We are so lucky to have Suzi Blu as a part of the Charity Wings family. She helps with make and takes at Scrapbook Expo and is always willing to share her artistic talents with Charity Wings.
Today we are sharing a recent post that Suzi did for Crescendoh.
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It’s Saturday morning at the Boys and Girls Club of San Marcos, California, and I am at a table in a large conference room setting up canvases, watercolor pencils, brushes, and rubber Suzi Stamps from Unity Stamp Co. Behind me are table after table of art supplies, decorative papers, rhinestones in buckets, and women ready to play. Today is about making art, but not just for our own amusement — we are also raising money for charity.
[char-i-tee]
–noun, plural -ties.
1. generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless.
Charity & Creativity
We haven’t heard that word too much this year, eh? Charity. Things are bad: house foreclosures, a steadily increasing unemployment rate. Many of us think maybe it’s we who deserve a bit of charity, that there’s no way we “have it made” enough and are secure. We certainly don’t have enough to give others without taking away from ourselves. Right?
But think for a moment. Do you think you are worse off than most people? If you are reading this on crescendoh.com more than likely you are a mixed-media artist and I believe we are an abundant bunch. We see the beauty and usefulness in nearly everything: discarded Styrofoam plates become excellent stamps, broken jewelry stitched onto leather transforms into a bracelet, cracked china emerges as chips for the garden. As long as we have creativity, we artists have very much.
Having creativity means you have creativity to give. What? You don’t have a degree? Haven’t written a book? Who are you to teach anyone anything creative? Listen, just a little bit of knowledge is magical to someone who knows nothing. Remember the saying I heard at an AA meaning and apply in my own life, “In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.” Whatever you know about helps someone who knows nothing. And in giving your knowledge, whatever that may be — how to crochet a baby hat, how to make a glittery mini scrapbook, or how to draw a pretty face — both the art teacher and the student can use their time together to help someone in need.
Charity Wings
This is what Charity Wings is all about. Starting in 2005, Elena Lai Etcheverry, founder of Charity Wings, has planned unique events that combine camaraderie, food, art classes, and goodie bags filled with products from brands like Wescott and Faber Castell to raise money for other non profits, like The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The American Heart Association, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. To date, Charity Wings has raised $347,665.41 for noble causes.
Your interest in art, however small, can literally save others. Pick a charity that means something to you and either teach, or find a teacher you want to learn from, and that is how easy it is. Can you imagine if charity events like this went on every day, however small? Last summer I taught an art journal class and gave all the money to Holly’s Garden Rescue, where my shih tsu Finnegan came from. I raised $500.00. Maybe that one afternoon didn’t save the world, but it was a huge help to the dogs at the rescue at the time. And it made me feel amazing to do it. Yes, I need 500.00 too, lol, but one day is not going to make me starve. I saw firsthand where the money went to and I felt I made a difference.
If you want abundance in your life you must act abundantly, LIVE A BIG LIFE! Tell the universe, “I have so much in my cup it’s literally flowing over. Let me let someone else have some too. Then we both can be happy.”
Charity Wings is a resource for artists and crafters that want to give!
Contact them if you would like to raise money for a noble cause. They will help you at charitywings.org.
To learn more about Suzi Blu, visit suziblu.typepad.com.
