ReSparkle! Celebrating Creativity and Christmas crafts at Tooting Library

TTT have been ReSparkling with Tooting Library since 2012 - it's always a magical event upstairs in the beautiful children's library. 

Indoors last Saturday the library was full of colour, light and energy as it became darker, wetter and stormier outside. 

It's a free and simple event: for two hours we offered 5 activity tables, with eight of us helping.  

Why is it so fun and rewarding?

We think it's because:
1. There are familiar faces and new families every year - diverse, multilingual, positive, keen to experiment.
2. Creating a special occasion together is a good feeling 

3. The Library is such an excellent trusted community social hub in the buzzy retail heart of Tooting. Everyone is welcome, nothing is for sale, everyone can work at their own pace and  materials and goodwill are shared freely.
4. Children, parents and carers are discovering and making together - all generations trying out very different activities, getting familiar (again?) with using glue, scissors, staplers, velcro.
All these activities and more can be repeated at home.

5. Everyone creates using simple materials - making beautiful decorations and presents out of everyday things and scrap saved from waste.  
6. There's always new ideas - new activities, new facilitators from TTT, creative solutions from participants (turning the drinks cartons inside out to show off the silvery liner was very neat!)

There's more photos by Bryony, Chuck & Annie to look at online - please click here. And there's more of just Bryony's beautiful photos of ReSparkle online here - thank you Bryony!

ReSparkle! exactly six years ago on Dec 15th 2012

We value our long-lasting partnership with Tooting Library very much and want to say thanks to the Library team for hosting us so many times since 2012.

Many thanks to our TTT team of fab facilitators: Annie, Bryony, Elly, Jane, Jeni, Nicola, Resina & Chuck.
We're looking forward to December 2019 - please put ReSparkle in your diary!

ReSparkle! with TTT at Tooting Library, 2pm to 4 pm on Saturday 15th December 2018

All welcome to join TTT's free Christmas crafts workshop at Tooting Library, creating beautiful presents and decorations to take home.

We've been inviting everyone to ReSparkle! since 2012, and it's always a magical event.

 

When? Saturday 15th December from 2:00pm to 4:00pm
Where? 75 Mitcham Road SW17 9PD
We'll be upstairs in the lovely children's library.  
Free, drop-in and for all ages.

All materials provided - and everything we'll use to make beautiful creations is waste that's being saved from going to scrap.
"Reduce...Re-purpose...ReSparkle!"


Thanks loads to our partners at Tooting Library - if you have any queries, please phone the Library on 0208 767 0543. NB children under 8 must always be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Come and join the fun - please spread the word and tell your friends. Click here to read or download the poster.

We had a fun & creative seasonal session ReSparkling, Reducing and Re-using materials that would have gone to waste. And Happy New Year!

Thanks loads to our partners in Tooting Library for hosting our fifth annual seasonal ReSparkle! workshop on the 17th December.
Around 40 young people - from four-year olds to teenagers - joined in for two hours, solo or with parents and carers. Everyone learned how to do all kinds of imaginative things that can be repeated or adapted at home using everyday materials saved from going to waste.

We used simple and practical methods and tools that are good for children and adults to learn how to handle confidently - folding, gluing, cutting-out with scissors, hole punching, stapling, decorating.

What did we do? (If you look carefully you can see examples of the different things that participants made in the background of many of the pictures...can you work out how to make them?)

Jane showed how to make angels using the pages of an old book destined for recycling.

Rachel showed how to make snowmen and other figures from cardboard tubes - so simple!
Plus, Hilary made cardboard boxes.

Flora helped make present bags out of the Library's out-of-date foreign-language newspapers.

Below: look at the intense concentration when learning to use the hole puncher.  

how did she keep her hat so straight?

Reduce, Re-Use, ReSparkle! Free seasonal crafts with Tooting Library on Saturday 17th December

We're running our fifth annual free ReSparkle! event at Tooting Library, 75 Mitcham Road, SW17 9PD on Sat 17th, from 2-4pm.

All welcome, for all ages and all materials provided: the theme is learning how to make decorative and interesting things - perhaps presents for Christmas time - using re-purposed materials that would otherwise go to waste.
No experience necessary...you can do all the activities, and take home what you make. And teach others at home how you did it!

The venue is the beautiful Children's Library on the first floor.
We're combining the fun workshop with artist Jeni Walker's monthly Meet and Make sessions, so we can expect a really varied group.

Click on the year to see what we made at Resparkle 2015 and Resparkle 2014 - the theme that year was 'I never knew you could do so much with paper!'


Here are two highlights, and we look forward to seeing you:

Reduce, Re-use, ReSparkle! Our seasonal family crafts workshop with Tooting Library

On Saturday 12th December TTT offered our fourth annual Resparkle! seasonal crafts session at Tooting Library -  this time combined with Jeni Walker's monthly Meet & Make.

The aim was to teach children and adults how to make interesting, fun and attractive decorations or presents using household materials - newspaper, drinks cartons, scrap textiles.

Here's what we had on offer to make:

• drinks carton wallets
• newspaper present bags 
• textile and paper decorations
• paper flowers
• adding to the Library's collage Xmas tree
• and some children made up their own ideas...

All these activities are easy to repeat at home - for us it's all about mixing creativity and upcycling everyday waste.
And it's all about enjoyment and making things together. 

Some children did every single activity on offer, then went back for more..



The afternoon was delightful - a real mix of Tooting's cultures, with a lot of concentration and focus from three dozen young people. There were rewarding challenges working with new materials and techniques, and persisting with folding, cutting, punching and sticking to make beautiful things.



Most of the adults were making too - it was great to see the mix of generations and also whole families doing these engaging activities together.
There was a lot of achievement, pride and quiet celebration.

 



Thanks so much to the multi-tasking TTT volunteers who ran the day: Jane, Jeni, Hilary, Rachel & Chuck.
Thanks to Tooting Library - to Heather and Khalid for inviting us (and for helping to clear up at the end).

                

                                      
 More photos in this slideshow  

See you at December 2016 Resparkle!

'I never knew you could do so much with paper'

The title for this first TTT blog post of New Year 2015 is a parent's comment at our 'Reduce, Re-use, RESPARKLE!' crafts making session run with the Tooting Library on the Saturday before Christmas. 

'I never knew you could do so much with paper' is a great prompt for us all about seeing things differently, about challenge, about taking action, about sustainability, about exploring new skills together across ages and cultures, about appreciating the local settings we have in Tooting (including great community places like the Library), about coming together to have some surprises and fun.

Those are all 'resolutions' that TTT will  aspire to in 2015. 

What did we do in the 'RESPARKLE!' session?

We used recycled materials and simple methods to enthuse children and adults with making beautiful seasonal decorations, presents or bags from 'waste' - old newspapers from the Library, single-side printed A4 docs, juice cartons, and more.


It was a very full two hours - from a standing start at 2:00 pm, we were almost swamped by lots of nimble fingers, questions, concentration and focus, and smiles...and a big range of ages, nationalities and cultures.