Donation to orphanage in Budapest!

Hi all, my son is going to visit an orphanage in Budapest as part of his Childcare education which he is nearly finished and wants to work with special needs children, and he asked if I could make up a box of crafts for them, and of course I obliged!!!!

Summer wreath!

You may remember a month or two ago, I made my spring/easter wreath for my door (see below), well here is my Summer one!!! x I am getting such a lovely reaction from visitors that I think I will continue to do them x

 



Decoupage/decopatch/napkin art/serviettes

 

Below is a box that had smellys in at Christmas, and I painted the box, cut out of serviettes the bunting, stuck it on, and then put the text round the top with peel offs. I didn't bother sealing it as it is purely decorative.

more napkin art

This remote control holder started life as a mahogany dated one, I painted it white, then distressed it, and then cut out items from serviettes, took the top layer off and glued them on and sealed it x

 

 

 

Decoupage/napkin art/ serviette art/decopatch

Below are 2 little drawer units that hubby bought me at Christmas and I painted the one on the left white

 

After painting it, I got serviettes with a seaside theme, cut out the shapes from the serviette and then took the top layer off and glued it down, the top panel, I sanded after to make it shabby chic, then I sprayed a clear sealer over it all, please click on picture for a bigger view.

 

Star pupils

I have recently been working with Woodlands Hedgehog rescue in Tiptree Essex, to help teach them, some fundraising through crafting ideas. I picked up these genuine vintage bottles quite cheaply and me and Tina (or Hoggie!) as I call her, decorated them, labelled them and filled them with different colour crème bath, they have put these on sale for £3.50 each in a little local nursery.

 

 

This bottle was made by another lady (Sue) at Woodland Hedgehog rescue and I cannot take any credit for this, as Sue did it herself, I actually cant wait to get hold of some hessian and do some myself, so you see, I learn so much and love to see people skills develop and shared x

How sad am I ? Decorating plugs now x

Hi all, I dont know about you, but I hate mundane things and how they look, so I thought I would jazz up my plugs with a little washi tape, I have a few more to do, but thought you would like to see them x



I am featured April 2013 in Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine!

Hi all,  I got and email out of the blue from a lady called Gail Shortland, who asked to do a feature about me in the next edition of Cardmaking and Papercraft, which I happily agreed to x If you get a chance please take a look x It was a real thrill x And I hope it enables me to reach more people through The power of crafting! So please leave a comment and say hi! x

Decoupage/decopatch/napkin art and my star pupil!!!

I recently have had the pleasure of meeting some lovely ladies from the Woodland Hedgehog Rescue in Tiptree who are doing amazing work looking after 60 hedgehogs, that would otherwise struggled or not made it all. I got to know them, when I was donating some craft stuff for fundraising, and we have hit it off ever since. I started having the ladies over to give them tips and tutorials on items to make for fundraising on a small budget and yesterday one of the ladies (Tina) popped over and gave me this plaque that she made! The plaque she bought and then cut out the serviettes and glued it on, it looks beautiful dont you think and is taking pride of place in my craft room! x I feel it is such a privilege to help people like Tina and Sue, who are creative and skilled in many ways, try new things and learn how very clever they are and they teach me so much too!  x It can be hard to try a new craft, through not wanting to waste money on products that you may never use again, having the confidence to try and needing someone to help guide you, thats why I love sharing my passion and knowledge for making beautiful things on a budget with others and watching them grow in confidence and enthusiasm x If you arent already doing so, please try to share your craft! you wont regret it! x

Easter wreath

Hi all, happy easter! Now I am not a religious person, I like to consider myself spiritual though, and easter to me marks new beginnings, spring and lots of chocolate! I have decided to make more wreaths through the year to mark occasions, such as spring/easter, valentines and halloween as well as the usual Christmas, not only because it is an excuse to make crafts but as a wreath is to remember those no longer with us, it is not enough for me to just do this at Christmas anymore! So here you go, only the 2nd wreath I have ever made x The wreath itself was bought from our local trade florist store called byfords at Marks tey, the pipe cleaner, yellow netting and yellow bunnies were from hobbycraft and the flowers and butterflies, were made up of some from my stash. Hobbycraft had lovely packs of wooden items in different colours (yellow had bunnies, beads and other bits, green had birds, beads and other bits and pink had hearts beads and other bits) and they were only 50 pence each! x

cards - cards - cards

 

Here are some cards I have made in the last few days x Some at card class and some just by myself x

Box cards x

This lovely box card I did from the tutorial on You tube HERE

Old tins

Both of these tins were small mint tins, I painted them, and put self adheshive borders round and the one on the left is stamped on. I use the one on the left to hold little butterflies and the one on the right to hold my memory stick x These would look nice with gems or embossed metal or a safety pin hot glued on the lid and used to hold safety pins x

CRACKERS ABOUT CRACKERS!

These crackers I made at the craft social run by Kym and I just love them sooooo much x the baby ones have hand knitted bootees by our other ladies at the craft social what a team! 

PRETTY BUDGET GIFTS!

I am always looking for new ideas for gifts and fundraising

ideas,so I thought that just taking the labels off of everyday

products and replacing them (or putting them over the top)

with pretty personalised labels makes a nice gift x Good

idea for you charity fundraisers and those on a budget! x 

HOME MADE FLOWERS

 

 I made my own flowers from a tutorial HERE and this is what I did with them, each of them are flatter than normal as I will be posting some of these cards, with this one below going to a seriously ill child in  hospital in America, these flowers look particularly nice punched out of book or newspaper

 

 

 

Busy bee!!!

The bag and large card are for my grandaughter for Easter, I made the picture in silhouette cameo designer software, printed the picture first, then put it in the cameo to draw the border, then the cameo cut the outside, and I glittered it and put pearls on it x  The cards are pretty much the same x

quick bit of crafting!

Hi all, I made the gift bag above from a tutorial from HERE

And just a simple card probably to be donated

NEW ADDITION TO MY CHARITY CRAFTING!

 

Hi everyone, most of you know me as charity crafter and know that i have been doing this lovely lovely crafting for charity for about ten years and it is my life. For some years, various people have suggested I have a donate button on my website which I have resisted as I have always encouraged people to donate direct to the charities I support, however, recently the subject came up when I (for the first time ever!) had to decline a couple of requests for  charity crafting as I could not afford the combined cost of travelling and the specific materials and extra tools that would be needed, and was feeling pretty bad about it, when a person who has often suggested the donate button, piped up  " well if you had a donate button and any money (if any) was donated you could use that when you could not afford to do it otherwise!" I decided they had a point as I am becoming severly restricted through lack of funds, so I would like to formally announce I have a donate button on my site and although I dont expect anyone to donate if I am honest, it is there in case someone does, this button is, as well as 'just giving' buttons and details of all sorts of ways you can get involved and make a difference, from collecting bottle tops, sending cards to sick children, saving stamps for our troops etc as we can all make a difference in lots of different ways, and they are all as good as each other x

I am hoping to be able to afford to hold free 'FUNDRAISING MASTERCLASSES' soon, where I have a day, teaching small, fledgling and grass roots charities, lots of tips, techniques and tutorials on funraising, showing them how to access the best resources and information and being a mentor to help them continue to make the difference that they are!

 

SO I FORMALLY DECLARE MY DONATE BUTTON OPEN AT THE TOP AND SIDE OF THIS BLOG X

 

Thanks for reading x Leigh x