Thursday, May 28, 2020

From books to charity kits

Hi Tribe,
After losing my centre vision the thing I miss most is the ability to read. I loved reading. Then someone pointed me in the direction of Audible and quite frankly it changed my world. 

At first, I absorbed myself in marketing books, but there's only so many 'I became a millionaire overnight' success stories you can listen to and all of them were a far cry from the little business I had built up. Talks about social media calendars and planning went right over my head. I don't do strategy and funnels.... it's just not my way.

I was about to give up and delete my subscription when Milly Johnson popped up on the best sellers list. I listened to the brief audible snip, oh how I laughed! I realised she was not only a very clever writer but hilariously funny and an amazing storyteller. Added to that she came from my neck of the woods and wrote about brides (The White Wedding) .... a territory I was familiar with.  Over the next few months, I went through every book listed on Amazon and couldn't wait for the next one to be released.  I followed her on all social media... (Do you ever feel like a stalker?) I was desperate not to miss her updates.
If you are going to start listening or reading her novels I suggest you start with The Yorkshire Pudding Club. 

Just as I had ran out of Milly's books to read she recommended Carole Matthews
and one of her books  Paper Hearts & Summer Kisses, a story about a paper crafter, stood out. I loved the story and could really identify with so much of Christie Chapmans life.... as a paper crafter with a passion but also the drama and shock of been given bad news and taking comfort and solace to get you through the bad times.  Then somehow and I can't remember how I found that Christie was a real person and the news of her young sons brain tumour and the book was based on her. So I followed her on Facebook . 'Hope & Chances Creativity'.
I'm not a srtalker honest... I just love following the people I love.

Now then, you are probably wondering what all this has to do with anything much... but there's a wonderful sense of synchronicity going on here...so bear with me....

For the next week or so I am mulling over what I can do to keep the business afloat. I'm doubting that I will have an weddings to make invitations and stationery to make for the rest of this year. If you read the last post you'll realise I have more paper, card and envelopes than UI can shake a stick at and I also had that nagging thing at the back of my mind that I should be doing something to help not only myself but I realised that small charities with their fundraisers gone and the shops closed and that they too would be struggling.

After a lot of thinking, I was pretty set on making subscription boxes. With more and more people finding comfort and joy in being creative, I had everything I needed to get started. the more I thought of the generous task ahead the more I put it off. Afterall if I started this, how would I keep it going when the couples returned and the quiet season became my busy season once again?

Then a really weird thing happened. A link popped up on my Facebook feed. Christine was offering Charity Kits for sale to support the NHS I followed the link and found her blog Hope & Chances. On reading further I saw that this was not a new idea of hers.... she's been doing it for a long time..... since June 2013 in fact! What an absolutely brilliant idea! And something I could manage on a monthly basis. Not too taxing or time-consuming if this got crazy busy in the wedding world! I ordered a kit in support of her idea and to get some idea of what was involved. The May Charity Kit arrived!


WOW! Stunning!  I haven't that many dies and was thinking of something simpler, that perhaps would suit kiddies more. Then the Rainbow kit was released. Not one but 2 smaller cards RAINBOW CARDS can be seen HERE Perfect! I'm looking forward to handing these over to my paper mad 10-year-old granddaughter Daisy to make!


YES! YES! YES! This would be perfect... but I didn't want to roll this out without checking with Christine first. So I contacted her and she very kindly agreed it wasn't a problem AMAZING LADY!  Please do pop over and read her blog HERE and help her charity card fundraising by buying her kits. They are awesome little gems and great fun. All you need is glue and some gems if you want to embellish your cards.

Now, I'm in the process of putting together my first kit designs. The board backed postal envelopes have just this minute arrived and all being well, I'll be ready to rock and roll by the end of next week!

I think this will give me a great focus and get my backside moving back into the studio. It's been a very strange time of ups and downs both emotionally and mentally and I know I'm not alone.

The one thing that has kept me going through the dramas of my life is taking a simple piece of paper or card and making it into something incredible,

Crafting is good for the heart and soul, of that there is no doubt. Paper crafting especially gives great pleasure. it's readily available and affordable. What's not to like?
Please find Christine and Hope and Chances

With love and bright blessings, Sue xox.



1 comment:

ambermog said...

Yes please sign me up for kits Sue. Fab to see you blogging again.

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