Waste not, want not!!

I hate waste, especially if it can be avoided.

Sometimes crafting can be a bit of a tricky ground as the craft supply industry seems intent on getting us to buy more and more stuff.

However, I like to try and re-use as much as possible or at least find new uses for things whenever I can.

Since making the fabric flower brooches, I'd collected a bag of fabric scraps that were not big enough to use for the flowers but I didn't want to throw them out.

Trying to find something to do with them was taxing my brain slightly - I'm not particularly interested in sewing. Making the flowers was really the extent of my sewing capabilities so I needed to find something else.

Eventually I found something suitable - so am happy now to announce that I am making fabric covered buttons!!!!
OK, maybe not worth a fanfare but I'm quite pleased with them and at least its a bit less fabric ending up in the bin.

You can find them for sale here

At the moment they come in two sizes but I will add some other sizes if they prove popular.

As always proceeds will be going to my 2 good causes AMMF and WCSUK

Fancy a bargain bit of bling??

Been busy making lots of stuff again over the past couple of weeks and then suddenly realised just how much stuff I have just waiting for new homes!!!

Guess my mojo has been working overtime recently so I have decided to have a 24 hour flash sale again this weekend so raise some more money for AMMF and Womb Cancer Support UK.

The sale runs from 6pm Saturday to 6pm Sunday and everything is £5 or under so there will be lots of bargains to be had. Great way to stock up on gifts or even just treat yourself to something nice for all those lovely summer outfits you'll be wearing in this heatwave we are going to have this summer!!

The sale will be run on Facebook here and items will be listed during the 24 hours so keep popping back for a look.

Have a nice Bank Holiday weekend (although technically its not a BH here in Scotland) and I hope the weather is nice for you.

Until next time!

Project Declutter

Over the past few weeks hubby and I have been having a major clear out.
A combination of too much stuff and a very small flat has meant that we have had to be pretty ruthless and get rid of a lot of stuff.
The fact that I do a lot of different craft stuff and hubby likes to paint and therefore has a lot of art related stuff means that our tiny flat is bursting at the seams so it was time to bite the bullet!
I set up a FB page specifically for all our junk - I mean precious stash of goodies!!
Quite a lot has sold but there is still some stuff left if you are interested. Why not pop over and have a look here
As is usually the case, you can't see where the stuff has gone from. The flat seems just as cluttered as it was beforehand!!
Never mind, at least its forced us to have a good sort out and I even came across some stuff that I had forgotten about!!
Happy Spring Cleaning!!

It's a struggle!

Well, if you run a page on Facebook you have probably noticed by now that they have been tinkering about with things yet again!!

This is the latest in a long line of so called improvements but in reality it is nothing of the sort.

Facebook seem determined to do as much as they can to limit post reach and therefore are trying to force page owners to pay to get their posts seen by people who have liked the page.

I think its totally out of order and is hurting an awful lot of small businesses.

I have 747 likers on my page yet my post reach has been as low as 4 on 2 separate occasons over the past few days. Even accounting for posting at different times of the day, my post reach rarely reaches double figures.

This was evident during the recent online auction I ran last month when there were hardly any bids because people were not seeing any of the posts.

It has got to the point now where I am wondering if it's worth being on FB.

As some of you know, I make and sell my items to raise funds for charity and good causes. As a result of these FB changes I have hardly made any sales this year so far - quite simply because no one is seeing any of my posts. This is very frustrating, not lease because it means that the good causes are loosing out on funds.

I recently contacted AMMF, who are the charity I raise funds for, and asked if they knew of any fundraisers who would be interested in some handmade items to sell at events. They replied that they accepted items and then passed them onto people who were holding fundraising events for them so I sent them a big parcel of goodies which they were very grateful for.

I think this is what I will be doing from no on. I'll make the items; post details on the FB page so people can see what I'm making and then parcel them up and send them onto AMMF so they can pass them on. They will still be getting the money - which is all that matters really.

I shall still do my online auction for AMMF each March in Mom's memory but there doesn't seem much point in trying to sell stuff via FB if no one is seeing any of the posts.

So over the next few weeks I shall be taking stuff off my FB page and parcelling some more goodies up for AMMF.

Have the FB changes affected you in anyway. Let me know in the comments section below as I'd be interested to hear from others.

Kaz

AMMF Auction Total

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I held an online auction to raise funds for AMMF, the UK's only cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) charity.

Well, almost all the money has come in now - just waiting for one last cheque to arrive, so I can reveal that the amount raised from the auction was £164.00. There was also £45.00 in cash donations in lieu of donations so that means that the final total is £209.00.

Am really pleased and will paying the money over to AMMF once the final cheque arrives and clears.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated items for the auction and who bid on the items and also to those who donated cash.

I know AMMF are very grateful for all funds that are raised for them and they do amazing work so I am very happy to support them.

I'm still selling handmade items via my FB page, however proceeds from these sales are being split 50/50 between AMMF and Womb Cancer Support UK, which is the womb cancer support and awareness organisation I set up in April 2011. The money raised will help pay for the printing and posting of womb cancer awareness leaflets.

Hope you all had a nice Easter.

Catch you soon.

Auction for Mom

Well, my 3rd auction for AMMF ended yesterday (Tue 22nd March) and I have to say that I am slightly disappointed at the amount raised, which was around £150.

Despite me posting frequently about it on FB it seems that many people did not see the posts (thanks FB!) and so were unaware that the auction was running. Of the 67 items in the auction, many of them handmade and donated by lovely, generous people, only 33 had any bids on.

I know that every penny will make a difference and that AMMF will be grateful for the amount raised but I wish it could have been so much more.

So I'm feeling very disheartened. Monday would have been Mom's 80th Birthday and I so wanted to raise a decent sum of money in her memory but it wasn't to be.

I think I'm going to have to have a good think about whether or not to do anymore auctions on FB - it just doesn't seem to be working anymore as they keep changing things and making it harder for people to see posts.

Even using the many networking pages that there are on FB doesn't seem to make any difference.

Thankfully, I've discovered that AMMF are happy to accept items that are sent to them that they then distribute to people who are holding raffles and tombola's etc to raise funds for them so I can send some items to them and they will still benefit that way. So I guess it's a win-win situation.

Anyway, hopefully those who did bid in the auction will like their items when they arrive in the post although I forgot it was Easter this weekend so some may not arrive until after the holiday. Guess we can blame the delay on the Easter bunny!!

A little bit about me.

Just in case you don’t know the background to why buteartism exists then I thought I’d fill you in on the details.

I have always enjoyed crafting and have done it for many years. It was a hobby that used to run riot and times and I was always wanting to try something different. Which was ok when we used to live in a 2 bedroomed house but now we live in a small 2 room flat,  it’s not practical to do half the stuff I used to do.

I was diagnosed back at the end of Dec 2009 with womb cancer and once I’d had my hysterectomy I began to put my hobby to good use by starting to make and sell items to raise funds for Macmillan. I was lucky to have a wonderful Macmillan nurse and it was my way of being able to pay something back for the help and support she gave me. I must have been the only cancer patient in the country who took jewellery pliers and beads to treatment appointments!!

Since then I have raised money for various charities and good causes by either selling items myself and donating the proceeds or donating items directly for raffle prizes, auctions and tombola’s etc. Some of the good causes I have donated to include Cefni German Shepherd Rescue; Cystic Fibrosis;  CRUK; and a few local places here on the island.

Currently I am raising funds for AMMF, which is the UK’s only Cholangiocarcinoma charity. CC, or bile duct cancer, is the cancer that my Mom died from in Dec 2013 and they are the main beneficiary of the money I raise now.

I am holding an online auction on Facebook next week and hope to be able to donate another large sum of money to AMMF from that. Have raised almost £1000 so far and would be nice to break that  target and set another one.

I sell my items via my buteartism page on Facebook and have just set up a new twitter account as my personal twitter was getting a bit cluttered with craft stuff so I thought it best to have a separate account.

So please come on over and have a look at the various goodies on the Facebook page and join me on twitter.

All proceeds from sales go the good causes – throughout 2016 they are being split 50/50 between AMMF and Womb Cancer Support UK, which is the national womb cancer support and awareness organisation I run. The money raised will be used to fund the printing and distribution of womb cancer awareness leaflets.

Doing all this in-between struggling to cope with my health issues that I've been left with as a result of my cancer treatment is a struggle but at least it keeps my brain active!!