Poppies, Poppies, Poppies

It's all about the Poppies at this time of year!

Last year I posted about all the items I make with poppies - during October & November this year, like the last 2 years I'm going to be donating part of the profits from Poppy Sales to the Royal British Legion.

The most popular items are the brooches, which come in two sizes, large & small, with or without leaves:

Then there are the Poppy Keyrings (which are the smaller sized Poppy with a ribbon and a split ring attached):

And the Poppy Shoe Clips, which have so far been made to be used with baby shoes, so are the smaller size, but could always be made with the larger poppies for adults shoes:

Watch this space as there will also be a special, limited edition, Poppy Candle Mat coming into the Etsy Shop soon!

This year, the donation will be going straight to my local branch of the Royal British Legion, which has recently been established and is currently raising money to get it's colours.

Remebrance Sunday - Crafting for Charity

You may remember that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago (here) that I've had a number of different poppy products in my shops specifically created for Remembrance Sunday. I do sell all the poppy goodies all year round, but any that are sold during October and up until Armistice Day are all sold on behalf of the Royal British Legion.

This year I have sold more than I ever hoped to and I'm SO grateful to everyone who's bought one and helped me raise such a wonderful amount for the Legion.

I promised that I would let you know how much money I'll be donating to the Royal British Legion and so as not to disappoint - the grand total this year, after raising £85 last year... this year, my lovely customers have helped raise a whopping £112!!!!

I am so overwhelmed by how many people have generously bought poppies from my shops - it's a tight time for everyone, but to know that we have done something really good for such a worthwhile cause has made me feel fabulous. I will be posting a cheque to the British Legion this week.

We are lucky enough to live in a village that has a wonderful Brass Band and a very active Church and community and the Memorial Hall, where the wreaths are laid each year on Remembrance Sunday is just up the road from our house, so we hear the band starting up for the service which is held almost outside our house. This is the first year we've taken our kids out to the service and they did really well, keeping the 2 minute silence and watching it all with an appropriate level of respect. I feel quite proud to be able to explain to them what today was all about and why we commemorate it.

I'm linking up to Handmade Monday for the first time in ages and I do promise to try and get round everyone this week and leave a message on all the blogs... I'm great at starting and then getting distracted by everyone's wonderful blogs!

Poppies for Remembrance Sunday

Last year I made a batch of poppies for Remembrance Sunday - they proved to be really popular and so I'm making (and selling as fast as I can make) more. This year I'm donating all the profits from poppy sales during October and November to the Royal British Legion. If you see any you like in this blog post, the links are next to all the pics to the relevant Poppy item in my Etsy Shop.

Last year I raised £85 by selling my poppies and I'm hoping to increase on that this year.

I've also increased the range of poppy items that I'm creating this year, so there are now Large and Small Poppy Brooches:

Large & Small Poppy Brooches with leaves:

Poppies as Keyrings & Hair Combs:

And Poppies as Baby Shoe Clips:

I love making these bright flowers and really love that I am doing something for the wonderful charity, The Royal British Legion. I'll let you know next month how much money we manage to raise this year.

Poppies for Remembrance Day

So last year I was thinking about making some poppy brooches to put into my Etsy shop around the time of Remebrance Day (11th of November for those from other countries where it's not a particular day of remembrance) but I ran out of time. So this year I have been really organised and have made not only some poppy brooches, but also poppy hairslides.

 

As these are in part for Remembrance Day (they can be worn at any time, so I will keep them in the shop all year round) I wanted to make sure some money went to charity, so during the months of October & November I am donating all the profit from the sale of any poppy item to the Royal British Legion.

All profit means I will take out the time & materials cost and donate the remainder to charity. So I will not be profiting from the sale of these items during these two months.

I'll be wearing my poppy with pride (as always) but this year, it will also be a handmade poppy.