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	<title>Parables of a Crafter</title>
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	<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com</link>
	<description>Paper Crafted Parables</description>
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		<title>God Isn’t About Coincidence</title>
		<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com/religion/god-isnt-about-coincidence/</link>
		<comments>http://parablesofacrafter.com/religion/god-isnt-about-coincidence/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2013 23:56:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Theresa Calderini</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Child Abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeremiah 29:11]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://parablesofacrafter.com/?p=2881</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had just a little time available and decided to spend it at the local coffee shop indulging on a guilty pleasure and catching up on some casual reading. This simple cup of coffee would become part of a life experience I would choose to never forget. Others filled the shop making it difficult to find a seat. Glancing around, I saw young and old engaged in conversations and laughter, no empty seats were to be had. “Would you like to sit here?” a soft voice asked. I turned to see a young girl occupying a table, computer on, textbooks opened and cell phone making the occasional chirp. She was alone….until I came along. “Thanks, yes I would” I said. “I won’t be long, I just came to enjoy some coffee, and thanks for letting me invade your space.” “I knew you would be here” she says to me, I look around, thinking she was talking to someone else. She points at the seat and tells me its ok, I can sit down. So I do. “Do I know you?” I ask. She doesn’t look familiar; she’s young but a bit older than my own children. I don’t recall her. She laughs a bit and then says “I prayed this morning that God would bring someone into my life that would understand my situation and I believe He answered my prayer because you’re here.” At this point I’m thinking that maybe she is confusing me with someone but she interrupts my thoughts and says “My dad use to say that to me” and she points to my shirt. I looked down and saw the quote on my red t-shirt. I had the shirt made a few years ago to wear to a family function as a kind of humorous thing. I never thought the shirt would have meaning to another person other than my family. The shirt says “Dad likes me best” She places her cup on the table, curls her small legs up underneath her and rests her chin in the palm of her hands. There is a sad distance in her eyes, a look of ending in her other features. Although a part of me wanted to get up and leave, I remained quiet, looking back at her, silently telling her that I wanted to understand. I think she understands this as a weakened smile appears as she begins to tell me why she believes I’m there. “My dad use to say that to me…. you know…. dad likes me best. He said it a lot, for lots of years, but now he says it to someone else.” A small well of moisture builds in her eyes as her face becomes tight. Deep scars in the form of tension lines begin to appear on her face. “I hate him you know” she boldly states. “He ruined my life, took away everything in my mind and my body that was not his to take and yet he always said dad likes you best.” “You are hurting deeply from this aren’t you?” I ask. Her posture, voice inflection and facial expressions tell me this. She is still living her nightmare to some degree. She said so herself when she told me that she prayed for God to put someone in her life that would understand. “Every day feels like the day after.” she says. “I’ve tried to move on but every day, something happens to remind me and yesterday, I walked back into the nightmare.” “What do you mean?” “I saw my little sister yesterday; she’s six years old and lives with my mom and dad. I know that look she had in her eyes; I use to have that look. I asked her if daddy was hurting her and she said no, cause daddy likes me best.” The room began to swim as I took in the enormity of her words. This young girl was telling me that she was abused by her father and now she believes her little sister is suffering through the same abuse.  This man took away her innocence and was now taking it from her little sister. How does one process this? How do [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Repurposed Jack Daniels&#8230;.With Flowers!</title>
		<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com/uncategorized/repurposed-jack-daniels-with-flowers/</link>
		<comments>http://parablesofacrafter.com/uncategorized/repurposed-jack-daniels-with-flowers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:03:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Theresa Calderini</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Altered Bottle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[May Arts Ribbon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mixed Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ribbon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spellbinders]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://parablesofacrafter.com/?p=2853</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[May Arts Ribbon Spring Craft Challenge participants really brought their game with their creations! Be sure to stop over to May Arts Ribbon to see all the wonderful creations brought about by this challenge! I was provided an opportunity to participate in this challenge, although what I ended up creating wasn&#8217;t my original plan! I had begun with the idea of an altered cigar box&#8230;..our grandson Adam decided to use my box as a seat and well&#8230;.let&#8217;s just say I had to change my idea as the cigar box didn&#8217;t survive his excitement! lol! This bottle was a Jack Daniels bottle. Before you ask, No&#8230;.I didn&#8217;t not consume the Jack Daniels! My future son-in-law gave me the bottle and I just knew it had to recycle it and this challenge became the perfect opportunity! (Who would have ever thought that Jack Daniels could be used to display bright flowers!) Note:: The bottle color is teal green&#8230;.for some reason the pictures in my light box show it as green but it&#8217;s teal green! I used Gesso as a base on the bottle and painted a layer of black paint and then a teal paint as the top layer. I added a little medium to the paint to give a crackle look, I really like how it turned out. The front of the bottle has a good size square area which I used to display layers of design using the Spellbinders Marvelous Squares for the front image. I then stitched the May Arts ribbons into flowers and placed two on the sides of the bottle and one on the lid of the bottle. With the flowers in place, I used the May Arts leaf ribbon to bring the flowers to life! I wrapped the white May Arts ribbon through the sides of the Spellbinders Die and brought them to the back of the bottle and secured them with hot glue. The last ribbon was used at the top of the bottle as a wrap, the colors all blend together to created an wonderful Spring decorated bottle! I&#8217;ve been known to take from things within our home and incorporate them into my art, this bottle is no exception! I had a &#8220;blingy&#8221; key chain with several elements on it and placed this around the neck of the bottle&#8230;.they rest on the front on the bottle and give that little bit of extra &#8220;bling&#8221; I needed to make this a beautiful altered bottle! Be sure to stop over to May Arts Ribbons blog to see all the wonderful creations! If you get a chance, be sure to vote in the comments for the creation you love the most! Thanks to May Arts for letting me, once again, participate in this challenge! Your new line of Spring Ribbons are beyond fantastic! &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Payment for Being a Mom is &#8220;Pure Love&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/the-payment-for-being-a-mom-is-pure-love/</link>
		<comments>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/the-payment-for-being-a-mom-is-pure-love/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:55:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Theresa Calderini</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Card Creations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family Highlights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Martha Stewart Punch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mother's Day]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spellbinders]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://parablesofacrafter.com/?p=2839</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;If you have a mom, there is nowhere you are likely to go where a prayer has not already been.&#8221;  ~Robert Brault This quote describes my &#8220;Maine Mom&#8221; exactly! I know that whatever circumstance or event I&#8217;m going through that she&#8217;s aware of she&#8217;s praying over me and my situation&#8230;.this brings me such comfort and reminds me how special our relationship is! Maine Mom is the one that gets many of my cards which she sends out to other people needing support and encouragement. We joke that someone must be &#8220;card worthy&#8221; in order for her to send a card! lol! Actually, knowing her, there are no qualifications, if your name is pressed on her heart, she&#8217;ll be sending you a card&#8230;..I love that about her! You&#8217;ll notice that I refer to Mom as &#8220;Maine Mom&#8221;, this is because she&#8217;s my mom who lives in Maine. Also, it&#8217;s because I&#8217;m one of those people who has two moms, a birth mom and my &#8220;Maine Mom&#8221; who has been in my life since I was a young teenager. Now, don&#8217;t start thinking it two two women to raise me, although I was difficult as a child, I wasn&#8217;t all that bad! lol! Mothers day is right around the corner, for us paper crafters, we&#8217;ve been hard at work creating Mother&#8217;s Day cards for others in time for the big day of celebration! I&#8217;ve had a few available in my shop but really wanted a few more that spoke of the elegant side of Mom. I started working with my intricate Spellbinders Dies just in time for creating these and boy do they say elegant! This first card is 5 1/2&#8243; x 5 1/2&#8243; card with a white card base. I punched the bottom section with my favorite Martha Stewart punch, you could use any punch on the bottom, the more elegant the better! I layered a rose print paper on top of a layer of rose red solid paper. On top of this I added the 2nd largest die (white) from the Resplendent Rectangle set. I then popped a piece of rose red using the next size die from the Resplendent Rectangles set and the white piece holding the sentiment (Computer generated) is form the same set. I stamped a soft swirl stamp which I got from Sparkle and Sprinkles Sympathy set, I kept this soft but enough that it would be seen. Topped with a burgundy sheer double bow and a beautiful card comes to life! For my second card, I decided to attempt to cut the actual card base using a die cut from Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight set. If you cut the largest die as your base, the card measures 5 1/2&#8243; x 4 1/4&#8243; which makes it fit perfectly inside an A2 envelope! The orange print paper is from my stash and was cut using another die cut form the Decorative Labels Eight set, and mounted this on top of orange Bazzill paper. I added a white layer cut from Spellbinders Timeless Rectangle Dies and topped this off with the sentiment piece which is cut from Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles set. An orange flower built form Prima flowers and orange seam binding really compliment this card! Two elegant Mother&#8217;s Day cards which I&#8217;m sure will be given to some very special Mothers! I hope you enjoy them and if you make any cards using these wonderful Die Cuts from Spellbinders, be sure to leave your link in the comments below so we can visit and see them! Need a card for Mother&#8217;s Day? You can find both of these in my Etsy Shop!]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I Will Walk Beside You</title>
		<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/i-will-walk-beside-you/</link>
		<comments>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/i-will-walk-beside-you/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:56:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Theresa Calderini</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Card Creations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Black]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cancer Card]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JustRite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Martha Stewart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pink]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Red]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spellbinders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yelllow]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://parablesofacrafter.com/?p=2829</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A few years ago I went shopping for a new pair of shoes, I wasn&#8217;t searching for anything in particular, just something unique and special that I could wear with multiple outfits. I came across a pair of crocheted black shoes and fell in love with them. I loved them even more when I saw they came in other colors so I bought 3 pairs of the same shoe, in black, red and grey! Instead of wearing just one pair, I had the opportunity to wear all 3 pairs with many outfits&#8230;..oh, they were such comfortable, beautiful shoes! I created this card in pink which will be one of my &#8220;Cancer Cards&#8221; for this weeks Crafting for a Cure arts and crafts festival in Tampa. I loved the simplicity and elegance of it so much I thought perhaps in would look just as beautiful in other colors, and I was right! I used several of the stamps from JustRite Stamps &#8220;Strength and Courage&#8221; I just love the oval sentiments on these! These are 5 1/2&#8243; x 5 1/2&#8243; cards, I punched the fancy strip from a Martha Stewart punch, one at the bottom and one for the top of the card. The sentiment is stamped on white and cut using a Spellbinders oval die cut. I traced the die cut on each matching color to place beneath the image. The two swirls on each side of the sentiment are from a Spellbinders tag die cut which I cut and glued in place. The bows are made using my bow maker and add a final layer of elegance to the card front. I love these sentiments as they can be used to encourage someone with cancer but also for many other opportunities for encouragement, just to let someone know that they are not alone! This reminds me of the verse in Isaiah 41:10 which says &#8220;Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.&#8221; As we walk through difficult situations, we are reminded that we are never alone, the God is there, ever present through everything, He is our source of strength, we need only to draw close to Him and rest in His arms, He is always with us! How comforting to know that no matter what we are facing, no matter how hopeless we may feel, God is with us and He has a plan for our lives! Here on earth, He has placed others around us to walk beside us and to offer support and encouragement when we need it as well. So many times we make it through difficult days because someone cares about us and reminds us that we never have to walk alone. I hope and pray each of you has someone like this in your life! Be sure to hug them and thank them for being there for you! You can purchase these cards in my Etsy Shop, for every Pink card purchased, $1.00 will be donated to the Cups of Sunshine team as they raise money for cancer research! &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Working Around the Inspiration Block</title>
		<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/working-around-the-inspiration-block/</link>
		<comments>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/working-around-the-inspiration-block/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:13:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Theresa Calderini</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Card Creations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Handmade card]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Martha Stewart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory Box]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spellbinders]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://parablesofacrafter.com/?p=2819</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We&#8217;ve all been there (haven&#8217;t we?)&#8230;.. We step into our studio with the intent of being creative and nothing happens! We try and try to create, to make the next work of art and&#8230;..nothing! Whether you create for a living or, just create to create, running into a &#8220;block&#8221; can really be frustrating can&#8217;t it? I&#8217;ve had those days&#8230;..often they run in a row and I can&#8217;t seem to get beyond them. I was talking to a fellow artist one day and this subject came up so I asked the question of her &#8220;what do you do on days you are blocked?&#8221; She acknowledged having times with little to no inspiration but said she learned a long time ago that even though she is unable to create something new, she doesn&#8217;t let it stop her. She went on to tell me that on those days (she described it as having a mountain in front of her that was too steep to climb), she leaves the mountain and walks around it! Simply put&#8230;..work &#8220;around&#8221; the inspiration block! She instructed me that  the next time this happened, go into my studio, select something I&#8217;ve created before and make a change. Add a layer to it, a different embellishment or sentiment, change the color&#8230;..do something to change what has already been creative. She promised me that by doing this, eventually, the block would be gone and I would have my creative mojo again! Well gosh darn if she wasn&#8217;t right! I took one creation and added an extra layer and additional embellishments and a sentiment. I was beginning to feel some mojo inside of me so I selected a 2nd creation and changed the color! While I was working on these two items, my brain started revving up and before I knew it, I was back in my creative zone! Don&#8217;t you just love talking to other creative spirits and learning from their experiences? Since she shared this with me, I&#8217;m now sharing it with you as I&#8217;m sure there are some others out there like me who on occasion, are faced with a mountain and need to find a way around it! Well, here&#8217;s your way, I hope it works for you as well as it did for me! Any other ideas that have worked for you when you can&#8217;t seem to get your creative mojo going? Share please!]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Strength Hope Faith &#8211; Finding A Cure</title>
		<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/strength-hope-faith-finding-a-cure/</link>
		<comments>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/strength-hope-faith-finding-a-cure/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:54:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Theresa Calderini</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Card Creations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spellbinders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boobie love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Breast Cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Finding a cure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Handmade card]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pink]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://parablesofacrafter.com/?p=2806</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Good morning everyone and welcome back for another post supporting breast cancer and finding a cure! I was browsing the internet and came across a similar layout which I just fell in love with! Notice the image on these two creations? Yes! It&#8217;s the same image that was used in my previous post which you can read about here. (The image, created by Krista Smith, Saturated Canary LLC is called “Boobie Love”) Since this is a digital image, I was able to resize it and make her bigger with focus on her upper body. I&#8217;ll be honest in telling you that coloring her with Copics was much easier with the image larger because there are several areas with tight spaces (I was never one to be able to color within the lines as a child! lol!) I wanted two layouts for this image so I did a flip of the image, now she is able to be displayed in two separate ways! Yeah! These 2 creations will be added to my items being sold to support breast cancer. I&#8217;ll be participating as a vendor on April 6th, 2013 in Tampa at a &#8220;Crafting for a Cure&#8220; event which is lead by Cups of Sunshine, which is a team that lives in Florida and participates in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Charlotte NC. They raise funds that go to the Avon Foundation which benefits medical treatment, research and awareness. For every &#8220;Cancer Card&#8221; sold in my Etsy Shop and at this event, $1.00 (per cancer card sold) will be donated to this team. On Etsy, the cards will sell for $10.00 per card (with envelope) and this cost includes free shipping! If you are local and want to support this cause by way of purchasing a card at the upcoming event &#8220;Crafting for a Cure&#8221;, the cost will be $8.00. If you are a paper crafter or other type of Artisan, I encourage you to get involved with organizations such as this, there are many out there to choose from, there&#8217;s sure to be one that interests you if you seek them out. The point is&#8230;..get involved and use your talents in a way that supports and blesses others! &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I Alone Cannot Change the World</title>
		<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com/crafty-things/i-alone-cannot-change-the-world/</link>
		<comments>http://parablesofacrafter.com/crafty-things/i-alone-cannot-change-the-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:17:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Theresa Calderini</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Crafty Things]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mixed Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Canvas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mother Teresa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Servant]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://parablesofacrafter.com/?p=2770</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;I Alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone to create many ripples across the waters&#8221; Mother Teresa What a powerful quote made by such a beautiful person! I love the message this sends to us all&#8230;. not one of us has the ability to change the world (gosh&#8230;.I hope you&#8217;ve figured this out!) but what we can do is become a part of the change which can be done in a variety of ways. What&#8217;s important is to get involved, become educated, be passionate and truly care about others. What a difference one person can make&#8230;.combined with others who are similar in spirit, this is how change is made! I was commissioned to create this project which was a challenge from the beginning let me tell you! It was a birthday gift for a special lady who works at a doctors office. I was told that several times a year she travels to Honduras to do humanitarian work (she&#8217;s one of those change people for sure!) It was requested that I create 2 separate canvases which could either be placed side by side, or, apart from each other. Trust me when I tell you, this sounds a whole lot easier than it actually is! I was told that she is very &#8220;natural&#8221;, she has a servant heart and oh by the way&#8230;..we have no idea what the inside of her home looks like or where she would place these! Long story short&#8230;..it took me several weeks to create these, bit by bit I painted, stamped, decoupaged, over and over again (14 layers of paint total!) until I was able to arrive at the finished product. If you follow my stories, you know that I love to &#8220;re-purpose&#8221; things in my house on occasion, if it&#8217;s not tied down or insured, it&#8217;s up for grabs if I feel so inclined! lol! I did a little &#8220;taking&#8221; for this project, but it was well worth it! Let me walk you through a few parts of the project: &#160; Did I mention that there are 14 layers of paint on these? teehee! I had to paint, layer, blend, over and over to get the right effect. It&#8217;s difficult to see but there are also layers of tissue paper decoupaged on each canvas which show a map of Honduras. Although you can&#8217;t see the actual maps, the rich colors contributed to the deep blue and green on these. The addition of the black &#8220;bling&#8221; added a wonderful layer of design to each of these without taking away from the focal points of each canvas. See the map on this corner? Look real close, it&#8217;s there! The brown hearts are made from a house item&#8230;..I had these strands of stones / beads in the base of my hurricane lamps but no one was really enjoying them. I think they love their new home! The center medallion and chain are from a necklace I was going to make but never did (I&#8217;m just not a jeweler!) Last week, after our mixed media class at my home, I was cleaning up and found some printed vintage tissue paper someone left behind. I incorporated it into the canvas and it fit perfectly! The brown buttons in the upper right hand corner are from a necklace I used in a previous project. I knew I had to incorporate burlap into these as well since it&#8217;s so &#8220;natural&#8221;! The buttons fit nicely on top of the burlap and are surrounded by my hurricane &#8220;rescued&#8221; stones /beads! You&#8217;ll notice some honeycomb stamping below the burlap &#8211; I love that stamp! When I came across this quote I knew it would be the perfect compliment to the message being sent on these canvases! Mother Teresa was certainly wise! Well, one more project done and delivered! I enjoyed creating these and hope that the recipient enjoys them as well! We all need to remember&#8230;&#8230;become part of the change and certainly model the image of change you desire to see in the world! &#160; &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Team in Training &#8211; Wipe out Blood Cancer</title>
		<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com/crafty-things/team-in-training-wipe-out-blood-cancer/</link>
		<comments>http://parablesofacrafter.com/crafty-things/team-in-training-wipe-out-blood-cancer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Mar 2013 23:46:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Theresa Calderini</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Crafty Things]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family Highlights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blood cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leukemia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mixed Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[team in training]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://parablesofacrafter.com/?p=2763</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There&#8217;s a first time for everything right? Today is one of those times for me&#8230;. When writing blog posts, it&#8217;s often difficult to take what&#8217;s in your head and relay it through the keyboard&#8230;.I think we&#8217;ve all probably had this struggle at one time or another. I was asked to make a canvas that could be auctioned off to raise funds for the leukemia and lymphoma society, so I made one because the cause is important and because the young lady who asked me to make it is young and passionate about bringing more awareness to cancer. No way I was saying no to that! It&#8217;s an important cause, one that we can all get involved with&#8230;..specifically, this young lady (Helen) and her team are asking for your support. I&#8217;m going to stop writing now and let Helen tell you about what she&#8217;s doing. Oh&#8230;&#8230;by the way&#8230;..the lady Helen speaks of named &#8220;Debe&#8221;? Yep&#8230;..she&#8217;s my sister&#8230;. Here&#8217;s Helen&#8217;s story: &#160; Teams are made up of individuals. Without them, there is no team. &#160; This is my team! &#160; Cancer has unfortunately made appearances in many peoples lives. Whether it was you, a family member, a friend, or someone you just met, cancer is a tough, long process. I&#8217;ve known a few people who, over the years, have faced this battle head on and put up a tough fight. One is an extremely influential person in my life. Her name is Debe. In October, Debe, myself, many people we work with and know, and thousands of others participated in Strides Against Breast Cancer. It was a great success and experience. Our team name was &#8220;Too inspired to be tired&#8221; which completely reminds me of Debe. I consider Debe to basically be another mother to me. She has been the office manager of my father&#8217;s pediatricians office (and where I have been working for the past 10 years) for as long as I can remember, and although in the beginning our relationship was a little rocky (I did once &#8220;misfile&#8221; something on purpose! sorry bout that ) we are closer than ever. She has had a long fight with different types of cancers starting from when she was in her 20&#8242;s. She is currently running two offices, going to school full time for her doctorate, and is a full time mother and wife, while still getting treatment (I do not know where or how she gets the time!). If that isn&#8217;t influential, I don&#8217;t know what is. A few more very meaningful people that have been apart of my life would be both of my grandparents on my fathers side. They both put up a strong battle against each of their cancers (prostate and ovarian) and although they both passed away when I was about 2 (my grandmother) and 3( my grandfather) I still have slight memories of going to their house and photos to remember them for a lifetime! Although Debe, James (Papa Jim) Colaizzo, and Irene Colaizzo don&#8217;t have any type of blood cancer, I want to run this event for them and all other people affected by all types of cancers! These next 4 months, I will be training to participate in my longest race ever, A FULL MARATHON!!! I’m participating in a sports endurance event as a member of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training. Like the other members of TNT, I will be raising funds to help find cures and better treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. I’m improving the quality of my life by participating and with your support, I can help improve the quality of life for patients and their families as well. &#160; This is my mission! Please make a donation in support of my efforts with Team in Training and help advance the research for cures!! &#8220;Too Inspired to be Tired&#8221; Visit Helen&#8217;s fundraising page and offer some encouragement and consider making a donation!]]></description>
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		<title>Crafting for a Cure &#8211; Boobie Love!</title>
		<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/crafting-for-a-cure-boobie-love/</link>
		<comments>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/crafting-for-a-cure-boobie-love/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:49:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Theresa Calderini</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Card Creations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boobie love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Breast Cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Card]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory Box]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spellbinders]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://parablesofacrafter.com/?p=2741</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s extremely difficult for me to create something without understanding its purpose. You&#8217;ll notice throughout my blog posts that along with many of my creations comes a story that is related to the creation, I do this in hopes of helping you understand that there is much more to a creation than just the physical item that is made. I&#8217;m inspired by stories, all types of stories which involve people, songs, places, pictures, if it&#8217;s got a story, I&#8217;m going to want to understand it! This story took me a while to wrap my arms around because its such a tough subject. We are all aware of breast cancer and the impact it has on lives, but there is a deeper story behind the word cancer and I wanted to tap into that. This has been an emotional yet necessary journey because at the very core of breast cancer, there are human beings being affected but I wanted to understand a little more about this cancer and why so many people are stepping up and getting involved in raising funds to reach a cure. A couple websites for you that I found interesting. There is so much detail on the web for cancer, and breast cancer has enough information to keep you reading for years. 1.) Think before you pink &#8211; history of the pink ribbon I wondered where the concept of the ribbon for cancer came from &#8211; specifically, the pink ribbon for breast cancer. 2.) Susan G. Komen website : Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and launched the global breast cancer movement. 3.) Stories from those who have had breast cancer Stories told by those who have been faced with breast cancer. After delving into this sensitive subject, I realize how blessed I am to not have come face to face with this disease&#8230;..others have not been so fortunate. So, I started wondering &#8220;what can I do to help?&#8221; Presently I&#8217;m unable to walk / run, I could donated financially but this just doesn&#8217;t seem like enough. I&#8217;ve got to help continue to the effort to raise awareness&#8230;..my mind starts to think about what I can do to get involved. Everything I do seems to center around my creations so I put on my creative thinking cap and this is what I come up with&#8230;&#8230;. Cards for Cancer!! I&#8217;ll be participating as a vendor on April 6th, 2013 in Tampa at a &#8220;Crafting for a Cure&#8221; event which is lead by Cups of Sunshine, which is a team that lives in Florida and participates in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Charlotte NC. They raise funds that go to the Avon Foundation which benefits medical treatment, research and awareness. I&#8217;ll be selling my paper crafts (cards), mixed media and altered cigar boxes but wanted to do a little extra for this event. I&#8217;ll be offering a line of &#8220;Cancer Cards&#8221; of which a portion of the proceeds will be given to the Cups of Sunshine team! This card will be one of the main attractions for the &#8220;Cancer Cards&#8221; line! The image, created by Krista Smith, Saturated Canary LLC is called &#8220;Boobie Love&#8221;! She is sweet and sassy and a wonderful edition to these cards. All &#8220;Boobie Love&#8221; creations, and other Cancer Cards will be sold at the Crafting for a Cure event, you only need visit the event to purchase yours! Come out on Saturday, April 6th to the Crafting for A Cure event, visit their facebook page for more details! This is your way to get involved! &#160; &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
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		<title>Blue and Bling Collide</title>
		<link>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/blue-and-bling-collide/</link>
		<comments>http://parablesofacrafter.com/card-creations/blue-and-bling-collide/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:19:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Theresa Calderini</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Card Creations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Butterfly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Card]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geometric]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Martha Stewart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Memory Box]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rhinestone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stampinup]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://parablesofacrafter.com/?p=2735</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s a &#8220;butterfly, bling and blue&#8221; week for me it seems&#8230;..and I&#8217;m ok with that! I&#8217;ve been trying to act responsibly and use up some of the &#8220;excess&#8221; design paper I&#8217;ve got on hand this week, it seems that I could create forever and still have paper left over&#8230;.what an excellent problem to have! The designer paper on this card is from Stampinup, I had enough left for 3 cards&#8230;..got to find some more as I am in love with this paper! I decided to add a geometric layer using a Martha Stewart punch, if you measure your paper just right (for this one, it&#8217;s 3 3/8&#8243; x 5&#8243;) you can get a wonderful pattern to add onto your creation. I&#8217;ll never grow tired of these Memory Box butterfly die cuts&#8230;..so many other colors to try them out with! I found a sale of &#8220;bling&#8221; at Michael&#8217;s a few weeks back and scored 3 of these rhinestone sets in blue &#8211; they&#8217;re from Recollections and although I don&#8217;t often use that line, for the price it was well worth it to jazz up my card! I can honestly say that one of my most favorite embellishments is a double bow made form silk ribbon! I created this one on my &#8220;bow maker 5000&#8243; (my husband named it! lol!) and it came together in less than a minute! There no excuse for not adding a luscious bow to your cards when they&#8217;re so easy to create! The card itself measures 5 1/2&#8243; x 5 1/2&#8243; and comes with it&#8217;s own handmade envelope to accommodate the depth of the card. No more &#8220;squeezing&#8221; cards into flat envelopes for me when they&#8217;re so easy to handmade! Thanks for stopping by!]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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