Last of my Christmas Projects..

I'm not sure how Christmas has passed by so fast again this year after so many hours of preparation and organisation!! I hope all of my lovely blog readers have had a happy and peaceful Christmas. We seem to have spent most of the week removing toys from their packaging but have yet to find a space for everything - I know there will be a huge clear out next week for the charity shop!!

I am sharing the last of my Christmas projects for this year with the teacher gifts that were made for Philip's teacher's little boy, it was quite an order of 12 gifts in total!!

This gift was the least stressful, as it only contains the ingredients to make the yummy oat cookies that I like to bake, I made 4 of these jars decorated with Stampin' Up! products.

I saw jars filled with ingredients on Pinterest this is my first attempt at layering the ingredients and instructions were included, only butter needs to be added to this mix & then they are ready to bake, so they make a useful gift at this time of year.

Now these gifts were a little more stressful, as they had freshly baked oat cookies and Christmas decorated cake pops!!  So no pressure to get things right?!  Thankfully my baking turned out well, and they filled a small gift box along with a pack of Snowman Soup (hot chocolate, marshmallows & a candy cane). I decorated my box with Snow Festival tags.

On the last day of term at school the head teacher announced how much money has been raised - £2050 in just over two weeks towards Philip's new wheelchair, this is an amazing achievement and we are so grateful to everyone who supported us!!  Thank you just doesn't seem enough to express our gratitude.

I have found some time to do some crafting this week and a couple of new scrapbook layouts with some new stash I have had sitting on my shelves for a while waiting to be inked. It has been lovely to use bright spring like colours as I have made so many Christmas projects this year although many of them haven't been shared on my blog. 

I am making plans for some dates for workshops featuring NEW products from Stampin' Up! and I will be posting details of them soon.  My New Years Resolution is to make a little bit more time for ME - this past year I have not had time to craft for my pleasure and it is something I plan to change.  I plan to get back into the garden (if it ever dries out) and make some improvements and there's decorating....... not sure how long I will manage to keep this resolution???????

I would like to wish you a Happy New Year and I will be back soon with some new projects.

Angela x

Polar Party

Another week has flown by and today is the last day of school!!   

This is a project I started making in July!!!  I knew once I got my hands on the new Autumn and Winter seasonal catalogue my stamp sets from last year would not get a lot of use, so I inked up my Polar Party stamp set for this project.

This is a box made from a sheet of 12 x 12 card with several smaller compartments, I first saw it on Pinterest, so if I can find a link I will add it later.

I used Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist and Whisper White for my colour scheme.

The stamps are really cute and I used the stamp ma jig to line them up.

The images were coloured with Stampin' Up! maker pens.

I made some matching tags, mini cards and pens to fill the box.

The lid of the box has an acetate window but it was difficult to get a photograph because of the glare.

Philip got to try out some new wheelchairs this week, the assessment was done at school where staff and pupils could see how this new wheelchair would help to give Philip greater independence around school. The difference it made was amazing, it was so easy for him to "get moving" and turn and stop his huge smile said it all!! 

Today is the final push to raise money for Philip, the children have organised a Christmas dress up day, cake sale along with other activities and there is a huge "buzz" in school about Philip's new wheelchair!! I will be joining the staff and pupils in their Christmas assembly where the Headteacher will announce how much money has been raised, tissues at the ready!!

I have quite a "to do list" that I'm hoping to cross off  this morning, so it's another scheduled post from me - then I can look forward to a relaxing weekend at home.

Angela x

Christmas Party Time

I have scheduled today's post as its another early start this morning for the Christmas Party for the children at Heel and Toe - rehearsals start at 9.30 in Chester-le-Street for the children's performance. I'm sure there will be a lot of tears this morning as this will be the first time parents have seen the show.

The performance will be followed by a party, with a disco, magician and buffet and of course a visit from the man with the red suit - Santa!!  

Philip has made some lovely progress at Heel and Toe and I have to admit the early start to get to Durham every Saturday morning is not something I look forward to but the true dedication of the staff working at the centre and the difference they are making to Philip makes it worth while!!  

When I was told about the party I offered to make some gift boxes for the children as a way to say "Thank You" for the therapy Philip is receiving - I later found out there was 80 children attending the party, gulp!!  I got on with it and delivered the boxes and cards a few weeks ago.

A huge pile of sweets to fill the boxes!!

I used the new Fancy Favour die that is exclusive to Stampin' Up! embossed with the gorgeous new Northern Flurry folder, the reindeer is from the new Jolly Christmas Bingo Bits stamp set. 

Sorry for the poor photo - the cards have been stamped with the cute No Peeking stamp set and the Jolly Christmas Bingo Bits stamp set.

Lucy enjoyed helping to fill the boxes of sweets and with 80 to make I was pleased that she was willing to help me out!!

Heel and Toe is a children's charity based in Durham who believe in providing FREE conductive education for all children needing their help, as we have had no NHS input recently for Philip I am truly grateful for this opportunity. If you would like to find out more about Heel and Toe you can follow the link to their website here.

Philip wasn't very well yesterday and missed his school party, so hopefully today will make up for that!!  The school performances have finished this week and next week will be filled with lots of fun Christmas activities.  I have a busy week in school helping out with Christmas craft days and baking more cakes for Lucy & her friends to sell as they have planned a fun day for the last day of term - to raise funds for Philip's wheelchair. The support has been fantastic from all of the children, staff and parents at school, their kindness and generosity has been overwhelming, I never expected this!!  

Angela x

I'm still here....

I have been really busy with many different Christmas projects, I think I've had quite enough now!!!!  I still have a few special cards to make and some gift boxes but I have to report that the Christmas shopping is done & most of it is wrapped, the tree is up & the lights are on outside so for once I'm feeling quite organised.  I plan to do lots of baking, catch up with some projects I would like to finish and of course there will be some crafting.

I'm hoping I have some photos still on my camera as I thought I had photos of the 80 boxes I made for the Christmas party for Heel and Toe - a children's charity that provides conductive education based in Durham, Philip has made some lovely progress there especially with his fine motor skills.

Today I thought I would share a quick card made with the beautiful Holiday Frame embossing folder, it is a beautiful design and the embossing is really deep. I used the Tags til Christmas stamp set and punched it out with the extra large oval, the tree is from the Scentsational Season stamp set cut with the matching holiday framelits, I added a small heart shaped button with a scrap of linen thread.

I used Red Riding Hood card for my base with Very Vanilla and Gum Ball Green and a little star cut from the gorgeous Champagne glimmer paper.

I think this week is the "calm before the storm" as next week I have a lot of classes plan for - I'm spending a full day at school with year 5 & 6 helping them make Christmas cards and boxes, an afternoon helping Philip craft and  I will be making Teacher gifts for Philip's teacher for her little boy to take to nursery - its quite an order!!

We also have one of the nicest "Christmas presents" ever a new wheelchair assessment for a lightweight "sporty" chair that will be much easier for Philip to use and a better design overall.  The wheelchair was something I thought I would look in to after Christmas but Philip's teacher and the Head Teacher stepped in and the children and families at school are helping to raise money to get Philip a new chair - I  never expected this nor would I have asked them to help, it was an afternoon of tears & complete shock when I got to know about this. 

I will get my pictures organised and plan some more blog posts later this week, as I have a lot to share with you!!

Angela x