Monday again

This is me today.  Must be because it's Monday.  I have dates for workshops to share with you.  Will do it as soon as there's a calm moment.

Little dolls in my attic workroom

As the end of the year approaches, time seems to run faster and faster. Right now I would like to start slowing down, spend time with family and friends, and browse through all the delectable Christmas goodies on offer in the shops. Instead I’m trying to meet the demand for workshops, trying to fill orders, trying to get the calendar out for the first weeks of next year before all my customers disappear away on holiday. Sometimes in the evening I feel as though all I’ve been doing is trying to get things done all day! Such is the lot of the self-employed.

One can also see the state of ‘business’ when you look at my attic work room. Right now there’s no space for a new project on my painting table, and little dolls are scattered as though it’s Santa’s workshop. All I need is a few elves to help. What will help is that a friend is coming to visit for a few days next week. Nothing like an important visitor to encourage frantic activity, putting things back in their places and tidying away the late night sweetie wrappers!

Wishing you a creative and productive weekend.

 

 

Care Packages for the Elderly - We did it!

On Saturday morning bright and early a group of volunteers got together at Tin Soldiers to pack care packages for the elderly.

 We started with a tower of plain boxes

and sorted the donations that were going to fill them.

Then we got very busy covering the boxes with pretty paper

and filling each box with goodies.

Finally it was time to tie a bow around each box and the work was done.
We packed 46 boxes on Saturday, and have received several more pre-packed and ready to deliver.  Thanks to generous donations we were able to fill each box with a substantial number of items. 
A hearty THANK YOU to everyone who donated the contents of the boxes, and to all the ladies who gave their time to put it together.  Ina will hand over the care packages for distribution to Frikkie at the end of this week.

Winnie the Pooh - Family Picture

Kleintjie sent this photo of a collection of Winnie the Pooh characters that she made here at Tin Soldiers over the last few years. 

She says that her grand daughter loves them to bits.  Isn't it wonderful to have a set of hand made animals to play with, rather than the mass produced toys one sees everywhere?  I'm sure the little girl is going to grow up with happy memories of her grandmother and her childhood. 

Nellie - Scenes from the first Workshop

On Saturday we had Nellie workshop number one.  There have been lots of enquiries about the workshop, I will announce dates for January 2013 soon. 

In the quiet moments before the first ladies arrive, I'm always a bit nervous that I've forgotten something.  Fortunately the important things were all in place.

Once the workshop got going there was never a quiet moment.

Contemplating the next step...

Oh, no!  Someone lost their head!



As usual, by the end of the day I was so engrossed in finishing touches to the bears that I completely forgot about the camera and never took a picture of the completed Nellies.  As soon as someone sends me their photo, I will add it to the blog.