Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Crafty Bloggers for a Cause

I don't know about you but, man, these are crazy times, and I find myself pretty much daily, being worried about our country's future while also feeling extremely helpless. In recent weeks, the feelings of helplessness have all but enveloped my thoughts and emotions as I almost cannot bare the barrage of news coming from the border. As a mother, this makes my heart break and ache and reach out to all these families simply looking for a better life. If you follow me on any of my channels, I think it is clear how I feel about the current state of things and to be honest, my blogging has fallen by the wayside in my endeavors to raise my kids right as well as use what platforms I have to speak up and out against the policies that I do not agree with.

When my blogging friend Cori (Hey, Let's Make Stuff) was like "Guys, we gotta use our platforms and voices to make change and raise money for good causes", I immediately said that I was IN IT TO WIN IT until all the other bloggers were like "creating printables is our game!" and my happy balloon deflated because, alas, Amanda is crafty, but creating printables is not something I know how to do. Along came, Erin (Printable Crush) who did not have time to do a blog post but wanted to submit a design so we teamed up and I love her for creating something for me. I told her that my printable (if I knew how to create one) would say "I Really DO Care", a not so subtle nod to the coat that FLOTUS wore this past week on her way to a children's detention center in Texas. She whipped it up for me and along with some other fantastic bloggers, we've created a bundle of printables that you can use for your protests, to make tshirts or simply print to hang in your home. This artwork was created to support charities that are doing the good, hard work at the border.



100% of your donation will be split evenly between three family-reunification organizations:
  • RAICES (Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services), the largest provider of immigrant legal services in Texas.
  • The Safe Passage Projecta legal advocacy organization for unrepresented children facing deportation. 
  • KIND (Kids In Need of Defense), a national organization that trains lawyers to represent immigrant children at no cost in connection with their immigration and deportation proceedings. 

As bloggers and designers, we've struggled with the intersection of the humanitarian crisis at our southern border and our online platforms. Our hearts are shattered watching families torn apart and it feels so disconnected from our day-to-day work of making beautiful things for our blogs. We're tired of people telling us to "stick to making crafts."
In speaking together, we realized we have a voice and an audience, and designed this justice artwork bundle of SVG and printable files to support family reunification efforts. It's one small way we're speaking out and supporting organizations doing the hard work at the border.
Use your own voice to speak out and share these images on social media. Use the SVG cut files with your Cricut or Silhouette machine to make t-shirts and protest signs, or simply hang these printables in your house to remind yourself that you can turn your heartbreak into action. Together, we can use our collective voices to raise awareness and help bring these families back together.
As TogetherRising.com says, "We know immigration is complicated and still we say: NOT THIS."
SET YOUR PRICE + BUY THE BUNDLE HERE
The files in this bundle were designed by:
Cori George, Hey Let's Make Stuff
Alicia Steele, Sew What Alicia
Erin Williams, Printable Crush
Heidi Kundin, Happiness is Homemade
Cheryl Spangenberg, That's What Che Said
Lindi Haws, Love the Day
Alexis Middleton, Persia Lou
Karen Kedzuch, Dragonfly & Lily Pads
Lindsay Fekitoa, See Lindsay
Sydney Andersen, Tastefully Frugal


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