A great cause and yummy yummy treats!

Since I closed my business, Amet and Sasha, I've been a wee bit silent on the crafting front. And why is that you might ask? Because I'm exploring food, baking to be exact. I'm even heading off to pastry school this spring. Can you believe it??!? Well, maybe you can, but my head's still spinning.

One of my new projects is a food blog. It's just a wee baby of a blog, but if you like to eat, which I'm pretty sure is almost all everyone, then maybe just maybe you'll like my wee baby of a blog.

But this is not why I'm writing. I'm writing because this month I'm taking part in a wonderful cause. It's a fundraising effort for a school lunch program in Lesotho. What's in it for you?? Amazing prizes. No, seriously... good good stuff. So please visit me and see how you can win some great food-related prizes while helping with a fantastic cause.



If you have a blog and would like to help me tell the world about the raffle please do. There are SO many food bloggers out there donating to the cause. I'm donating a huge box of amazing brownies. Other people are donating things like Le Crueset products, cookbooks, classes.... so many great things.



I hope your holidays are warm, cheery and full of many many tasty treats!

Craft Emergency Relief Fund

For those of us in the New Orleans Craft Mafia, the flooding in the mid-west is striking a familiar chord.

The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF), helps artists affected by disaster. It is an amazing resource for helping craftspeople recover from tragedy. Artists can either receive help directly through CERF, which accepts monetary donations, or through fellow artists via the discussion forums.

After Hurricane Katrina, I personally received some awesome assistance from fellow crafters/artists through the discussion forums. People as far away as Germany sent me fabric scraps to help me start rebuilding my business. One kind woman even sent me a replacement sewing machine!

You can view the forums and find a way to directly help someone in need by going to:

http://craftemergency.org/forums

If you prefer a less direct approach, you can donate to CERF by visiting :

http://craftemergency.org/support/contribute

new members for Manchester

We've been plotting and planning ways to open our doors to more people for quite some time now and Manchester Craft Mafia is delighted to announce that are finally ready for new members so if you're in our corner of the world and want to join in let us know - full details here

If you're not in our corner of the world but fancy a little piece of crafting action anyway, we are working with our neighbours the Manchester Craft & Design Centre to help them create their Garden Party. We need your bunting so get cutting, stitching, knitting, crocheting and other 'ings' now. All contributions very happily received. Here's what to do.

The Sugarcube Society

My good friend and fellow mafista, Melody of Handmade Luck has brought an important issue to my attention - juvenile diabetes.

In 2005, after a three day visit to the Pediatric ICU, Melody's son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Thanks to Melody and our fondness of her now teanage son, the Sacramento Craft Mafia will be participating in this year's Walk for the Cure. You can check the progress of our team at by entering our team name at the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) site: http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=86722317.

In addition to the walk, Melody has also established the Sugarcube Society.
The Sugarcube Society is an Etsy shop that was established to help raise funds for research and trials for the cure of type 1 diabetes. All research done to help cure type 1 diabetes, will inevitably help cure type 2 diabetes.

All proceeds (after etsy and paypal fees) from this shop will go directly towards meeting our team fundraising goal.

If you're interested in donating an item for this shop - or just donating in general, please contact Melody at handmade.luck@yahoo.com.

Thanks in advance for your help!