Samaritan's Purse has suggested items of the month for packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, and for March that is Quality Crafts! This is a great way to add items to shoeboxes. Many "crafters" have a stash of supplies they can whip up a few projects at little to no cost. We've been able to use some crafting supplies from my late grandmother's stash to make Aunt Ida Hats and pencil bags among other things.
You can also make kits for the child to craft from. I used some extra yarn and beads to make jewelry making kits to send in my 10-14 year old girl shoeboxes.
It is also a great way to get others involved...we are blessed to have Chelle's CayBees and Sew Delightful partner with us by creating things for us to put in our
OCC shoeboxes! I also read about someone who found a group of ladies in a rest/nursing home who knew how to crochet and were excited to make up hats and other goodies out of yarn they were brought. They were excited to be able to still help others, all it took was someone taking the time to find the ladies and take them some yarn, and people on both ends were blessed! It's like "visiting orphans and widows in their distress" on both ends! You hear "craft" and may think of women, but men who love woodworking can also find this a fulfilling way to take part!
To get ideas check out our OCC Crafts How-to and Tutorials page for lots of ideas and instructs for beginner and expert crafters. The Crafting for Shoeboxes page on Facebook is also a great place to get inspiration! We have several crafting boards at Simply Shoeboxes Pinterest -- all boards are about packing shoeboxes. Operation Christmas Child also has specific inspiration boards on Pinterest for sewing, knitting, crocheting, and no-sew crafts.
What could you make for your shoeboxes this month?
Photos Courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse.
Thank you for including us in your post about shoebox crafting!
ReplyDeleteThose of us who are disabled and/or retired can create so many useful and fun items for the shoeboxes. I focus on older kids & make skirts, sundresses, pencil pouches, drawstring bags that fit over shoeboxes, Fold-up Play Mats for metal cars (even 12 yr old boys love the cars!) Sm pouches with tic-tac-toe drawn on the outside (pcs inside); pouches with marbles; drawstring pouches with 2 pr panties, 6 pads,2 pad holders (they fit over panty crotch area), bar of soap, clothes pins & short clothes line. In some countries girls must hide laundered pads that are drying; clothes line tied under a bed or in hidden area is necessary for them.
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