Hi friends,

Today I want to tell you about someone I work with who is crafting for a cause. Annette Waurick is the Art Director of Canadian Living's sister publication Homemakers. This November, Annette is going to travel to Paraguay to take part in a Habitat for Humanity building project.

Photo from habitat.ca.

In her own words:

I've been thinking about volunteer work for a while, how could I give something back, and help people that are not as fortunate as I am. I looked into different organizations and decided on Habitat, since I firmly support what they do and what they stand for.

I'll be going to Paraguay in November for two weeks, in order to help build a home for a single local family in need. It'll be a hands-on project, working on a building site with local materials and tools. The trip is financed by me in addition to a donation of $650, which brings my total cost to about $3500.

Habitat for Humanity Canada is a national, non-profit, faith-based organization working for a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live. The mission of the organization is to mobilize volunteers and community partners in building affordable housing and promoting homeownership as a means to breaking the cycle of poverty. Habitat for Humanity Canada was founded in 1985, consists of over 35,000 volunteers and 72 affiliate organizations from coast to coast, and is a member of Habitat for Humanity International which spans 93 countries, has built over 225,000 homes, and is now building a new home every 21 minutes.

As she says above, part of Annette's commitment to the trip is financial. To help finance her efforts, Annette is turning to something she knows well – jewelry-making.

Annette has been making her stylish jewelry for some time now, and in our office we all look forward to her pre-Christmas jewelry sales (it's so nice to be able to find great gifts without even having to leave the building!). For the next two months, Annette will be hosting a special bracelet sale at her Etsy shop, Modern Jewels, with all proceeds from sales of her bracelets going to support her upcoming volunteer trip. She's done an incredible job of fund-raising so far, having made $1100 in jewelry sales and another $895 from her online donations page, and now she's into the final push.

I know that times are tight for many of us right now, so please don't feel pressured to contribute. But if you have been looking for a lovely gift to give someone, or even yourself, and you'd like to help others while you're at it, I hope you'll consider supporting this community-minded crafter.

*Are you crafting for a cause? Tell me about your project, and how people in the Make+Do community could help, and I might feature you on Make+Do.

Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway!

Good morning friends,

I just had to share a photo of these stitch markers with you. I'm the first to admit that when it comes to knitting equipment, I'm a bit of a cheapskate. For the longest time, I refused to buy stitch markers – why pay for some ugly plastic ring when safety pins and scraps of yarn are free?

Of course, stitch markers have come a long way from the cheap pink and blue hoops that were available when I started knitting 20 years ago. When I visited my sister, Whitney, in Halifax, I saw some of the work that her housemate, Tamara, was doing with felted wool, and that's when the penny dropped. Felted wool stitch markers – how cool would that be? I pitched the idea to Tamara and she graciously accepted the challenge.

Whitney brought the finished markers to me a week ago (that's them up there) and I'm really pleased. I can't wait to start a new project so that I can put them to good use. Thanks, Tamara!

(See some of Tamara's other work in her Etsy shop, GreyLeaf Fibre Arts.)