Grieve Out Loud

Now accepting participants for OCTOBER!

If you have a milestone (birthday, due date, miscarriage, etc) that falls inside the month of October, you should consider signing up! Here is how the Monthly Milestone Exchange works:

–  If you are interested in participating you must fill out this form. PLEASE only sign up if your milestone falls inside the month of OCTOBER (we will be posting new forms for each month). Please utilize the “Special Instructions/Free Space” area for information regarding your specific milestone.

– Serious participants only! This is a get a gift, give a gift exchange.

– Cut off date for this exchange: September 23rd.

– You will be randomly partnered and contacted by the e-mail address you supply. You have 72 hours to reply to our viewing. If we don’t hear from you, you will automatically be removed from the exchange.

– You are responsible for getting in touch with your partner and mailing their gift. Please contact your partner if there will be a delay in shipping. It is better to say something, then nothing at all. Have your package postmarked 5-7 days BEFORE the milestone.

– We highly encourage this to be a handmade card/gift exchange. The more personalized the gift, the better. Create a keepsake for life. Please keep gifts/supplies between $10-20.

– Have fun and be creative! This shouldn’t be a stressful project. If the thought of creating something is stressful please don’t sign up.

Any questions, feel free to contact us at

Our Monthly Milestone Exchange is headed into its fourth month and we thought it would be nice to share some of the handmade goodies our participants have made (and maybe give our new participants some inspiration!)

Our SEPTEMBER Exchange is now open and we invite all of you who are anticipating a milestone in September to jump right in and sign-up. All entries due in by August 25th.

Thanks to all who put their hearts into creating these unique and extremely personal pieces. May they always remind us of the good times.

Now accepting participants for AUGUST!

If you have a milestone (birthday, due date, miscarriage, etc) that falls inside the month of August, you should consider signing up! Here is how the Monthly Milestone Exchange works:

–  If you are interested in participating you must fill out this form. PLEASE only sign up if your milestone falls inside the month of AUGUST (we will be posting new forms for each month). Please utilize the “Special Instructions/Free Space” area for information regarding your specific milestone.

– Serious participants only! This is a get a gift, give a gift exchange.

– Cut off date for this exchange: July 21st.

– You will be randomly partnered and contacted by the e-mail address you supply. You have 72 hours to reply to our e-mail. If we don’t hear from you, you will automatically be removed from the exchange.

– You are responsible for getting in touch with your partner and mailing their gift. Please contact your partner if there will be a delay in shipping. It is better to say something, then nothing at all. Have your package postmarked 5-7 days BEFORE the milestone.

– We highly encourage this to be a handmade card/gift exchange. The more personalized the gift, the better. Create a keepsake for life. Please keep gifts/supplies between $5-20.

– Have fun and be creative! This shouldn’t be a stressful project. If the thought of creating something is stressful please don’t sign up.

Any questions, feel free to contact us at

January 2012 marks the two year anniversary of Grieve Out Loud.

I can remember our premier like it was yesterday. We weren’t entirely sure how people would find us, or if this would even “work out” — but we felt such a need and deep desire to help others who have experienced the kind of losses we had. We put together an elaborate resource page and created a unique Pen-Pal Program that has become an entire project all of its own.

We’re humbled by the families we have helped throughout the years.
Helping has always been our mission.

Today, on our two year anniversary, we are asking for your help.

We are asking you to please consider a donation to keep our website live. For the past two years our domain space has been graciously donated to us. We will lose our site come January 31, 2012 if we do not find a new provider.

If you would like to see us stick around and continue to help families, please consider a donation today.

Donations can be made through PayPal or mail (address available upon request).

As the new year approaches, it always amazes me how little control we have over time. We go from living minute-to-minute, to day-to-day,  week-to-week, month-to-month — until we are face-to-face with a new year.

It’s okay to let go now.

Don’t be afraid to let go.
Let go of the past.
And the future.
Because we don’t need a map to find it.
We don’t control it,
we carry it forever.

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Happy New Year’s from all of us at Grieve Out Loud.

Image by J. Granelli

The year we lost our son I participated in a handmade gift exchange hosted by Mother Henna. It truly helped us get through our very first Christmas after our loss. It was such an inspiration. This year we have teamed up with Faces of Loss to create the 2011 Handmade Holiday Gift Exchange!

The call for participants is NOW OPEN! If you are interested in joining please leave a comment including your name and either your blog url or e-mail address. The cut-off date for all participants will be November 13th! November 14th we will post the partners list so make sure to check back then.

Here are the guidelines:

– This exchange is open to everyone from anywhere. You might end up with an overseas partner. Keep that in mind when shipping.

– Please have your package(s) post marked by December 15th. If you miss the date please contact your partner and let them know when to expect it.

– You will be contacting your partner for their mailing address. This will be a great opportunity to ask them about their loss and how you might incorporate them into your project.

Here are some tips & tricks:

– Don’t be afraid to ask your partner questions. The more you know about them, the more ideas you will have. Research things like birthstones or zodiac signs. Find out what their favorite color is. Your gift should be from your heart to theirs. Anything is possible.

– You can create using any type of medium you feel comfortable with, so long as it is handmade! Some examples include: baked goods, drawings, paintings, ornaments, jewelry, picture frames, fiber art and knits, photography, wall art, candles, music, cards, or tags. Think etsy.com!

– Make sure to snap photos of your work-in-progress and the finished piece(s). We would like to do a photo collage of some of the projects you created.

– If you have any questions feel free to !

To help spread the word please share this graphic on your blog or website.

We look forward to seeing what you create!

ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED!

Saturday, October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Everyone is invited to light a candle at 7 p.m. in ALL time zones, all over the world! Snap a picture and share who the candle is burning for.

In the past years many of you have submitted some amazing photos. I would like to keep the tradition going. If you aren’t already, please add us to your FB Page. When you have posted your pictures of your candles, tag us in the photo. In the next few days I will make us a photo collage of all the candles as a keepsake. Also looking for high-res pictures from your memorial activities that are going around in your city. These photos will be used to bring awareness on how important October 15th is and to show in picture how we find ways to remember our children. If you are not on FB please feel free to e-mail us your photos at

Looking forward to hearing about everyone’s activities on the 15th. Every year more opportunities seem to pop up. Let us keep the awareness out there and remember our children in style!

(Photo from: Sweet Peat Project)

Today is the last day of my 30 days of muchness challenge. Want to take a moment to look back and share some of my experiences with you.

Day 1 was probably the hardest day of my entire challenge. There was a family baby shower happening over Labor Day weekend and I knew I wanted to create something unique for baby H.

It was my first creative project (and baby shower) since my own son died and just the idea of creating something for another baby (boy) had me in limbo. Found some woodblocks at the resale shop a few days prior and with a little burst of creativity I decided to create some nursery artwork. With the help of some black acrylic paint, a sharpie, a ruler and spray adhesive I began digging into my fabric stash and pulling out some of my favorite swatches.

By day 3 my present was complete with an added bonus of swatches used in my son’s nursery. Now a little piece of my son will be shared with their new family.

Day 13 was a prep day for my husband’s birthday. Decided early on that I would create monster cupcakes for him. Went to the candy store and bought loads of penny candies for decorating.

Day 14 was his birthday and so began hand-creating 30 uniquely different cupcakes. Along the way I found myself creating cupcakes for our son, since his birthday would be coming up next. Decided right then and there that this year I would ask my friends and family to honor our son by making or buying a cupcake and sending us a picture.

Day 17 I gather my son’s urn and carried him downstairs to take his annual picture next to his memorial jade plant. It’s amazing to see how much his plant has grown!

Day 18 was his 2 year birthday. We spent the day at Kings Island and made sure to walk through Planet Snoopy in his honor. When we returned home my best friend surprised me with a visit. She wrote his name out in cupcakes and goodies and it really made my day.

Later that evening a friend sent me a picture of her jade plant and a cupcake for our boy. It was another heart-warmer because I actually took a cutting from my jade plant to send to her in memory of her son R.

Day 28 I woke up to balloons and candy! I thought for sure my husband got his days mixed up. Comes to find out he wanted to kick off my 30th birthday with 3 days of celebration!

Day 29 I woke up to a beautiful fall mum with a note “A mum for Mom” (which totally melted my heart!)

Day 30 it was all about my chocolate cake!!!!!

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I hope you have enjoyed the look back on my 30 days of muchness. Thanks to all who followed my journey and kept me on the muchness track. Special thanks to Tova for thinking this up and sharing it with us! If you are interested in taking the muchness challenge yourself, click here for all the info.

Two years ago today, my life (and womb) was jam-packed of muchness. It was such an exciting time for all of us. We were expecting our first child, a son come late September.

Everything was beautiful. Beauty surrounded me inside and out. On my daily walks with the dog, I would stop and watch the families play in the park. At the grocery store, the clerks always asked about the baby and how I was feeling. At night I would lay awake smiling while my son had his “late night dance parties.”

My creativity was also peaking and my fingertips ached to create. My mom and I would meet up weekly for sewing dates. We would spend hours picking out the perfect fabrics to make crib sheets, curtains, clothing and blankets. We created artwork for the nursery walls, decoupaged the dresser drawers and collected vintage Fisher Price toys for him to play with.

At thirty-six weeks the only thing left to finish off the nursery was our son.

…he never made it home though.

Our baby boy was stillborn on September 18th, 2009 at thirty-seven weeks.

And with his death, my life (and womb) lost all of its muchness.

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Life became as still as my son. Nothing made me feel better. My muchness for anything I found joy in was gone.

I stopped walking the dog because I couldn’t handle seeing all the happy families and babies in buggies. We were terrified to go to the grocery store — scared someone would ask about the baby. Dreaded going to bed at night. Tossed and turned and would sometimes cup my stomach wishing I could feel his feet dancing inside me one last time.

My creativity took the biggest blow. Just the thought of working with my hands to create something made me sick to my stomach. To this day I have not fired up my sewing machine, held a paint brush, or followed through on a creative idea.

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I lost two years of my muchness and the last two years of my 20′s.

That changes today.

September 1st starts the thirty day countdown to my 30th birthday and I invite you to follow me on my Thirty before 30 Muchness Challenge!

This will be a life challenge. Turning 30 is proving to be a difficult transition for me, however this challenge will help me see the positive in turning 30 instead of the negative.

Hope my muchness can forgive me for neglecting her so much. I know the muchness is still there, it might just look and feel different now. Hope you will join me!

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I will be posting weekly updates on my 30 days of muchness journey here. Feel free to follow my daily progress as I try to reconnect with my creative side.