Do you op shop til you drop?

Sandlewood Op Shop is planning it's first ever Op Shopping Tour!

This fundraising event will allow us to provide much needed help to our most disadvantaged clients.

• Join us on Saturday February 23rd for a fun hosted op shop tour in Brisbane South.

Bus departs Garden City at 8.30am
returning at 1pm.

• Morning tea snacks supplied

(byo drinks)

• Lucky door prize; fund raising raffle

• $55 per person ($25 deposit required) Booking essential as there are limited places!

Contact desley@sandlewoodprojects.com.au for further info.

Back to school...

I know personally, with 2 children in school this year (and only one income) it's going to cost us a motza to put our children into school this year!

Even though my girls both will attend a local Public School, book lists alone for the 2 girls this year topped $350, uniforms about $300 each (only buying basics) and decent school shoes around $80-120 per child.  That isn't including the Compulsory levy of $100 per child.  Hello New Year, buh-bye all the money I had in the bank.  

At a local Public High School where a young refugee boy will be starting high school it will cost his single mum $415 for their resource levy, and about the same again in uniforms ... that is without the book list.  

We are trying to help out some of our most disadvantaged clients with the increasing costs of our "free" education system.  

One of our lovely supporters, Erin from Repeated Originals has kindly donated to us this stunning Vintage Bridal Gown, to try and raise funds for the cause.

Desley has described the dress as "The guipure lace is wonderful quality and the two garments are in wonderful condition.  The guipure lace is European (maybe swiss) cotton guipure and would cost close to $1,000 to replace" 


The measurements are :
Bust 34"
Waist to 29"
Hips to 36"
Approx height to 5'4" - however the sheath dress does have generous side seams for alterations of up to 2" and the hem can go down about another inch comfortably.


We have listed it on eBay and would really appreciate it if you could share it with all your vintage loving friends.

Here is the :

Link for Vintage Swiss Guipure Lace Wedding Dress and Coat

we're almost out of the terrible 2's

Yep!

I've been a bit scarce from blogging of late, but with good reason.

We recently (probably in the past 4 weeks) have DOUBLED the number of people we have following us on Facebook! This is VERY exciting for me.  

I have been involved with Sandlewood Op Shop from the very beginning, and even before it's conception.  While the organisation Sandlewood has been around for many years, the Op Shop was the vision of my mum Desley, who spent many hours documenting, tabling and reporting so that the Organisation was able to get a Certificate of Sanction allowing it to operate the Op Shop.  The Op Shop was her "baby" as it were.  However, after ill health in November, she had to give up the reigns, and I was left in charge.

While I had always liked working at the Op Shop, I never enjoyed the mountains of paperwork involved (I still hate it!) and I was very frustrated by the prospect that we had.  We needed to grow the business in order to be able to help more people.  But to grow the business we needed to sell more, and with such limited time due to being taxi driver to my 2 girls, and a lack of honest & reliable volunteers I was stuck. Not only that, but space restrictions at the shop are so prohibitive that we aren't able to sell furniture etc, despite being offered it often by our donators.

When the Shop opened we used to sell things on eBay, but this same became too time consuming, and also very costly. 

Anyway, I started trying to hammer out a few things on Facebook, since anyone will tell you, I'm on it day and night.  Eventually we started getting more followers than just family and friends, and then something happened.  Literally within 2 weeks our followers doubled from around 250 to over 500!!

As a result, I've since been selling more via the Internet and meeting some really lovely, interesting people in the process.

But I digress, the point of my post.  

It's almost our Birthday!
We are turning 3 on the 31st of August.  

Source: enchantedmommy.com via Lee Ann on Pinterest

I need some help to try and think of a good special to run for our Birthday week.  It has to have something to do with the number 3 of course!   

Where have all the Philanthropists Gone?

It is a stark reality which we see every day. Things are tough, and people are doing it tough.  Many people in Queensland have been losing their jobs thanks to Government redundancies and families are struggling.

Sometimes the children from those struggling families, through no fault of their own, end up in Foster Care.  Foster Parents are  angels sent straight from heaven, they really are!  We have several foster parents who come into the shop to get things for "their" kids. One organisation who work closely with Foster families is Kyabra Community Association.  We have worked closely with Kyabra on a number of times, and it's an organisation who does some positively amazing work in our community.

One of the services provided by Kyabra Community Association is a Limited Hours Child Care (LHCC for short).  Kyabra LHCC is really in a bind.  Each year the qualified staff have been taking voluntary pay cuts just to keep the service afloat.  These highly dedicated staff are now in jeopardy of losing their jobs, and the service is in jeopardy of closing since the Federal and State Government has cut all funding to this (and similar) services.

Kyabra LHCC is uniquely different from other LHCC services in Brisbane.  Many of the children attending the LHCC are in foster care, or at risk of being in foster care.  It provides the parents with a respite if you like, allowing them time to attend meetings with Departments etc without having to take the children.

It also has joint programs with two local high schools and assists by placing their senior students who are studying for their Cert III in Child Care. This is such a strong and positive thing and the children at the centre absolutely LOVE the kids from the High School being there.

There is also a much higher child/adult ratio at Kyabra LHCC.  In addition to 2 qualified teaching staff, there are, at any given time up to 5 other volunteer staff.  This means at times the child/adult ratio is 2/1. 

I can assure you there's no place like it!I have myself been fortunate enough to have my youngest daughter attend Kyabra LHCC.  My daughter was experiencing troubles at her Long Day Care, to the point that she would burst into tears every time we drove past the centre, pleading with me "please don't take me there!". On the days she had to attend, she would literally cry and work herself up so much that she would vomit.  


She was 18 months old when she was offered a place at Kyabra LHCC and from day one, she was a totally different child.  In the past 2 years, I have watched her develop into an amazingly confident, happy, loving and playful child.  She wakes up each morning asking if it's the day she goes to "Pat's Kindy" (Pat is the Director in the LHCC).  I have absolutely no doubt in my mind, that Pat, Sannie and the other staff at Kyabra have been instrumental in this transformation in my daughter.

But I digress, the point of this post... Kyabra LHCC is at very serious risk of closing down. At this point in time, it's touch and go - they will be able to get by until the end of 2012, but beyond that, it's anyone's guess...

They are currently looking for benefactors who would be willing to donate money to support their continuing service.  Any support is tax deductible.  


Please, I urge, if you know of anyone, or any companies who would be willing to donate towards this magnificent cause, please do so!


You can find out more information by emailing alani @ sandlewoodprojects. org. au (no spaces)


I can't keep singing "where have all the philanthropists gooooone?" in the ilk of Paula Cole's "where have all the cowboys gone?" ... sorry it's embedded in my head! Anyone else? LOL

The Great Adelaide Whirlwind Op Shop Tour

Last month on the Queens' Jubilee Long weekend we visited Adelaide.

It was the first time for us, with our main reason for visiting being *ahem* the Adelaide Zoo, so we could see the pandas.  

The reality was, that we just wanted to check out the Op Shops in another part of Australia!  


So on Saturday morning, we were absolutely delighted when Tami from More Than Vintage came by to collect us for what I have since dubbed the Great Adelaide Whirlwind Op Shop Tour, or GAWOST for short. 


Ever the host, Tami met us at our hotel and swiftly whisked us away to her favourite Op Shops to hunt for bargains and special little treasures.  All the while delighting us with trivia about Adelaide, like the population statistics {LOL - sorry it's an in joke!} 


After venturing into the first op shop, the boot of her poor car was heaving with all of our purchases.   


I was saddened to have to leave behind the.most.stunning! vintage blue dinner set, but alas there was no way to get her home safely to Brisbane :(  


We ventured into a grand total of 5 op shops in Adelaide on the GAWOST, in a period of just short of 3.5 hours.  Some were small, some were huge, but none really held more treasures than that first shop we ventured into bright and early on that Saturday morning. 


Just to prove it, here is Tami (left) and Desley (right) showcasing the results of the shopping trip back at the hotel.

We want to thank Tami so much for taking the time out to meet us, and to take us to her favourite shopping haunts.  We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the GAWOST, and hope that we can come back again some time soon to continue on the adventure.


For those of you who haven't seen her store, Tami runs More Than Vintage where she sells an eclectic selection of VINTAGE - COUNTRY - SHABBY CHIC - VINTAGE STYLE - linen - craft - homewares - home decor.

DOILEYS

Doileys are one of those things that are easy to pick up in an op shop (Sandlewood Op Shop is no exception!).  

Many of them are handmade with love by previous generations and although some can be slightly imperfect, there are many uses for them that can still show off their true beauty and all the hard work someone has put into creating it.

Here are five ideas for ways to use Doileys...

1. Frame them

Photo Courtesy of craftynest.com

2. Jazz up your Clothes

Photo Courtesy of blog.craftzine.com

Photo courtesy of gizbabe.typepad.com

3. Make a Lampshade, Cover a Coathanger, or make a Dreamcatcher Yes, I know this is THREE, but think of it as 2 bonus ideas ;) 

Photo Courtesy of  abeautifulmess.typepad.com

4. Create Dainty, Romantic Decor 

Photo Courtesy of twinklemama.files.wordpress.com

Photo Courtesy of greenowlcrafts.blogspot.com.au

Photo Courtesy of needle-exchange.ca

5. Create funky jewellery and accessories

Photo Courtesy of sweetpaul.typepad.com

Photo Courtesy of  sincerelykinsey.blogspot.com

Photo Courtesy of craftster.org

Welcome back .... introducing "5 ways to"

BUTTONS

WOW! It's been almost 12 months since I blogged for the shop. How fast that time has gone!

Recently Des has been spending a bit of time doing some research on different uses for some of the common things that get donated to the Op Shop. This has been generating a fair bit of interest, so I've decided that once a week I'm going to blog on 5 ways to reuse/recycle/upscale a specific item.

Today I'm going to concentrate on Buttons.  You'll find that at most Op Shops you can pick up an assortment of buttons but my personal favourite are Vintage buttons.  

They aren't as easy to pick up around the traps these days, but if you are lucky enough and happen to find them, they are little treasures!  

Here are  a few simple ideas that you can do to recycle old buttons.  Please note that none of these items are actually with us for sale - they are simply to inspire those who like to create. 

Photo http://craftsolutions.tumblr.com/

Photo : http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=287652.0

Photo http://blog.craftzine.com

Photo http://buttonitupbook.wordpress.com

Photo : http://www.etsy.com/listing/94077960/button-heart-lamp-shade-cream-lamp-shade

have you visited since we remodelled?

Remodelling is almost complete and we would like to thank all our wonderful customers for their patience during our crazy shinnanigans (aka the shop refit). 

The refit has been a huge success, with more people than ever visiting our humble little shop since we reopened with our new floorplan.  We have been receiving many compliments from people visiting ever since!

There is more space to walk around inside, our fitting room has moved, and our front window has had a complete transformation with new shelving which allows us to display many more items than we ever could have dreamed of !!

I must try to remember to take some pictures and upload them to the blog and the website!

Right now I only have this picture, which was taken Thursday night after many hours of frustration trying to assemble the shelves that form the new window display...

The window display is constantly changing as things are sold and new items are donated or unearthed from storage.

Recent new additions to the shelves include some great science fiction novels by Robin Hobb,  Lian Hearn and many many more (we received about 2 full boxes of sci fi books so if this is your genre, please pop in and have a look - we have many that don't even fit on the shelves yet!).

So if you haven't popped in recently please call by and tell us what you think of our new look shop! 

renovation rescue!!

We will be closed on Thursday 14th while some fairly BIG stuff is delivered, and the shop is literally pulled to pieces in the process. 

Hopefully we'll have everything back to standard on Friday for you to come in & see what's been unleashed!

all the cool people come to Sandlewood Op Shop.... seriously!

Yesterday we had the pleasure of having Katie in our shop. 

Katie is a personal style blogger and has created the blog Be Inspired. 

Her blog aims to "teach you a thing or two about how easy it is to be fabulous, confident and stylish, on any budget".

She's also a guest blogger for MTV fora.
Last month Katie bought a great jacket from the shop, which you can read all about by clicking here

Her next piece will also feature another purchase from the shop, so be sure to check it out.

slacker

I'm sure it can't just be me who finds these colder months harder to cope with. Seriously.
I get so slack that many things that I can keep up with in the warmer months (like blogging) go by the wayside.  Perhaps it's because my fingers are like tiny little icy-poles while I type this blog post ...

So, yeah, I've been really slack with blogging lately. Hopefully that will all change soon.

So much has been happening at the shop. If you've popped in recently you would have noticed that we no longer have the adjoining shop :(   Sadly that's been taken over by office space.

Our tiny little shop is literally bursting at the seams while we try to cram everything from 1.75 shops down to just 1.  

We are in the process currently of looking for new shopfittings to refit the shop. 
Well, when I say new I mean new to us... it's silly of me to dismiss the fact that we are an op shop and funds are tight so we'll probably end up with someones second or third hand fittings - it's all about recycling!

So hopefully in the next few weeks you will see a transformation take place.
From crowded & cluttered to slightly more spacious and organised.  That will mean that all our regular suspects like the books, shoes and toys that we keep getting asked about daily, should be able to be moved back in to the shop. 

So please bear with us while we make some big changes to our little place!

current appeals

Just to give you a quick update these are the current appeals we have running :

1. Gift Cards for Flood Clients & Disadvantaged Clients
We give clients these gift vouchers/cards to enable them to buy specific requirements such as (but not limited to) groceries, petrol, personal items such as new underwear etc. We can't always have things in every size, so this means if we can give them a gift card they can get exactly what they need when they need it ie. NOW!

2. Beanies, Gloves & Mittens for remote Indigenous Community
We have a remote Indigenous community who are in need of warm items such as beanies, gloves and mittens to get them through this winter.  Handknits or shop boughts are welcome.  Also warm clothes such as tracksuits in very good-new condition are also welcomed (Larger sizes requested).

3. Glue Sticks for Community Kindy
We assist a community based non profit kindy who support families at risk and disadvantaged families.  This community-based kindy receives no funding for craft supplies, & are desperate for a large quantity of non-toxic glue sticks for children's craft.  We help them as much as we can with regards to suitable craft supplies, but we don't have any glue sticks!



4. New Ladies and Mens Winter PJs all sizes

Some of our flood affected clients are living in houses with stud walls and concrete floors so badly need warm nightwear. Our rural clients are finding it difficult making ends meet and also find it hard to obtain winter nightwear so we have been giving any suitable donations to those who are struggling.

If you are able to help out with any of these donations, they can be dropped off at Shop 5/407 Beaudesert Road Moorooka or posted to the same address.  

You may see a "no more donations" sign at the front of the store, which is with regards to general donations as at present the shop is undergoing some major alterations and space is at an absolute premium.  Please do not be deterred from dropping in appeal items if you see this sign, however please don't be offended if we can't take your other donations at this time. 






 

Pick us! Pick us!

We'd be ever so grateful if you would vote for us in the Suncorp Back to Business Grants.


It gives us the opportunity to win a $5,000 grant to further assist our community.

As you know, we'll be in it long after the floods - and will continue to help those who need it ;)

Our committment and vision is to improve the quality of lives of our less fortunate community members - flooded or not!

You can vote for us at this page https://suncorpbacktobusiness.com.au/nominations/sandlewood-projects?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d918764601538c5%2C0

1,000 toys appeal deadline rapidly approaches

As you may know we are holding an appeal to get 1,000 new toys for the Fairfield Floods Family Fun Fair on Saturday 16th April.

The event is being run by the Moorooka Lions, and it looks set to be a great fun-filled day with rides, entertainment and food galore (yummo!)

We had been pledged many toys, however many of them were simply not in a condition that we would give away, let alone have Santa deliver.  We have asked for these toys to be NEW and in their original boxes or with original swing tags attached.

Just thought I'd share a few pics of some of the items we have received - this is just a small handful on one of the days where I actually had my phone/camera handy to take pics.

This is one of my favourites - I mean, what kid wouldn't be thrilled to open up their present to find milk bottle lids threaded onto string?!

This poor fellow looked like he'd been in the floods himself :(

And this guy definitely wasn't anywhere near new condition.


So, I'm urging you all, if your children have toys that they have never even taken out of the boxes (mine did!) or you have $10 spare in this weeks pay, please consider buying a toy so we can make these children (who have been through so much) smile!

Don't forget - the jumble sale is this SUNDAY from 7am!!

A big thanks to the Inchcolm Hotel who have generously donated a voucher for : 1 nights accommodation in a Deluxe Suite, Continental breakfast for 1 in Seasalt at Armstrongs, a bottle of bubbly & chocolates on arrival, and a midday checkout. Valid until 20 June 2011. *conditions apply* This will be included in our fundraising efforts on Sunday :)

Visit their website here  http://www.theinchcolm.com.au/  to see this beautiful boutique hotel

Pick us! Pick us!

We'd be ever so grateful if you would vote for us in the Suncorp Back to Business Grants.

It gives us the opportunity to win a $5,000 grant to further assist our community. 
As you know, we'll be in it long after the floods - and will continue to help those who need it ;)
Our committment and vision is to improve the quality of lives of our less fortunate community members - flooded or not!


You can vote for us at this page https://suncorpbacktobusiness.com.au/nominations/sandlewood-projects?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d918764601538c5%2C0

RACQ - are you insured? KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!

This blog post goes out to our floodies. 

We have heard that RACQ Insurance is sending out letters stating that people are not covered for damage that occurred during the floods, but offering them a $12,000 cheque as a "good will gesture".  That's one hell of a lot of good will.

Please be aware that if you are not happy with the outcome of your claim you can take the matter further.

However, I believe from my previous work in the insurance industry that by banking that "good will" cheque you are waiving your right to take the matter through to an insurance claim review, or further by taking it to the Insurance Ombudsman.

Please be aware that the Caxton Legal Service are offering free legal advice regarding this matter. I will update the blog with further details as I receive them.  This information was passed to us by staff at the Department of Communities. 

Premiers Relief Fund Round 2 Payments Info

Some great news we found out tonight at our local flood recovery group meeting, thanks to the Department of Communities - is that not only are people whose houses were completely destroyed by the floods eligible for payments this round, but also people whose principal dwelling was a boat or caravan are now eligible.  There are guidelines but you could be eligible for up to $25,000 if your boat or caravan that was your home was destroyed. 

More information can be found by contacting the Department of Communities - they have a drop in centre at the Goprint Building at Woolloongabba just opposite the busway there, and they are also running outreach services at the Yeronga Flood Respite Centre on Thursdays.

Who are you?

Recently, we have had a number of queries regarding our organisation and whether it is affiliated with any other groups.  Sandlewood is a NOT FOR PROFIT (NFP) organisation with no political or religious connections and we are not linked to any other organisations. 

Sandlewood Projects is run by a board of directors and receives no Government of corporate funding. We operate with a Certificate of Sanction under the Collections Act 1966 through the Queensland Department of Justice & Attorney General.

This sanction controls how charities and community purpose organisations conduct appeals for public support or fundraising in Queensland. Any organisation that wants to publicly fundraise for a charitable or community purpose is governed by this Act.

Activities regulated by the Department under the Collections Act 1966 include:

• fundraising appeals
• door-to-door appeals and street collections, and
• commercial appeals on behalf of charities by entrepreneurs

Any person can check the credentials of someone collecting goods or running an appeal to ensure they are legitimate by searching the Office of Fair Trading's website here
http://www.fairtrading.qld.gov.au/check-a-charity-or-association.htm

In our case, you simply enter the Sanction number CP5278 which will show that our Organisation is a REGISTERED ORGANISATION holding a Certificate of Sanction under the Act.

The shop is run entirely by volunteers.  Because of this we have low overheads (rent, power, phone, internet, insurance) and this means we can give back more to the community.

Have you ever wondered?

Just how much of your monetary donation is ending up where it's intended?  
It is an interesting read when you sit down and go through the Annual Report of some of the big Charities.

For example, from the 2009-2010 financial report of one big charity, it shows that through their domestic appeals, donations and sponsorships, they raised  $35,299.  Great effort !! But....

Out of that, almost half  ($17,253) was gobbled up by expenses (presumably things like advertising their appeals etc) leaving only $18,046 of the $35,299 to be distributed to where it was intended....

Interesting stuff....

That's the advantage of donating to a small organisation like us. 
We have very few overheads (rent, insurance, power, phone and internet) so what you donate can help us HELP PEOPLE who need it. 

Did you realise that many of the items that are donated to the shop are actually given away free of charge to people in need? 

Food for thought....