Collecting Butterflies 2016

Collecting butterfly designs for World Lupus Day has been as enjoyable as ever and the 2016 edition has broken a few records. A total of 116 designs is the highest amount I have ever collected, 96 of which were children's which is also a record and of the cutest kind! My idea to increase awareness for Lupus and raise funds by collecting butterfly designs from around the world has been another great success. All the beautiful butterflies came from a total of five different countries and the participants aged from 3 to 76.
My donation to LUPUS UK of 130 euros is also higher than last year so I am very pleased with the result. You can see the whole collection of butterflies on these two Pinterest boards: 
Children's
Adults and Designers

 

Although this project creates a lot of hard work for me I couldn't have done anything at all without some help from all of you. In particular a few people who did some serious 'collecting' need a mention. So here's my THANK YOU list.

As always, Thomas Fummo, who manages to collect some pretty stuff from his young and creative 'English' students.
Simona Donadonibus, who does the same but with her Italian class.
Claudia Ghezzi, who sent a whopping 40 designs from Empoli, near Florence.
Laura Bisso, with her tiny 3 year olds who paint and collage great stuff.
My Mom, who still insists on embroidering her entry.
Friends who just go for it.
Fellow designers who may have a very busy schedule but find time for me.
And finally but most importantly to Maike Thoma and Ann Clarkson for their generous donations which were greatly appreciated.

My goals this year were to collect more than 100 designs and to donate more to Lupus UK, both these goals have been achieved so it is time to look forward to next year. I can now reveal that there will soon be a Butterflies for Lupus website. I hope the 2017 edition, although still searching for a suitable format, will lead me to bigger and better butterflies!

© Matilde Bosco 2016. Age 8

As an exception to the rule the butterfly you see above is from Matilde Bosco who didn't get her design in on time but it is too beautiful not to have a place on my blog.
THANK YOU ALL, LOTS AND LOTS, 
Dawn x