Fight Like a Girl--MFT Idol Contest, Top Four

[Please don't forget to vote for your favorite Idol contestant (hopefully me!) from 10pm EDT tonight, May 5th until 10pm EDT tomorrow night May6th! You'll find the poll here.]

I can't tell you how happy I am to have made it this far in the MFT Idol Contest! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would be where I am now! But here I am, and here we are, down to four contestants. Many thanks to *everyone* who has voted for me! I hope you'll see a project today that will inspire you to vote for me again this time. And, I have to warn you, this is a long post but I hope you'll at least look at all the pictures ;-)

The challenge this week is: Inspirational Women. And we have to use pink and brown.

OK, my (and many others', I expect) first thought was mothers. After all, who else inspires people more than their mother--and Mother's Day is right around the corner. Then I thought of teachers. Definitely inspirational, but I've done teachers for this contest. Inspirational women come from all walks of life, all socio-economic groups, and all professions and jobs. But I didn't choose any of them. I decided to honor breast cancer victims and survivors. ALL women can relate to these brave women who inspire us every day with their strength, and their hope, and their determination despite their fear--and in doing so, become our heroes. So, this is for them: Fight Like a Girl!

I decided to do a sort of survival kit for someone just recovering from mastectomy and/or receiving chemotherapy. We've all heard about or known someone in this situation and for the most part they don't feel well--especially if they're undergoing chemotherapy, so I've tried to focus on comfort. "Fight like a girl" is a slogan used by a local Relay For Life team. I fell in love with it the minute I saw it and adopted it for my project. I think it speaks volumes about the fight against breast cancer. I got one of their t-shirts and had a pink baseball cap embroidered with the slogan to match to add to this kit. I'm told these items, especially the cap, would be very much appreciated.

I'm going to spare you all the details for this project, LOL. It's a lot and I know you don't want to read all that. Suffice it to say that if the recipe below and the pictures don't answer your questions, you can feel free to email me and I'll gladly try to help you. What I'm going to do is just give you a summary of each item. What started as a few items quickly grew to what you see--I kept getting ideas and, well, you know the rest ;-)

The colors that we were required to use are perfect for this project. Pink, of course, is synonymous with breast cancer awareness and is very feminine, and brown compliments pink so well. I'm using Chocolate Chip and Pretty In Pink card stock along with the new paper from MFT--Chocolate Kiss by Stephanie Fizer. It's so rich and yummy and will be available after the release party tomorrow night--so I guess this is a sneak peek! I've used several MFT stamp sets for this project: Think Pink, Hot Stuff, Essential Sentiments, and Chamomile and Peppermint by Annie LaPointe. And lots of pink ribbon. Everthing is stamped on Gina K Pure Luxury 80lb card stock with Memento Rich Cocoa ink and colored with Copic markers (see below for specific colors).

I was lucky enough to find a decorated hat box to use as the container--complete with the challenge colors! It can be used on it's own after the contents are used up, since this box will be donated to my local breast cancer center to either be auctioned off as a fund-raiser or donated to someone in need, at their discretion. With a coupon at a local craft store, the price was right!

Sitting beside the box is a card to be given with the gift box. I think it's pretty self-explanatory. I'll point out that I paper pieced the striped skirt and made the little pink ribbon charm. I looked all over town for a metal charm but none could be found! So I stamped them out, put some shimmer on them with a Sakura glitter pen, cut them out, and added a jump ring so I could tie them on with Pearle cotton.

In addition to the t-shirt and cap, I've included in the box (in the order of the pictures) a journal with matching pen to plan, wish and dream--or simply to write down feelings. I covered a journal with paper and decorated/embellished it to more or less match the card. The pen has matching paper in the barrel, and there's a loop under the bow to hold the pen.

In the next picture you see a pocket calendar/address book to help keep track of appointments and doctors' numbers and addresses, and a bookmark in a copy of Chicken Soup for the Breast Cancer Survivor's Soul. My inspiration for the bookmark came from Amy Sheffer--check out the gorgeous one she made here.

Next up you'll see peppermints for the dry mouth and the nausea that sometimes accompany treatments, naturally made lip balm for dry lips, warm socks for cold feet, and a pocket size package of facial tissue (which will undoubtedly be needed at times).

In the next picture you'll see chamomile tea for relaxation and a mug to make it in. I didn't have a template for this box, so I just used the tea box and made my own. A little trial and error, but eventually I got it right.

And finally, a set of thank you cards--a set of four, each with different DP and with a little DP decorating the inside. Envelopes are stamped with Forever stamps and have a crimped sheet of card stock inside to pad the embellishments. I really wanted to layer and embellish these cards up, but I didn't want to cause the recipient to have to add postage so I controlled myself, LOL. I did add ribbon and a pink rhinestone from the MFT May adornment pack and did a little paper piercing to dress them up.

Thanks for dropping in today! I always appreciate it when you do. And please don't forget to vote (hopefully for me!) tonight (Tuesday, May 5), starting at 10 PM running until tomorrow night (Wednesday, May 6) at 10 PM here at the MFT Forum. Be sure to drop by the release party on the forum and see all the great new stuff, too!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Think Pink, Hot Stuff, Essential Sentiments, Chamomile and Peppermint by Annie LaPointe (MFT)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pretty In Pink, Whisper White (SU!); Chocolate Kiss (MFT)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities dies; 3M foam squares, ribbon, jump rings, Pearle cotton (craft store); Copic markers; Prima flowers; Build a brad (DU!); Dew Drops; Chocolate Kiss Adornments (MFT); buttons (stash); Sakura glitter pen