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Creative 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.
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
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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
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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
Our New Style Treasure Trove in Pontefract, UK
Saturday 12th August - here we go, sort of... It’s going to take a while to get our new treasure trove room ready so we’re opening bit by bit. We now
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Going Green Ambassadors
We're excited to have started a "Going Green Ambassador" training course, thanks to Quantum Vantage and West Yorkshire Consortium of Colleges (and the Nova newsletter for the heads-up).
We already do what we can, but we look forward to sharing more Going Green info.
Thought we'd give AI a shot at the graphic - it didn't do too badly!
#socent #creative #socialenterprise #greenambassador
Action for Happiness: 3 Actions to Try
As we burst into Spring, watch this quick 5m video from Psychologist Vanessa King on 3 simple techniques to make you calmer and improve your wellbeing 'in the moment'.
3 Active Tips:
- How and why you should move your muscles with things like 'kitchen workouts'
- The science behind stress and using your peripheral vision to replicate a landscape vista and feel calmer
- Noticing and actively opening your posture, particularly around your shoulders and collar bone.
Good stuff as always from the people at Action for Happiness.
Free Craft Supplies
We give free craft supplies to individuals and community groups in the Wakefield (UK) area primarily, subject to surplus
Positive Psychology Self Care New Ways to Feel Happy
Positive Psychology self care: new ways to feel happy from Action for Happiness
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5 Ways to Wellbeing
- Connect
- Be Active
- Take Notice
- Keep Learning
- Give