The Fresh Air Fund needs host families for the Summer!

Note to my readers! I am making this post beacause I believe in The Fresh Air Fund value. This is not a paid ad or anything like that. Please take some time to know this agency and its work with children. Thank you!

THE FRESH AIR FUND, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. Nearly 10,000 New York City children enjoy free Fresh Air Fund programs annually. In 2008, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada. 3,000 children also attended five Fresh Air camps on a 2,300-acre site in Fishkill, New York. The Fund’s year-round camping program serves an additional 2,000 young people each year.

In 2009, The Fresh Air Fund's Volunteer Host Family program, called Friendly Town, gave close to 5,000 New York City boys and girls, ages six to 18, free summer experiences in the country and the suburbs. Volunteer host families shared their friendship and homes up to two weeks or more in 13 Northeastern states from Virginia to Maine and Canada.The Fresh Air Fund relies on donations to provide memorable summers to NYC children.The Fresh Air Fund needs hosts for the summer of 2010.More than 65% of all Fresh Air children are reinvited to stay with their host family, year after year.
Thanks to host families who open up their homes for a few weeks each summer, children growing up in New York City’s toughest neighborhoods have experienced the joys of Fresh Air experiences.Fresh Air Fund Host Families
"It is rewarding to see the smile on our Fresh Air child's face as she enjoys the simple things we take for granted..."Friendly Town host families are volunteers who live in the suburbs or small town communities. Host families range in size, ethnicity and background, but share the desire to open their hearts and homes to give city children an experience they will never forget. Hosts say the Fresh Air experience is as enriching for their own families, as it is for the inner-city children. There are no financial requirements for hosting a child. Volunteers may request the age-group and gender of the Fresh Air youngster they would like to host. Stories about real Fresh Air host families and their New York City visitors are just a click away!
Click here to learn more about becoming a host or call (800) 367-0003!

Multiple pages on Blogger!

Just discovered that Blogger allows multiple pages! That's a cool feature!This must be quite recent!

100 St.Valentine's Postcards lens

As you all might know by now I am terribly fond of postcards. First I wanted to create a lens about Valentine's gifts. But I found several covering it already. So I stick to beloved postcards. I never imagine that I woul pick so many- I managed to gather 100 cute postcards. It took me like hours to browse all those Zazzle galleries.

You can acess my Squidoo Lens here:

http://www.squidoo.com/Pick_up_a_Valentine_card

And there's this cute initative going on!

Add some words to the longest love letter in the world!

Celebrate Valentine's Day 2010 in an unique way - join in creating the longest online Love Letter. For every post organization will donate 20 cts to your local NGO partners.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Worlds-Longest-Love-Letter-by-Zankyou/298212375361

Will you be my Valentine?

In the III century AD, the Roman Emperor Claudius II had decreed null and void and prohibited marriages, because without family men would be easier to recruit for the fronts of war. Valentinus violates the unjust imperial decree performing marriages in secret. Discovering its audacity, he is arrested, tortured and sentenced to death for violating the law. In prison he gets messages of encouragement and flowers from people who believed in love. The daughter of his jailer, blind from birth, visited him frequently during his captivity, bringing him food. Valentine describes the world to her and speaks of God. One day a light illuminates the jail. She bursts into tears because a miracle had happened - she regained vision! With the miracle her entire family converted to Christianity. On the eve of death, Valentinus wrote a last letter to the girl, whom he had fallen in love, asking her not to part from God and signed "From your Valentine".
From this legend, and over time, the tradition of exchanging postcards between lovers settled in customs. In the Middle Ages in France and England, Valentine has become one of the most important saints. On time of the martyr's death, 14 February, young people sewed the sleeves a paper heart with the name of their partner. They would keep it for one week. Hence the expression to wear one's heart on the sleeve that was synonymous that the person was in love. In the fifteenth century, Charles, the young Duke of Orleans, was among the first to use the concept of Valentine's cards. Imprisoned in the Tower of London after the battle of Agincourt in 1415, he sent on that date poems and love notes to his wife, who was in France. Throughout the seventeenth century it was customary for lovers to write poems on small cards to sent to people they were in love with. From 1840, in Victorian England, Valentines messages began to appear on cards decorated with ribbons and tissue paper. Phrases and poems used then still remain in vogue. Even today there are many passionate people exchanging cards and flowers or making a romantic dinner on the anniversary of the death of the martyr.

A big heart full of Love by aportugueselove
See other Valentine Magnets

A great surprise!

Besides A portuguese love store I have another store at Zazzle. It's called Papelustro. Last week I got an email about it. A Zazzler made a feature about Papelustro in his blog called Surreality Watch. He was too kind, really. He wrote these amazing words about my postcard SOFA DOG:

ADOPT A RESCUED DOG! by papelustro
View more Dogs Postcards

"What a postcard! This design amazes me. It manages to be surreal, humorous, tender and gorgeous at the same time. Seems based in the finest tradition of graphic design (some '40s and '50s styles come to mind) and I do wish you have friends who will appreciate receiving such a work of art.The artist is Belinha Fernandes from Portugal, her store is named Papelustro and everyone crazy enough to follow this blog will be more than happy to go there and take a look!"

Thank you so much!:))
Visit his store, here!

My sales

Yes, no matter what people say, we sell products at Zazzle. In the begining I thought it would be very difficult and that I would not stand a chance as I saw so many great products in stores. But a few months after I discovered that all we need is to believe in what we are doing and keep it going with passion.If you love what you do don't give up. Soon you'll be surprised! Lovely people bought these The Portuguese love products:

Happy New Year 2010 by aportugueselove
Browse other Portuguese Cards

Flu party! by aportugueselove
Shop all buttons at zazzle

A portuguese love by aportugueselove
Shop for a different card online at zazzle

Some new lines at last!

It has been a while since my last blog update. In fact it has been a while now since I updated my Zazzle store. I made several products for Christmas season and New Year and then I took a little break to re-think the store and my new year's direction. Time went by quickly as several projects needed my full attention. So the store remained abandoned and all my new ideas in the drawer!Then I got the flu and for the past two weeks I did almost nothing. Now another project is coming my way and soon it will make me move to another city. This is going to be quite a dream come true and I could not be more happier. So I guess it will be difficult to go back to my early Zazzle start days when I kept upadating several times per week and keeping in touch with great artists! But I will not give up as I found it truly rewarding. Every sale makes me quite happy. It's quite a joyfull feeling to know that my designs are outhere in United Kingdom, Australia,Canada or USA. I would like to send a big thank to my buyers for their preference.