Skip to main content

Handmade Treasures Christmas Sale

Each year I organise a Handmade Treasures Christmas Sale to support a humanitarian project. There are three aims for the sale ... 1) to raise funds to support a project, usually in a developing country; 2) to showcast the work of local artisits/craftspersons; 3) to provide stree free Christmas shopping. In the past, we have been able to support the purchase of mosquito nets for Papua New Guinea via the program, Rotarians Against Malaria, the Mando Primary School Project for which Jim and I have been volunteers this year, and RotaryPolio Plus campaign .


Today was SALE day... it was rather hectic getting things ready for the sale, especially as I had the whole month away in PNG in September and seemingly less and less time to work on creating stuff. However, there are many talented women in Newcastle and thanks to good friends - Diana Carson, Wendy Scott, Bobbi Oliver, Jane Lambert , Dolores Prete and Judy Hardy who participated in the sale by bringing in such great creative work, we had a fantastic display of high quality handmade treasures. And of course, we had some really positive customers so it was a great success.
What were the best sellers ? Surprisingly - the feltfollies all went quickly as did the silver jewellery and felted bags. It was also wonderful to sell one of Wendy's quilts to someone who really appreciated her beautiful work.
Tips for sales in your home and sanity? 1) Be organised 2) Have a husband who is willing to help, supply continuous tea and coffee to sellers and buyers alike, make lunch and generally pack and carry. 3) Gift wrap 4) Have a great network of friends 5) Be positive at all times 6) Keep remembering that having fun is more important than sales.



Today we have been able to support the Mando project - equipment for a special classroom for students with disabilites, and provide some medical equipment for a hospital in Polillio in the Philippines. Thank you everyone.
Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 8, 2008 at 3:41 PM

    Glad the day was a great success, sorry I didn't get back to you, but didn't have much here and life has been a bit crazy, who would have thought a daughter on the other side of the world could be so much hard work :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Non-Committal Collage Anything Goes

Have you heard of non-committal collage?   I hadn't until one of the other participants of the 100 Day Project started doing this each day and showing the results....  Here are  Peggy's  rules :  1. S elect 9 scraps of paper from  collage  box/stash  2. Make three  different compositions using each scrap at least once.  (some pieces can be used more than once)  3. Do not alter the scraps of paper in any way.  4.Do not use glue.  5.Take photo, disassemble and return scraps to box.   I thought this would be a fun and quick exercise to do for Tag Tuesday's theme , Anything Goes... so here are my "non-committal collage" tags....  Did you spot the nine pieces? Would  you like to suggest some titles?   And I repeated the exercise before putting back the 9 scraps of paper, so these are different items.  Hope you will try this exercise -  it is lots of...
1 comment
Read more

Giveaway - Gifts for You on My Birthday

Giveaway Gifts T his week is blog giveaway time! Last week I celebrated my birthday.  I’ve had far too many to count the candles, but I had a wonderful party on the weekend with my family - with an indulgent birthday cake, favourite foods cooked by my husband and great company. ( In case you were wondering about the writing on the cake , Por Por = Chinese grandmother)     I also got great gifts from  my family and friends. There seemed to be a bit of a theme this year – with many of my gifts and cards depicting matryshoka ( babushka) dolls and tea drinking.   As it is also winter here in Australia ,   it was easy for me to  decide what I could offer as gifts  in this birthday giveaway. All the gifts are handmade by me. Gift 1 - two little fabric matryshoka dolls  Gift 2- a little bag made from colourful teapot and teacup fabric . The design is called a jester bag, but it is suitable for carrying s...
24 comments
Read more

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes  - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary.   Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's  Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers).  This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach.    Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that...
Post a Comment
Read more