Fundraising total, for Mind

Thank you so much to those who purchased or donated to my Christmas cards & crafts for charity fundraising in December, the total raised was £377.75, which was certainly more than I expected especially as a chunk came from donations which was very kind.

I will certainly be considering doing something similar again, but perhaps with a bit more planning, so do let me know if you are interested in being contacted with details when I do.

Now... what creative project should I get going on next? After all it's a new year tomorrow... 

Elf-abet trail painted pebbles

There's another (last time it was dinosaurs) trail up on our local common, so I just had to create some painted pebbles to add to the fun and what a great theme at this time of year...

This is what I came up with - perhaps there will be a few kids searching for the full set when I put them out tomorrow:

Do post a pic if you find one - please...

Christmas cards & crafts for charity

This year I'm making Christmas cards & crafts to raise money for Mind. 

All Christmas cards can be personalised with alternative sentiments, so please contact me via email to order:

I am also including current stock of birthday and other greetings cards. Plus there are a few other items including Christmas fabric masks (adult medium size - 3 layer with pocket for filter if wearing all day), Christmas earrings and Christmas wine glass charms. Whilst stocks last.

Christmas themed adult masks (medium size) - £7

Christmas painted pebbles - great for stocking fillers, Christmas crackers or just as a memento - please get in touch if interested as there are more designs in progress and these can be personalised or have a short message included on the back:

Suggested donation £2 - 1 week order time to allow for personalisation and sealing.

Christmas earrings - £4

Pack of 6 wine glass charms - £6
Note that charms will vary 

Finally, why not adopt a Pebble Pet.

Adopt a pebble pet for charity

The pebble pets have taken over - but it's all in the aid of charity and specifically mind.org.uk. I had hoped to host a crafternoon but instead thought best to keep things socially distanced for now.

Each pet comes with a little card:

Get in touch for current pets available, although I have also been creating specific requests as well.

Please note that most pets can be posted within the UK - normal standard postage applies.

Creating for charity, supporting mental health

This lockdown life means I'm bursting with creative ideas and have not many places to put them! When I saw that Mind was offering a Crafternoon kit to help with organising a virtual craft event and raise some much needed money for the charity, I wanted to do something. 

So many people suffer, or don't even realise they are suffering with their mental health. 

Crafting and being creative has always helped me balance my mind back when life is difficult and of course I just love it and everything that I can do that involves being creative... even if I'm not very good at something!

It doesn't matter if your are not creative, the enjoyment of just doing something creative always helps with improving your mood. When I used to hold card making classes, people came along and gave it a try and they loved it too. 

I haven't really determined if I can find the time do a virtual Crafternoon event, particularly as this involves sitting in front of a pc (which I do far too much of at work!) but I've certainly been creating enough items that will hopefully, help raise a bit of money for Mind.

Christmas cards are the obvious choice at this time of year. Any I make/sell, will be for charity... and the other bits and bobs will include something from my new hobby - painted rocks/pebbles! 

Everyone has been asking me about these and a few people have suggested I sell them as they would be willing to pay (!), but I've just been painting and hiding them for people to find until now.

More to follow another day - but here's a sneak preview...

I think I will just set a minimum donation amount. They would make great stocking fillers so maybe a couple of quid and if I have time, I'll paint requests as well?

Painting rocks replaces travelling... for now

It's a sad case of not being able to travel this year and my travel blog really isn't motivating me to post, so clearly I've been trying to replace the blogging hole with a bit of creative stuff at home instead. The painted rock craze really is taking over the card making as I've not really seen anyone to sell my cards to... 

Here's a bunch of hiders that I put out in Wimbledon Common earlier today:

 

Fusing arrived - finally!

Nearly 4 weeks after doing the glass fusing workshop the finished glass finally arrives. There was some excuse about the kiln being in for repair - but she did also say she had two. I wasn't too impressed by the lack of communication. But it's here and I'm quite please with it...

And here it is looking rather lovely in the kitchen, even if I do say so myself:

Halloween painted pebble hunt

I was starting to think that trick or treating was gonna be cancelled this year for sure and I'd already stocked up on sweets weeks ago... what could I do instead? Bring on the local community events... or basically a bunch of people who live in the same close as me who don't want the kids to miss out. With a few ideas of how to keep the sweets socially distanced, and a potential of a treasure hunt (with pictures in windows) and a pumpkin carving comp there had to be something creative I could contribute - not being a kid and able to take part?!.

So I bashed out a bunch of painted Halloween rocks ready to hide... to be honest these didn't take as long as they usually do as I just picked a few designs and kept them simple, but was quite pleased with being able to use orange, despite this not being the easiest colour to work with sometimes, it can be quite effective with black:

Of course there was also a pumpkin that needed cutting ...

Virtual card making - Christmas cards already!

I can't believe it - after finally getting to craft in person last month (it's been 6 months!), we are now in Tier 2 and not permitted to meet others indoors. Which means back to virtual crafting today... oh and Christmas cards!

Glass fusing workshop

What do you do when you have booked 2 weeks holiday to see your sister, aunt/uncle and visit the Lake District and then they go into local lockdown... glass fusing of course!

this started as sheets of glass... lots of cutting required so forgot to photograph before...

ready for firing

It's a surpise what it will look like when it's fired... check back to see my first attempt at a spoon holder ;)

This could be dangerous

Maybe these would be good for something other than hiding out on the common... although probably bit of a dangerous prank. Not that there is anyone to show them to other than the blogger-sphere! These are my new [and only] friends I can spend time with it seems, for now!

First rocks/pebbles

Here are my first few designs, all CASE'd from those I've seen online...

 

 

The fun part is heading out for a walk and hiding them. Gets me out of the house for exercise and it can become a ickle bit addictive, going back and checking to see if anyone has found them ;)! 

OH thinks it's another fad... little does he know, and I think he is secretly a fan - found one of these went missing and he is totally enjoying being out and about and helping to hide them.

Painting rocks craze

What does a crafter do when she has made enough cards... can't go out anywhere other than a park and is running out of things to sketch?

Honestly, I really don't need another creative hobby do I!

 

I had bought some spray varnish to start painting rocks back in 2019, before I went to New Zealand - basically because I heard they were really into that sort of thing over there. This is the closest I could get to my travel related plans for now.

The boxes of rocks or pebbles above, were picked up in Oxshott in a park (sand pit apparently) and this is where the craze begins.

Check back to see how I get on - it's not actually that easy to paint on a rock/pebble it seems...

Fathers Day card making

With social distancing restrictions still in place it was Fathers day card making out in the street earlier this week with some of the neighbours kids - think they enjoyed it!?

Most went with the same design and I forgot to take a photo, but here's the original that I had used for the design, just imagine it said happy fathers day instead...

The other designs available included these - no one seems to like cars it seems!?

Sketching locally

Being in lockdown doesn't really permit a great deal of travel sketching... in fact I'm running out of photo's to sketch, after my recent attempt at travelling through sketches over on my travel blog.

After a bit of a community tidy up by the neighbours, the view was lovely and I couldn't resist a quick sketch...

Which led me to do a couple more, of peoples houses - one of which has made it into a frame and I'm told is now outside the toilet on the wall... sadly no photo's as I lost these when my phone broke, but here's the original sketch in my sketchbook, before the other half suggested it was too small to give to someone, so I re-redid it on a larger sheet:

Coasters from kitchen tiles

I've been meaning to use the leftover mosaic tiles from our kitchen refurb for some time... so with nothing else really possible right now, I utilised a couple of hours in the garage trying to ignore this new life called lock down!

It was a pretty messy job but we got there in the end ....

Getting creative when you can't travel

What does a travel blogger do when she's not travelling?

Yes I've been here before - although last time was a choice! But I'm determined not to let this lock-down malarky get the better of me. After all, I've always got several creative projects on the go and I'm always on the go - so of course I'm going to make the most of this 'extra time' I've been unexpectedly provided with ;).

I'm starting with getting my crafting blog back online, although I can't promise to keep this going as social media really isn't my thing, but here goes.

There's nothing like an overhaul of your non existent plans - my Creative Schedule in my bullet journal should keep me occupied for a bit with plenty of lists and project plans, oh and then there's the day job which is quickly multiplying. Wellbeing and mental health must make the list, the more crafting the better :D!