guides – Page 2 – CraftyGuider

That was the year that was ~ 2014

It was a great year for the shop. Craftyguider had it’s best year yet, and I raised a nice sum of money to put into the Guide accounts. I get to meet Theo Paphitis soon to collect my #SBS (Small Business Sunday) award, and I featured in Guiding magazine and the local press. However, I didn’t manage to launch a presence on Etsy, or learn about taking better photos.

I managed to make enough Christmas cards for friends and family, and sold handmade Christmas cards and tags in my shop for the first time. However I didn’t start in July as planned, and had a few late nights before craft fairs frantically making stock.

I handmade a few Christmas and birthday gifts this year, however I didn’t make as many as I’d planned to.

Q and A a Day I kept up to date with my Q&A a day diary (if you count the odd catch up sessions when I missed a couple/few/several days), however the Craftyguidelets didn’t do theirs.

I blogged more than usual, however I didn’t get into a rhythm and get all my ideas off the ground, especially more tutorials.

I worked hard to keep my local Rainbow and Brownie units open and helped to recruit new leaders, however I didn’t manage to get new units to open so that all the girls who want to join, can.

I have completed quite a few magazine kits this year, but not the one a week I wanted to. I have also tackled the magazine mountain and now say to myself that buying more magazines doesn’t make me happy, and the clutter makes me sad when I’m standing at the magazine display in the supermarket. However, the magazine hill is still there.

I haven’t learned how to procrastinate less, I’m still carrying some extra pounds, and the office is a bomb site.

I have learned an important thing this year though. I can’t (and shouldn’t) do everything. I don’t have to fill every available minute in the service of others or dusting the bannisters or attending meetings or making things for the shop. I need to prioritise my girls, my husband, my family and me. All the ‘howevers’ above have occurred because something else came up. A craft session with the Craftyguidelets, making Elsa dresses, going on family holidays, extra time at the park after school, a day out on my own to a craft fair as a customer, not a vendor.

Have a wonderful new year everyone, and I hope 2015 is everything you want it to be.

Louise x

Poppies and Buses

After doing the Books About Town trail around London in the summer, the Craftyguidelets and I decided to sample the Transport for London Bus Sculpture Trail to celebrate the Year of the Bus. As one of the trails started and finished near the Tower of London, we took the chance to take Mr Craftyguider and mother in law with us to see the poppies now that the installation was almost complete.We had seen the poppies in August, but so many more had been added since then. It is such a stunning sight. It really brings home the 888,246 lives lost in WWI and has taught the Craftyguidelets a lot about the scale of casualties of the war.We got there as early as our travelcards allowed us from the sticks but it was so busy, we were advised to get off the train at Aldgate rather than Tower Hill. However, after lunch when we were the other side of the river, we looked back at the Tower and it was swarming with people. Even crossing Tower Bridge was hard due to the volume of people coming the other way.If you can get to see the poppies before it finishes, it is worth the trip. Just try going early!After lunch, we crossed the river to start the bus sculpture trail. The bus models have been painted by well-known and aspiring artists and spread over 3 trails along the river and in the City, around Westminster, and in the Olympic Park. Another trail will also open up before Christmas.Having looked for book benches in the summer, I didn’t find this as exciting. The book benches could be sat on and represented books that were mainly familiar to me and the Craftyguidelets. The buses were each labelled with a big sign saying DO NOT CLIMB.This Orla Kiely design was at least familiar to me.This placement was really great with Tower Bridge directly behind the bus. I wish the weather was as good as that painted on the bus though!This punk bus was outside St Pauls. Not sure of the connection there!This is the Kids Company bus with images of children sleeping on the bus to escape homelessness, and was painted by an ambassador of the charity.And this bus was the last on the trail representing the 24 hour nature of the city and the buses.I don’t think we’ll be back to look for the other buses. However, it was a nice day out and took us round several of the London sights, so it would be a nice guided tour along the river for a visitor in combination with a trip to the Tower.

The Paddington Bear trail starts on 4th November. I’m already excited by this one as there are bears designed by celebrities. I’m a bit disappointed that Bear Grylls has a Scouting bear and Girlguiding doesn’t have one. If we do visit it, I’m dressing the family up in Guiding uniforms and travelling to Heathrow to be photographed with it.

And then there are 300 owls to find in Birmingham next year. Surely Guiding gets first call on that!

Girlguiding UK Big Gig 2014

Wem-ber-leee, Wem-ber-leee, Wem-ber-leee! No, sorry. It’s not football, it should be “HELLO WEMBLEY. GIVE ME A SCREAM!!!!!” Cue 10,000 Guides and their leaders at Girlguiding UK’s Big Gig to raise the roof of Wembley Arena for the biggest event of the Guiding calendar in the eyes of my Guides. A real pop concert with real chart names.

On Saturday 4th October, 13 Guides, one Guide mum and 2 leaders left a train station in Hertfordshire to go down to Wembley Arena to join 10,000 other Guiding types for the second Big Gig of the day. The Guides were excited. The mum was excited. The 2 leaders, let’s face it, were doing their duty to their Guides and going along so the Guides didn’t miss out on the trip. I’ve heard of Union J and Little Mix but couldn’t (and still can’t) identify any of their songs. I think I’ve seen Diversity do their thing. Kingsland Road? Mike Dignam? Neon Jungle? I don’t think I’ve ever heard Ken Bruce play any of their songs on Radio 2 so there’s no hope for me there!

I tweeted about the event in the morning and after one of my tweets, Mike Dignam followed me on Twitter! “Wow!” I thought, “This will impress the Guides!”. Nope. They’d never heard of him either!

After a bit of Google and Wikipedia revision, I felt prepared for the trip (one member of Union J has strange eyebrows so I’m sure to recognise them, therefore Kingsland Road will be the ones without the eyebrows).

A completely smooth trip by train and tube and we took our seats. As you can see from the picture, we were quite a way back, but as tickets are allocated by lottery, you don’t get to choose.These were a great find thanks to the #BigGig2014 hashtag on twitter. They hand them out for free at the information counters and someone had tweeted about it. They came in handy for the Little Mix set at the end!10,000 Guides with their phones lit up is a fantastic sight. Add to that the flashing bunny ears, freaky hair and illuminated squid heads and it looked brilliant.And then I became a cool Guide leader. Mike Dignam came up on stage. “He’s WELL fit!” came the cry from the Guides. “Is he the one that follows you on twitter?”. Kimberly Wyatt (ex-Pussycat Dolls and Got To Dance judge – I’ve heard of her!) was hosting and posted a selfie on Instagram which I liked and commented on on behalf of my Guides. I was a social media queen for them.

Stooshe was a surprise, and were a hit with the Guides. Ken Bruce has played them so I was able to show my knowledge there too! And I’d heard of Stacey Solomon too.

Once Little Mix had finished, we managed to dash to the train station before the rush and got home before I turned into a pumpkin. I even got some thank yous from the Guides without them being nudged to do it by their mums!

The Big Gig is a fabulous event organised by Girlguiding UK twice a year all over the UK. I’ve been going fairly regularly since they started more than 10 years ago. I’ve seen Ed Sheeran (before he was a megastar, absolutely brilliant with just a guitar and some pedals), Orson, Shayne Ward (Google him if you don’t remember), Pixie Lott, Eliza Doolittle, Lawson, Conor Maynard, Dionne Bromfield, Katy B, Olly Murs, Amelia Lily, JLS, Scouting for Girls, Lil’ Chris, Sugababes, Aleesha Dixon, McFly, The Saturdays and loads more.

The only way Guides can enjoy events like this is if more people volunteer. We were only able to go because of the Guide mum who was willing to step in and be an extra adult. You don’t have to be a leader to support Guiding. We need people to test badges, do accounts, help once a term in meetings, or even come to pop concerts.

And by the way, Mike Dignam has since unfollowed me on twitter. Obviously handmade cards and news on the Craftyguidelet’s broken arm weren’t his thing. His loss!

Dear September

Where did our time go September? 30 days and it was all over!

You gave me glorious weather (mostly!) and lots of time in the garden appreciating the wonderful flowers still blooming their socks off. Considering that from February to April it looked like a muddy mess, now it’s landscaped and lovely.

My little Leprechaun turned Imp now has her Brownie Gardener badge for the hard work she put in sowing seeds, thinning out, weeding, watering and finally clearing away. Hopefully she’ll help again next Spring, and her grandparents want to hire her for her skills with a seed packet.

I achieved things, September. This pretty dress for Rainbow Craftyguidelet, some cards, some bunting, and even a tutorial for the book bags I made for the Craftyguidelets’ music lessons. Sales have been picking up with Craftyguider following a bit of promo work, and the big push to Christmas starts now. The Christmas shop is now open. I just need to fill it up a bit more!My Guiding life has started again. Guides and Rainbows are back, and once again I am juggling admin, trying to get as many girls as possible off the waiting lists and into units where they can join the fun, and trying to encourage more volunteers to come forward and help this to happen.I have also started Trefoil Guild which is like the WI for Guiding types. It was so lovely just going to a meeting for grown ups, not being asked to do anything, not being responsible for anything, not feeling guilty for not doing more. I just enjoyed the talk on the fabulous work of Guide Dogs and the puppy walkers. Finally something just for me to enjoy!WI planning has started again for our Handmade Christmas Craft Fair on 16th November. I need to get a shifty on for my stall!

But then just like that it was over September. 30 days of full on busyness and then phwoomp! October happened.

Autumn is here and I’ll be joining in with Miss Beatrix’s #BashSAD challenge to banish the blues of the shorter days. I’m also attempting to complete a whole month of the Fat Mum Slim #fmsphotoaday challenge on Instagram. My house is finally gaining some order after a summer of neglect, the kids are settled at school. Let’s do this October!

What was that? Half term at the end of the month? *sticks fingers in ears and pretends not to hear*

What are you up to this month?

Guide Dogs and Trefoil Guild

Meet my new friend Harry. I’m not a doggy person but he’s kind of cute! He was the guest of honour (with his puppy walker Sarah) at my first Trefoil Guild meeting to talk about Guide Dogs and the need for funds and more puppy walkers.

Sarah has been a Guide Dog puppy walker for a number of years, and Harry is her 5th puppy. He is a HUGE retriever/labrador cross and was so well behaved. He is almost at the end of his puppy walking stage, and will hopefully go to Guide Dog boot camp and graduate to be an essential part of a blind or partially sighted person’s life. She spoke with such a passion about her role as a puppy walker and the urgent need for more. The call for funds is a common one in an organisation which doesn’t receive any government funding, but I didn’t realise there were other support roles required too. Each puppy costs Guide Dogs UK around £50,000 from birth to retirement at about 9 or 10, and yet each potential owner only has to pay 50p as a token contractural amount to get their dog. Puppy walkers take a young puppy and train it over a year to strict guide dog standards to produce a well behaved dog, ready for final training on a harness before it is handed over to someone who really needs one. Sarah told us a number of stories about people whose lives have been transformed for the better because of their partnership with their pooch.

The Trefoil Guild is Guiding for adults. Like WI for Guiding types really. As I’m a Guiding geek and a WI member, I thought I’d give it a go. I found my local branch and they were really welcoming and helpful. I did feel incredibly young at the meeting (being at least 20 years younger than everyone else in the room!), but everyone was really lovely and they went out of their way to chat to me.

Like the WI, the Trefoil has gained an ‘older woman’ reputation, despite being open to anyone 18+. It was so nice being somewhere where I wasn’t organising something or responsible for something. I just went, moved a few chairs to help out, and left. Bliss! I will be back next month for more, and when I join, I will be channelling my Guiding geekiness more and going for the Voyage Awards. I’m a sucker for a badge!

Getting to Know You – Ice Breaker Activities

It’s the start of the new term at Guides and as usual we have some new starters. I do my Guiding in a fairly rural area, so most of the Guides know each other from the main school in the village, but it seems that there is a huge gulf between the lofty year 7’s and the new year 5’s.

Looking for some new ideas, I stumbled across icebreakers.ws which has a number of interesting games to get everyone talking and learning more about each other. Who knows, they may actually find out that the year 6’s aren’t an alien species and are quite interesting!

I’ve tried the Bingo style games before where you have a sheet of paper and have to go around finding someone who has an elder brother, someone who is left-handed and someone who can’t stand One Direction. This is good at making the Guides talk to people outside of their normal friend group because Nancy the new girl is the only one with a hamster, and if they want to get that signed off, they need to share the fact that they hate marmite.

Another suggestion on the website is the blanket game where you hide one person behind a blanket and everyone else tries to guess who it is. I find this works best when you know each other a bit first. Rainbows won’t peek while you are hiding someone, but Guides aren’t beyond a bit of cheating. Or is it just mine?

I think I’ll be trying the connecting stories game within the new patrols. One person starts off a story such as “I had jam on toast for breakfast this morning” and then the next person needs to provide an anecdote related to this such as “my mum made strawberry jam this summer” followed by someone else’s “I went to a pick your own farm and we picked 3 punnets of delicious strawberries”. The linked stories have to carry on as long as possible.

With my old unit, I played the “move to the left” game where everyone sits in a circle on their own chair. The person in the middle makes a statement such as “move to the left if you have an older brother”. Anyone this applies to has to move to the left and sit in the next chair. If a Guide doesn’t have an older brother, they stay put, which can mean they get someone sat on their lap. If there is a complete pile up, you can rescue the poor unfortunate Guide left sitting underneath 4 others by making a statement that you know applies to her alone.

Do you have any good ice breaker activities to share?

Girlguiding is the leading charity for girls and young women in the UK, with 553,633 members. Thanks to the dedication and support of 100,000 amazing volunteers, we are active in every part of the UK, giving girls and young women a space where they can be themselves, have fun, build brilliant friendships, gain valuable life skills and make a positive difference to their lives and their communities. We build girls’ confidence and raise their aspirations. We give them the chance to discover their full potential and encourage them to be a powerful force for good. We give them a space to have fun. We run Rainbows (5—7 years), Brownies (7—10 years), Guides (10—14 years) and The Senior Section (14—25 years). If you can give some time to help support or lead a unit, just click here or call 0800 1 69 59 01.

World Thinking Day 2014

I’m shining a light for World Thinking Day 2014. Happy birthday Lord and Lady Baden Powell and thanks for the adventure.

Calling all Brownies

Right-click to download high-res image

2014 is the year that Brownies celebrate their Centenary. All members of Girlguiding from Rainbows to Adults have a Big Brownie Birthday Challenge badge that they can work towards so we can join in with the celebrations, even if we aren’t Brownies. Challenges take inspiration from various milestone years in the last 100 years in the Brownie programme.
1957 was Baden-Powell Centenary year (being 100 years since the birth of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting and Guiding) and Brownies did six World Good Turns on the theme of Houses of Today and Tomorrow. On the evening of World Thinking Day (22nd February), all members put lights in their window to celebrate the joint birthdays of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell.
In this Brownie Centenary year, and also Hertfordshire County’s Centenary year, Girlguiding is challenging as many members and former members of Guiding to put a light in their window on the evening of 22nd February. It doesn’t matter if you were thrown out of the Brownies (if I had a pound for every time…) or if you have your 40 year service award, put a light in your window to remember Robert and Olave Baden-Powell’s birthday and the contribution they made to the lives of millions of people around the world.

Time to dig out those Christmas lights again and think of something imaginative for my window.

What are your memories of Guiding?

Theo Paphitis #SBS Winner

I wanted to get more focused on my blog and my webshop in 2014. I’m still on catch up, so my targets for January were just to get my workspace organised. Simple but achievable.

However, I did start a couple of things. I have a plan in place for what themes I am concentrating on for www.craftyguider.com month by month. I have started following more accounts on instagram, pinterest and twitter, as well as more blogs on bloglovin, and I started entering Theo Paphitis’ Small Business Sunday competition on twitter. Two weeks in, I won!

My winning tweet said “When I was a Guide, I earned 2 Craft badges. Now I’m a leader, I design and make badges.”

I am so pleased Theo Paphitis personally chose me, and having had a quick look through the #SBS winners website, the benefits are fabulous, I’ve increased my exposure on twitter, and I hope this, with a bit of hard work, translates to more sales in my webshop. And best of all, I hope to meet Theo and get a certificate at his next winners event.

I’d love to hear from you if you have any creatives you think I should be following on social media. And obviously feel free to click on the links above to follow me!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I’ve been lucky to have been able to get a move on with quite a few crafty projects to tick off my WIP list. Last month’s #WIPslinky post was a bit up and down with success in clearing my archive, so I set myself a realistic task list for this month.

I have started my Christmas cards. I am about halfway through making them and really enjoying thinking up different designs. I am also enjoying using up the different elements that I have collected over previous years. Perhaps I will be able to store all my Christmas crafty bits in just one box this year!

I have also managed to get lots of fabulous new products made and listed on Craftyguider.

These frame purses were featured in a previous post and are now on the website. This polka dot one is my favourite.

I’ve made five kilt pin charm brooches with themes of sewing, gardening, owls, party girl and this knitting one.

I’ve also added some more rings to the Rings and Things category, including these two fabric covered button ones:

And I’ve been sewing Christmas decorations too.

These stockings are made of soft fleece with a furry cuff. I’ve made several different versions including these ones.

I’ve also been making Christmas tree decorations for the website this year. The pine cones are made with pins and folded fabric, and the cute Christmas trees use some funky Christmas fabric.

One of my biggest sellers last year was Christmas fabric bunting so I’ve got four colour combinations listed including this one.

Quite a successful month! Just as well as I have a craft fair to go to on 17th November in Puckeridge, and there are bills to be paid at Guides (where all the profit goes).

Next month I think I’ll focus on getting the Craftyguidelets’ WIP list started. They use the dining room as their craft room and I need to reclaim it in time for Christmas. They need to make Christmas cards for friends and teachers, there is a half finished hama bead ballerina that needs completing and ironing before it gets knocked on the floor (again!), and there are numerous projects and kits that they have started and never finished.

What do you need to get finished before Christmas?

Linking to Tales From Mount Pleasant’s #WIPsLinky party. Come and join us!