When I left the corporate world to work from home, my number one motto was: “Family First“. Not just for me but for my entire team. Over the years my team has become a second family, especially those that have been with me for years. One of those is Esther.

Esther, Zesty Designs, has been with The Studio since 2013. In that time I’ve gotten to know and love the wonderful, warm, giving person she is. She is one of a handful of Designers I’ve had the pleasure to meet in person (My Fancy Futuristic Car). Esther is the embodiment of what Americans call “salt of the earth.” She is just good people. And sometimes, bad things happen to good people.

“I don’t know what life is like for you at present, but for me it has been very overwhelming to say the least. You may have heard of the ‘one in 500 weather event’ here in my city, Townsville, in North Queensland, Australia. We had a monsoon trough and a low weather system that joined together and decided to hang around instead of moving on, so we had an unbelievable amount of rain in just a few days. This followed a very long drought period. The dam which supplies water to the city filled rapidly and the spillway had to be opened, The rain plus the dam releases resulted in massive floods across the city. My home which has never flooded previously, flooded. I had been evacuated prior to the flooding and after three lots of temporary accommodation, I am now staying with family, but we couldn’t go back to their house until the power was restored (sigh) so here I am – I am safe and well. Many of my treasures I’ve lost, some things I’ve managed to save but after all they are only ‘things’ and don’t matter in the total scheme of things. I am now facing the huge clean up, insurance claims and then having my place repaired so I can move back home again eventually. Thousands of homes have been affected in some way or other. It will take a long time before this city recovers. I’m exhausted but I’m pushing on!”

— Esther, Zesty Designs

In early February Townsville, Australia, had extreme weather, off-the-charts rainfall and flooding. Esther was evacuated from home and her home was flooded. She lost most of her treasures, some replaceable, some lost memories. She is staying with family, but the stress is unimaginable. The bills keep coming, now compounded with paperwork, and the insurance will be a long time coming.

This is where we come in. We can help not just relieve some of the financial strain but also spread a little sunshine. Our entire Design Team has come together to create an amazing, whopping, collaboration: The Sun Will Shine Again

The Sun Will Shine Again

The Sun Will Shine Again contains (31 .zip files, more than 1GB):

  • 286 elements (lots of flowers, foliage, butterflies, birds, sunshine & clouds, word art, scatters, transfers, frames, ribbons & bows and much more)
  • 103 papers
  • 16 solid cardstock
  • 4 photo masks and 2 bonus frames
  • 18 glitters (4×4 .jpg tiles and layer styles .asl file)
  • 3 full alpha sets
  • 1 layout template (.psd and .tif files)

Even better? You choose how much to donate. The entire collab is valued at $54. We’ve priced it at $10 (savings of 81%). We wanted to make it afforable to everyone. But. If you have a little more. If you can dig a little deeper. The option exists to pay a little more. Every penny goes directly to Esther. Every penny helps.

The Designers have donated their time. The store is donating all admin costs & fees. And I’ve even created a coordinating plaid paper pack freebie. Let’s spread the sunshine around! Let’s help Esther get back on her feet.

These are Esther’s photo’s, and her neighbors, showing the devastation to their neighborhood. There are additional photo’s included in  The Sun Will Shine Again description.

Flood waters receding – see watermark on walls-taken by next door neighbour

our footpath – beginning clean up

Flood affected belongs on footpath out front

The other side of the street

Watermark on my back door to deck

Special Thanks!!

A special ‘Thank You’ to our wonderful designers who designed this amazingly huge collection:
ADB Designs, Benthaicreations, Berna’s Playground, butterflyDsign, Carin Grobe Design, Fancy Bird Design, Heartstrings Scrap Art, Jen Maddocks Designs, Let Me Scrapbook!, LouCee Creations, Manu Scraps, MLDesign, Nibbles Skribbles, PapierStudio Silke, PattyB Scraps, Prairie Song Scraps, Simplette Scrap and Design, Studio4 Designworks, Synergy Ink, Thaliris Designs, The Urban Fairy, Xuxper Designs