I'm so proud to work for a company that believes in giving back. By teaming up with Home Depot and community members, tomorrow we will transform a dreary space into a beautiful garden that will be shared by surrounding apartments, a school, and a senior center. Local horticulturists will also use the space for ongoing training. The best part is that even our president will be working beside us in the dirt!
We have done some major remodeling in our building, and I found a few pairs of these beautiful Gingher scissors. I also have the matching embroidery scissors. Tell me about your next sewing project, and I'll choose a couple random winners to receive new scissors for the job!
I still get lots of hits on the blog post about the castle my son made for his social studies project, and now it is two years later, so we have my daughter's version. She was quite excited to start this project in our craft room, and she was thrilled to have access to all my Fiskars tools. You probably recognize the Greek Key border punch that she used to create the decorative edge along the tops. She also used the Banners 2 Shape Template and Ultra ShapeXpress to cut out the flags she embossed with the stamp press and silver embossing powder. The whole castle is constructed out of foam core she cut to size with the craft knife and sponge painted with the gray blocks. Of course, no castle would be complete without a few squeeze punched flowers. We love projects!
Here are a few pictures from our Toronto garden. It POURED on us the whole time, but what a great experience! The community members, the city of Toronto officials, and Canadian Tire folks were all just wonderful and worked so hard. We planted several vegetables and herbs in raised beds as well as trees along the path and beautiful perennials on the side that faced the street. Canadian Tire even donated benches for the center courtyard. Truly an amazing transformation in a day!
Have you heard of Project Orange Thumb? We awarded garden grants to 20 gardeners across the country to help them with their garden projects. In addition, we select 3-5 sites across the Americas to do our own version of Extreme Home Makeover--but with a community garden instead of a house! It's awesome because we don't just give money and tools, we actually leave the office and go to the site to work along side the community members to create a spectacular transformation in a day. We'll be tweeting and facebooking from the site, so you can keep an eye on all the action Wednesday.
Walker's 14th birthday party was this weekend. We did a rock theme. The invitations were CD's, and his band performed a live poolside concert. The cake was this full size electric guitar. To make it, we traced his real guitar on freezer paper and then cut it from three 9x13 sheet cakes. I decorated it with various candies--Tic Tacs, Good n Plenty, Reeses, M&M's, Kit Kats and Dentine Ice on toothpicks. My daughter said it was like Willie Wonka's guitar. It was a big hit with the teens! Winners from the Fiskars birthday challenge are Maryanne Hoekman, Sandyh50, and Maxine Hodges. Email your shipping address (suzanne@fiskars.com) with "birthday winner" in the subject line. Gardening winners are Toni, Julie and Patti W. Please email with "gardening winner" in the subject line.
Hooray, there were fresh cut tulips from our yard on my breakfast table this morning! Mother's Day weekend is my traditional kick-off to the quest for the perfect garden--okay, so it's not really perfect, but it's filled with beautiful colors and delightful aromas. I LOVE being outside in the summer to enjoy the yard. I know lots of you use Fiskars crafting tools, but have you ever tried Fiskars garden tools? They are truly incredible and really make gardening a joy! Innovative, ergonomically-designed, and always sharp, Fiskars garden tools are the best. If you've tried them, leave a comment here and let me know which is your favorite. I'll give a gardening prize to two random posters...which reminds me...the winners of the Earth Day post are Lisa Simpson and Jennifer English. Please email suzanne@fiskars.com and put "Earth Day Winner" in the subject line. So....what were you all saying about Fiskars garden tools?
Make sure to check out our rainwater harvesting system. Better for your garden and better for the environment. http://www.rain-barrel.com/ Let me know what you think, and 1 random poster will receive a free gardening tool.
Go to NCAA.com to win a piece of sports history and help the Special Olympics!Next week the NCAA is auctioning the featured “net cutting” scissors from the winning Final Four men’s and women’s championship games. Each pair of custom orange-handled Fiskars® scissors has been autographed by the winning coaches, and the gold titanium blades are etched with the NCAA 2009 logo. The best part is that all the proceeds go to help the athletes of the Special Olympics!
Check the auction for your chance to win an incredible piece of sports history and to support the Special Olympics.
This year Fiskars is 360 years old! This picture shows lots of birthday cards we've already received from Fiskars fans around the world. I am looking for more ideas on how we can celebrate. So far, we've had ideas like 360 crops around the world, planting 360 orange flowers, sewing 360 pillows for the American Heart Association, and, of course, having a big party right here at our North American headquarters and inviting all Fiskars fans to come join us to celebrate creativity. I am going to send a special Fiskars scrapbooking bag of goodies (and you know how good my prizes are) to 3 randomly drawn posters.
And speaking of prizes, the winners from my last prize drawing are Connie Melancon, Mardi, Katie W., Cassandra and Debra Scott. Please email suzanne@fiskars.com and put "We are Family Winner" in the subject line.
If you want to learn more about our company's heritage and virtually visit the Fiskars Village in Helsinki, Finland please visit www.fiskarscinemaseries.com. It's a place of amazing creativity that makes me proud to work for Fiskars! Now start listing those celebration ideas!
