One of my most successful venues is the New Zealand based, handmade-only website Felt.co.nz.
Recently the grand and beautiful city of Christchurch - located in Canterbury, in the South Island of New Zealand - suffered dreadful damage from an earthquake that measured 7.1 on the Richter Scale.
Extraordinarily, because the earthquake struck at 04:35 (local time), most people were asleep in bed, with the result that, despite the severity of the quake, there were no direct human fatalities. Nevertheless, the beautiful and dignified city of Christchurch suffered terrible damage (and at the time of writing this post, aftershocks are still occurring). Sewers were opened, water lines were broken, buildings (many of them historic) and other property destroyed, and people and animals injured.
New Zealanders take pride in their willingness to help each other (perhaps a remnant of our colonial heritage, when neighbours were forced to rely on each other for survival), and the crafters and artists of Felt.co.nz were quick to come up with a way to help: FeltAid.
Here's an e
xtract from the Felt blog post about FeltAid:
"In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Christchurch on Saturday September 4th, Felt sellers have initiated a fabulous fundraising venture to make a contribution to the relief effort in Canterbury. FeltAid and its accompanying blog Felt like helping out are the culmination of an entire crafty-minded community's desire to help out the best way they know how – by getting their craft on and giving you a chance to make a difference too!
Artists, crafters and designers from around New Zealand and beyond have donated their beautiful handmade creations to the cause, the FeltAid shop has been set up by a team of dedicated volunteers led by Sarah of Songbird Designs and Ana of Amiana, and Felt is offering its services free of charge, so 100% of the proceeds from FeltAid sales will go straight to the Red Cross Canterbury Appeal to help rebuild Christchurch."
And another extract:
"
FeltAid and the
Felt like helping out initiative are going great guns raising funds for the
Canterbury Earthquake Appeal. Around 100 sellers have generously donated their creations so far, from homewares and jewellery to art and accessories – and they've already notched up over 80 sales! If you haven't had a browse through
FeltAid, there's a fabulous range of beautiful handmade things. It's a great opportunity to get some Christmas shopping started and help out the fundraising efforts for Christchurch and surrounds."
Many of my past customers have come from Christchurch, so Whiteleaf Jewellery donated one pair of each of the following:
Cherry Blossoms earrings,
Lichen earrings, and
White Buds earrings. All three pairs have now sold.
Cherry Blossoms earrings - available on Felt and Zibbet.
As a side note, I was chuffed to see this feedback (for the White Buds earrings) in the FeltAid shop: "Thank you so much for the gorgeous earrings from Whiteleaf Jewellery. They are d[i]vine and the packaging was beautiful."
I love it when people appreciate my packaging!
The paper that I use to wrap my Whiteleaf jewellery varies, but it is usually handmade. The current stuff is Fair Trade, and has pressed flowers and leaves in it. Gorgeous! The paper used for the package in the photograph above is stuff that I made myself, by hand, out of newsprint and old brown paper. It's the same handmade paper that I use for the background of my Whiteleaf jewellery photographs.
So far the FeltAid shop has been going well: at last count they had made 104 sales!
This successful shop will not be open for long, however: all proceeds will be given to the New Zealand Red Cross on 31 October, at which time the temporary Felt shop will close.
Before it does, however, here's a showcase of handmade goodness from the FeltAid shop.
