Overdue Update #1: Arts and Crafts

Well, hello there. I realise I've neglected this little corner of the internet for a while and for that I apologise. I've been meaning to inform you of these things but then other things have got in the way, so here they are now. First up, arts and crafts.

For three months earlier this year, I was the Arts and Crafts tutor at Stockdales in Sale. I took two weekly classes where I set projects for people with varying disabilities. It was rather hectic but so rewarding and a lot of fun when the projects went well. I often made some of the projects too in order to help direct the sessions so here are some of the things we got up to:

We decorated little plant pots and made paper flowers to put in them.

We decorated birdhouses to encourage birds to visit our gardens.

We made tissue paper collages of various animals and shapes. This is Frank the Frog (his full name is Francis.)

We painted using animal stencils and I made a rather vibrant wallpaper pattern with the tiger painting I did.

We made masks and this is how I greeted my mum when she came home that day.

We also made Jubilee crowns, Jubilee and Olympic decorations and one of my personal favourite projects: The Little Book of Me. I asked everyone to draw different things on pieces of paper of equal size, including a self-portrait, something that is their favourite colour, their favourite weather/season, their favourite belonging, etc. We then tied the eight drawings together and that became their Little Book of Me; they could hand the book to anyone and we would learn lots of things about them. I also ended up in the summer play as Simon Cowell, as you do.

Stockdales was a great experience but unfortunately quite a trek for me to get to (a good 90 minutes on public transport) so I had to leave. However, for the past six and a half months I've been volunteering at Mahdlo, the new youth centre in Oldham. My colleage, Debbie, and I have been named as a creative force to be reckoned with and keep blitzing out some pretty awesome arts and crafts with the young people at the centre. These projects have included this Eid Mubarak banner which yours truly designed:

In the past couple of months, Debbie and myself have been supporting a few Arts and Crafts regulars in setting up their own little gift shop enterprise, Always Present. We had our first sale at the Halloween parties where we made profit straightaway which not many businesses can say! We were so proud! I spent a lot of time making bracelets to sell for those parties:

For Christmas, we designed some Christmas cards and had them printed professionally. They turned out a treat and the office snapped up nearly half our stock before they went on sale! I am responsible for the snowmen card (which was based on my lead worker's idea.)

The cards have been bundled up in packs of six tied up with ribbon. We are super pleased with them. Now we're working on more Christmassy things, like these golden reindeer I made yesterday:

I have made all nine reindeer, I just couldn't fit them all in one photo.

So that's the arts and crafts side of things for the moment. Always Present have got some exciting projects coming up soon and we're so proud of the way the young people are working hard for the best possible end results :)