The End ?

Easter Sunday has marked the official end to the 40days projects.  I've taken my crafts to church for the last time, sold as much as possible - taken another order for bunny name plates - and then brought home anything that hadn't sold or was not for sale in the first place.

I just like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported the challenge in whatever way, be it sponsoring, buying, donating materials or moral support (or even all of the above!).  Here's a bit of a round up:

• Although there is still sponsorship to collect - and perhaps there may be some on-going orders - the monies raised will be around £550, which far exceeds my expectations.

• I have made 40 different crafts on 40 days of Lent, but the number of individual items made is around 260!
• of the 260 items, around 35 came back home with me but many of these were not for sale in the first place

• The blog has been an exciting experiment in its own right, here are some facts:
•  over 60 countries have visited this locally based site including: 
• UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Hong Kong, China, Australia, Philippines, India, Israel, Kuwait, Belarus, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Croatia, Latvia, Greece, South Africa, Malaysia, New Zealand 
• Spain, 16.4.2012
• Tanzania, Hungary and Brazil, 17.4.2012
• Singapore, 1.5.2012
• Pakistan, 3.5.2012
• Guatamala, 8.5.12
• Georgia, 22.5.12
• Vietnam, Mexico, Venezuela 3.6.12
• Qatar, Morocco 22.6.12 
• Indonesia, 6.7.12
• Macedonia, 20.7.12
• Japan, Thailand, 13.8.12
• Switzerland, Denmark 29.8.12
• Chile, 8.9.12
• Albania, 17.9.12
• Slovenia, 3.1.12
• Argentina, Costa Rica, Egypt 17.10.12
• Singapore, Puerto Rico, Czech Republic
• Finland, Isle of Man 24.3.13
• Estonia, Ecuador 20.8.13
• Kazakhstan, 17.11.13
• Peru, South Korea 6.12.13
• Bulgaria, 7.2.14
• Congo, 13.3.14
• we have seen it translated into Polish and Arabic
• altogether the blogspot recorded over 2000 pageviews during the original 40 days! (over 7000 altogether)

My favourite new craft

There are lots of crafts I have already enjoyed and this is why I was happy to include them in the 40days challenge.  Luckily I was given the chance to try some new ones.

I have enjoyed all the new crafts I tried though some to a greater extent than others.  I particularly enjoyed having a go at wet felting (Day 35) and I'm sure I will be doing more.  I may have to learn to needlefelt which often goes hand in hand with wet felting.  

I love making the sock bunnies (Day 34), each one can have its own personality.  There are definitely more sock bunnies in the pipeline.

The tin can tealights (Day 20) were a really big surprise - they are really effective and again I know I'll be making more of these. 


I usually prefer crafts that I can control however, I loved the free flowing nature of the silk painting (Day 4).  I was happy to invest in the paints and would love to get to know this craft even better.

Most frustrating craft

Though I'm happy with the outcome - I really struggled with the wire crosses (Day 26). The photos don't do the crosses any justice, they look great and in keeping with the current trend for modern wall art.  Sometimes it's all about having the right tools for the job and for several of these projects I was simply having a go, without having to fully invest into them. 


As I have spent many years quilling which does require a lot of patience I thought I'd be ok with the other new card papercrafts.  However, I found the tea-bag folding (Day 5) more fiddly and time-consuming than I'd imagined.  

I also invested in a pyrography tool (wood-burning). I enjoyed the craft (Day 25) but found it a little slow and the fumes do get to you if you stay at it too long or don't have enough ventilation. Perhaps a more expensive tool would speed up the work.  I am really pleased with what I was able to produce with limited experience.  Though, of all the crafts I tried I think this is the one I felt would need most practice to achieve 'wow-ing' results.

Most rewarding craft

Without a doubt the willow cross (Day 38) was the most rewarding craft as the end result was far better than I had expected it to be considering how I struggled to get going with it.  I can see a long term use for it at the church.  

However I was also particularly pleased with the wooden box (Day 1), it was a great start to the whole 40days challenge.

On a personal level the whole project was a truly rewarding experience.



Where to go from here

I've already been approached to help support the church's summer fair!  It's about 11 weeks away.  I'm happy to help out but I think I owe myself a week off before planning which projects I could make for a stall.

Some friends have suggested that I should be selling some of the crafts I've made over the internet, I may look into this.  There's a possibility that I might set up my own craft blog for occasional postings - though there are already a lot of these out there.

But before I do anything I need to clear the six weeks worth of ironing that's piled up in my living room and bedroom!!

Once again thank you to everyone - thank God for the gifts he gives.