thank you!

Hello! Thank you all so much to the lovely people who bought the softies for the QLD Flood Appeal. We sold 7 softies and donated $200 to the Premier's Distaster Relief Appeal (our receipt # is 3115290), which is fantastic! Obviously it's a teensy drop in the ocean compared to the money, effort & time that will be needed to get Queensland back in shape, but there are so many lovely crafty /bloggy types that are doing so much that it's all adding up!

The Little Man Bear softies are now for sale on Etsy and in the Pocket Carnival store too. Yay!
Something else happening is a Flood Appeal Auction on Facebook, organised by Handmade Kids and Rudy & the Dodo. This fabulous team have been accepting donations of goods which will be auctioned tomorrow (Friday 15th).

In case you've never experienced a Facebook auction before, you have to sign in to your Facebook account, 'like' their page, and then once the auction opens tomorrow, leave a comment on each item you'd like to bid for with your $ bid amount. 100% of the winning bids will be donated.

Take a peek! There are 2 more Pocket Carnival softies for auction.

Thanks! Back to regular, non-soggy, scheduled programming soon!

hearts for haiti

The news of the devastation occuring in Haiti has been very saddening to hear to say the least.

Victoria, a lovely Etsy seller, has set up a shop on Etsy - HeartsforHaiti.etsy.com

The profits made on items sold in HeartsforHaiti will be donated to Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières for their critical work in Haiti. I have donated a few little items, including some Best Friends art prints.

Please visit HeartsforHaiti.etsy.com to view the many many items will be donated over the coming days. If you are an Etsy seller and would like to donate an item, please visit HeartsforHaiti for submissions info.

xxoo Penny

Grace Gichuhi and Teresia Ndikaru Muturi

I just read about the case of Grace Gichuhi and Teresia Ndikaru Muturi in this article on The Age website.

I would love it if you read the article for yourselves, but to summarise, Grace & Teresia came to Australia for World Youth Day last year, and have since applied for protection as refugees on the basis that they face genital mutilation or death on their return to Kenya - Graces mother was killed for refusing this abhorrent procedure.

They have been denied these visas.


To help:
You can contact Senator Chris Evans, the Minister for Immigration & Citizenship, via his online contact page.
You could also try Kevin Rudd, too.


It doesn't feel like much, but this is what I wrote. Feel free to copy & paste.

Dear Senator Evans,

I have just heard of the case of Grace Gichuhi & Teresia Ndikaru Muturi, two women from Kenya who have been denied status as refugees.

I believe that the torturous practise of genital mutilation is abhorrent, and that to deny these women refugee visas is to take a weak stance on this issue.

I urge you to intervene in this case, not only to help these women, but also to send a clear message to Kenya that Australia does not condone these practises.

Sincerely,
Penny Eager