Gettin' By With a Little Help From My Friends....

There are times in this life when I just

shake my head and think...

'how did I become so blessed?'

I ask you to please bear with me

through this post because there is

some pretty amazing people doing
a pretty self-less thing..... 

Many of you may have heard that I recently

had to have emergency oral surgery which resulted

in the removal of my front teeth.

As a child, I struggled with brittle teeth due to

some health concerns and my parents did all

they could to ensure that I went into adult-hood

with the best teeth possible.  Unfortunately with age,

the brittle teeth became a problem again and well,

long story short, the dentist recommended that

I bite the bullet and have them all replaced.

In the meantime, he HAD to remove my front teeth
which had become broken over the weekend
and were not 'fixable'.

I made the appointment, had the consultation

and was handed a piece of paper that said to

bring $4,000 with me to have the rest of the teeth 

taken out.  I was in shock because the dentist made

reference to the idea that 'it could all be worked out' ; )
But when I sat down to talk payments, personal payments
are not accepted...no financing available to one income
and the insurance is used completely.

Well, here I am today, missing front teeth (and a few others)

and being frustrated because I believed that this was

a procedure that would be taken care of quickly.

The unfortunate thing, is that THAT amount was JUST for the

removal of the rest of my teeth...it does not account

for the 'permanent teeth' that would need to be put in place.

When my teammate Nicole Rixon of

Sweet Stamp Shop

heard what had happened, she contacted not only

our design team, but a variety of other friends

and teammates of mine and the following was born...

There will be a benefit blog hop called 

'Operation Julie's Smile' 

that will take place Oct 7-9.  

There are a variety of
companies and design teams who will be participating 

in this hop to help raise funds for this benefit. 
So far, over $2000 in prizes have been made available 
and will be awarded for both participants 
and those who donate. 

Operation Julie's Smile 

is now asking for designers/teams who would like to 

be a part  of the benefit hop.  

If you are interested
in getting involved in this creative fundraising event, 

please contact Nicole Rixon at nicolehrixon@gmail.com   

The deadline to be
a part of the hop is Wednesday, Sept 28th.  

Participants will be notified of the blog hop order 

between Oct 3rd-5th.
This blog hop is an opportunity to have fun, 

feature your blog and raise money for a friend in need.  

A donation button
will be made available to all who participate.

Every little bit helps and each donation that

comes in makes it possible for me to regain

a true smile...whatever your part in our

event, I thank you from the

bottom of my heart.....

Operation Julie's Smile