Getting Crafty!

Last Thursday myself and hand lettering artist Jen Roffe welcomed people to join us with The BIG Make. Our lovely team of volunteers helped up us to make our Ninjabread Men Christmas decorations all in aid of the Samaritans Charity and not only that, they brought cake! 

So with our tea and cake in hand we all got crafting. I had a tiny tassels making team (official title ;-) where people cut, trimmed and glued the tassels together. This task wasn’t for the faint hearted as it required a very hot glue gun! Another team were in charge of making the ninja’s face masks and then I had a group of cape makers (again, an official title!) Jen cut out the capes whilst other people stitched. I ran around like a loon trying to get all the materials ready and making those all important cups of tea.  

Most people there didn’t know each other but after a few sips of tea they all got chatting and bonded over their hatred of my glue gun! I have realised that over the years I have become immune to the smell but for others they all became a bit dizzy from the smell - whoops! It all got fixed by me opening a window and offering them more cake though! 

Fat Edna was there too to keep my gang entertained and offered snuggles when she felt like it. My awesome Nan also made an appearance but I realised now that she’d just come for the cake! 

Lots of people who attended run their own small businesses so it was a great opportunity to talk about their experiences. Most people there were parents so this was a common ground where we all got to moan and marvelequally at our children. 

The room was buzzing, not only were our ninjas coming to life ready to be shipped out in December but everyone was having fun and laughing.

And this is what we wanted! Not only was our aim to raise money for the Samaritans but we also wanted to create a lovely social environment and get people talking.  

Beth Simons, Community Fundraising Manager at Samaritans, said: “The BIG Make is a wonderful example of how community charity projects can help those feeling lonely or isolated. While many look forward to the festivities winter brings, it’s important to remember it can be a tough time of year for some. Samaritans volunteers respond to a call for help every six seconds and we are so grateful to everyone involved in The Big Make as their contribution will help us continue to be there for anyone struggling to cope this winter, and all year round.”

Thank you to everyone who attended the event and to all those who have pre-ordered one of our caped crusaders! All orders will be sent in December but you can still pre-order one here. 

A massive thank to to the wonderful Sarah Welsh Media for promoting this event and to Rachel from Lightmonkey Photography for photographing the event.