Relay For Life 2014

Our Relay was at the end of June this year and while I'm relieved the festivities are over (due to the amount of preparation and work involved) I'm also sad because I thoroughly enjoy it.

We had some new team members this year so I spent the whole of one evening painting more team shirts using the freezer paper stencil method.  I think I ended up finishing about 15 shirts including a onesie for our youngest relayer.

We stepped it up this year with games at our campsite.  One of them was the fishbowl game.  A classic carnival game we all love to play but our parents dread because it comes with the possibility of owning a goldfish.  We didn't want to buy a bunch of goldfish, nor do we as parents want to put that on other parents so the solution was Swedish Fish and Goldfish crackers for our younger relayers as prizes.

 

I created a cute little tag for each of the prize baggies that said "Thank you for supporting Betty's Hope" so people would know where they won their prize and who we were.  I created them in Picmonkey and they were super easy and I think, a great little added touch.

Here are the games we had at our campsite, the fishbowl game and the Cancer Sucks game which was like a lollipop tree but in a flower pot instead.  We had a small bucket of trinkets if you picked a lollipop with a black tip you won a prize.  If you picked one without you still got to keep your lollipop.

We also had homemade cookies and a fleece blanket raffle.  For a few of the team members I busted out the good ol' Cricut and made team cups.  I purchased the clear tumblers from the Dollar Tree and used my breast cancer awareness cartridge to create the image and the calligraphy cartridge for the words.

We bought the trifold boards at the Dollar Tree and I used my cricut to cut out the letters.  We were really psyched with how good they looked.  Not to mention super easy to read as you walked by our campsite.

We like to take care of our overnight and early morning walkers so I whipped up some breakfast burritos filled with egg, sausage, green pepper and cheese.  I wrapped them in plastic wrap then in foil and around 3 am they go into the crockpot on warm and are hot and ready for everyone within an hour or so.

This is the second year I've made these and everyone really loves them.  They are easy to walk and eat at the same time which is perfect for any relayer.

We are already coming up with ideas for next year's relay and I'm excited at the possibility of new team members, and more money raised.  This year we have almost hit our goal of $1500.  Last year we raised just over $1000 and the year before (our first year) we raised $500.  We are steadily increasing and that's exciting for us.

If you want information on a Relay for Life event near you go to relayforlife.org for more information.

Relay for Life 2013

Our Relay for Life event was this past weekend and we had a great time but, lessoned learned, I have to start conditioning before hand next year.  I was so unbelievably sore afterward.  The blister on my foot is proof.  I walk over 12 miles total and have the lapbeads to prove it:

The lap beads was an onsite fundraiser one of the teams did.  You paid $1, got a necklace and a bead and each lap you made you got another bead to add to it.  Each lap was 1/4mile.  So 4 laps = 1 mile.  We had an amazing team with 2 members walking over 20 miles!!!

That's freakin amazing in my book.

My Mom even walked 14 miles.  We were there the full 18 hours the event lasted and I was got all of 1 1/2 hrs of sleep, my mom was the only one who lasted the entire night with no sleep whatsoever. 

We were also one of the few teams who had a walker on the track every minute of the race, so I'm super proud of our team and accomplishments this year.

 

We doubled what we raised last year and won Rookie of the Year this year!

 

I guess this means we have to step up our game for next year haha.

 

I made a banner for our campsite:

It was nothing spectacular but it went well with our pink lights and other pink ribbon decor.  My mom made pink ribbon butter cookies and put them out for donation.  There were 2 in a package and we raised over $20.  Next year we hope to do a couple different on site fundraisers and we are hoping to double our money every year!

 

I had visions of cute pictures of me and Grant in our team shirts I put so much work into.  Here is how that turned out:

Me trying to physically turn his face toward the camera, him laughing hysterically because he knows he's driving me crazy, haha.

It was a great time and I'm so proud of what we accomplished this year and so proud of our team as a whole.

 

Great job Betty's Hope!!!!

 

Now only 11 months until our next Relay....

 

 

Relay for Life Shirts (Freezer Paper Stenciling)

There hasn't been much sewing recently.  So what have I been doing you ask?

Freezer paper stenciling.

These are all the shirts I made for the Relay For Life event coming up.  Our team didn't have shirts last year and my mom and I decided this year they were a must.  We looked at having them professionally printed but not everyone on our team would be able to afford a $15 shirt on top of the registration fee and extra money needed at the relay itself.  So what was our grand idea, or rather MY grand idea? Freezer paper stenciling them......ALL OF THEM.

Word to the wise, do not volunteer yourself to freezer paper stencil 20+ shirts for any event. 

While the results were great, being the procrastinator I am, I ended up having to finish over a dozen of them the last week before the event and make a team banner to boot.  Not a smart idea.

I'm glad they are all finished and I know everyone will appreciate them, but man am I tired.

I think me and my Xacto knife need some time apart for awhile.

Relay for Life Team Shirts

I posted here about our Relay shirts I'm freezer paper stenciling and after finishing 3 (of the possible 23) I have come to realize, maybe I took on too big a task.  Our Relay is in June and I'm guessing as to whether or not I'm going to be able to get them all done. 

I will say I love freezer paper stencils and already have a design made for my son's zoo shirt this year (cuz you know you have to have a special themed shirt to go to the zoo).  However I wasn't aware that I would not be able to reuse the stencils.  For whatever stupid reason I thought I could just peel and restick the design as many times as I desired.  I have found after 2 shirts the stencil needs pitched because the stickiness of the small pieces no longer works.  So that means I have to make about 12 stencils, x-acto knife them, paint them, heat bond them, and wash them.

There are loads of tutorials and tips on various websites, just do a google search and you will find dozens.  In case you don't want to go to all that trouble, I looked at this post as a reference.

the color in the pic above is a little wonky but its a really pretty pink in the right lighting.

 

 

Even though I love how they are turning out I'm thinking maybe we should have ordered some haha.

O well back to cutting and painting I go.

Relay for Life T-Shirt Prototype

Last year was the first year my family participated in our local Relay for Life and we had a great time.  So naturally this year we are starting to prepare ahead of time and decided we wanted team shirts for everyone.  The only problem is every t-shirt printing store online and where I live cost about $13 a shirt, which isn't horrible but everyone is already trying to put as much money as they can towards the Relay so we couldn't really justify the extra cost. 

Of course the crafter in me wanted to find a way for us to make them ourselves without looking like 5 year olds made them.  I started looking for possibilities and came across freezer paper stenciling.  This is nothing new by any means but I had never attempted it.  For whatever reason I figured it couldn't be as easy as everyone said, but holy moly it is!

I printed our team name and an image we liked, traced it onto freezer paper, cut it with an exacto knife, ironed it to a dingy white shirt (to see if it worked, no sense wasting a good one if i ruined it) and painted.

Here is how it came out:

 

And a close up:

 

 

Our team shirts are going to be pink in honor of breast cancer since that's what my mom and aunts have battled, and BEAT!  The cancer ribbon with wings as well as the team name is in honor of my dear grandmother who passed away about 5 years ago with lung cancer.  I'm so excited for everyone to be walking with our shirts and can't wait for the Relay.  I will have more posts about our campsite decorations we are making as well as a few other details in the months to come before the day of the Relay.

And if you haven't signed up or looked into walking in the Relay for Life nearest you, DO IT!  It's a great way to give back and get involved.