. The food is great and the entertainment some of the best you can find anywhere.