Friend Movement week 1 x

So wow and congratulations to Ronnie Kroell and Elliot London for completing the first week of thier long walk from Chicago to New York City.

This is where they are in relation to New York and the rest of the USA................

This where they are close up almost 230 miles in ......................

So far they have posted several videos and loads of photographs from the road, including some rather scarey in the dark and very wet pictures in a rain storm. Not sure how they're holding up physically but they seem in pretty good emotional shape from their tweets/posts and emails.


So they started here in Chicago at a place locally called The Bean and began walking the first few miles of 921 in total.

Ronnie's jacket is zipped and Elliot is in the unzipped jacket x 

Every mile they are tying a purple ribbon in memory of someone who has been bullied and taken their own life. What has shocked me most are the gaes of the people who have died, one was as young as 12 years old. As someone who was bullied from that age, I feel grateful that I did not ever get to the stage where it made me not want to live anymore and I grieve for them and their families. Here are a few of the ribbons and names of those who have been remembered.

Courtney's ribbon

Josh's ribbon

Along the way Ronnie and Elliot have been meeting many pepole in local communities and sharing their story and have spent time in schools talking with chidlren about bullying.

There has been tragic news along the way. Another US father Joe Bell had been walking in memory of his son Jaden who had also died as a result of horrendous bullying and very sadly it was announced that he had been killed on the road this week. Not only have this family lost their son but now his father.

This video should give you an idea of there first few days too.


 


Right now Ronnie and Elliot are getting set to start their 8th day of walking so I wish them well on this day and only 29 to go, phew.

Friend Walk x

As many of my readers are aware, I am a huge supporter of ''Friend Movement'' which was begun by friend Ronnie Kroell and Elliot London to raise awareness of bullying and to encourage us to be better friends. Of course it is so much more than and this is their mission statement................

Friend Movement inspires people to prevent bullying by enabling them to be a better friend; providing entertaining and educational resources, cultivating global partnerships, and leveraging the latest social media technology.

I became involved because I was bullied as a teenager and I understand just some of the things being bullied can affect, not just at the time but into later life. It has devastating effects on young people and adults, and many individuals have taken their own lives rather than live through the experience. Ronnie and Elliot have undertaken many projects, but they are currently on the 3rd day of their latest one which finds them walking 921 miles from Chicago to New York City. They will complete their marathone walk on 10th November with a candle light vigil and by displaying purple ribbons dedicated by their supporters, of which I will be one.

This is the route they will be following and at each mile they will tie a purple ribbon, their colours, in memory of someone who was bullied. They will be visiting schools and communities on their way. The whole project is also to commemorate the life of Tyler Clementi who sadly was cyber bullied and took his own life at his college.

Elliot and Ronnie 

tying purple ribbons every mile 

Day 1 they met heavy rain and got soaked but somehow managed to complete their walk although slightly less mileage than initially planned. Day2 is still going on as I write but so far the pictures look slightly less wet so far. They should hit Westville tonight I hope.

Please join me in wishing them the best of luck on their adventure and I will be telling some more stories of theirs from the road over the next few weeks. We have never met but as so many of us in blogland know you often make amazing friends through the Internet and I am now theirs.

Break it down: week 2 x

So I have now managed to complete the second challenge set by Shimelle in her new free class.

Week 2 began with thinking about a conversation we wanted to record. Strangely, I knew exactly which one as it only recently happened. I have already shared with you the work that my friend Ronnie Kroell is undertaking in the States to try and end bullying. Well our friendship began with me making a very small donation to Friend Movement because I was bullied for 6 years as a teenager and on other occasions as an adult too. I began sending supportive tweets and emails and then before I knew it we were chatting on Facebook and talking like old acquaintances., until suddenly I felt that we had reached a point where the space between us both socially and logistically didn't matter anymore. I felt like he was my friend so I said so and miracle or miracles he agreed. So I wanted to record that fact and to remember what a special moment that was for me. Because making a new friend is one of the most perfect events you can ever experience no matter who they are or where they live.

So here is my layout:

Shimelle told us to just go get the paper we liked and go form there so I found a vintage graph paper with a little embellishment in one corner, some purple polka dots, a purple circle transparency and a page from a book. I wanted to use the purple paper as that is the primary colour of Friend Movement and I wanted to show that somehow. I simply layered up the papers first leaving room at the bottom of the main paper for the story. Next I chose the pictures, as we've never met I obviously don't have any personal photos so had to pick one he'd shared on Facebook. Ronnie just looks so happy and relaxed in this picture I thought it was perfect and the only decent recent picture of me is from Christmas so I chose that.

Shimelle also wanted us to use small stamps to highlight important elements so I chose one by Elise Cripe with a heart on arrows and then a He said she said words quote along with some heart and stars.
I also chose a small camera stamp which I coloured purple and used some purple pearls. Like my previous layout I found a great Polaroid frame which said Friendship which I used to highlight Ronnie's profile. He has such a beautiful smile hence why he is such an amazing model. I mean wouldn't you buy what he was selling?

Here are some close ups of the little elements and stamping I used. I used alot of wood veneers on this layout. I loved the speech bubbles to illustrate our conversation and the title letters are also wooden. I added some iridescent glitter to these and the heart which began as bright red and didn't fit.

For the conversation itself, I copied the Facebook chat into Word and altered the type to Travelling Typewriter then printed it onto cardstock and cut it out. Finally I found a flocked quotes which reads............

''A friend is someone who knows the song of your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words''

Beautiful