No more sleeps!!! WHAT A NIGHT!!!

THE ENTRY TABLE

Well after months and months and months of planning, organizing, rallying, emailing, phone calls, knocking on doors and so much more our masquerade dinner fundraising event Behind The Mask of Autism is all over!!
Last night went off without a hitch! what a great night and a fabulous success. Our day started early at Mona Vale Golf Course, setting up the room with our auction item tables, decorations, posters, centre pieces etc and as it came together we all began to get more and more excited about the night ahead.....


BEGINNINGS OF THE CENTRE PIECES


ROOM ALL READY

then before we knew it the time had arrived to start welcoming the guests! just like a wedding the night flew past but everything went to plan and all feedback so far has been 100% positive - we've been asked to make in an annual event.... we'll see!! We are all VERY tired but it was so worth all our work.


JUST SOME OF OUR GUESTS LOOKING FABULOUS!

All our 120+ guests looked fantastic in their formal attire and masks and everyone got into the spirit of the night, had a dance, a great dinner and lots of bids on both our loud and silent auctions - all 77 items went!!


THE SILENT AUCTION ITEMS BEING SUSSED OUT BY GUESTS


THE ROOM BEGINS TO FILL WITH GUESTS

We are only just starting to get a tally together of the generosity of the amazing guests from the night and so far with just ticket sales and auction items we are at $25,000!!! AMAZING!! with donations and other bits and pieces not yet included we are just overwhelmed at the outcome for our three amazing children, Blake, Hannah and my daughter Felicity, who were the stars of the night!!

I will be sure to fill you all in on the final amount raised toward our amazing children's Son-Rise Programs that day by day takes us closer to recovering them from Autism, and I'll post more photos as I receive them from the many people who took some of the night.
Thank you to all especially those who donated towards our auction items (see side bar for list of shop names), without you our night would have been nowhere near as fantastic!!! THANK YOU!!

Puzzles, puzzles - everywhere!! 39 sleeps to go!!

There are 'Awareness Ribbons' for so many different causes and we all seem to know the well publicized ones like the pink breast cancer ribbon or the red HIV/AIDS ribbon but do you know what the Autism Awareness Ribbon looks like? I didn't either until I had Autism come into my life through my daughter, Felicity.
It looks like this
and has a great meaning behind it -

"The puzzle pattern of this ribbon reflects the mystery and complexity of Autism.
The different colors and shapes represent the diversity of the people and families living with the disorder.
The brightness of the ribbon signals hope - hope through research and increasing awareness in people like you".


With our up and coming fundraising Masquerade Ball - Behind The Mask Of Autism - for Felicity and two other children affected by Autism I thought this would be a great opportunity to use the puzzle print and colors of the ribbon for decoration inspiration for the event, and wanted to share with you a 'sneak peak' of the decorations all coming together!

The Masquerade Ball event is a sit down three course meal so we plan to have table centre pieces similar to these on each table


with these balloons in all the colors of the ribbon filled with helium coming up and out of the boxes in between the masks


and the boxes themselves tied with this Autism Awareness puzzle ribbon (supplied by JodisCraftEmporium)


Then sprinkled around the centre piece will be a handful or two of these puzzle pieces I have slowly been hand painting again in the Autism ribbon colors - I think they will look great against a white table cloth



To help with the fundraising we have managed to round up a great and HUGE selection of items for both a loud and silent auction on the night and will have all of these items and their details - like their value and who donated them displayed for all the guests to see. My plan is to use Giggleberry banners that I have made from Autism Awareness puzzle fabric (donated by NewEnglandQuilter) to decorate and highlight this amazing range of items.



Now if you use your imagination can you see the function room for our Masquerade Ball looking colorful, puzzle full and fabulous? - I sure can!

If you want to read more about Felicity or your chance to help us with the fundraising take a look HERE