Cards and Crafts for Charity: Food Bank Story

Making cards and crafts for charity is one way you can use your crafting for good - you get to enjoy your creative hobbies, and others get to benefit from it. Sometimes though, the cost of supplies can get too high to keep this up but the solution for papercrafts could be to use printable craft supplies: download them and just keep printing off the crafts and card kits when you need them.

One of our Australian customers emailed to say how she uses our printables as an affordable way to donate her cards to food banks...

Handmade Cards for a Food Bank

A message arrived from a customer in Australia about the 4 Fold Flap Card downloads we have, but instead of using them 'as intended' our customer adapted them to use as card Toppers instead.

"I make cards for charity so I tried printing the images out and decoupaged them onto the front of a card and they went like hot cakes must make some more, very very popular. We don't sell the cards, we donate them to the needy who cannot afford to buy cards"

We love to hear how our printable supplies are used for charity and good causes, especially overseas which demonstrates the ease of access for 'digital' downloads, so I asked for more details - here is the story:

"I started volunteering at our local food bank and realised that if some people can't put food on their table, then they couldn't afford to buy luxuries like cards! So I made some from old stock I had handy: people are delighted to be able to have the cards to give. I needed quick and easy toppers to use on these free cards, the printable craft downloads made it so much quicker and easier"

 

Handmade card using printables
from the "My Heart Belongs To You"
4 Fold Flap Card Making Kit (below) 

"My Heart Belongs To You" 4 Fold Flap Card Making Kit

"I live in Australia, in a country town at least one hours drive from regular craft shops and the $2 shops here have limited supplies.  

The one local craft shop has prices too high for using on free cards, so I find printable downloads wonderful for my charity cards: print them out, do a bit of cutting, decoupage them, put them together and wow another card made.

I try to make about 15 each week: we place them in a container on our shelves and we advise new clients that they're available if they need a card for a birthday etc. All they need is to supply their own stamp if they're posting them. My cards are very basic but well received"

 

Crafting for Good: Helping People in Crisis Enjoy Life's Little Extras

As you can imagine, if you're having to use a food bank, greeting cards probably aren't high on your priority list...but you can also imagine how people might feel disappointed, even guilty or embarrassed, that they can't partake in the social norms of giving cards for Birthdays or Christmas, especially for your kids.

It's not just cards for your own family that can bring you down either.  When you've got no money for the basics, the extras in life that are just normal day-to-day things for others, suddenly become a burden e.g. kids birthday parties where you've to find money for a card and present, or you decline the invite altogether because you can't afford it or get there; Mother's Day, Father's Day, New Babies, Christmas...and now even Teacher appreciation cards and gifts, kids' sending Valentines cards to their school friends, etc.

So many social card-giving occasions might add to feelings of guilt and failure if these things are important to you "I can't even give them a card?!" 

All this can be unhelpful if you are also dealing with mental health issues on top of financial ones, and money and mental health are often linked. People in crisis have more things to worry about than giving cards, so how lovely that cardmakers can donate their handmade cards so that even in times of hardship, people can still partake in social card-giving occasions for their friends and family.  

 

Printable Cards & Crafts for Charity

Many crafters are 'crafting for good', our customers and Facebook fans often tell us how they make things for charity to help them raise money e.g. Carers groups, cancer charities and animal rescue shelters etc  

Using printable craft supplies helps you to carry on making cards for charity, without your costs getting too high.

We encourage you to use our printables to make handmade cards and crafts that you can donate or sell for charity and fundraising - you get the enjoyment of crafting and good causes get the benefit of it also.  If you craft for charity or good causes, check out our printable supplies and we would love to hear more about it in an email too!