Charity

I can confirm that the chairty, which the proceeds of this project will be going to, is Friends Of Treetops School. Their registered charity number is 1004981.

They are a school which offfers inclusive education for children with Autism.

For more informatrion please see their website which is http://www.treehouse.org.uk/treehouse-services/the-school/treehouse-school/. I think you will agree that they are a deserving charity and well matched for my project :)

Circle book

Hopefully their will be a mention of my project in the Augut issue of Scrapbook Inspirations, so keep your eyes peeled :)

I have some pictures here of a super fab mini book, which will be one of my auction items! It will be perfect for adding photos too or giving as a present. All details of the Auction will come at a later date. A big thankyou to Annette, who can be found here - http://scraphappenshere.blogspot.com/ for this wonderful item. All the pictures were taken by Annette also :)

Candles

There is an excellent tutorial here http://michellescraftypaper.typepad.com/ on how to decorate candles if you wish to take a look. It is so ever so simple but soo effective!

I have been busy making the pencil case seen in the attached pictures. I used the pattern from here . It is very quick and simple to make and decorate.To make my case i photocopied the pattern, enlarging it so pencils would fit in, then followed the attached instruction. I added a few decorations to the pocket using beads and hand sewing, plus a row of ribbon along the top. My mum has also made a football one in Norwich City colours, with footballs attached. Why dont you see what you can come up with?

Made items

In the first picture there are some lovley knitted biros, using funky wool. Lovingly handmade by my human knitting machine Marcelle. She came round for tea and i got her knitting pens for me, and sent her home with a handfull more to knit :)

The second picture is what Shelia will be sending me. She has handmade the envelopes and put items of stationary inside, including a pen and a notebook. It is such a wonderful idea! Thankyou

Inspiration

I know a lot of people are struggling for things to make, so i have come up with a short list of ideas. You can make anything, as long as you can say it was inspired by my red pen. I have some excellent links in the sidebar to the right of my blog, including some sites which have some super cool ideas on how to decorate pens.

you could make:
mirrors/photo frames
pentubs,
pencil cases,
crayon sets,
pegs,
brooches,
jewelry,
pens / pencils,
purse,
mini books,
hair slides

all sorts of things!

I am working on a pencil case following the instructions given on one of my listed sites. I cannot sew so it will be interesting to see how it works out.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog!!!!

The reason for this blog is I have been given a summer project to complete from my Educational Studies degree at the University of East Anglia.

The Brief

Has anyone seen or heard about the little red paperclip?? (For those of you who have not the youtube video is to the right) That is the basis for the project. We were all given a red biro pen and we had to do something with the pen which was entrepreneurial and that would benefit Society. We have until September to complete this project.

My Project

I have come up with many ideas for my project but this is what I have decided. I have decorated my red pen by knitting a cover for it, and hand sewing on some beads. I will collect items which have been handmade and been inspired by my red pen. These items will then be sold at the Norwich Police Gala day at the Show Ground at the end of August. Alongside this I will be asking well known crafters to make something which I will then auction off on eBay. (Date to be confirmed.) I hope this project will make a good sum of money but if it doesn’t, it has spurred on members of the community to be creative and think outside the box. The benefit to society will be there no matter what. All money raised will go towards a charity which I will post up at a later date once the charity is confirmed.

Your Help

If you would like to help me in this project I ask that you make anything inspired my little red pen and send it to me to sell. You can get your friends, children, local club involved and have a great time experimenting. If you wish to help please leave a message on the blog with your email, or email me at darm_314@yahoo.com and I will send you the address. Please note that this email will be used solely for this project and is not my personal or university email.

Ideas

You could make pens, pencils, beads, jewellery, knitted items, pencil cases, pencil pots, anything as long as it is inspired by my little red pen. You can use a mix of materials including clay, fimo, paper, ribbon, plastic, wool, cotton, photographs and much more. I will be adding inspirational links to the right hand side of this blog as the project progresses.

Extras

I will be posting pictures of some of the items I receive to inspire you but I will not be able to post them all. All items which will be up for auction will be shown here. I cannot respond individually to everyone who sends me items. Please be careful when making your items as accidents can happen, all you need to do is look at my melted and smashed original red pen to see that!

Deadline

I must have received all items by the 20^th of August