About Me

My photo
Isle of Bute, West Coast of Scotland, United Kingdom
Too old to be a rock chick, so I am the hippy hen! Environmentally and socially conscious, eco aware vegetarian goddess. Human and animal rights activist Against discrimination in all its forms. LGBT Ally. Lover of music, chocolate and crochet.. Womb cancer survivor.

Thursday 28 December 2017

Change of mind!


You may remember a couple of weeks ago in my last blog post I said I was thinking or re-opening my Folksy shop that I started in 2010 when I was first diagnosed with womb cancer.
Well, after thinking long and hard about it I've changed my mind and won't be re-opening it.

Since being maliciously reported to the DWP last year I have cut back on selling my items online. I have always been open about my fundraising and always show records of my sales publicly and show receipts when I have donated to the various charities and good causes I support. I donate 100% of sales and even cover paypal fees myself so that every penny that someone pays for an item goes to the charity/good cause concerned.

I was extremely upset and angry that someone could be so nasty and report me. Sadly I have no idea who it was as it was anonymous. The investigating official accepted my explanation but said that if I was reported again they (DWP) would have to investigate again and it may not be the same official who did so and they might come to a different conclusion.

Which is why I have decided against re-opening my Folksy shop. However, that doesn't mean that I won't be supporting my favourite charities and good causes.
Instead of selling my handmade items and donating the proceeds from sales I shall instead be sending items direct to them to either sell of use for their fundraising efforts.

I have done this before on several occasions aswell as selling items myself and donating the proceeds but this will now be how I support my fav charities and good causes.

I am already in the process of sorting out and packing up a couple of parcels for Animal Free Research UK (formerly Dr Hadwen Trust) They have 2 vegan charity shops, one in Hove and the other in Hitchen. I sent a parcel of goodies to the shop in Hove before Christmas which was well received.


Most of the items will be Valentine themed so hopefully it will help raise a few £££'s for the good work they do in keeping animals out of medical research.


I found a stash of these lovely resin hearts and have been using up some of stash of beads to make these lovely necklaces. Really pleased with how they have turned out.

So, although slightly disappointed at not being able to re-open my Folksy shop (it's just not worth all the hassle and stress of being reported again by some nasty little low-life!!) I know that my items are appreciated and are still helping to raise funds for the charities and good causes I support.
 
So if you live near either Hitchin or Hove then please check out the Animal Free Research UK shops - you can find details here.

All that remains is for me to wish you a Happy New Year & I'll see you in 2018.

Kaz  xx

Thursday 14 December 2017

Back on Folksy - well maybe!!

When I was first diagnosed with cancer I started a shop on Folksy selling my handmade creations (mostly jewellery) and donated the proceeds to Macmillan.
However after a couple of years I closed the shop and began donating the proceeds from sales to our local fundraising group here on the island. That way it helped push up their totals every year and it also meant that I was allowed to have a small stall at their coffee mornings to sell my items.

Since then I started to raise funds for other good causes and charities mostly via Facebook. I have raised funds for various charities over the years - you can read more on our website

I am thinking about re-opening my Folksy shop for 2018. My craft work is something I do for therapeautic reasons but I'm running out of space for it all. I do occasionally post off boxes of goodies to various charities for them to either sell or use for raffles and tombolas etc but sometimes its not always practicable to do so. 

I haven't decided which good causes to support through 2018 and there is a chance that I might not even go ahead with the re-opening but if I do then I'll let you know!!

This will probably be my last post now until the New Year so I hope you have a nice festive season and that you get lots of lovely handmade goodies as gifts.

Monday 11 December 2017

Disheartened and depressed!!

Well, we did the Christmas craft event on 25th Nov and to be totally honest I wished I hadn't bothered. It didn't appear to have been very well publicised and therefore it wasn't very attended. Many of the people who did turn up said they were not aware it was on and only found out because someone had told them that day.
So after 5 hours we had made the grand sum of £20 (after deducting the £10 table cost) Still every penny counts as I am helping to raise funds for our local dialysis unit campaign.


This was my table display


 
My Christmas tree display with hand-sewn felt decorations

I was supposed to be having another table at the same event this past Saturday but cancelled due to the bad weather. I can't risk going out in the ice and snow due to mobility issues so we stayed at home in the warm.

Anyway, glad to say that I've raised the sum of £78 from the sale of my handmade items for the dialysis unit so will sending off a cheque to them shortly.

Bit depressed that I couldn't have raised more for them but as I said every penny counts and I know they are grateful for every thing that is raised for them.

Thursday 23 November 2017

All packed and ready to go - part 2

Last week we were getting ready for the local Arts Club Christmas Exhibition and this week we are re-packing for the first of 2 Christmas events we are doing on the island.
Unfortunately the exhibition was a bit of a lt down as it wasn't very well attended and therefore I only sold a few bits and bobs but every penny will be going to the Bute Dialysis Unit Campaign.

Here are a few photos from the exhibition.


These were some of hubbies hand painted greetings cards.


Some of my handmade Christmas cards.


My hand sewn Christmas decorations.


My hand sewn covered notebooks.

I shall be taking these and some other items to the Christmas fair and am hoping for a better turn out although the weather forecast isn't looking too good. Never mind, hopefully the chance to see Santa will be a draw.

Wednesday 15 November 2017

All packed and ready to go!

It is our local arts club Christmas exhibition and sale this coming weekend so the past couple of weeks has seen me trying to finish off my various projects and get them ready for the exhibition.


Everything has to be individually tagged and priced so that meant hunting around for the packet of tags I know is somewhere in the flat. In the end I had to admit defeat and buy a new packet!! Always the case when you put something in a safe place and then can't remember where that safe place was when you next want the item!!
Finally everything is tagged and packed up and ready for Saturday. Going to be an early start as we have to be down at the hall for 9am.
Thought you might like to see some of the items I have been working on for the past few months.






This is some of my festive bunting - all hand-sewn!

 


These are fabric covered notebooks and diaries. The covers are removable so when you have filled the notebook you can replace it.





These are some of my hand-sewn Christmas tree decorations. The hearts are made from scraps of tartan.


These are my new style of fabric brooches. Have been using up more of my fabric scraps making these.


These are something new that I have been wanting to do for ages but have been unable to find suitable frames here on the island but I recently found them online with delivery at no extra cost which was great.

The first 2 are textile ones, with yet more of my hand sewing skills on show!! The final one is a little mixed media one.






 
 
So as you can see I have been rather busy recently.
 
Hoping that we have a good weekend and get lots of people in to have a look at the art and craft work on display and for sale.
The club has a FB page that you can find here
 
 
 Happy crafting folks.

Thursday 2 November 2017

Not long until Christmas!!!!

Well, the last post I wrote here was just after the local Arts Club Summer exhibition at the end of July and now it's almost time for our Christmas exhibition which will be in a couple of weeks.
I've been making some suitably festive items and hopefully will be able to sell some of them to raise funds for our local dialysis unit, which is the organisation I am raising funds for this year.




















Display has sometimes been an issue for me, especially as I don't have my own transport in order to cart stuff around but this year I have splashed out on a nice twig tree to hang these decorations on and I am sure they will look much nicer this way.

It's been nice doing more stitch work as a change from jewellery making.

Also made a small selection of greetings cards - still finding bits of glitter everywhere but hey ho, it is Christmas!!


Aswell, as doing the arts club exhibition I am doing a local Christmas fair the week after so hopefully I will be able to raise some funds for the dialysis unit

Right, now to get round to labelling everything!!

Tuesday 1 August 2017

Local arts club summer exhibition.

Well, our local arts club here on Isle of Bute had its summer exhibition last weekend and as we are members we put some items in. Sadly, due to bad weather and the facts that there were several other events on over the weekend, the exhibition didn't get many visitors but never mind.


This was some of our work on display. The paintings are hubbies - you can see his website here and the altered canvas with the sugar skull and the woven panels are mine, along with the elephants which are decoupage canvas panels.
We didn't sell any of these pieces but I sold a few other bits of craft work so it wasn't a total waste of time!!

There was some lovely art and craft work on display and I bought a lovely pot from a couple who make pottery here on the island.



The island has a lot of artists and craftspeople and its great to see what other people make. The club has a Facebook page here

Once I've got everything packed away that we bought back I shall be thinking about having a go at something new - just got to decide what!!!

Sunday 11 June 2017

Taking time out here.

Been a bit quiet here on the craft front recently. Taking some time out and doing a lot of thinking but not that much creating!!

If you've been looking at the website you will see that I have been doing a bit of stuff - mostly bits of weaving.
I wanted to do something different for a change so have been doing some mini woven panels, just for fun.



 
 
It's been fun  doing something different and I will be doing some more of this.
 
Health hasn't been too good lately either and its been hard to find the motivation to do much. At least with the weaving I can put it down and pick it up as and when I want. With the jewellery I have to pack it all away and then I don't always want to go to the trouble of getting it all back out again. 
 
 
Mind you, I need to get my finger out soon as I've got to do some things for our local Arts Club exhibition at the end of July. 
 
You can check out the website here.

Saturday 15 April 2017

Happy Easter.

Well, tomorrow is Easter Sunday and I hope the easter bunny will be good to you and bring you lots of chocolate!

Been a few weeks since the last blog post, sorry about that but I've been busy with my womb cancer organisation and not had much time for crafting.

 
I have however been able to make a couple more of the stitched projects I was doing. However, this time I didn't make then into wall hangings - no, I'm getting adventurous now!! I found a stash of canvas bags that I had bought some years ago hidden in the back of the wardrobe. Some of them I had tie-dyed so I stitched these panels onto the bags.


 



 
Yes, I know they need a good iron but seeing as they are going back into the wardrobe for a while I'll do it later!!!
 
Also started doing a spot of weaving. It's something I have wanted to do for years but have never had the space for a table top loom but I was watching some videos on Youtube last week and found some great video's on how to improvise. Now I am a great fan of making do with what you have if you can so I set too with my stash of yarn and came up with these mini wall hangings.
 
This was my first attempt. Very tiny one, wrapped the warp threads round a A5 sized hardback notebook.
Tensions not really good but not bad for a 1st attempt.


This was the 2nd attempt. By now I had progressed from using the notebook to using a small rigid plastic loom board that I bought off ebay. Measures about 9cm x 16cm but so much easier to use than the notebook!! It has grooves along both edges so the warp threads don't slip all over the place.















The 3rd attempt was even better as I
was now getting used to getting the tension right.






 
So, I have been having some fun and hopefully will have more lovely handmade goodies to show you next time.
 
Enjoy the Bank Holiday. xx



Thursday 23 February 2017

Where is this year going?

Well, it doesn't seem 2 minutes since it was Xmas and now its almost March. Where is this year going??

Been doing some new craft work this year - trying something different. I put the beads away for a bit and have started doing some textile work.
Now sewing has never been my think - can just about sew on a button if needed!!

I was watching some videos on Youtube and came across an interesting one on how to use up scraps of fabric. Now, I hate throwing anything away and this seemed like a great way to use up the scraps left over from making my fabric brooches so I had to give it a go.

So I did and I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the out come. I turned the pieces into mini wall hangings and I am now on my 4th one!








This was my first attempt. It's in shades of purple and measures approx. 3" x 4". I used gold thread to quilt in and was really pleased with the way it turned out.


This was my 2nd attempt - in peach for womb                   
cancer awareness.
Much more stitching this time which resulted in
it puckering a bit but you learn by your mistakes
so they say!!





Third attempt was slightly bigger, but not much! The idea was inspired by the night sky and is supposed to represent the cosmos, hence the gold star charms attached to it.














There is now a 4th one on the go - will share a pic of that in the next blog post.  Quite enjoying the sewing, makes a change from jewellery making and I am finding it quite relaxing. Apart from when the thread gets tangled up that is!!!!!

:-)

Sunday 22 January 2017

Here's to a good 2017

Well, 2016 ended on a good note.
We managed to raise nearly £150 at the 2 Xmas Fairs we did for the local dialysis unit campaign so I was really pleased about that.

2017 started with a parcel of goodies going off to the  Dr Hadwen shop for them to sell and we have also donated some items to our local Oxfam shop and also a shop that raises funds for the local island food bank.

We have been updating the website as well in between making goodies and we are also hoping to embark on some new crafting projects.
Going to be stretching myself and going out of my comfort zone of beads and jewellery and into textile work. No considering I don't sew and can barely figure out how to use the sewing machine, I thinks this is going to be an interesting project.

Have a look through the website and let me know what you think.

Hope you have an interesting and creative 2017.

See you soon.