American Stroke Month

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Would you know if you were having a stroke? Would you recognize that someone else was having a stroke? The warning signs are:

• Sudden numbness/weakness of face, arm, or leg, especially on
  one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance/coordination
• Sudden severe headache of unknown cause

Time is critical! The longer it takes to get treatment, the more damage is done to the brain. This May—American Stroke Month—encourage awareness with attractive stroke awareness items from JamieCo Design.

Red Ribbon Zaz CP

Stroke Survivor Zaz CP

Childhood Stroke Survivor Zaz CP

Pediatric Stroke Survivor Zaz CP

Blue and Purple Ribbon Zaz CP

Click Zaz Zazzle or CP CafePress buttons to shop for these designs.

Tags: American Stroke Month, childhood stroke, pediatric stroke, stroke awareness, stroke survivor, stroke symptoms, JamieCo Design

Thanks for the sweatshirts

'Twas the day before Thanksgiving when CafePress announced five new styles of sweatshirts. Oof. They're a welcome addition, particularly with the imminent arrival of Wisconsin winter weather, but a rough calculation showed that setting up my existing designs on them would take most of the holiday weekend. It did, but I'm pleased to say that more than 1,200 new sweatshirts are now available at JamieCo Design.

Women's Zip Hoodies

Dark Hoodies

Dark Sweatshirts

Zip Hoodies

Dark Zip Hoodies

Now then. ::dusts off hands:: Back to the work of new designs.

Tags: hooded, hoodie, sweatshirt, zipper, zip-up, JamieCo Design

Survivors awareness ribbons

Survivors designs at CafePress and Zazzle

So many awareness ribbon colors are associated with more than one cause that I am adding Survivors designs to JamieCo Design at both CafePress and Zazzle. Like the ribbons themselves, surrounding text has strong clean lines without being rigid and angular.

For anyone who has been through cancer, stroke, or other potentially fatal disease, these designs mark that success, promote awareness, and encourage others by example.

Tags: awareness ribbon, cancer, remission, stroke, survivor, JamieCo Design

Awareness in October

Every few weeks, I review my awareness calendar and feature ribbons that are associated with the month's health observances. It's also a good time to identify new colors. This month I added my Blue and Yellow Ribbon to JamieCo Design at CafePress and Zazzle. In addition to the highly-publicized National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October includes the events listed below with accompanying ribbons whose simple, clean elegance is great for showing your awareness.

Blue and Pink Ribbon CafePress • Zazzle National Breast Cancer Awareness Month	Breast Cancer Month CafePress • Zazzle National Breast Cancer Awareness Month	Hot Pink Ribbon CafePress • Zazzle National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Pink Ribbon CafePress • Zazzle National Breast Cancer Awareness Month	Light Green Ribbon CafePress • Zazzle National Celiac Disease Awareness Month	Purple Ribbon CafePress • Zazzle National Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Blue and Yellow Ribbon CafePress • Zazzle National Down Syndrome Awareness Month	Yellow Ribbon CafePress • Zazzle National Spina Bifida Awareness Month	Blue and Pink Ribbon CafePress • Zazzle Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Awareness Month
Purple Ribbon CafePress • Zazzle Sarcoidosis Awareness Day (Oct 4)	Dark Blue Ribbon CafePress • Zazzle Interstitial Cystitis Awareness Day (Oct 31)

Tags: awareness ribbon, health observance, JamieCo Design

Give me something DEAD to eat

Trick or Treat Rhyme @ CafePress, Zazzle,
and Printfection

My entire Hallowe'en rhyme, presented in this design of gritty blackletter text, reads:

Trick or treat, Lift my sheet
Give me something DEAD to eat
chomp-chomp, chomp-chomp
chomp!

It tickles my mischievous side for multiple reasons.

Lift my sheet. It's a true story about identical twin boys I'll call Angel and Awful. One Hallowe'en, Awful suggested they go trick-or-treating as bedsheet ghosts. And, he continued, because no one could see under their sheets, they should go without clothes. Angel guardedly agreed and went bare, but this was one of Awful's pranks. He flipped up Angel's sheet in full view of the neighborhood; however, quick-witted Angel yelled "Angel!" at the fleeing Awful. When their parents heard about what happened, it was Awful who got in trouble for going naked. Pranks can backfire! :-P

Something DEAD to eat. This sounds icky in the context of horror movie gore and trick-or-treat swag. Actually, it just refers to my claim that I will try almost any kind of food as long as it doesn't move when I eat it. "What about jello?" our children ask. That doesn't move by itself, I answer. It's not like a block of Jello sits on your plate, sides bulging in and out as it breathes. No living food for me!

Chomp-chomp, chomp-chomp, chomp! My namesake's mother breastfed the triplets. That's all I'm prepared to say about that!

The whole trick-or-treat thang. Whether you call it guising, begging, or trick-or-treating, people have donned unusual clothes to gather handouts on the autumn equinox, October 31, November 1, and even on Thanksgiving. I just think that All Hallows' Eve is an excellent occasion for fun costumes, other wacky creativity, and harmless (I repeat, harmless) mischief. Of course, Hallowe'en at JamieCo Design would be incomplete if I failed to mention the rest of my designs. Here they are:

WarP o'Lanterns
at CafePress
and Zazzle

Groan of Ghosts
at CafePress
and Zazzle

Get yer 'ween on, Punkin!
at CafePress and Zazzle

Stone Ground
at CafePress
and Zazzle

Tags: All Hallows' Eve, Hallowe'en, holiday, humor, trick or treat, JamieCo Design

About JamieCo Design at Zazzle

Square magnets and buttons at Zazzle

Hot Pink Ribbon

Wilde About Fashion

I'm still merrily adding my designs to JamieCo Design at Zazzle. I have pretty much worked out the way I like to name products and set them up, so this seems a good time to describe some of the gallery's ins and outs.

• Buttons and magnets. On the product page for each magnet and button, you can choose the shape (round or square) and size you want. Not all designs look their best on both shapes, however, so I give them helpful names. For example:
  • Wilde About Fashion Square Magnet looks better on the square shape, while Wilde About Fashion Round Magnet is better on the round one, but the choice is always yours.
  • Red Awareness Ribbon Button looks fine on both shapes, so the product name does not include "Round" or "Square." You choose!
• Designs assembled from multiple images. My Hot Pink Awareness Ribbon Mousepad (shown at right) makes a new design from two separate images. If you're looking for a new combination of my designs (for example, colors of awareness ribbons) use the "Send Message" link in the left column of the JamieCo Design gallery to tell me!
• Your favorite background colors. Colors I find appealing may not appeal to you, so where it makes sense to me, I set up products so you can set the background color yourself. Here again, I try to give helpful indications, such as:
  • Designs with a variety of solid background colors, as in my Wilde About Fashion product line. You can use the colors I set, or not, as you wish.
  • Product descriptions that end "Choose your favorite background color and be part of the art."

Tags: JamieCo Design, Jamie McCanless, Zazzle

Coming Out Day is coming up

NCOD 2008 (Black) by Jamie McCanless at Loxly Gallery NCOD 2008 (White) by Jamie McCanless at Loxly Gallery

I introduced my dreamy coming out design, NCOD 2007, for National Coming Out Day last year. (I really did design it in my sleep.)

Now I've made the date 2008 and added all of my coming out designs to the JamieCo Design gallery at Zazzle. (Check out the NCOD 2008 square buttons and magnets!)

My latest news, though, is that two poster versions of NCOD 2008 mark the debut of my designs at Loxly Gallery. I'll be putting more of my work up there soon!

I believe every National Coming Out Day is a crucial opportunity to show support, take stock, and improve awareness and visibility. Still, I've been "out" for decades and, living where I do, orientation is typically a non­issue in my daily life. So, last night I asked some of our family for their thoughts about National Coming Out Day.

• N, 14, says that after coming out, he feels better knowing who he is because he wants to be his honest self. NCOD reminds people, both LGBT and straight, that resources and support are available, that they're not alone in struggling with coming out. Not everyone has Internet access to Google "coming out" (he didn't).

• PPK, 10, thinks he isn't straight. "I love it! It's fabulous!" It's an opportunity to find a new group of people and say "This is me and I'm fabulous… at least this once a year, if not more often. His Pride chant is "We're gay. Okay, get over it!"

• W, 10, thinks he's not gay. It's a good thing because everybody needs to be reminded that everybody is here for a reason, and whoever you are, it's okay.

• KG, 38, my partner, came out without support, without knowing about LGBT resources. "It's sadly necessary because we're not to the point where it's just okay to be who we are, and it's helpful (for all of N's reasons above).

National Coming Out Day is October 11. On that date in 1987, the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights drew hundreds of thousands of people. As a result, a national celebration of coming out was established on the anniversary of the march. Today, the Human Rights Campaign promotes honesty and openness about being gay, lesbian, bi, or trans in its National Coming Out Project, culminating every October 11 in National Coming Out Day. We are far closer to equality than the half million marchers were then. Our visibility is a big part of that change.

Whether coming out to yourself or to others as gay, queer, lesbian, bi, trans, or even as a straight ally, it's a victory worth celebrating and commemorating. Visit hrc.org for information about coming out, including coming out as a straight ally.

Tags: 2008, bisexual, coming out, gay, GLBT, homosexual, HRC, lesbian, LGBT, National Coming Out Day, pride, queer, straight ally, transgender, transsexual, typography, Jamie McCanless