Hot Wax Art & Crafts Blog

I submitted one of my paintings to Plaincraft and, as I type, it’s the top rated item!

Here’s the proof:

What gorgeous weather we’re having today!  We all slapped on the SPF 50 Sun Cream and went to the beach at Leven this morning, which was fab!

Long may the good weather last!

Yesterday I applied online to do an HNC in Art & Design at the local college!  The course covers drawings, paintings, communications, jewellery design, graphic design, pictorial illustration, ceramics and sculpture … and sounds FANTASTIC!!

I’ve been invited to go in for a chat about it next week, so fingers crossed!

I got a lovely email from the winning bidder of the charity Sunset painting auction to say that it had arrived safely and that “the picture didn’t do it justice. It is beautiful”.

Lovely email to receive!!

These are today’s spirit jumps…

The first is for a little girl called Hannah who suffers from Gaucher’s Disease Type 2 and 3.  If, like me, you haven’t come across this before, please visit Hannah’s website to learn about this disease and  to read her story.

I made this bib for Hannah:

Bib for Hannah

My second spirit jump today is for a woman called Lindsey who is fighting Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  I sent Lindsey some fruity soaps that I made earlier today which will hopefully lift her spirits:

Fruit Soaps

My final spirit jump of the day is for Celina, who’s fighting Aggressive Cervical Cancer.  Celina loves unicorns so I decided to try painting one!  Below is the end result, made into a print and placed inside a card:

Unicorn painting card

If you haven’t heard of Spirit Jump, it’s a FANTASTIC charitable organisation created by two wonderful ladies in the US.

From their website:

“Spirit Jump is a program that directly connects the gift giver with a person battling cancer.

If you have a shop, artistic abilities or even an extra card in your drawer and you want to give it to a person in need, send us an email that you want to be a Spirit Jumper at spiritjumper@spiritjump.com We will then connect you directly with a person in need, or we can give you a list of names, a brief description of what their particular cancer battle is and you can choose. When the match is made, We’ll give you that persons mailing address and then it’s up to you to send the gift. It’s a simple.

If you decide to be a Spirit Jumper you will be overwhelmed with the joy and warmth you feel when giving a gift. Additionally, every Spirit Jumper is welcome to write a post on our website and tell our many readers about your shop, blog or website. You may include links, photos and any information you want to be featured on the site. We encourage you to also include why you decided to donate, who you donated to and maybe even a photo of what you donated. This will be wonderful exposure for your shop, blog, website and you will be lifting someone’s spirit, WIN, WIN!

Want to be a Spirit Jumper just email: spiritjumper@spiritjump.com
Need a spirit jump or know someone who does just email: needaspiritjump@spiritjump.com”

I first heard about Spirit Jump through a post on CraftsForum and I didn’t hesitate to join. These gifts and gestures – no matter how small – really DO make a difference and I’m truly honoured to be a part of the project.

I’ve blogged about some of my own spirit jumps here and I offer a 10% discount to fellow spirit jumpers.

Today I’ve been spirit jumping a 1-year-old girl who’s been undergoing chemo since she was only 3 weeks old.  I made up a personalised babygro for her – hope it fits!!

I’ve just finished off another Spirit Jump!  This time I’m jumping a little boy (only 3 years old) who’s fighting a battle against unidentifiable tumours.

He’s a big fan of Sesame Street, so I painted Elmo for him and turned it into a card – hope he likes it!

Elmo!

I’m just about to send off another spirit jump. This jump is for a little girl named Sammie who is battling bone cancer and is now out of treatment options

I made her a dewberry fragranced soap with a little dolphin bath toy swimming in it! The ‘bath toy soaps’ always go down a treat with kids at craft fairs, so hopefully this will help to raise Sammie’s spirits.

Sammie's bath toy soap

I also painted a picture, which I created a print of and put into a card for Sammie’s mum:

Sunset painting for Sammie's mum's card

I hope these will help to jump Sammie and Sammie’s mum’s spirits!