{Ava's Workshop-A Way To Give Back}



Her "shop" sign

 Our little elf, Ava has been spreading some good cheer this season.  It all began as I was prepping for the Queen Bee Market.  As I crafted, she sat alongside me and made her very own glittery, sparkly goodies.  Day in and day out, we crafted.  We talked about how some of the money mommy helps to raise goes to charity and what exactly a charity is.  She began to pay close attention to daddy and how he was helping organize a beanie and blanket drive for the high schoolers at our church.  She had questions, as any five year old would.  "Who are those blankets for?" "Aren't the people who live on the street cold at night?"  Her mind began spinning with ideas about how we could help.  It only made sense because she's "crafty" that she would make crafts to raise money to buy blankets, hats and gloves for homeless.

Our 10 yr. old neighbor stopped by and helped Ava with her signs.  Read her cause-it's beautiful.

Thus, Ava's Workshop was born!  Mommy and daddy sent out the invitation to family and friends, set a date and opened our home to people to shop from Ava's Workshop.  Oh, boy did this sweet girl work her tail off!  Her tiny hands glittered and decorated TONS of die cut christmas tree tags.  She delicately pressed her small thumbs into green paint for hours on end to make thumbprint tree cards.  She mixed, poured, baked and packaged TONS of yummy cookies to sell.  We decorated our house for Christmas, lit a fire, put on some Christmas tunes, baked some pumpkin pie and some coffee and invited everyone over. 

Easy set up for little hands

Working her little heart out

glue, glue, glue...

The hostess and owner of Ava's Workshop.  She takes after her Mommy.

The display.  We typed up a short history of the "story behind Ava's Workshop"

Thumb print Christmas tree cards. They were the smallest trees :) Grandma almost bought them all. 

I cut down some brown paper lunch bags and strung a tag on the front.  The tag reads " Ava's Workshop: All proceeds go towards blankets, hats and mittens for the homeless.  Created, designed and thought up by Ava."

Oh*My*Sweet*Girl!!! 
Getting ready for everyone to arrive. I made her wear a dress and I didn't even make it out of my sweats-too busy!

Having an open house was a fantastic way to start off the holiday season.  We got to chat and warm up by the fire, while the cousins played.  It was delightful.  Most importantly though, was Ava's hard work and her goal at end.  So far, she has raised $25.00 selling her crafts and freshly baked cookies.  We have one more day of Ava's Workshop for 2010 and Monday we're off to buy hats, gloves and the rest of the blankets.  We'll be bundling up the blankets, gloves and hats and heading downtown next weekend.  She will accompany Daddy and Uncle Adam on the excusion downtown.  This has been a humbling beginning to an otherwise busy, stressful season.  Maybe offering a bit of hope and kindness to others will be a sweet cure for the Christmas gimmies.  We'll keep you posted on that one ;)

xoxo,
Jess

Edited to Add: If you're stopping by via another site, WELCOME!  Make a note to swing by again tomorrow December 10th when I'll add some more thumbprint ideas.