Thanks so much to those of you who have been kindly donating to our Christmas craft kits the past month - it's so appreciated! We're waiting on final numbers from One YMCA but already have several other organisations requesting kits too so please do keep it coming (list below)...

Just before lockdown I especially wanted to source as many jigsaws as I could as these are a key element to the kits. The amazing team at the Watford New Hope Charity shop were kindly going to save incomplete jigsaws for me over the coming weeks but there were none to be found last week, so... to all of you who grabbed a jigsaw to keep you going this lockdown... PLEASE could I have them when you're finished!! 

I'm also excited to say that it's time to re-form the wonderful 'Team Mask'! Our last craft kit project with One YMCA involved giving away (amongst many other things) 294 cardboard masks, cut out by an amazing team of volunteers across the country. This time we have trees, baubles and wreaths to cut out so we'd love all the help we can get! If you might be able to help, please email me and I can send you a template to print out. If you don't have a printer, don't have cardboard cereal boxes (or similar), or don't really like cutting things out, but would like to help please do still get in touch!

Just to remind you, we're collecting:

• CORKS  (regular or from sparkling wine)

• JIGSAW PIECES  (doesn't need to be complete jigsaws!)

• WOODEN CLOTHES PEGS

• CHRISTMASSY FABRIC / PAPER / RIBBON / TAPE (including old wrapping paper)

• WOOL / TWINE / RIBBON in RED / GREEN / GOLD / SILVER / BROWN

Any other unwanted craft materials e.g. pipe cleaners, beads, gems, pompoms, stickers, googley eyes, feathers, coloured paper/card/foam, ribbon, lace, buttons, etc. will also be really useful.

If you have materials to donate, please pop them in the post (address at the bottom of this email), or email me to let me know and we'll arrange a COVID-secure handover. Thanks so much!

As the community of Made Unique grows, we dream it will be a place without competition, where we can share ideas, skills, inspiration and, in this case, patterns! Our lovely maker Olapeju has very kindly offered to share patterns she has created herself so that any other crochet lovers out there can make their own incredibly cute baby booties!

If you think these look gorgeous but, like me, haven't yet delved into the world of crochet, then you'll be able to buy Ola's beautifully made crochet items on our new website, coming very soon... 

I've not been much of a fan of social media over the years but I have to say that since engaging more on behalf of Made Unique I've not only enjoyed connecting with many of you but also have often been inspired by some of the people and organisations I follow (including the wonderful friend and creative, Sarah, who took the photo above).

I know I've mentioned him before but Charlie Mackesy is one artist whose posts speak to me day in day out. A lovely friend bought me a copy of his beautiful book 'The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse' nearly a year ago and it still sits by my bed so I can regularly be encouraged by the hopeful, kind, gracious words and images inside.

Recently Charlie posted a compelling artwork on Facebook and Instagram with the words:
     "Those are dark clouds" said the boy.
     "Yes, but they will move on," said the horse, "the blue sky above never leaves."
It's a simple thought, but profound. We're still in stormy days. We don't know when the skies will clear but there are constants we can be grateful for.  

We said goodbye to our thankfulness tree this week but we enjoyed reading through each 'leaf' again and have tucked them away to read at harvest time next year... will lions, apples and litter pickers still be some of our favourite things?! It might be small things or big ones that help make up your 'blue sky' but on this cloudy weekend why not take time to look out of the window and feel thankful.

And one day, we'll be able to join with Maya Angelou in saying:
     Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
     I rise
     Into a daybreak that's wonderously clear
     I rise...

The rainbow in our front window has become really faded and no longer able to communicate the message of hope and togetherness it was made for. The problem is that it took quite a few separate sessions to encourage a busy two year old to sit down and help me make the first one, and I'm not sure I've got the patience for round two! I had the idea of a family painting session where we stuck loads of paper together and made a giant hand-print rainbow... it may still happen... but in the meantime I've decided to go a simpler route.  

I remembered seeing a number of 'printables' in windows, sheets with the outlines of words and pictures that can be printed out and coloured in. So I've made a collection and created a Printables Pinterest board with sections such as 'Thank You messages', 'Special Dates', 'Christmas', etc.

Sitting down to some creative time together is still a wonderful thing and I'm not giving up on it, but this feels like a time for lightening the load a bit and choosing some easier paths through the days. So for now we'll try to share a bit of joy with some positive words and cheery colouring and we'll leave the epic works of art for another day.

(If you do have the capacity for some more involved creative projects then we've got lots of fun ideas in our previous newsletters or on our Pinterest boards. Or you can see other ideas for sending a positive message out to your neighbourhood in the Connect section of our newsletter, edition 2.)