I hope you will forgive me for this next post, it’s not about a new product, or a layout or a hybrid project. It’s not about photography or P365 (although there are embarrassing personal photographs!) It’s about something that means a great deal to me and I hope you will forgive me hijacking my design blog to talk about it.

You might remember just over a year ago I posted a freebie here on my blog that I had created for one of my customers, a lovely lady by the name of Beth. Beth had asked for some cancer themed doodles for the cards and journal she was working on while she underwent various anti-cancer treatments, we chatted and emailed and PM’d and these doodles were the final result:

Click here to download: Beth's Belief

(The original blog post, including a couple of Beth’s cards can be found here).

Tragically, less than 6 months later Beth lost her fight with cancer. We had kept in touch, exchanging emails and layouts, PM’s and memories and we had a lovely cyber friendship that I hold very dear. I had never met her, never even spoken to her on the phone but she touched my heart very deeply and I miss her very much.

A few months after Beth passed away, we heard the news that our next-door neighbour had also lost her battle with cancer. Tracey was a fun and bubbly character, the same age as me and her youngest son is in the same class at school as my daughter. Every day (weather permitting!) my kids play with hers, playing dodgeball over the fence.

I felt a real need to do something in memory of these two very different women from opposite sides of the Atlantic, who had both touched my life. So, I grabbed myself a suitable outfit:

(yes, that’s a tutu) and signed up for Race For Life – a women only fund-raising event in aid of Cancer Research UK. Here I am looking a bit bedraggled after the race (it rained, rather a lot):

Here are some pictures from the start:

And the finish:

And here I am in the rain with my medal and my bunches:

Sponsor me and get free doodles!

My sponsorship page is still open for donations until the end of June. If you have downloaded any of my freebies, or if the sight of me in bunches and a tutu has made you smile, then I hope you might consider making a donation, however small. And if you do, I’ll send you a GC to my store for the same amount. Just leave me a comment, or send me an email so I can get in touch.

It’s a UK page so you might want to use a currency converter if you’re outside the UK. Thank you.

For Beth and for Tracey xxxxx