It must be nice to swim with the Fishes...

 JUMBLE SALES - Rural Life still clings to it's long established fund raising traditions. People queue from far and wide to come to the annual WI Jumble Sale. The WI ladies have their own 'areas' and i don't think that order has been deviated from since time began. I forgot to thank Mary (on the coats and accessories table) for her large bag of fantastic pine cones she dropped round last week.

 I had to fight the WI Crockery Lady for this set of Staffordshire SUN plates (in yummy heavy glazed pottery) and the jug is just heart warmingly cheerful.

Dinner plates were specifically on my list of "Things to look out for at the Jumble Sale" so i was well chuffed with my little self. I had filled my bag with lambswool pullovers and Old Man trousers (for gardening) plus a Laura Ashley fabric wad (all on my list) and Marjorie was just emptying this lot from the 'box under the table' as i was leading my way out of the hall. MaFish and i don't need to communicate in words - she just took my heavy bag swiftly from me as i needed two elbows to get into the scrum and grab the crockery. It is years of fine tuning that makes a great salvaging team like this.

Please don't think i changed any names here - *any resemblance to real names and actual persons is not purely conincidence but actual and quite bewildering* sometimes i have to pinch myself that this Rural Community does really exist... because it feels like we all fell out of a Joanna Trollope novel.

 And i love the fact that they kept a box of stuff back to give to my mum later (for a future fund raising event) as they thought it was "too good for the Jumble Sale dearie"

And we looked inside to find OUR OWN donations that we had given to the Jumble Sale!

We chuckled.

 Later that day, back at home, and i helped PaFish with the shelving in the studio, inbewteen cooking 'Coq au Riesling' for supper. Give it 2 weeks and i *think* we are ready to start moving stuff in (don't jinx it Kirsty.... don't speak too soon....)

And, at the end of a wonderfully normal day, MaFish and SmallFish performed their very own, not very well rehearsed, chaotic and vastly amusing, CLOWN show :)

SmallFish's teacher said to us last week "It must be nice to live in her world" (i think she meant her internal world, ya know...) but it got me thinking... yes, it is nice to live in our world. Whatever happens, if we lost everything we own tomorrow. We'd still have each other. It is nice to swim with the Fishes for sure xxx



Running a Craft Workshop for Children

There are a million and one considerations and 'To Do's' before running a craft workshop for children.  I might even write a book on it all one day.... But, chances are, if you are considering this in the first place - you have a keen idea of what is involved anyway.

Here are some random tips that i use in my Craft Workshops:

1. Have everything set up the night before if possible. That way you can make a list of all the things you have forgotten to bring down with you.

2. It is a proven fact, time after time - children LOVE to craft with junk. If i bought nothing to the workshop but the contents of recycling tubs, sticky stuff and paints.... the children would be occupied for up to 2 hours. Pictured here is an army of 'Actimel' bottles with fluffy heads i stuck on the night before. Yes i started collecting them weeeeeks before. And Yes, my house is always full of clutter.

3. If you have a specific project in mind - adults and children really like to see an example of what you had in mind. Even if they go off on their own tangent and even when a 4 year old makes something amazing and makes yours look very inferior...they still like a visual aid to begin with.

4. It is a good idea to have a range of sticky stuffs. We do use good strong glue (not cheapo PVA) but also lots of sticky-backed tape which is much quicker and avoids that whole "bits falling off whilst children walk home" kind of scenario. You can take a hairdryer along - adults only and all that - to help quicken the drying of paints and gluey projects.

5. 2 hours is ample time for a workshop. I personally wouldn't go any longer unless the children are older - like young Teens, you know.

6. If you have a big enough hall - it is a good idea to separate the craft projects out so each table has exactly what it needs. If you are a group of adults / parents running this together then you could take responsibility for one table / activity each. Then you can be sure the children have what they need to hand.

7. There is no need to spend a great deal of money on crafty bits. Children are happy with scraps and bits and collected treasures. Wrappers from Easter Eggs and old Christmas cards. Truly, children have way more imagination than adults. Give them good quality glues and paints and scissors and they are well on their way.

8. Try not to be an adult that moans about the sticky mess their child wants to bring home (that includes myself and the giant dog bed my daughter made). Tell children it is fantastic. Let them tell you all the details of their amazing person / truck / atomic flower gun they just made, because they have usually put a great deal of thought into it. Keep for a few days at least before shuffling it outside on bin day.
Children get a massive amount of self-esteem, satisfaction, contentment, excitement out of crazy craft projects.
I feel totally privaliged when they choose to come along and craft with me. I thank them all for making my day so great and inspiring me xxx

What we did today at... The Craft Cafe...

Every School Holiday, for the past, hmmmm, 4 and a half years? I have run what we called The Craft Cafe.
2 hours of creative mayhem for local children aged 3-13yrs. Todays theme was: ROBOTS!! There are various tables with different crafting activities, all set up and ready for when the families arrive... and one fantastic Crafter had already started his own ROBOT and decided to bring it along:

The children's joy, enthusiasm and talents! really astound me. Before i worked in 'craft' i worked with children. I loved it (love it still)

Parents, Grandparents, siblings, dads... they all pitch in with the children and the atmosphere is lovely.

Seeing the Dads get stuck in, really warms my soul... "Boys don't like Craft": what hogwash! The boys who attend are always hugely creative and enthusiastic - they often come and tell me their ideas for 'next time'

I average about 35 children per morning's session. Today's attendance hit an all time high with 50 children involved in crafting!! Plus a few extra babies who were passed from sticky handed to cake-y fingered adults.

I imagine that the parents are relieved to be able to 'walk away' from the mess at the end. The children seem happy that there are no real 'rules' for 2 solid hours and they can use as much of the crafty stuff as they want. As it's local, they get to see a few friends or meet some new faces too.

The activities were appropriate for ages 3 - 13yrs, with Robot puppets and badges. Design your own paper robot (and laminate him / her... Ooooh we all loved the laminating today)

And, the EVER popular "Junk Table" where anything goes!

You might imagine that a hall full of 50 children, plus adults, was rather chaotic? But children are not chaotic and hectic by nature - quite the opposite. Children are clever, observant, dilligent, curious and creative. It is just that THEY choose when to apply all these skills. Today was one of those occasions.

Of course, there is the 'Cafe' side to all this creativity. Today the Cafe was run by my Sister-in-Law to raise funds for the local Playgroup Association. mMMMmmmMM cakes....

I loved it!! ....I am also knackered.

I know not all the Crafters from today will read this but, if you do drop by, thankyou so much for coming, it was a great way to spend a VERY snowy half term Thursday xxx