#HandmadeChristmas - An Apology

Life has a way of taking over, have you noticed that?

Despite all my plans and ideas for a whole series of Handmade Christmas posts, we are less than four weeks away from the BIG DAY and... well... time is running out.

It's not that the ideas went away more a case of being pushed to one side while I was forced to concentrate on more important stuff like working out how the hell we are going to keep both shops open now we are a staff member down and all our friends/family/nice people who help out are either ill or have other commitments. It doesn't help that while much of the retail sector is building up for the Christmas rush this is traditionally the time of year our business tends to wind down a little as all the fair weather bikers pack up their gear for the winter...

I have been ill for best part of three weeks too, and last week Little Man was struck down and spent 3 days in a semi-zombie state on the sofa, temperature going up and down like a yo-yo and with barely enough energy to keep his eyes open.
Evidently he was not considered serious enough for a home-visit from the doctor so I had to bundle him up, fish out the long unused pushchair and take him down to surgery in the cold and dark only to be told there was very little to be done and to continue giving him Calpol every 4 hours.

A week of sleepless nights compounded by worry about the business, our finances and family stuff has left me feeling drained and exhausted.

So this post is mainly an apology that the promises of Handmade Christmas posts I had planned will not be happening now - I will not be making my own mincemeat because we simply cannot afford the ingredients (although I still hope to have a go at fudge...)
I have been asked by MENCAP to create a tutorial for their Christmas Make with Me campaign which I am more than happy to do but the tutorials I had hoped to share with you here will have to wait until next year. I will, however be posting a list of fab tutorials that I have found around the inter web for you to have a go at and I still hope to highlight some great handmade decorations available to buy for those of you who have neither the time nor the inclination to create your own.

As life continues to do it's damnedest to butt in and spoil my plans I will be taking a little step back from the blog. I am determined that no matter how stressful and depressing our situation may seem at the moment, we will have a wonderful, Handmade Christmas to remember.
I hope you all do too! xx

Make and Bake with Mencap

I was contacted recently by the charity Mencap regarding a fab fundraising initiative they have set up.
Make with Me and Bake with Me are all about getting together, getting crafty, having fun and raising awareness and funds for Mencap and in particular to highlight their newly launched 'Stand by Me' campaign that aims to put a stop to disability hate crime.

So how can you get involved?

 Mencap want you to get
together with your friends, your mums and tots group or playgroup, your kids school or youth club, and get creative - learn a new craft, pass on your crafting skills to others make new friends and have some fun! They have even got some celebrity crafters to help their campaign including Barley Massey of Fabrications who has created some fabulous Gingerbread People Bunting. If baking is more your thing you can try Something for the Weekend's resident chef Simon Rimmer's Cake Pop recipe or the Queen of Cakes, Jane Asher's mouthwatering Gingerbread Men recipe. All these are available to download for free from the Make with Me website.

Why not make some gingerbread men and sell them to raise money for Mencap? Or arrange a craft session and ask for a donation to take part. There are lots of ideas in the Fundraising Pack download

Mencap are launching their 'Stand by Me' campaign to coincide with Learning Disability Week 20th-26th June and they are asking you to 'Make a Me' to help raise awareness. Whether you chose to make or bake - upload your a picture of your 'Me' to the facebook fanpages and be entered into a great competition to win some fab prizes.

Make with Me facebook page

Bake with Me facebook page

Whatever you do remember it's all about having fun whilst helping a really worthwhile cause. Let's get making and baking!!