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.