Here's a snippet from Natasha's fantastic article about Craft Aid International from the Fabrications Quilting for You magazine:

"My name is Natasha and I have epilepsy and am dyslexic. Craft Aid International is the only place I feel accepted. It's also where I volunteer, near my house in Harrogate. People there see past my disabilities and some people forget I have any.

I once went to class with a black eye, so I wore big glasses to cover it. I was treated exactly the same as usual until it came to break time, when we all sit around a table and have a drink and a catch up. One lady said, 'It's like sitting with a famous person, because of your dark glasses". I felt so at ease that I took my glasses off. No one said a word. Well, I couldn't see through them!

We all have so much fun working together to make beautiful crafts; flower brooches, mosaics, greeting cards, jewellery, marbled paper packs, and wrapping paper. We try to use recycled materials when possible, and 100% of all the money raised goes straight back to the charity. We never want class to end and wish that time would stop. Then we wish time would go quickly again so we can attend our next class!"

Ella writes:

I am now 6 months into my internship with Craft Aid International, and I have learnt so much. Some highlights include learning about...

• The joys of the sizzix machine. This is a key piece of craft equipment we use in our therapeutic sessions. Kind of like magic! Maybe even better than a wand (although my experience of wands is limited…)
• What a larch cone is.
• How to tweet! (i.e. online communication, rather than speaking bird language…)
• How to cook 360 rashers of bacon in a few hours.
• The names of fonts. Oh how I love a good font. 
• How to take phone calls. I bought the tray below for Susie this Christmas, because I use the phrase on it a little too much.

The participants, who come to our therapeutic craft workshops in the UK, learn new skills, make new friends, and have the chance to work together to serve others. However, their participation goes beyond the craft workshops. They have also been involved in selling their products. Several of our differently-able participants worked at our stall at the Knitting and Stitching Show last year. One of the participants explained it was the first time he had had the opportunity to do a whole day’s work. He proceeded to work at the stall every day that week. He wanted to prove to himself he could do a full week’s work and he did! “It was amazing!”, he said. Another of our participants, Natasha Nathan who originally came to learn the crafts, now helps others at our sessions and volunteers for us. She played an important role organising our stand at the Knitting & Stitching Show and has now written an article for Fabrications Quilting For You magazine. We’ll be sharing some of it in our next post.
 
And it is not just the participants in the UK and Peru who have had their lives changed by their involvement with Craft Aid, the volunteers have also been inspired and had their lives enriched too. At one of our recent volunteer-training sessions one lady exclaimed, “There can’t be many 85 year olds who’ve learnt how to do screen-printing today. Never stop learning!” There are so many more quotes I could write here as an example of things our volunteers say they've have gained from their time at Craft Aid.
 
And then there’s my own experience: I graduated from uni suffering from exhaustion and feeling low. Since moving to Harrogate to work with Craft Aid, I have been recovering and regaining my health. My internship has reenergised me and has helped rebuild my confidence. The participants and volunteers have really made me feel at home.
 
We often thank our supporters and volunteers with the phrase, “Thank you for being part of the picture”. For me (and I don’t think I’m alone in this), being part of the picture has been a massive privilege. As a Christian, I believe that God welcomes us all, whoever we are. And I think Craft Aid displays this inclusivity wonderfully.
 
(More on inclusivity from Natasha in our next post.) 

Ella writes:

​This month has been a busy one as usual, with craft-training sessions for volunteers, preparation for a trip to Peru, our Back-to-the-Blitz fundraising party, as well as plenty of other things to keep us occupied. Not that we really need to be ‘kept occupied’ in the Craft Aid office - I don’t think we will ever run out of things to do!
 
At our craft-training sessions this month, Susie taught the volunteers how to do screen-printing; everyone enjoyed getting stuck in:

And if you look closely at the photo on the right, you will see that yet again glitter is involved in this craft activity. #Glitterforever! Craft Aid's new tagline perhaps?

Susie has also been introducing some new beautiful card designs to be made in our UK therapeutic craft sessions. For the tea-drinkers (so most of the British population I imagine), we now have a very cute tea-cup design. Keep an eye out for this one, as these cards may get snapped up rather quickly…
 
One of the highlights of the month was our Back-to-the-Blitz party in aid of our project in Peru. 

There was lots of fantastic dressing up (including some great fake moustaches and victory roll hair-styles), a photo booth with some funky props, plenty of bacon baps and chocolate cake, as well as an absolutely awesome 14-piece Jazz band (The NightFlyers), who volunteered to play throughout the evening, so we could all dance the night away! They played a mixture of old and new tunes, all in a typically 1940’s Big Band-style. A huge thank you to them for generously giving up their time to join us and give us an incredible night!

Take a look at some more photos of the event over in our gallery to get a better idea of the highly vintagey atmosphere! ​We are still in the process of working out the financial income from the evening, but we have definitely raised a really good amount towards our work in Peru, so thank you to everyone who came and supported us. We’re sending a volunteer design-graduate to Arequipa very soon, which will help the project to progress further, but more about that exciting news in another post.
 
And so for now, cheerio! (The 1940’s effect still hasn’t worn off quite yet…)