Helping Hand Crafts

nting with, beyond their initial construction; and
- a platform to sell hand made goods from co-operatives in developing countries, to help increase their sales and awareness of their wonderful products. A bit more about me:

I was blessed to have a Mum who always seemed to say “sure, why not?!” at my need for craft materials. During the weekly grocery shop, she would leave me in an art store and I would get so excited about all the possibilities. I didn’t know what I would do with half the goodies at the time. All I knew is that I needed them for something ‘special’ that would reveal itself later. My Mum wasn’t crafty one iota - yet she fed my passion for all things crafty. I’m here to help adults nourish the craft-hungry kids in their lives. By encouraging and facilitating my creativity, my parents opened up whole new worlds to me. I would love to make it easier for other time-strapped people to do the same. I would be tickled happy if kids open my craft kits, get excited about all the possibilities within and have fun playing with their newly constructed goodies. I also love to travel, to realise first hand that there are many, many ways people live their lives and express themselves and their creativity . During a 10-month backpacking trip around southern and eastern Africa 15 years ago, my husband first learned of my determination to seek out hand-made crafts and my willingness to spend the required hours to send them back home. During our travels, we have come across some amazing organisations who help disadvantaged people overcome obstacles and build opportunities, confidence, and well-being in the process. Some we can help by buying a large order of their hand made goods and selling them here, to increase their sales. Other organisations are either not equipped for international sales yet or they have their own sales channels – these I will write about to help create awareness. I hope people looking for made-by-hand gifts consider the gifts on offer at Helping Hand Crafts, and that they get an additional warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that such purchases help people in developing countries. I will be delighted if people are able and willing to buy from such co-operatives directly. However, if the costs of buying directly (and in small quantities) are prohibitive (such as paying bank transfer fees and international postage), I can offer the advantage of spreading such costs across a ‘large’ bulk order. A bit more about the craft kits and craft supplies:

I source the materials for the craft kits and craft supplies from Australian-based suppliers. Some of the materials are actually made overseas (such as foam shapes, pipe cleaners and wiggle eyes), but most of the wooden crafts and glues and all of the paints are made in Australia. I’ve assumed that lots of parents have paint and glue at home, so the craft kits just contain the things to make and embellishments. However, I separately offer craft supplies such as paint, brushes, glue and protective mats. Child safety is of upmost importance to me and care has been taken to provide kits and supplies that should be safe for your child to use. However, adult supervision is crucial to ensure the materials do not make it into mouths, noses, ears, eyes, and so on. (I was notorious for putting things up my nose and in between my two front teeth when I was younger – something I don’t want to happen with these goods!)

I am learning how to make my own puppet theatres and puppets at the Space Tank Studio. I’m learning everything in the design and manufacturing process from scratch and I’ll keep you updated on how my journey progresses. A bit more about the gifts that give back:

Click the link to see a 'postcard' describing how it works: www.helpinghandcrafts.com.au/about-us