My friends Ryan and Taryn from way back in my high school days started a wonderful non-profit in memory of their daughter Ella.  You may have heard their story as they have received some much deserved media attention lately.   This Saturday is their 4th annual Bowling for Babies event at Park Tavern in St. Louis Park.  I am happy to say that for the second year in a row we are donating a canvas lake map for their silent auction (Lake Minnetonka this year).  Additionally, this year we will be in town and are looking forward to taking part in the festivities on Saturday!  If you love babies and you are around this weekend I encourage you to check out this event and support Ryan and Taryn.

Here is an excerpt from a recent KARE 11 story about the event:

ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — Ella’s Halo hosts their fourth annual Bowling for Babies event to support babies and families in Twin Cities Newborn Intensive Care Units. The event is Saturday, May 11 at the Park Tavern in St. Louis Park starting at 1PM.

Ella’s Halo is an organization founded by Taryn Krumwiede, one of this year’s Eleven Who Care honorees. Taryn and her husband Ryan started Ella’s Halo after losing their daughter Ella who lived for 83 days in the NICU. Ella’s Halo works to provide small comforts of home to babies and families in the Twin Cities Newborn Intensive Care Units.

We usually do not make an announcement every time we finish a new lake, but with Leech Lake I felt it was worth it because this map took an especially large amount of effort and time for us to complete. In fact, we started on this lake back in March of last year, but when we “finished” it we were not happy with the results (we had not figured out the best way to create a map for such a large lake yet). I decided to wait on it…and at the beginning of the New Year decided that Leech was going to be the first map we were going to officially create in 2012. After lots of trial and consideration, I decided to use the process that we used on our Lake Minnetonka map…and it worked great! I have found that these larger lakes take more work than the more standard sized lakes, but the end results look awesome due to the amazing details. For example, even though Leech Lake is huge (3rd largest in MN), you can still see the markers for the individual cabins on the lake on our map!

It always feels great when a new lake map is finished for the first time, but as you can imagine, having this lake done feels especially rewarding. I will post a couple photos of the map below and hope to get it into the Lakes Page and listed for sale very soon (along with a few other lakes that are waiting to get uploaded). If you wish to purchase a Leech Lake map in the meantime just email me and we will get you taken care of!

For our friends who love Lake Minnetonka, we have good news for you: Jackie’s in downtown Excelsior is now carrying our Canvas Lake Maps! 

For those of you who haven’t been there, I encourage you to stop in and visit with Jackie (she is great!).  Not only does she carry many home accessories, furniture and gifts, but she also has a full-service interior design studio as well.  Along with her many great items on display, they also have both color options of the our Minnetonka Canvas Lake Map as well.

Thank you Jackie for welcoming our product into your beautiful store!

Jackie’s: Living With Style
(Interior Design Services, Home Decor and Gifts)
219 Water Street
Excelsior, MN 55331
952-472-6440

http://www.jackieslws.com/

Blueprint Maps was proud to support the Wayzata based Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners (IOCP) Spread Your Wings 2011 Gala this evening. The event was hosted at the Lafayette Club on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. The event was sold out and an amazing amount of generosity was shown by many attendees. [quote style=”boxed”]Our goal is to raise $200,000 to change the odds for struggling families in our community. This year’s gala will highlight the impressive gains IOCP’s Employment Program has made in changing futures for more than 100 families this past year.[/quote]

For more news about this amazing event click here: [ilink url=”http://www.iocp.org/news-events”]IOCP News and Events[/ilink]

In addition to attending the event, we also donated a Lake Minnetonka Canvas Map for the silent auction that was held from 6:00-7:15.  The starting price was $90, and eventually 8 bids drove the price up to $170 for the very excited winner.  I would like to say thank you for all the great comments on the map, and congratulations to the winning bidder.  It always feels great to see people get so excited about our maps!

[highlight]NOTE: If you were at the gala but did not win please contact me if you are still interested in owning a map.  I will sell you an identical one at a 20% discount since you supported such a good cause.[/highlight]

Look for our ad in the upcoming June/July issue of Lake and Home Magazine. Our Canvas Lake Maps will be featured in the “Favorite Products” section in the middle of the magazine. This “premier lake home building and remodeling magazine of the Minnesota Lakes Area” has thousands of subscribers throughout Minnesota. The magazine is also on sale in the newstands of many retailers, including Barnes & Noble and Mills Fleet Farm. Thank You Jerry for all your help! We are hoping for great results!!