BIG NEWS and a request.

I promise this is not about unions. And no, I'm not pregnant.

Remember the cancer awareness golf balls the girls and I made for the garage sale? And the cancer awareness ribbons pins I made for the same garage sale?

Well, the golf balls sold as did a few ribbons. So yay, we've already raised $25 for the Relay for Life.

Switching gears a bit for a second, I have been so beyond painfully bored this summer. The big kids don't need me. Connor is in daycare two days a week now and even when he's home he's more interested in playing with Mary than me. I'm trying to tear myself away from the computer a little bit and looking for a hobby.

My Mom is an excellent seamstress. So excellent, in fact, that she made my wedding dress (and it was gorgeous!) She also made one of my flower girl's dress and a few of the bridesmaids dresses. She also used to have a sewing business.
She doesn't sew much now, the patience and interest just isn't what it used to be.

So I thought I would try sewing. I've picked up a thing or two over the years watching her and trying things out. So I took Mary's old curtains (they are a really cute orange checkers and daisy pattern and made her a tote bag. Then I made Emily a bag. Then I made Mary's bff a bag. Then I made myself a bag.

Then I thought "Hey, what a second. What if you made bags and sold them and put that money toward the Relay" You see, I can have a hell of a lot of drive....but there has to be something driving me. I could make bags all day long but if I have no reason to make them, I'm not going to. BUT - if I have a reason, say making money for our Relay team, then there is my drive.

Here's the catch. I didn't have any material. And because my mom has all but given up on any major sewing projects she gave away bins upon bins of material.

But alas, never fear, there is always freecycle. (you see, in my penniless but logical state I thought 'if I spend a small fortune in material making bags and the don't sell, not only am I suck with a million bags but I'm out all that money too...wouldn't it be smarter just to pledge that money to my team myself?') So I turned to freecycle. If I could get some material there I could make bags that wouldn't cost a think (except my time and some thread) and therefore any sales would be pure profit and could go directly to our team.

So I've spent the last several days sewing.

I'll be honest. I'm not as good as my mom. BUT - I'm learning and even my worst bag is still pretty damn good. And each bag I make is better than the last. My mom is helping (she's going to teach me how to do button holes with her machine as well as how to sew in zippers) so that I can have a wider variety of bags.

And I'll tell you something else. I never thought I'd love sewing as much as I do. I'm proud of my bags and think I'm doing pretty darn good with it!

So I've created a new blog to advertise my wares. (I'm not ready to try selling on Etsy. It costs money and frankly, the idea is to raise money, not spend it)

Now this is where the request comes in. I'm asking all my faithful readers (and even my not so faithful ones to spam me.....and spam me large.) Spam me on Facebook. Spam me in Twitter. Spam me in your own blogs. Spam me in your message boards (the ones your allowed to...don't spam me in FF - Stormy will have your ass!)

Click the link to visit the new blog and from there you can click the share buttons at the bottom of the page (for facebook, twitter, etc) Add a link to the Papa's Pride blog on your on own blog. You can even snag the button on the top right of this page and post it to your own blog.

Of course, you are welcome to make a purchase too but failing that, word of mouth and getting people to see the site would be a great help.

Thanks a million friends!