Good news, and more good news!

After all of the viruses, ear infections, and car problems (not to mention all the stress and worry over the CPSIA) over the past few weeks, it's been a rocky start to the year. But I'm thrilled that I now have some good news to share!

First there's this:
CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products
In plain English, that means that they will not be enforcing the lead testing and certification on products for children 12 & under for another year. So, I still have to make sure my products meet the lead limits, but I can do so by making sure that the supplies I use are lead-free, rather than have to have everything tested. Now I realize that this is by no means the end of this mess, but it is at least a step in the right direction. So I can continue to make these adorable baby shoes, at least for the time being:

Even better CPSIA news, a senator from South Carolina is going to introduce legislation to make some changes to the CPSIA. Here's a link to his blog: Jim DeMint's Blog

So it seems that we are finally being heard, and steps are being taken to straighten this mess of a law out. Hurrah! Let's all make sure to keep up the good work on the CPSIA front...keep making those phone calls, sending those faxes and emails, and blogging!

Ok, now for some more unrelated good news:
As you know, I have a day job working at a florist. Each year the Maine Teleflora Unit (for those of you who don't know, Teleflora is a network of florists that enables you to send flowers world wide) awards a scholarship to one lucky person to take a class at their headquarters in Oaklahoma City, all expenses paid. Well, I just found out that I am this year's scholarship winner! Wow!!

So sometime this year I will being heading to Oaklahoma City to take a floral design class for free, and my whole trip is paid for...plane tickets, hotel room, food, everything! How cool is that?? Now I just have to decide which class I want to take. One of my top choices would be the Wedding Design class, as weddings are my favorite occasion to design flowers for (which reminds me...I have some pictures from a couple of Bridal shows that I need to get off my camera so I can share them here!). Another top contender is one called Creative Edge: East/West Fusion, which takes principles of Ikebana, the Japanese Art of Flowers, and adapts them for contemporary design. Hmm...decisions, decisions! In the meantime, here's some of my floral sushi for you:

Floral Sushi, designed by Shannon Hanley