Category: Payitforward

Precious Angel Bears - Eddie and Sofia

4/18/2014

Remember back to last month when we made Lucy's bunny?

We decided this was a great idea and that we would continue to do such gowns for the children that gowns were requested for, but unfortunately passed away before their gown was able to be made and sent to them.

The first of the three I have been working on is going to the Livingston Family in memory and honor of their son Eddie who passed away from Neuroblastoma in 2013.

His nickname was "Superman" and his gown was actually requested by a mutual friend of the family and myself. Isn't he such a handsome little man? I bet he is an even more precious angel - flying around with his cape and all...having all kinds of fun like little boys should!

We purchased the superman fabric, but two days after having his fabric Eddie passed away, so the special bear below will be headed to his family in Florida.

The second of the three is going to the Scott family in honor and memory of precious Sofia who passed away in March (on my little man's birthday actually) from complications with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type I.

Her gown was requested by a friend of the family, who also asked that we still send her gown to them as a keepsake. Once again, we decided to make an angel gown with a bear to be sent to them.

And here is the beautiful princess Sofia.

Her angel bear and gown will be making it's way home this weekend as well. Her gown was completed (in her size), but wasn't able to be sent before we learned she had passed away.

So, we sized it down to fit the teddy bear, below is her angel bear. It didn't quite want to sit up on it's own - hence the kinda of squished look in the photo.

Will be working on getting the third one done and posted - it is such an honor to make this tributes to the families we've received requests for and while we weren't able to provide their child with a gown to wear throughout their journey, at least we now have a way to honor their fight.

To the Livingston and Scott families - we are still praying for each of your every day...and while the loss of a child is beyond all words and the hurt will always still be there in many ways, we pray each day you find a little more peace, a little more comfort and a little more love from those surrounding you in prayer.

Much love and many blessings,
Gracie's Gowns

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A Little Break in Routine

4/15/2014

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Okay - so old picture, but had to use something with the sewing machine. I love sewing these hospital gowns, I love sewing them for your little ones and seeing their smiling faces and knowing how it can literally change a hospital experience from bad to at least tolerable.

Sometimes though, I have to break the routine of making gowns and work on other projects, just to keep from crying over how many precious little ones are in need of such an item. It breaks my heart in so many pieces at times, that I have to sit back and remember how much of a blessing each child is, how they have changed the lives of those around them...how they fight, just to make it through another day and while yes, the odds are usually stacked against them, they inspire others to do such amazing things - like Gracie's Gowns and so many other organizations!

One of the items that have been done and still being worked on were these squishy little monsters! We sold them over the course of a couple days in order to raise shipping funds for gowns.

I am happy to say they are almost all done and out in the mail (still have maybe 7 more in total to make I believe). Here is some of the ones that went out last week, as I didn't get pictures of the previous ones made to post. My apologies on that...they are too cute not to picture and post.

These guys come from leftover minky fabric that I have from making millions of blankets over the last few years I have been making for friends and family.

One of the other items that get worked on in those little breaks are some bags for Beads of Courage - I love making these little bags from leftover pieces from gowns!

They are easy enough to make and still give that feeling of inspiration and fulfillment I suppose in knowing the fabric we use won't go to waste and can brighten the days of so many other children too.

This year we have 17 bags made so far to donate to Beads of Courage and will probably have close to 50 by the time the donation is ready to be made. We are hoping to be able to donate them to our local hospital with a Beads of Courage program.

Lastly, whenever I really want to venture out into my sewing fun - I go back to making little items from leftover pieces of fabric and working through my own personal fabric stash and creating other items that we will be taking with us for our craft show in October - last year we raised $900 for Gracie's Gowns with items made from leftover pieces and whatever fabric I had on hand - this year we're hoping to meet and exceed that amount...especially with the Christmas Box Program coming up at that time of the year as well. Right now we've loaded the items into an etsy store (which will be put in vacation the Thursday before the show) to try and sell some of the items throughout the year with all the money being put into our shipping expenses. So here is the etsy mini with links in case you want to browse it!

With all that fun being said and shown - no worries, gowns are still being made, still being sent out and Gracie's Gowns is rolling right along like we always do. Sometimes just a little slower than normal, because we are in the process of moving and my health has gotten a little "interesting" for lack of a better word, but we are still upholding and maintaining our mission to provide every child we can a special hospital gown of their own to wear while in treatments, surgeries and hospital stays!

Much Love and Many Blessings,
Jessica

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Half-Way Through Spring Raffle

4/15/2014

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We're at the half-way point now!!
Fifteen days of winners and fifteen more days to go - we still have 78 tickets that we'd love to sell before the end of the raffle to meet our goal for sales. The proceeds from the ticket sales cover the cost of the items Gracie's Gowns had to purchase for the raffle, shipping costs of the items to winners, but also benefit our Christmas Box Program that we've been accepting items for and will continue through early December. The majority of the funds raised from the tickets sales will be put towards shipping of those Christmas boxes in mid December to our families that sign up for the program in late October.

So without further delay - here are some more of our winners in case you missed it on Facebook!

Our ninth winner was Charlene - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun

Our thirteenth winner was Marla - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun

Our fifteenth winner was Kim - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Dawn Truex - a friend and Pampered Chef consultant to one of the families we have made a gown for.

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/mychefdawn

And that wraps up the second week of our winners and brings us half-way through the raffle as well!

Congratulations to everyone who has won and item so far and please don't forget to share, invite, and purchase a ticket for yourself!! We'd love to reach our overall goal for ticket sales, but even more so make sure we have funds available for shipping out our Christmas boxes!

To purchase a ticket please visit our events page at:
www.graciesgowns.org/events.html

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First Week of Winners - Spring Raffle

4/8/2014

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Our first week of winners and a special drawing winner have already happened!! So exciting and the majority of these items have already been mailed out too - thanks to some extra running around we've had to do in our personal world and was able to swing by the post office on those trips too.
We're excited to start another week of winners - after I draw today's winner - we still have 22 awesome days of prizes left to give away and another special drawing prize if we can still 200 tickets in total (we're at 117 right now). Lots of great Pampered Chef and Scentsy items are being given away and you're not going to want to miss out on the upcoming prizes for sure!

Our first winner was Debbie - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun

Our third winner was Patricia - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were donated by Audra Smith - a Pampered Chef consultant that is close friends with a gown recipient's family.

Audra's business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/audra

Our fifth winner was Ellen - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun

Our seventh winner was Becky - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were donated by Audra Smith - a Pampered Chef consultant that is close friends with a gown recipient's family.

Audra's business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/audra

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE!!

To purchase your ticket(s) you can visit our website under the events tab - www.graciesgowns.org/events.html
and purchase them there using the Add to Cart button through PayPal.

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A Time to Remember - Two Years

3/25/2014

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This past weekend we celebrated our two year anniversary in making hospital gowns for children across the United States and around the globe. What a great accomplishment, what an amazing experience, what a blessing for my own life the past two years have been (even with the crazy times)...but we also took the time this year to celebrate the lives of the children we have made gowns for and remember those that have passed away over the past two years.

Each child we made a gown for that traded in their super hero capes for angel wings had a lantern with their name, date of birth, date the became an angel, diagnosis and anything else the family, us, or the person who purchased the lantern in their memory wanted to say on it.

This year we released 45 lanterns - there were a few duplicates from where Gracie's Gowns had a lantern for the child and someone else wanted to purchase a lantern in memory as well, but overall there was one lantern per child. We had a few lanterns as well for children that we did not make a gown for, but were warriors as well - and we gladly added remembering their courage, strength and smiles to our ceremony.

Due to some weather related issues, we started later, but lanterns went in the water around 8:00 p.m. and the final one went out about 10:00 p.m. It was a very cold night, but watching the lanterns float in the water, seeing their reflections and just how they illuminated the water was breath-taking. Even more so, it was very, very emotional for me. Too have a visual of the children that lose their lives battling illness was heart-breaking...to know that this is only the children our organization has personally worked with in two years was devastating. There are so many more children who pass away each day, week, month and year that if we lit a lantern for each of them - we'd have to worry about them catching themselves on fire...there wouldn't be enough water for them all to float.

Watching the candles go out was probably the most emotional part of the whole night.

The lanterns - if the wind didn't blow them out - started to sink as they were wet. They are biodegradable, which is the point for them to get wet and sink/fall apart/etc. But as they did...you would see this light, barely above the water...like it was holding on unto the last second. Fighting until the very end to stay shining. They flickered, almost went out, flickered some more, got brighter and held on...and then once the water came closer, the flame disappeared without any warning. Just like our little warriors.

They fight until the very end, giving it 100% and then some - they have so many close calls and yet still manage to pull through and almost make a complete turn around and then...in a blink of an eye, they are gone.

Here is all of the lanterns we released out in the water - a beautiful tribute and celebration of their life.

Over the next few months, I will be creating an angels/in memory of page here on our website. It is my hope to get each child that we know has become an angel and learn about the ones we do not already know, on that page with their parents permission and help.

This will become an annual event for Gracie's Gowns - and for those that may not be able to attend at night, it is in my plans to do a balloon release during the day and make that a family event as well.

To view all the photos and lanterns from the event - you can visit this link below:

Gracie's Gowns Two Year Anniversary Lantern Release

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Tickets on Sale - Spring Raffle - Just for Mom

3/19/2014

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Gracie's Gowns is hosting a combined Pampered Chef and Scentsy raffle fundraiser just in time for Mother's Day!

We started selling tickets in February and will continue to have them on sale through April 30th, 2014. Tickets are $5.00/each.

Payments can be made by cash, check or PayPal - we will also have an "Add to Cart" button on our events page.

You can mail payments to the address below - please make any checks out to Gracie's Gowns, Inc :
Gracie's Gowns
c/o: Jessica Kidd
159 Ordinary Road
Mineral, VA 23117

They are two part raffle tickets, we will be keeping the part that has your name, address and phone number in order to contact you should your name be drawn as a winner during the raffle that will start on April 1st. The second section also has the same ticket number and that will be mailed to you once your payment has been received.

Each day in April, we will be drawing a winner for one of our Pampered Chef or Scentsy prizes. They will alternate each day between the two companies. All prizes will be valued at $30.00 or more!! We will post the winners each day to Facebook and to our blog with a picture of the item won and the number drawn. Numbers will be drawn using random.org starting with the number 1 and ending with the total amount of tickets sold.

Your ticket can win more than once, but to have the best shot at winning an item, multiple tickets are encouraged.

Prizes will be mailed out weekly on Mondays - tracking numbers will be available as well once they are mailed.

So make sure to share with your friends, family and everyone you know who loves Pampered Chef and Scentsy to help support Gracie's Gowns - all funds raised (after the purchase of the raffle items and shipping costs) will be put specifically towards our Christmas Box Program for this year

Here are some of the items we currently have in our raffle prizes!

We still have a few days left for any Scentsy Independent Consultant that would like to contribute towards our raffle prizes! All of our Pampered Chef days have been covered, but we have six Scentsy days that we need covered with item(s) valued at $30.00 or more. They can be bundled together to create the $30.00 value and we will be advertising your Facebook page and/or website each day that the item(s) you donate are given away.

Our Facebook event for the raffle is here - we will be posting winners every day to the event, as well as, our Facebook page itself:
https://www.facebook.com/events/631836276853318/

We have 60 tickets sold so far, we'd love to sell many more, so please share this with your family and friends so we can make this fundraiser really successful! Our biggest expense for the Christmas Box Project is going to be shipping, so the better start we can get on collecting the funds we will need helps us greatly!

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Fabric with Lots of Love - Lilahroo's

3/12/2014

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I have the wonderful opportunity to help out another great organization with some fabric to continue their mission. This time it is for Lilahroo's! Monica makes these precious, cozy, comfy and just wonderful blankets for children fighting medical challenges.

Do we have one? No - but my, oh my, you can just see from her photos and stories of children that have received one just how comfy they are! As someone who has made blankets for years, these are great quality, with wonderful fabrics. Cozy flannel on top and super soft minky on the back...perfect blanket ingredients!

Here is Autumn with her gown and Lilahroo while at her clinic appointment! Doesn't she look super cozy there?!

There website to learn more about what they do, who they are, how to support and even all the stories from families that have received a blanket from Lilahroo's is:

http://www.lilahroos.com/

They are also on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lilahroos/621064347914209

So since the kiddos and I are getting a lot closer to moving time and we've been holding onto some of these fabrics for a while now, without any requests to use them for, here are the cozy flannels we had to send Monica's way and even a minky fabric too:

They will be on their way shortly - as in probably tomorrow's mail!!
Can't wait to see what little ones get wrapped up in a cozy blankie made from these fabrics.

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Lia Sophia Jewelry Raffle Winners - Week Three

2/23/2014

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And this post brings us to almost our final week of raffle items!
Week three ends and leaves us with five days and items left - can you believe it?! That also means February is almost over - YIKES!! Where has this year gone?

So great items right?!
I know some are my personal favorites and I really hate seeing them leave my house - but alas they must go to their winners! I hope they enjoying wearing them, as much as, I do admiring them!

Congratulations to everyone who has won so far - we still have two pairs of earrings, two necklaces and a bracelet left to give away and they are some really awesome and pretty items too!

Jessica

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Donation to the Little and Dependent

1/25/2014

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Eastern Tennessee Children's Hospital is one of the most amazing children's hospital in the country. Not only do they care for a variety of pediatric illnesses and needs, but they have a super special NICU.

The reason their NICU is so special is because they are one of the hospitals that treat the highest number of drug-dependent newborns in the United States. And we aren't talking street or illegal drugs...these are prescription pain medications and most obtained under normal circumstance.

These babies are weaned off prescription medication, by being given doses of morphine until they are able to tolerate being completely off any kind of opiate. This process can take days and week to accomplish. The unit can hold 49 infants and over half of them are born with neonate abstinence syndrome (drug-dependent), these babies have to be watched around the clock for seizures and even worse, in case they stop breathing.

When I was in college, this was a topic I was starting to write a research paper on...it is a personal subject as my youngest was born drug-dependent and not because I misused my pain medication, but because I was given excessive amounts of pain medication between all of our admission during pregnancy for pre-term labor and for the amount of pain I was in throughout the entire pregnancy because of the amount of scar tissue I had and two pregnancies very close together and severe anemia issues as well.

Only problem was, when she was born, we didn't know what was the cause of all the problems we had in the first two months of her life, until I happened to read a forum on drug-dependent babies and all the pieces fell into place. It was scary.

So when Ellen from Socks 4 Surgery posted the articles published in 2013 about Eastern Tennessee Children's Hospital and what their NICU was doing - we decided that some extra comfort needed to be sent to these precious little ones as well.

Ellen sent out socks and hair bows and in her awesomeness asked if we had any gowns that we could send their way as well. I had to wait until I got back to the house and went through what we already had sewn NICU Smock wise and put together a box that we will be sending out the the hospital this Monday.

So in total we have twenty-eight gowns headed to the hospital's volunteer services and some of our brochures to be used throughout the hospital for other children that may want a gown of their own as well.

We will keep praying for the hospital's staff and volunteers that are working with and caring for these precious babies and their families. We pray for the babies and their families as well through this rocky start to their journey and lives.

We hope these gowns find each little doing the best they can and provide them with a little extra comfort.

Clicking on the picture above will take you to a brochure (PDF Format) the hospital has created on Drug Use during Pregnancy and about Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome.

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Sharing with Angel Love Boxes

1/13/2014

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This past summer these little ones of mine got a really awesome surprise in the mail - it was this big box filled with goodies for each of them and something a little extra special, for our special little man.

The organization is called Angel Love Boxes - they provide care packages to children with special needs and their siblings! Each month they have a certain amount of little ones they put boxes together for and they also help with certain medical equipment/items/devices that may be beneficial to them as well.

Here is some of the goodies that were sent in our box. The items they have each month vary based on donations of items themselves, sponsor donated items and the specific needs of the child, but also they are based with the interest of each child the box is for (and their siblings too).

My little red head was upset I wouldn't let her play with her items until I got a picture of everything...mean mommy I suppose. But I knew one day I would want pictures to share and promote Angel Love Boxes through Gracie's Gowns as well.

So here is where we are sharing with Angel Love Boxes - and giving back to the organization that gave my little guys such a wonderful summer surprise!

This Thomas the Train item is a weighted blanket. For those that don't know or haven't read back through, he was diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum and also has several sensory related issues and it was recommended to us that a weighted blanket might be beneficial to him. He loves his blanket (and so does mommy at times even) and it has helped with some of the sensory issues he has at night. If it wasn't for his occupational therapist suggesting it, I would never have thought about it. We received our blanket when Angel Love Boxes first started making them - and the quality is amazing. It washed great as well!

You can see the detail here in the stitching where each section is sewn and filled evenly to divide the weight evenly throughout the whole blanket.

I had tried making one several months prior to even hearing about Angel Love boxes and it was an epic fail...which remind me I need to take it apart and either fix it or just make it into a regular blanket...add that to the to-do list for when there is extra hours in a day.

So for Angel Love Boxes we have several pieces of fabric measuring around a yard and more to send as our family's way to say thank you for our box, but also as Gracie's Gowns and saying thank you for your love and support of us throughout the past year! This box is fairly heavy and packed to the gills with fabric, so once we have some extra shipping money we will be sending it out. Here are some of the fabrics that will be making their way south to Alabama!