Last month I decided to collect undies for the charity Small for All. Between us my daughter and I managed to gather four bras but then I put out an appeal on Facebook and the response has been overwhelming.Here is the box packed full of new and barely used undies, all collected by lovely creative Yorkshire people including brand new packs of knickers. Most people brought their contributions to my stand at Art in the Pen, the rest dropped them off at the shop where I work in Saltaire.
Smalls donation box
The satisfaction of collecting for Smalls for All is that I don't have to ask anyone for money or sponsorship and the donations go directly to the recipients. Here's what the charity has to say about it.
"Because many women and children in Africa can't afford underwear, they fall victim to disease and attack. And girls who are lucky enough to have a place in school often miss 3 or 4 days a month due their lack of underwear. Smalls for All donates underwear in many ways - through links with established charities; through hospitals that treat women with conditions like fistula; through IDP camps and children's homes and orphanages"
If you missed the collection and you would like to donate to Small for All please visit their website. If you don't have any smalls to spare they accept financial donations too.
I got fed up with how expensive gift boxes for jewellery had become so now I always make my own for craft fairs. I use origami paper or stiff gift wrap for the lids, the bases I make from magazine pages.
These boxes were made from Beatles album covers gift wrap. The paper makes the ideal boxes for cufflinks and are fun to make too. The great thing about using patterned paper is that each box comes out with a different design. Plain paper boxes are rather tedious to make.
Each box has a small square of wadding in it to stop the cufflinks from rolling around. These boxes were made from a 15.5cm square piece of paper. To make the base fit use 15cm square of paper for the base.
I learned to make these boxes by following a short film on You Tube (see below). These boxes won't survive in the post unless they are placed inside a cardboard box but they are great to use at craft fairs.
