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!!

 

Shiver me timbers!!!

Blimey, it's been bitterly cold up here on the west coast for a few days now. The artic winds are blowing but thankfully we haven't had any snow on the island.

Ferries have been off again today and probably will be again tomorrow judging by the weather forecast.

Our heating has been going on around lunchtime and its taking ages to get the flat warm. Roll on summer that's all I can say!.

February is cholangiocarcinoma month - what's that I hear you say! Well, cholangiocarcinoma (or CC as its often referred too) is bile duct cancer and its the cancer that my Mom died of back in Dec 2013.

I've spoken before about the charity AMMF who are the only CC charity in the UK. I fundraise for them and shall be holding another online auction for them in mid March when it would have been Mom's 80th Birthday.

I had an article in my local paper, The Buteman  this week to help raise awareness and have had a couple of monetary donations already to the cause which is nice.

The auction is being run through my buteartism FB page and hopefully by the time of the auction there will be lots of lovely items up for grabs.

My aim is to reach £1000 by the end of this auction - so far I've raised £835 for AMMF so I'm pretty sure we can do it this year.

If you can spare a little something handmade then it would be much appreciated. You can contact me via the FB page or leave a comment below.

Right, need to go find my hot water bottle. xx

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow - anywhere but here!!!

Well, it seems like winter has arrived across much of the UK with temperatures dropping and snow everywhere. Well, almost everywhere!!

Thankfully we don't have any here on the island as yet but we've had a couple of days of heavy frost and its been very cold, especially at night.

There is snow over on the Cowal Hills on the mainland but as long as it stays there, I'm happy.

Have been keeping busy sorting out my stash of goodies and listing them on the FB page. Have also put some on Ebay as a charity listing for AMMF (the UK;s only cholangiocarcinoma charity, and one of my good causes that I raise funds for)

You can find the items  here - there will be more listed over the weekend including, hopefully some of Terry's artwork.

That's all for now. Stay warm.

Here's to 2016!

Hello, hope you all had a nice Xmas and New Year.

I've been busy adding more handmade items to my FB page over the past couple of weeks and have a nice selection of items - bracelets, necklaces, fabric flower brooches and earrings plus other odd bits and bobs. No sales as yet but its still early days.

Hopefully this year we can raise more than the £730 raised last year which was split between AMMF and womb cancer research.

The Etsy shop has a few items left in it but will close once the listings expire.

Starting to make plans for the next auction which will be for AMMF and will run from 12noon Sunday 20th March until 6pm Tuesday 22nd March 2016.It would have been Mom's 80th Birthday on 21st March.

Please pop over to the FB page and say hello.

Until next time - take care. xx