Amanda’s Musings

In between everything I’ve been snatching little pockets of time to still be creative. I quite like how these sets have turned out and hope that they will sell when I list them. Today that probably won’t happen (unless I get an energy spurt) as Kezi has bronchitis and I spent a good chunk of last night out of bed so I’m pretty tired. More on that later. Anyway, here’s this weeks results of time snatching:

Pink Set using a set of millefiori cane beads I made.

Red, Black and White Set using more Millefiori Beads and Czech crystals.

Mokume Gane based bead Set also using crystal beads.

These will be available soon in one of the following stores:
Polyclarific @ Etsy
Polyclarific @ MadeIt
Polyclarific @ Wahmania

Don’t forget that this month the profits from all sales go to helping educate church leaders in Malawi, Africa in AIDS and HIV knowledge (through SIM). I have had enough sales to send two leaders to the seminars so far.

I’ve just listed some new items in my Etsy store and put two of them in my Wahmania store also. Here’s a sneek peek:

As promised in the previous post, here is the project that the sales from July and August will go towards. After asking from direction from above and searching through many projects I’ve settled on this one.

Malawi Church Leaders HIV & AIDS Training (96352)

The link above will give you a lot more information about this project but a quote from the page says:

The church is reaching out to many of the poorest people in Malawi. Church members struggle to put food on the table and only have small offerings to pay the pastors. Despite small economic resources, the churches are pouring themselves out in response to the AIDS crisis which is devastating families and entire villages. These pastors continue to minister in these tough conditions because they love God and their fellow Malawians….

About US $3600 can bring 90 pastors and their wives from all over Malawi to stay at the Bible College in Blantyre for four days. This is only US $10 per person per day for this important time of training, equipping and encouraging. Would you consider giving US $40 to train one pastor? This gift will have an eternal impact and bring a smile to even more faces! Thank you for your partnership to strengthen the church in Malawi!

You can watch a video on the work of HOPE for AIDS in Malawi here.

The links to my online shops are:

Polyclarific on Etsy
Polyclarific on MadeIt
Polyclarific on Wahmania

The money from all my sales is still going to the work of SIM each month. As I’ve mentioned before, the money for the months of May and June goes towards Bikes for Pastors in Ghana, Africa.. With just a couple of weeks left in June I thought I would mention this again.

I fully believe that God is in control of my sales and interestingly I had more sales in May than I have ever had before followed by a total of zero sales in June. The timing of this is amazing as June has been crazily busy with moving house and trying to prepare for our new baby.

The last sale I had was May 30th, we moved June 2nd. Interesting.

The total of sales so far for these two months is $US331.50. If I do sell anything over the next week and a half I have managed to find places for my creations and also the packaging I would need to post them so it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle. Custom orders however won’t be accepted for quite a while.

So, what does $331.50 buy for the Pastors in Ghana? It buys 5 and a half bikes for them!! Wouldn’t it be great to make it to a total of 6 bikes? If you are intending to purchase anything from one of my online shops, now is the time! Just $30US more in sales will complete the aim.

As a tempter, here’s a couple of the items found in my Etsy shop:

I thought it was high time that I highlighted some of the sellers that I’ve come to know and admire. Most of these are people I’ve met via wahmania or Etsy.

Firstly, take a peek at Kate’s gorgeous shop over at Two Little Banshees. She’s a fellow Western Australian and her toys and bags are just gorgeous. Congratulations Kate on the recent birth of Eva. Her blog is here. Here’s an example of her work:

Next there’s Suki over at tamptation.etsy.com. I’ve mentioned Suki before as she is the one who hand carved the stamps for my patches, pincushions and brooches. She has a pretty style and you can read more on her blog which is here. Here’s an example of her work:

Next, please take a look at a fellow WA Mum, Dara’s Shop over at DaraArt. Her blog is here. She sells unique abstract artwork which is work taking a peek at. Here’s an example:

I have recently started getting to know Emma over at Emmaroseart. Her creations are just beautiful, hand sewn bags, cushions, quilts and much more which I would describe as shabby chick. I recently purchased from her and would recommend her as a seller. Her blog is here. Here’s an example of her pretty creations:

So, take a look at each of these sellers. All are very different to each other and I can recommend each one as trustworthy and reliable. Happy shopping!

I have recently had another custom order which is almost completed, this time I was asked to make little beads with sheep in them. What fun! Having a lot of the little sheep cane left over, I decided to make some sheep buttons which will go for sale in my shop as soon as I photograph them properly. For now however, here’s a sneek peek.

Oh, and PS. I have already had enough sales in May to buy 5, yes 5 bikes for the Pastors in Ghana! Isn’t that amazing. God is the only one directing the sales as I have never had this many in such a short time. I have not been promoting myself any differently to usual so I know its not me! Thank you Lord.

I have also been busily hand stitching more embroidered brooches to sell, in fact I sold the one I featured in my earlier post already! Here’s the one I have already listed in my shop:

I have been a busy little beaver lately, trying to keep my store stocks at a steady number. The Lord has been blessing me with a lot of sales lately and so I’ve had to keep up the pace by creating new items to list. The exciting news is that I have sold as much in this first week of May as I did in the months of March and April combined! So far there have been enough sales to buy 4 whole bikes for the Pastors in Ghana! I’m quite excited about this as it looks like my target of 10 bikes will be reached by the end of June.

I thought I’d share some of the more recent pieces of work that have mostly been added to my stores. Thanks to those who have bought from me recently, I’m really encouraged!

You can buy this here.

You can buy this here and here.

You can buy these stitch markers here and here.

You can buy this here.

You can buy this here

After having a look around the SIM Projects website I have found the project that the Polyclarific profits will be going to for the next two months.

Are you a cyclist? Do you own a bike? Do your kids own a bike, maybe everyone in the family has one? In parts of Africa a bike is something that is out of reach for most. These people get around on foot and are used to travelling long distances along dusty paths. In the country of Ghana SIM has a project (#94020) where around $60US will buy a bike for a Pastor, allowing them to visit those who are needy much faster. The details from the SIM information page are as follows:

In Northern Ghana, dedicated pastors and evangelists bring new meaning to the scripture verse, “how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” Because villages are spread out, they must walk considerable distances in order to minister or meet together with other church leaders. Pastor Jacob Wesong walked 4 to 5 hours each way in order to attend meetings with other church leaders.

This vital project is enabling outlying areas to be reached. Evangelists are bringing Christ’s love to those who have never heard, and pastors are visiting and encouraging small, isolated fellowships that they would not have been able to reach on foot.

I hope to make enough sales over the next two months to buy at least four bicycles for four needy Pastors in Ghana. A reminder that Mother’s Day is coming up, maybe you will find something in one of my stores that would be lovely for your Mum. Here are the links once again:

Etsy
Wahmanaia
MadeIt
Mintd

There are just three days left of April which means that in three days time I will be switching to sending my shop profits to a new SIM project. I am investigating an option for the months of May and June and will announce where the money will go as soon as I know more information.

At this point the total amount that will head over to Camp La Joya in Peru is $185. This will be enough to send 5 kids to camp. Like I said, there are still three days left so I might be able to sell a few more things before the end of the month. I would love to be able to send 10 kids to camp so if you are thinking of buying from one of my shops (maybe for Mother’s day), here are the links to my stores once again:

Etsy
MadeIt
Wahmania

I recently started a Polyclarific page on facebook which links to all my stores. A good friend (and fellow SIM worker) Julie Bazal (scroll down to half way on that link) designed this great postcard for me which I am currently having printed. Didn’t she do a great job!!!

I have just added the following items to my Wahmania shop. Soon I’ll add them to my Etsy shop too and a few more!!

and here’s what’s on its way: