Calendar Girls - September Choices!

Afternoon!  Today is the day that the Calendar Girls - an SCS group of fabulous friends - post our monthly creations with a theme ...... and this month our hostess was none other than the absolutely vibrant Sweet P!  (she does have a real name, rofl!  It's Paola, but she's always going to be our Sweet P!)  And she was sweet enough to give us 3 choices this month for our September cards -- Music, education or children - I chose children :)  This is what she challenged us to do: 
*choice 3* CHILDREN:  Your card should reflect anything a child may like to do: playing, reading, toys,sports etc....but with a twist!
It should be both cheerful and also reflect the fast approaching Fall, a colorful season I love very much. )

I would also like YOU to gift your finished card to a child (other than your own!) that could use a little lift, a lil smile.....just because....

I wanted to share a card that I made using the "toys" part of the theme.  When I was little, I loved school - it was a happy place for me, but for a little while, I would run home every day to play with my prized Raggedy Ann doll.  It was made for my by hand by my amazingly talented mom.  She used to stay up til the wee hours of the night sewing these little dollies by hand.  We lived in Europe at the time and I couldn't figure out why she would make one after the other, but I later learned that she was making them for an orphanage in her hometown in England, one for each child (the boys got an Andy, the girls got an Ann) :)  I secretly wanted one SO bad and would tell her all the time that it was my turn .... at 6, I thought they should have all been mine, lol.  That same year, I was lucky, too and there was a special one waiting under the Christmas tree for me ~ I loved it, treasured it, and cherish it still to this day.  I would run home from school for months and play with her.   She is worn, beat up, and as raggedy as her name, but I love her all the same.  Even my daughters have played with her and even redressed her in one of their little brother's infant outfits, lol! 

I used some 7Gypsys brightly colored paper that reminded me of the primary school papers.  I've been hoarding this one piece since our LSS closed down and MUST find more - love it!  I used a Buggaboo image that I colored last night at 2 am - how'd I do? LOL!  I even added a small heart button that was the only one in a jar of misc buttons I found at the store and I think it is the perfect addition.  I used some ric-rac as that is the ribbon my Raggedy Ann's original clothing has all around as the trim and for my school related supply, staples!  Yep!  I stapled the card on purpose!  :)  Now the inside just melted my heart -- I found this poem online a day or so ago and added it because it looked fitting.   I found it here at this site -- too cute!!

My card will join the others that I keep in a basket and take once every few weeks to Baptist Children's Hospital in Miami, Florida for the parents to take from the admit office.  I leave them blank and unsigned and know that in that moment, sometimes getting to the gift shop downstairs might be 5 minutes you just don't have to spare.  BCH also holds monthly events that rally the community and just bring such a commitment to our community - this hospital is near and dear to my heart for personal reasons and I give back in ways of my time and volunteering as often as time allows (like the Relay for Life coming up in October!)

Wow, that was a long post!  Would you like to meet My Rags, as I called her?

Here she is!  Her little eye is a bit wonky thanks to my parent's Bassett Hound needing to eat all of my toys, lol!   But I loves her :)

If you made it this far, BLESS YOUR HEART!

Thank you! But wait, there's more! :)

Be sure to stop in and see what the other Calendar Girls have made using their choice of theme!

April *  Barb *  Carol *  Debbie  *  Jeanette  *  Kelly (you're here!)

Michelle *  Paola  *  Tami  *  Terry

Big Raggedy Hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card entered into:  Lexi's Creations - Card for a child

Card deets:  Cardstock; Blueberry Sky, Pure Poppy, White;  SU Summer Sun;

DSP 7Gypsys;  Image from Buggaboo; CB, nesties; SU Border Punch; Ric-Rac,

Staples; Misc Buttons; Twine