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Creative Resources & Self-Care Blog
"Crafting for good" is about helping yourself and others through creativity.
Visiting this site and purchases of our printable cards and crafts or eBay listings all help our community work. We like to think of it as "Robin Hood crafting" - those who can, helping those who maybe can't.
Creative Health & Wellbeing Workshops
Book our creative health and wellbeing workshops for your organisation, company or event.
My Creative Story Using Ceramics
I have always been creative since I was a small child and found comfort in being creative. However, I had significant gaps of my life when I had breaks
Yorkshire Cat Rescue Uses Crafting for Good
Delighted to be contacted by Yorkshire Cat Rescue in Keighley. Sadly though, they're at crisis point with more cats being abandoned than ever before - they need craft supplies to make catnip toys and other items for sale, to raise vital funds. We can supply them from our donated art and craft items.
We have 7 cats between us here, so we are more than happy to help.
Yorkshire Cat Rescue is a regional charity established in 1992 to reduce the number of unwanted and stray cats and kittens.
Neutering and microchipping the cats is of paramount importance to reduce the number of breeding and straying cats.
Additionally, the welfare of the cats is a major consideration and thus the charity uses both a purpose-built cattery and the services of volunteer foster carers located throughout the region to accommodate the cats in its care.
Yorkshire Cat Rescue enjoys a good reputation for both welfare standards for the cats and compassion to both the cats and the people who it assists by helping to rehome their pets which they can no longer afford, or they are too unwell to care for their cats.
They've been on Calendar and the BBC, Yorkshire Post and local radio stations over the last few weeks to try and generate help and support.
Fabric Supplied for Library Cafe Cushions
We recently supplied fabric from our community stock and sourced cushion inners for chairs in the newly decorated Airedale Library café.
Spectrum People's Women’s Group whipped up loads of bright new cushions in a lovely link up of two communities who don’t know each other.
The MHA (Methodist Housing Association) group that uses Airedale library loved the new cushions - they said they were very comfortable and much better than the shop-bought ones they had previously.
A huge thank you to the Mears Leeds team who decorated the café area 🙏
Get in touch if you need supplies for your community project.
Design Cuts Bundle Deal
Big savings on the Design Cuts Bundle deal - download lots of digital assets - no coupon or promo code needed
Volunteering Opportunities with Crafting4Good CIC
Volunteering opportunities supporting our nonprofit organisation and people's creative wellbeing
Continue reading "Volunteering Opportunities with Crafting4Good CIC"
Learn Digital Skills Through UKSPF Grant
Crafting4Good CIC has been awarded a further grant from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). This funding will help launch a new project to support our community, create more volunteering opportunities and provide skill development through "Skill Up!" - a virtual classroom for learning basic digital skills and practical psychology tools.
What's the Project About?
Our project builds on our previous UKSPF grant and aims to:
- Create a new team of volunteers to help with eBay, customer queries, website management, and social media- Develop a Virtual Classroom for learning modern digital skills and tools for psychological wellbeing- Provide hands-on work experience and skill development opportunities
Skill Up! in a Virtual Classroom
We're setting up a free online learning portal that will offer various courses based on:
- Basic Digital Skills- Canva, Google, eBay- Social media- Website content updates- Artificial Intelligence (AI)- More advanced topics as necessary
Why It Matters
- Helps people gain valuable skills for remote volunteering and/or work- Provides work experience and references- Supports Crafting4Good's sustainability
Get Involved
We're looking for volunteers to help test our new Virtual Classroom. If you're interested in learning new digital skills and gaining work experience, we'd love to hear from you!
To volunteer as a Tester please complete our online volunteer form
Join us in making a difference while boosting your skills for the modern workplace!
This project is funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Free Art & Craft Supplies for a Parents & Carers Charity
Our latest community bundle for a Parent's & Carers charity in West Sussex.
These donations are going to a charity supporting children with disabilities aged 0-25 and their families, to be used in respite activities and fun events for the whole family.
These free art and craft supplies come from our 'Community' surplus, with a standard postage and packing charge of £12 to cover our costs.
Please Note: we are unable to accept donations at the moment as we're trying to clear down a backlog. If you are in the Wakefield area and would like to help please check out our volunteering opportunities.
Free Craft Supplies
We give free craft supplies to individuals and community groups in the Wakefield (UK) area primarily, subject to surplus
Volunteering & Friends of Crafting4Good CIC
Volunteering is good for you and those you're helping. View our current opportunities and other ways you can support
Continue reading "Volunteering & Friends of Crafting4Good CIC"
How to be Happy - January 2024
The Action for Happiness Calendar has been published for January 2024 - download the English version below, or visit their Happier January webpage where it's available in multiple languages, including an accessible version, and you can download as a PDF for printing, add it to your Apple or Google calendar or sign up to receive it monthly.
Download January's Calendar
(open, then save or share, depending on your device)
January 1st: Find three things to look forward to this year
For Crafting for Good this is going to be getting back on our feet, spending more time updating this website and growing a successful volunteer team to help us distribute our art and craft donations. What about you?
Alongside the calendar, every month there's a short video with Vanessa King, Head of Psychology at Action for Happiness with their top 'action ideas' based on the science-backed 10 Keys for Happier Living.
In Happier January those tips focus on an area of growing research in psychology: Mattering, closely related to wellbeing and flourishing.
Action Ideas for January
- You matter. What self-care ideas can you think of to value yourself?
- Helping others feel that they matter; help people feel valued, just simple things like smiles or listening, random acts of kindness etc (this is usually far easier than number 1 !)
- Prepare yourself for success; it doesn't have to be big New Year's resolutions immediately but when you're ready. Get yourself set up for success and head-off any obstacles so that when you're ready you can crack on without setbacks that make you give up
There's a fabulous app available for both Apple and Android where you can interact with all the tools and talks on offer from Action for Happiness, make new connections and seek support when needed, including free 10-day online coaching which we're trying out too and will report back on...
They also offer online Volunteer Training over a few days, if you want to try that for your Happier January resolution!
Onwards & Upwards to 2024...
Single Mum to CEO at Crafting for Good an Inspirational Journey
From struggling single mum to CEO of a nonprofit craft company, crafting social and environmental impact
Continue reading "Single Mum to CEO at Crafting for Good an Inspirational Journey"
We're Levelling Up! Thanks to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund
Crafting4Good just got a major boost to level up our impact after an extremely challenging year!
We're thrilled to announce that we're gearing up for 2024 to be our year of getting back on our feet thanks to new funding. We have a huge backlog of unsorted art and craft donations stuck in boxes, that we've been moving from place to place since the summer. This new funding will allow us to recruit regular volunteers to help us tackle the mountain, unearthing unknown goodies so that these treasures are put to good use rather than gathering dust in storage. This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Community Benefits: With the help of new volunteers we'll be sorting through the mountain of mystery goodies and distributing them to community groups, promoting wellbeing and positive mental health through creativity.
Sustainable Support: Some donations will be upcycled and rehomed through our eBay shop, generating valuable funds to fuel our social enterprise.
All of this keeps unwanted art and craft items out of landfill, and hopefully we will be able to start accepting donations again later in the year.
If you or someone you know live in the Wakefield area and would like to be involved, please keep an eye on our volunteering opportunities on the Volunteer Wakefield site.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit UK Shared Prosperity Fund Prospectus
#UKSPF #LevellingUp #Crafting4Good #CommunityEmpowerment
