It's Time for Pysanky Again!

If you're in the Tampa Bay area and free this Monday evening, consider coming over to the Franciscan Retreat Center for an evening of pysanky making! (That's Ukrainian wax resist Easter eggs, like the ones in this picture) The cost of the evening is $35, which includes a traditional Polish dinner, instruction and materials on how to create these eggs, and your very own pysanky making kit to take home with you, including dyes, wax and "kistka"--you know, that little copper and wooden tool for "writing" on the eggs with wax. The evening is a fundraiser for projects support by the Global Women's Artisan Alliance. See you there!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

I consider having married an Irishman a special sort of blessing! And predictably, St. Patrick's Day is a big day for my husband and I--a day that tends to last for more than a week between special dinners, DVDs and television shows from Ireland, reminiscing about "home" and sharing Irish culture with friends. And a few pints of Guinness...

So, for you my friends, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, please enjoy these photos of the "auld sod" (taken on our last trip back to Ireland in May, 2008). And as the Irish say "Beannachtai na Feile Padraig!" or "Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Kullakas Featured on www.buildanest.com

I continue to be grateful to Rebecca Kousky of Nest for all the help she's given Kullakas Women's Cooperative of Bolivia. Kullakas is now selling some of their best items on Nest's website (www.buildanest.com) including their lovely 100% alpaca socks, the woven shawls and those adorable little "chola" dolls we sold last spring here in Florida. Here's hoping this kind of exposure will help the women market their well-made handicrafts even more...If you log on to Nest's website, consider sending a "thank you" to Rebecca for all the fine work she's doing helping women artisans around the world to earn a livelihood through their creative talents!

"Craft and Crash"?

We were a small but mighty contingent that showed up for a crafting fundraiser for Vida Nueva Cooperative. Funny thing was, it took us nearly two hours to actually sit down and craft anything--so many of us were so tired after a long week, and the company and conversation was so good. In fact, it was decided that we simply don't get together enough to just sit down and talk! And, next time we gather, maybe we'll call it a "craft and crash" gathering, so those of us just way too tired to do anything at all are "given permission" to just "crash" with a bunch of super women!

The way the world is anymore, people are always so busy. Yet I am always impressed at how people will take time for the important stuff--helping those less fortunate than themselves, creating a thing or two of beauty, and taking time to have a heart to heart talk about the things that really matter in life. Today reminded me of that. Thank you to everyone who gathered in support of Vida Nueva Cooperative, but thank you, also, for gathering to support one another on the journey. Good friends and good conversation are just as important as good causes! Today made that clear to me in a way that I hadn't experienced in a long, long time.

"Fun-Raiser" for Vida Nueva Cooperative This Saturday

Like scrapbooking? Dollmaking? Interested in learning how to hook a rug or create Ukrainian style Easter eggs? If you live in the Tampa Bay area, consider joining us this Saturday of our "fun-raising" fundraiser for Vida Nueva Women's Cooperative in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico. We'll have all kinds of arts and crafts opportunities for you to choose from, plus a simple lunch of egg salad sandwiches, with accompanying snacks throughout the day. All we ask is for whatever monetary donation you might want to make, large or small. Every cent will benefit the work of the women of Vida Nueva, who do educational outreach to poor, rural women in Oaxaca state, as well as fund projects to improve the lives of the poor, such as building wells in villages with no running water, and supplying solar ovens to women who have no electricity for cooking. Email me for details-- I hope we see you there! karen_rushen@yahoo.com