Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness Blog Hop

***There's a GIVEAWAY at the end of this post!***

Hi friends!  I hope you are well!  By the time this post goes live, I will hopefully be on a cruise to Mexico!  YAY!  Let's hope this publishes!  

Today's post is very near and dear to my heart.  My friends Veronica and Tenia have teamed up to create an amazing event for World Autism Awareness Day.  Today is the day we LIGHT IT UP BLUE!  I invite you to wear some blue today in support of Autism Awareness.  The blog hop is hosted on Veronica's post HERE.  Please go to her blog and check out all the links, become more aware, and enter to win in the HUGE amounts of AMAZING prizes!  I'm offering up a prize for the hop and TONS of great companies are offering up all sorts of amazing things!

April is Autism Awareness month.  I will be donating 10% of my Just Jewelry by Ashley commission to Autism Speaks for the entire month of April.  I will also donate 100% of the commission I make from any of the Autism Awareness jewelry on my Just Jewelry site, the BRACELET, EARRINGS, or CHARM.

My backstory:
Before I had Brady, I was a therapist for children with Autism.  I mostly worked with kids 5 and under.  I've always loved working with children.  I started babysitting from a young age.  I was at one point nanny and a preschool teacher.  But I found my real passion in working with children on the Autism spectrum.  I loved teaching them life skills, academics, social skills, and getting to be there for them!  I loved being able to make a positive difference in the lives of these children that held such a special place in my heart!  These kids are so special.  Life is hard when you cannot think, function, or process like other people.  Once you are able to understand that their behaviors come from an inability to cope, you can see people with Autism in such a different light.

To do this, society must become more aware.  I'm so proud of Veronica and Tenia for putting together this blog hop to spread awareness!  I'm so happy for the over 200 bloggers and crafters who are joining together to light the blogging world up blue!  Here's my card for today.  I might have maybe borrowed (ahem stole) some puzzle pieces from the kids to make this card.  I colored them with Copics then added TONS of Stickles.  The paper is from Echo Park and I used several different kinds of tiny alpha stickers to make the sentiment.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post!  Today, I'd like to giveaway 3 of Just Jewelry Autism Awareness Charms to 3 people who leave comments!  Just tell me how Autism has touched your life or how you heard about this hop.  Giveaway will end Friday April 10 at 11:59pm.  Winners will be announced on my blog and will need to contact me to claim their prize.

Have a great day, friends!  Don't forget to go to Veronica's Post and check out all the fabulous creations and enter for the prizes!