"Circle of Ten"

As you may know, over the past few months I have mentioned that I was working on a "very special and super secret project".  Well, today is the day that I can finally reveal what I've been working on and who is being celebrated!!

I was fortunate to be approached by PTA friend and Vice President of Development, Cindy Eller, from the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation about partnering with them to create "ten keepsakes" that would be presented to ten very special and generous people. This is when I first was first introduced to Roswell's "Circle of Ten" campaign.

The "Circle of Ten" represents ten very generous donor families who have donated $1M to Roswell Park to help support efforts to build a $40M Clinical Services Center here in Buffalo.  There are some very notable families on this exclusive list, including Mr. Ralph Wilson Jr, owner of the Buffalo Bills.

So, to say that I was overwhelmed and honored to create such a special piece is an understatement!!  The Circle of Ten honorees all received their keepsake this afternoon at a special ceremony at Roswell, which is why I can share it with you now!

I'm sure you are curious to see what the heck I've been working on...and so am I!! I can show you all the different stages and creative changes that my project went through...but even **I** haven't see the "final" framed pieces as they just got that today and even I haven't see it....but I heard it's getting lots of ooohs and aaaah's! 

It all started here....

This is the Stampin' Up! Strength & Hope stamp set that literally was released the week that I was asked to work on this project...talk about timing!!  Stampin' Up not only is offering this set to offer strength and hope to those dealing with cancer, but they are also donating $2.00 from each purchase to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation! You can see more info about that HERE.

This set was perfect in every way in celebrating what the Circle of Ten has brought to Roswell Park.  The stamp with all the words says "courage, hope, believe, unity, survivor, caring, together, love kindness, support, strength, blessed and finally thank you".  So appropriate!!

When I first met with Cindy, her vision was simple...the word "hope" with the names of the donors in a circle around it.  Here was my very first stab at that vision....

(notice I didn't even have enough HodgePodge Hardware at that time! haha)

I realized pretty quickly that the Keepsake would become a 12X12 scrapbook page that could be framed.  They were specifically looking for something unique, more homespun/handmade as opposed to a "corporate look & feel".  I think at this stage, the one thing that I KNEW was that the Hodgepodge Hardware was going to the be key to this piece!

So, back to the Roswell Board it went and someone came up with the FABULOUS idea of adding a rendering of the new Clinical Services Center to the look..

(Off comes the flower...on comes the building image!)

Bingo!!  Having the rendering of the building in the middle gave me the opportunity to stamp the fabulous words all around the outside of the circle in Crumb Cake Ink with a couple of Baja Breeze ones added for more color!  What I also loved about this project is that I was able to work the the graphics department at Roswell.  I was able to give them the color codes for all the fantastic Stampin' Up! colors so that Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake & Baja Breeze were all represented in the printed images on the Keepsake as well.  As with everything Stampin' Up!....Perfect Coordination!

You may also notice that I was also able to work in their logo in the bottom right corner just by doing some creative cutting. The Decorative Label Punch also worked PERFECTLY!

Just a few more tweaks and then on to finding the frame...

(Getting closer...now have to start thinking about framing!)

I loved the dark wood of this frame...I think it really make the Keepsake have that "homey" feel.  But alas a very generous framing company offered to CUSTOM FRAME all the Keepsakes as a donation...so my dark frame went away.  But that's okay, because I hear the new one looks AWESOME!

So, off comes the frame and a few more tweaks.....and....Drum Roll Please....

Here it is!! The final version!

Here's the nitty gritty details, if you're interested:

The main page is 12 X12 Very Vanilla Textured Cardstock, layered over the building rendering on smooth Very Vanilla.  The edges of the circle was gently rolled back and then stamped with the sentiment stamp from the Strength & Hope set in Crumb Cake & a Baja Breeze here and there....that was ALOT of stamping and ALOT of trying to be as straight and "perfect" as possible!  All the names are displayed around the circle were printed on Very Vanilla Cardstock and then stamped off with the heart and flourish stamp from the set.  I punched them all out with the designer label punch and then carefully adhered them inside all the matching Hodgepodge hardware matching piece in the silver finish.  LOVE IT!  The header strip is V. Vanilla on top of Chocolate Chip textured cardstock and then stamped with the "H" Hope stamp (I REALLY wanted to get the work Hope in there somewhere as per our original vision!)  The bottom strip is also printed on V. Vanilla cardstock and finished off with another HodgePodge brad and then the logo piece using the Decorative Label Punch and some Smooch Spritz!!

As I mentioned, I created 10 of these (well, actually 13 for additional family members, the President of Roswell & Cindy, of course!) so I had to keep all the parts and pieces as organized as possible during this project...turns out a muffin tin works just fine for keeping all my names at hand...

So, that is it!  I am happy and thankful that it's complete...I am anxious to see it after it's been custom framed (I'll share it with you as soon as I see it!).  What a fabulous opportunity....

So, do you think Ralph Wilson has this hanging in his office tonight??  Maybe not, but it makes me happy just to think that it MIGHT be...

I've been asked to create another Keepsake for a Breast Cancer event/project coming up.  We'll see what the future brings!!

Thanks for sharing this special & exciting day with me!

If you would like to learn more about the Roswell Park Circle of Ten, Click HERE.