We get by
with a little help from our friends, community matters now more than ever
Earlier this week my family dealt with an emergency situation. I won’t go into too many details, but it was the kind of drop everything, circle the wagons, and stay together until the situation is resolved kind of situation. One of my brother’s and I showed up at my parent’s house around 10:30 in the morning and started doing what we could to try to remedy the situation. About an hour and a half after that, the driveway and yard were filled with cars. About an hour and a half after that we all moved to a larger location because at least 75 people had gathered to help our family deal with this situation. In the middle of the day. On a Monday. In the pouring cold rain. Family, neighbors, random people from the community, people from my parent's chuch… it was incredible seeing how many people came out to help. I am not going to say my faith in humanity was completely gone prior to Monday, because I get to see your smiling faces many days, but my oh my. My faith in humanity is completely restored now. Monday was a shining example of community. Of humanity. Of people coming together in a time of need to be of service. It was breathtaking and it gives me so much hope for the future of our country.
These times are bleak to say the least. But people are not backing down. People are working hard and building community and fighting the good fight. That is why we here at the Scrappy Elephant are working hard to build a crafty community of people who also value creativity and sustainability. In both of our locations, our amazing team of teaching artists are working hard to bring you fun classes that help make use of all the amazing art supplies you all donate to us. These are a great way to gather, meet new people, and lower your cortisol levels. Because we can’t continue to help our communities if we are too stressed out, right?!
In our Charlottesville location our team is coming up with new ways to get community to gather in our “book nook”. We already have free wifi, free coffee and tea, a free table to work, and a free couch to sit and craft on. In case all the free stuff isn’t giving it away, we want you to come hang out in here! We are looking for more ways to encourage people to gather in that space. We have a giant gallery wall filled with prints and paintings that our team finds fun. While we love how colorful it is, we’ve decided we would really like to show off YOUR 2D work.
If you have framed prints or paintings that you are interested in selling, we’d love to share them! This is sort of like the Artful Elephant shelves, but purely 2D. If you are interested, here is the application (due Sunday, May 31st). Starting this summer we are hoping you can bring a friend and come check out all the cool local awesome art work!
New* Scrappy Tees
A few months ago the Scrappy team gathered and came up with some fun ideas for new Scrappy tees. We get the pleasure of seeing your projects and talking to you about all things. Based on conversations with the Scrappy community, the team came up with these phrases to go on the back of our new Scrappy Elephant t-shirts:
this is my happy place- We have heard people say this time and time again. People have told us on several occasions that sometimes they come to Scrappy when they are feeling sad so they can get a little uplift. They don’t need supplies, they just come for the good vibes. We can’t tell you how happy that makes us feel.
stay scrappy, stay happy- Have you heard of Scrappy magic? It’s this little thing that happens in which you wish for something and it appears in a donation that day. As woowoo as that sounds, we cannot tell you how many times this has happened. People tell us all the time, “I needed X supply and I put it in my cart. The next day I opened up the Fresh Finds page and there it was! Plus, it was half the cost I would have paid new!” We love that we can provide low prices on the supplies you need to make your beautiful art.
uplifting through thrifting- We came up with this one based on so many different conversations. We love providing new artists the opportunity to sell their work through the Artful Elephant. We love providing a place for people to take their unwanted supplies. We can’t tell you how many times people have come to us heartbroken over the loss of a loved one, but smiled and said, “She would have been so happy knowing her supplies are going to get used again.” We love supporting all the nonprofits by providing them with art supplies each month (thanks to you of course). And again thanks to you dropping your spare change in our pay-it-forward jar, we love providing free Scrappy Elephant reusable bags and supplies to pretty much anyone who asks for a donation for their events.
grow your craft, cultivate your creativity- Just the other day someone said to me, “I am so grateful you exist. I am able to try SO many different mediums and crafts because it is so cheap. I have grown so much as an artist.” We hear things like this all the time and it never gets old.
One last announcement (for now at least)- we know it is super late to be offering summer programs for the kiddos, but it never hurts to try! The lovely Sheryl Easterling, a teacher who retired after teaching for 31 years (wow), wants to offer some art classes for kids and teens this summer at our Lynchburg location. Thank you Sheryl!
Thank you to everyone who helped our family on Monday. Thank you to everyone who donates their unwanted supplies here to the Scrappy Elephant instead of throwing them in the landfill. Thank you to everyone who shops second hand first. Thank you to everyone who gets crafty in our studio with their friends. Thank you to all of our teaching artists. Thank you to everyone who takes a class and learns something new. Thank you to all our makers who sell their incredible work here. Thank you to the amazing Scrappy team. Thank you to everyone who forwards these emails along and spreads the Scrappy word. I am so incredibly grateful to be in community with you all.
With love and light, Sarah
*when we say new, we mean the designs and not the shirts. In aligning with our sustainability goals, we source the 100% cotton shirts from local second hand stores and then get them printed by an amazing local artist, Rebecca Belt.
ps- Leaving you with an awesome little video from Mary. Art and the power of building community to fight… love it!
GET scrappy, stay happy......there's a pun in there. Fight for what you believe in....recycle....save many things in the world and be happy by crafting and entertaining your mind