Craft Group Sharing Day

Each week at Craft Group, we have a different theme. This week it was 'sharing day', where craft group members have the opportunity to share a demonstration, a make & take, a show & tell, a plate of food or their company. I would just like to say our first 'sharing day' was really fun and we all took ideas away from our time together. My make & take was this gorgeous card designed by Stampin' Up! and published in our monthly demonstrator magazine - there are so many great ideas to be found in this demonstrator resource and I just knew craft group would love to make this card which showcases a technique where you make your own coloured embossing powder - simply brilliant. Bet you didn't know you can MAKE 'Certainly Celery' embossing powder! I actually have more of these make & takes ready to go, so if you would like me to do this at your workshop, please contact me.

I wont be photographing every craft group share day, as I might get lynched by my fellow papercrafters, but I wanted to celebrate our inaugural share day with some photos!

Marjorie instructed us in making a terrific card which was held closed by an 'origami' style butterfly. She was so patient with me as I struggled with 2 left thumbs! I was really happy with my card as was everyone else, so a big thank you Marjorie.

Kim taught a cool Easter punch art bunny! With Easter not all that far away, this was a great project that we all loved! Thanks Kim! An extra big thank you goes to Kim because she cut out many of the shapes by hand as she didn't have the punches! I could never have done this - one because of my failing eyesight and the other my lack of patience.

Now, who knows who this is? Well if you check out my blog links, you will be able to answer this question! The rather amazing, unique, incredible EYE PATCH sprung up an an idea from last week's craft group, where Kim taught us Sesame Street Punch Art, which led to a conversation about felt punch art and then to of course a COOKIE MONSTER EYE PATCH! The fact that this 'not so mystery person' made the eye patch with one eye, only amazes me more. But I've learned never to be surprised by this person's talents - I learned long ago they are limitless!

OK Kate, don't kill me that I posted your photo, but I simply HAD TO - I mean really how could I leave you out after you shared 2 beautiful 'Emboss Resist' cards with us. They were awesome and I especially loved the 'Sahara Sand' card. Thank you Kate!

Finally, thank you to our participants and providers of morning tea. I hope to see you all again at the next 'share day'. Craft Group is held at the Wynnum Manly Workers Club, Bognor Rd, Tingalpa Tuesdays during school term 10am till 2pm. If you would like to come too, please contact me on 0448 896 001 or liz@danichbe.com

Thank You Tuesday Craft Group

A heartfelt thank you to all of the Tuesday Craft Group ladies who worked on building up the stockpile of 'Angel Footprint Cards' today. Kim, Kate, Liz O, Jill, Olga, Ursula, Marjorie, Trish, Glenda and Diane worked tirelessly sticking, punching & cutting out our precious cards which are donated to the Mater Mothers & Royal Brisbane Bereavement Programs.

These cards are used by nursing staff to stamp the little footprints of angel babies (stillborn bubs), so that parents have memory of their child to take home. We also make coordinating cards, so that name cards may be made and these are also made available to the special care nursery. These cards are made using materials we have been able to buy from the proceeds of our raffles at the Christmas Card Workshops. This had been made possible by the generous donation of raffle products by Stampin' Up! as well as the support of the Paper Angels Group of Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrators and their customers.

Of course, none of this would happen without help to put these cards together and I am extremely grateful to everyone who has helped in any way, be it attending the workshops, buying raffle tickets and as highlighted today, putting the cards together.

One concern that came up today was the quantity of cards we are making. When you actually make each of these cards, you do tend to think about how awful it is that there is a need for them at all. I was pleased to be able to answer this question and I thought I would share it with you, just in case you are wondering. The Mater Hospital, where we first started, found that when a baby was stillborn it was not just the parents that wanted a record of the precious footprints. Grandparents on both sides and sometimes other family were also requesting these cards. The Mater Hospital asked me if it was ok if they used more than one card for each angel baby. Well of course that was just fine and our pleasure to make some difference, albeit however small. It does seem small when you consider the enormity of what the family is going through. If you look at the cards we made below, you will just see the base cards. we actually supply specially sized pieces of 'Whisper White' Cardstock, which are used to pop the footprints on as well as stamp names on the name cards using alphabet dies. We supply, inks, stamps, cleaners, adhesives and training to back all this up.

After craft group, I picked my kids up from school. My goodness what a hot day we have had today in Brisbane. When we arrived home, ice blocks were definitely the go. I was so hot even I had one but boy were they weird - mango & coconut - it was like drinking 'Reef Oil' if you know what that is? The kids loved them though and chose the trampoline to sit on - naturally I kick them outside when eating this type of thing! Neo our black lab tried very hard to have a taste of the ice blocks to no avail!