Please help a fellow blogger...

This is reposted from the Domestic Diva's blog. Please help her sweet girl if you can.

Things continue to be difficult. But where there is life, there is hope.

I’m forcing myself to blog so I can update all my dear friends and family about what is going on with my sweet Sunshine Girl, Marielle, as her kidneys fail. It looks like we are on the way to the local emergency room again tonight–she’s in terrible pain and a bit lethargic.

After continued difficultly getting calls returned and kidney donor evaluation packages send to those who have come forward to donate their kidneys, we’ve given up on the Philadelphia hospital of ever finding a living kidney donor. They’ve recently told us they will only test family members and the closest of friends. They’ve taken it upon themselves to decide who our friends are. Philadelphia has only tested 3 donors in 4 months. To say I am furious is an understatement.

But there is hope. We are in the process of transferring Marielle’s care to NY Presbyterian-Columbia University Hospital (NYP) in hopes their additional living-donor kidney programs will save her life. Not only will NYP consider family members as donors, but are willing to evaluate EVERYONE (friends, associates and kind strangers) who wants to donate a kidney. That’s right…EVERYONE regardless of blood type, antibody mismatch, age, etc. They offer several kidney donor options for us:

Compatible Living Donor

Incompatible Donor Program

Paired Donor Exchange Program

Deceased Donor Program

Marielle will only match 1 in 50 people in the general population (average person matches 1 in 2). I am asking EVERYONE who has ever loved a child as deeply as I do my daughter to please consider being a living-kidney donor to her. You might be the one who can save my daughter’s life.

If you would like to receive a donor consent form to see if you could be a potential donor, please print out this form:

kidneydonorquestionnaire

Then send it to Joan Kelly either by email at kellyja@nyp.org or fax (212) 305-9642. Be sure to put MARIELLE CARROCCIO as the Potential Recipient’s Name.

Please pass this information along to anyone and everyone.

I continue to be comforted by the tremendous amount of love and support from all of you.

Thank you seems to fall short.

Vaction Rental Property Near Cabo

We've just published a website for our vacation rental house in Baja (just north of Cabo San Lucas). Check it out! http://www.lacasanina.com

Finally, Something New to Add!

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post! I went through a slump and couldn't get motivated to create anything new, well that's over now. Just look at all of my new things.

The lovie blankie, fabric burp pad and chenille bib are part of a donation I did for a charity auction. I have to say I am so proud of the little blanket. It was frustrating but I think it turned out great.

I've also been applique'ing (is that spelled right?) on shirts lately and I love the way the name applique came out.

I also made a coffee coozie to math our wine wraps. They are ridicuously cute and fun!

Now for some good news/bad news.

The good news first. I have a big shipment of new adult travel tumblers arriving on Thursday! I've finally found a new vendor and I can't wait to receive them. These are going to be a bit larger than our last ones. The new cup is 16 oz as opposed to the 11 oz old one.

Now for the bad news. Playtex is discontinuing our sippy cups! I am so sad about this. Everyone really seems to love our personalized sippys. I have about 20 of them left so when they're gone, they're gone. Playtex will still continue to manufacture the bowl/plate sets and the straw cups, for the time being.

I guess that's all of our news.

Have a great week!

M's Easter Pics

Spring has Sprung!

Well, it's definitely feeling like spring here in Houston. We've already had our first 90 degree day! My yard is coming around nicely. My roses are blooming and my trees are starting to sprout new leaves. I think spring is my favorite time of year. Nice cool mornings and warm afternoons. I snapped a few photos of my roses and also of my kitty and one of my dogs enjoying the warm weather.

I haven't been creating much lately, but I did find time to make M a little outfit the other day. I found this great trim at Hobby Lobby for less than $1.00 a yard. Way cheaper and easier than making a ruffle myself! I appliqued the heart on the shirt for Valentine's Day and am just now getting around to making the jeans to match.

That's about it for now. Have a Happy Easter!

The Craft Show Was a Success!

Well, my first craft show was this past Saturday and I had a blast! I actually sold quite a few items, which honestly, surprised me. I didn't bring my embroidery machine to the show so therefore, everything had to be ordered. I figured that most people would want to take their stuff immediately so I really didn't count on any sales and hoped to treat the show as more of a marketing opportunity.

Boy was I wrong! I received quite a few orders! I also succeeded in making some great contacts for some future large jobs. All in all, it was definitely a success.

I would like to thank Rechelle from Cutie Pie Bows for basically making the entire show happen. Thanks so much for including me and helping me to "get my feet wet." I really, really appreciate all the help that you've been to me these past couple of months.

So, now the show is over and orders are due. Back to work I go!

Preparing for a Craft Show

I'm preparing right now for my first ever craft show on March 8th. I have one major problem though. I have NOTHING ready!! I've decided that I must stop creating new things and start producing general, non-personalized items that I can sell at the show. I'm having a really hard time with this though. So far I have two boy burp cloths, a boy bib and two girl burp cloths. Not exactly enough for an 8-hour show.

I think in reality, I'll be able to make another 10 or so burp cloths and then just bring samples of my personalized items and hope that people are inclined to place order rather than just going for instant gratification. I'm also toying with the idea of bringing my embroidery machine with me, but that may be more trouble than it's worth.

Anyway, the new items for today are the lollipop burp cloths, which I think are super cute. I love the ribbon sewed on to the lollipop.

I found some really cute toiletry bags the other day and my mother-in-law, thank you, gave me the idea of using them as on-the-go diaper bags. Why didn't I think of that! So, here they are in all their glory.

Okay, back to creating "stock" items now. That's no fun! ;-)

To Blog or Not to Blog?

So now that I've entered the e-commerce world, I guess I should join the blogging world as well.

A little background....

I'm a stay-at-home mom of a beautiful, smart, feisty almost 15-month-old little girl named M. I have a wonderful, slightly neurotic husband who I'm eternally grateful to for putting up with my crazy ideas and supporting my dreams. Did I fail to mention that we also have three dogs and a cat?

I am now the proud owner of Doodle Hearts Embroidery Boutique. Doodle Hearts specializes in unique, personalized gifts for all occassions. I try to come up with a new item or two every week to keep the site interesting, so far, so good.

I'm going to use this blog to showcase my new products. I'll also share random things about my family and the general craziness that usually ensues in such a busy household. I'm hoping that this will become a place where our friends and family can stop in and check out what's going on in our world and also keep up with M and the incredibly fast pace in which she is growing and learning.

So, fittingly, my first pictures posted will be my new bib and burp set that I added to the site today and a picture of M, it's old, but one of my favorites.


Enjoy and come back often!