OLM Community Kicker Starters

Our Community Kicker Starters are a way of spreading happiness and fun within our Facebook Community. They range from Month Gift cards, Porch Take overs to dropping of Kits are Hospitals. It's a way to unite us all during the month as we do what we love... CRAFT!

One type Community Kickstarter is a DIY kit, or many kits, that are donated to a deserving group on behalf of our community, nominated by our community! So how can you start one? You inspire the sharing of joy and creativity. Community Kickstarters have allowed us to unite around a common goal, despite being thousands of kilometers apart.

To me, community has always been and will continue to be, part of the creative process. Brainstorming and talking out ideas has allowed us to create something meaningful, magical, and memorable time and time again. Our community is – without a doubt – the most incredible wealth of creative inspiration.

Our creative community is consistently positive, reaffirming, generous, and kind. If you ever want to get some feedback on your project or ideas or feel good about yourself in the most loving way, all you need to do is post a photo of a recent project on our Facebook Group and you’ll be melted away with all fabulous feedback you get. I mean it, go try! It continues to happen, every single day.

It felt even more critical to me to build this online community and ensure it could thrive once COVID arrived and we lost our ability to gather in-person. It’s one thing to put our instructional videos up online and have everyone follow them – it’s another thing completely to have everyone interact, encourage, and share ideas over the projects they have just made or are planning to make – to build and foster a thriving digital community.

You see, two years ago when we used to do in-person live workshops under the company name Make it Night, the very best part was at the end. Once everyone had finished they would all walk around and looked at everyone else’s projects and comment on them, compliment them, ask how they did a certain part – you get the idea. The old female culture of competition at all costs would be blown away by collaboration over competition. Time and time again, every time I would do a workshop I would see the opposite! I would see females building each other up with comments, showing kindness, consideration, and sweetness to one another. We simply couldn’t lose that just because big bad COVID made us all go online to get our crafting in!

I decided to start Community Kickstarters to encourage us to rally around a cause, to comment and chat with each other, and to deepen our connection. These Community Kickstarts build on the generosity, kindness, and sweetness in our community by letting us think about other people who might enjoy crafting during this pandemic – for example seniors in facilities and in seniors homes.

We had a hunch that our community coming together to give people something to do in such an unknown, boring, lonely period of time would not only bring the recipients joy, but would also allow our community to feel proud and excited and joyful during a time when we really needed it. Enter the inaugural Community Kickstart. 

In February of 2021 we asked our community if they had ideas of someone that needed a little extra joy in the form of a DIY kit. Who is someone that is lonely and could use a surprise to bring a smile to their face? And – like they’ve always done – the community embraced it! We received hundreds of names and places where we could send DIY kits. Over the course of six months we have sent out just over 600 of kits to 37 different groups – delivering joy and creativity all the while growing joy within our community knowing we are helping others.

In June of 2021, last month, we were able to send out another Community Kickstarter focused on honouring all of our amazing kids that have gone through this pandemic for nearly a year and a half! We sent out bookmarks to teachers and classes for students to have a creative outlet and a small take-away for themselves. This specific Community Kickstarter had people nominating their teaching partners, their daughters, their neighbours, their friends – and our community-loving hearts (which are already sizeable) grew three sizes at least.

Our community works so hard to spread and create joy for others – we know firsthand just how great it feels to be creative, to make something with our hands, to brighten up our spaces with some creative joy – and now we have been able to spark that in someone else. There’s nothing but hope and joy and happiness being given and received on both sides! Thank you for being a part of our community and helping our little business spread joy across the country.

Interested in joining our community of crafters? Have an idea for a Community Kickstarter? We would love to hear from you! Please head to Facebook and join our group or send us an email! at hi@ourlittlemakery.ca

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