Fundraising - Bottle Tombola

Fundraising could not be simpler with a Bottle Tombla. We are about a 20 person band so we asked everyone to donate a bottle for the tombola, this could be squash, alcoholic, soft drink or fizzy.

We had about 50 prizes with a couple spares in case of breakages etc. Each bottle had a cloakroom ticket ending with a 0 or 5, the rest of the strip was thrown away and then the other side of the raffle tickets were folded and put into a box for public to buy and try and win. This gave a 1 in 5 chance of winning, it has been known to add all of the raffle ticket numbers - including duplicates to give a 1 in 10 chance of winning, however we didn't want to do this given the size of our event.

This was one of our better earners as it attracts children and adults, again we charged 50p a go - given the bottles we had on offer this seems a good deal as there were mainly branded bottles.

Fundraising with Carnival Games - Hoopla

This is another of Andy's makes, again using leftover wood from another project in the garden. Very simply he cut half the wood from the middle in each piece and slotted them together nicely. We screwed ours in place to keep it from wiggling around.

Then each point has a long screw holding a wooden dowel in place as the targets for the rope hoops. The hoops we used were also made from garden supplies and they were held in circle form by wrapping the end of each rope individually in electrically tape and then taped together. This held up surprisingly well!

Our Hoopla fundraising carnival game also raised a respectable amount for us charging 50p for 3 hoops. We took the same two successful hoops won a prize.

We used rope along the ground with tent pegs holding them in place as adult and child lines.

Fundraising with Carnival Games - Whak a Rat

Luckily for me Andy is happy to give making things a go, he had a look online to find the best looking Whak a Rat fundraising carnival game. He had some wood from taking down his old shed and the building materials of the new one. So this cost us very little. We did have to buy the drain pipe brackets but the drain pipe was a spare too. Honestly our garden is full of 'useful' things. But I can't complain because my craft room is full of equally 'useful' things!!

Anyway, the back board is from the old shed, the legs are from the left over shed materials and attached with screws. Obviously the further back the legs go the less of an incline making the rat slide slower. We painted ours with a brick effect and think that this worked well!

I used some ends of brown spotty material and plaited woollen tails to make the rats - double stitched to ensure the filling of split peas did not come out! As this was all being used for a Town Band fundraiser it had to cost as little as possible. We are thinking about using the games in the garden when we have Belle's birthday and Zak's baptism.

We brought a foam bat from our local B and M so that hopefully players nor the board got damaged. It seemed to be a success!

We ran the fundraising game so that two or more hits won a prize. This seemed to work well because we charged 50p for 3 hits and made a reasonable amount from this carnival game.

Changes ....

We have grown to a family of 4! We are truly blessed and adjusting well (most days)

My plans are to get back to this space with our new adventures slowly. I have new goals and aspirations but I am choosing to take my time with them. I can get too gung ho with my ideas and realise that whilst my time is not quite my own at the moment I need to expect a little less from myself.

I have plans for a revamp, plans for soooo many projects we have been completing around the house. New adventures we have been experiencing with auctions online and in real life! Not to mention the 8 chickens we are currently keeping.

So I am hoping I am back for a while, just maybe less frequently than before. Lets see!

DIY Frame wall

I am sure everyone has seen these all over pinterest or other blogs. But I knew 2 years ago (when we moved into our house) that I wanted to recreate one. I just love them!

It was also a push to put some pictures up - literally there were 2 pictures up prior to this wall!

I started with deciding my pictures, deciding frames. I chose a range of miss matched frames but with a few of each for consistency.

Then I made sized, descriptive patterns so I could play around with them in the space.

 As you can see I went for smaller gaps and a more intentional cluster.
Please excuse the airer. I was that lazy taking the picture I would have had to stand up to get around it!!!!!

So there you have it, I am in love with it and I really enjoy looking at it. I plan on adding to it but for now I am happy!

Re-purposing a broken mirror

Andy and I picked up a plain mirror ages and ages ago when it was on sale. It has moved about 3 different times with us. I don't have any pictures of it plain but it was just pine and boring. I painted the outside white and the inner runner a pale olive green.

When we brought our house we decided it was going in the hall way. Unfortunately the mirror got damaged in transit so I had to think of something to cover the damage but also make it cuter.

So I crocheted some hearts, added cute buttons and a felt backing. Then voila! Transformed mirror for a cute/feature piece in our hallway. Now I just hope Andy likes it when he gets in...... who am I kidding, I bet it takes 2 days for him to notice!













 I really like the addition, the felt backing covers the break and the hearts just add a bit of interest.

When was the last time you paid a penny for something?

I am going to be one of those old ladies in a rocking chair, with my crochet shawl wrapped over my legs for a second and ask when was the last time you got something for such an absolute bargain you felt you were almost stealing it?!!

My mum and I went to this amazing craft shop a little while ago and this was my treasure:

 

(This paper was kind of yuckky but the words were so lovely - I am sure I will be using them in something soon!)

All £1.78 of it....... I honestly don't know when the last time I spent so little and came away so happy!!

Make your own scratch cards!

I dont often read Dainty Squid but boy am I glad I came across this lovely DIY!!

How fun is that?! Who knew it was so simple?

I am definitely giving this a go! I am also thinking that I could use this to make my baby shower invitations just little bit more interesting!! Who knows ....