Showing posts with label What?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label What?. Show all posts

Monday, July 1, 2013

We're Back! And We've Got a Secret...

We're delighted to be able to share some exciting Toy Society news with you!

We're sorry you haven't heard from us for a while. Things got away from us and before we knew it, time did too. We sincerely apologise, we hate letting this amazing community down.

The Toy Society has grown, so rapidly, into an inspiring world-wide community since we started with that humble first toy drop almost five years ago. We've been straining under the weight of time consuming systems set up in the early days before we understood just how many like minded people there were wanting to get in on the fun. We hated keeping people waiting but at the same time it became impossible not to.

To help things flow faster and smoother (and to lighten the work load for the admins) we will be making a number of changes over the coming months. As you can already see that we have a fresh new look. We are slowly rolling that out across everything we do, so please be patient. 

We're starting off with the simplest changes that hopefully will have the biggest impact for you:

1. The biggest change is that we've changed our name! 


Well, sort of. You might remember that we used to have a Facebook page. Someone with a business with a very similar name managed to get our lovely page shut down. This was despite legal advice that there were no trademark infringements and we were legitimately able to use our name. However, we don't wanna be hassled anymore! So, you'll see in our sweet new logo up there that we are now The (secret) Toy Society! Cheeky, right? Also, completely appropriate given we do our toy dropping in secret! What do you think? 

We are keeping the blog address the same for now.

2. We've simplified the process for how you post your drops

It's now as easy as sending an email! The email address will be updated every couple of months (mostly to avoid drowning in spam) and we ask that you follow the instructions exactly. 

Posts will be held in draft until an admin approves and publishes them. Please note, we are unable to edit your photos, so you must make sure they are appropriately sized and facing the right way! All details on how to submit your drop now live here. The email address will be sent to all members so be sure that you are signed up and your details are current. 

We are going through the back log of drops and posting them at the moment, please bare with us while we catch up.

3. We have a new sign up process

It is much simpler and a little bit prettier. Plus, it shouldn't break now (it used to sometime which was very annoying!). We realise this change has very little impact on you, seeing as you're already receiving this email but we wanted to let you know as it's all part of our refresh. 

4. Getting back into Facebook

As we mentioned above, our lovely Facebook community was shut down last year. Never fear, we've moved on and are starting again. You can like our page here: www.facebook.com/TheSecretToySociety 

We will also be back tweeting and pinning, too. We would love to pin your patterns if you have any. Tag us on Pinterest if you have a pattern you would like us to share, or tweet us or email us and let us know. 

The Flickr community will remain, for now, but we won't be posting drops to the blog from Flickr anymore.

5. We would love to hear your thoughts 

Whether you've done a bunch of drops or only just joined, we would love to hear your ideas on how you think things could improve here. Soon, we will send you a brief survey via email. We will use that to help shape our next round of improvements.

We are really so very sorry things slipped away but we are so excited about the refresh and getting things back up and running so we can all enjoy seeing how the love is being shared around the world, one handmade toy at a time.

Start emailing your drops!

Bianca xo
Founder, The Toy Society

Monday, June 24, 2013

We're Coming Back!

We're sorry things have fallen away here.

Things got away from us and before we knew it, time did too.

We sincerely apologise, we hate letting this amazing community down.

Never fear though, we are working on some small, followed by bigger improvements! We are changing how you sign up and how you post your drops. We are also changing how we manage things around here as it was far too much for just one or two people to handle.

We will announce the changes on 1st July both here and in our newsletter.

In the mean time, feel free to drop us an email if you have any specific suggestions.

And if you're trying to sign up, email thetoysociety@gmail.com with the subject SIGN ME UP and we will add you straight into the new database.

Onwards and upwards!

Yours in kind acts with no expectations,

The Toy Society  xxx

Saturday, December 24, 2011

CHristmas Drops and apologies



Hi there,

I don't like to do posts directly from me, but I feel it is important to address you personally.

I want to apologise that things have fallen behind a bit around here lately. It was not my intention to let things slip so far behind.

There have, however, been some very special, amazing elves working behind the scenes (one extra special one who popped up without my knowledge and started posting the back log of drops) helping to get things back on track.

In the new year, to make sure this doesn't happen again, I will be introducing some new (and easy) ways to upload your drops to the blog. I will also be looking for a committee of helpers to make sure things stay on track - so if you're interested (or have some ideas about making improvements in this space), keep an eye on your inbox for a new year newsletter.

In the mean time, all toys dropped in the past few days up until December 27, will become part of the 2011 Christmas Drop. You will see them start appearing here after the 26 of December. Any finds reported in that time will be reported ASAP.

There is also a huge backlog of finders to report, so they will be posted over the coming weeks too, keep an eye out for some beautiful new finder stories.

Thank you all for your patience. Thank you also for your continued commitment to giving someone a something for nothing experience - your selfless generosity is a truly special thing.

Bianca
Founder, The Toy Society

Friday, December 17, 2010

2010 World Wide Christmas Drop



Are you participating in the World Wide Christmas Drop this year? All the details should be in your inbox now. Please be sure to check the posting details as they are very different to usual posting, in fact we're asking you not to use Flickr to post your Christmas drops. Be sure to check your email for the details.

Also, we're delighted to say that this year because the last weekend before Christmas is a whole week before the big day, we are extending the timeframe to be the whole week! So all drops this week will be counted as a World Wide Christmas Drop.

Perhaps you would like to include a Christmas card of some sort with your drop this week?

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

World Wide Christmas Drop



It's that time again - holidays, christmas, end of year - and although we're a little late this year, we're excited and ready to go with our World Wide Christmas Toy Drop. All around the world, on the last weekend before Christmas, toy makers (of the non santa kind) will be leaving their handmade toys as gifts for perfect strangers.

This will be the third year, and we would love to see our toy drop count tip the 300 mark this time round (we made it to 200 last year).

So, if you would like to be part of the fun, sign up here:







Name:
E-mail address:
Are you able to help out with admin of the Christmas Drop?:Yes
Blog/Flickr/other site:
Anything you need to get off your chest?:
We're excited to introduce a new way to post your drops this year too - so hopefully we will see drops on the blog much quicker than in previous years. So sign up so you don't miss any vital details!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Craft Hope for Haiti


By now you have probably read about Craft Hope. Founded by Jade Sims, Craft Hope aims to share handmade crafts with those less fortunate. Craft Hope has organised craft projects as far reaching as making toys for orphanages to blankets for homeless shelters.

Their most recent project is Craft Hope for Haiti – where they have set up an etsy shop with handcrafted donations and all proceeds going direct to Doctors Without Borders. So far they have raised over US$20,000, but you can help them raise more! Click over there now; how about this cute card that you can download and print:


http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38848346

Thanks Holly for letting us know about this important project.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Happy New Year and the Christmas Wrap Up


09 Christmas Drop # 172 - 10 toys dropped at Circular Quay, Sydney by The Toy Society

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you've got that shiny tingly new year feeling? 2010 looks like an exciting year for The Toy Society. Maybe some new things to do, and new ways to post to the blog and who knows what else....maybe some Toy Society merchandise?

2009 was an enormous year for TTS. Lots of milestones, a first birthday, 2000+ members, hundreds of toy drops, lovely finder stories and more. You showed what a truly generous group you are in so many ways; the highlight being the huge number of donations to the survivors of the Australian Black Saturday bushfires, all made with so much sincerity and thoughtfulness.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 2009 World Wide Christmas Toy Drop. This time there were 196 drops and more than 210 toys, and 26 finder stories reported to date. The Christmas drops showed the incredible variety of skills contributing to The Toy Society and we couldn't be prouder of each and every one of your contributions.

As we speed towards a milestone of 1000 toy drops (although technically the sum total of drops is way more considering christmas and other themed drops), we'd love to hear your suggestions on how you'd like to celebrate? Comment on this post with your thoughts or send your ideas to thetoysociety@gmail.com.

And finally, thank YOU as you are what makes The Toy Society the wonderful project that it is.

Found: Well...sort of.

See this link for the real finder, but how sweet are the librarians at the Brigham Library in Utah, USA?


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: connie
Date: Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 8:14 AM
Subject: found toy
To: thetoysociety@gmail.com


This was found in the lost and found at the brigham library and was put back out in the library to be truly "found".

connie
Brigham City Library
26 E. Forest
Brigham City, Utah 84302

Friday, December 18, 2009



Just 1 sleep to go until the World Wide Christmas Toy Drop begins! Last year, on the last weekend before Christmas, there were just over 100 handmade toys left around the world for unsuspecting strangers to enjoy. This year we're set for a whole lot more!

While you wait for the first drops to start appearing, you can see all of the 2008 World Wide Christmas drops here. And of course, to see everyone's favourites - the Finders, click here!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

World Wide Christmas Toy Drop 2009



Already people are starting to think about "That time of the year" again, so we thought it was high time to get going with the 2009 World Wide Christmas Toy Drop. Last year we left 104 handmade toys as Christmas presents for people to find. This year, we hope there will be lots more!

The World Wide Christmas Toy Drop will be on the last weekend before Christmas.

If you'd like to be part of the World Wide Christmas Drop this year, add yourself to the special mailing list so we can keep you up to date. If you've already signed up via the newsletter (or sent an email after reading the newsletter, thanks!) The Christmas Drop is over for another year. Please check back on the blog in the lead up to Christmas for details on the next World Wide Christmas Drop.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Thanks Val

Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know we have a new author on the blog, Val from yarnigras.blogspot.com. Val joins Michelle and Bianca in The Toy Society blogging team and will help keep posts and finds flowing here.

You should drop by her blog and say hi! Welcome Val, and thanks!

And speaking of posts, when you upload your drops to the Flickr pool, please don't forget to include the details of your drop (Dropped:, Number of Toys:, Made by: Dropped by:, When: And your name says:) to ensure there's no delay in your drop reaching the blog.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

I Make Stuff


The Toy Society is delighted to be part of a special new book "I Make Stuff". Edited by the in-the-know ladies of Handmadelife the book is a collection of stories from makers around the world. We'll let you know when it's available to buy, because it looks so delicious that you may just need a copy for your own bookshelf.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Tweet!

Edited to add: there's some sort of annoying Twitter technical thing going on where followers of TTS aren't showing up. There's been 40 follower notifications by email but none showing on TTS profile. Not sure what that's all about, but thanks for following - even if it's not working.

Peer pressure!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Drop # 491 - double up, post deleted

Whoops, sorry all, this post has been deleted because it was a double up. All drops between 492 and 502 have now dropped back a number. Sorry for the confusion!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Toy Society Corner Shop

The Toy Society has its very own corner shop!

The shop will sell a small range of items directly related to The Toy Society with many items aimed at ensuring the less crafty among us can participate in the project no matter how blunt their needle might be!

All proceeds from the shop will go towards the upkeep of the project.



You'll find some handmade envelope and tag sets in the shop at the moment and over the coming weeks we hope to add some patterns and other bits and pieces.

So, if you feel inclined, get shopping!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Helper Elves

There are a couple of very lovely and very special Helper Elves who will be helping to post drops from now on. Hopefully this will help to keep drops appearing quicker on the blog as the number of drops keep increasing.

Thanks Michelle and Noe.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Play All Day


The Toy Society is in print! And not only are we in print, but the book we are in is a very classy book indeed! 'Play all Day'.

Play All Day documents a collection of the most vibrant, stimulating and engaging design products and concepts for children. This book sets a new standard of design for children with fascinating examples of innovative and well-designed toys, playgrounds and play environments, room decorations, wall coverings, furniture and kindergarten architecture. In addition to these products, it also presents illustration, photography as well as new and original ideas offering playful solutions that talented designers and creative parents are designing for and with their kids. It is an inspiring reference for design-savvy parents and other professionals.

Congratulations to Noelia, Traci and Desiree who each have one of their toy drops included.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Gifts of Love for Whoever finds them

That's how Melbourne newspaper 'The Age' described The Toy Society today.

Hi there to anyone popping by after reading the article. Thanks for taking the time to come and check out The Toy Society and all its mischievous Random Acts of Craft.

For anyone not in Melbourne you can read the article here. It's exciting to see The Toy Society featured in the mainstream non-craft media!

I thought I should take a second to gloat help any new visitors find their way around. Here's a few handy tips:
  • There's a good spread of drops and finds at the moment on the first page, so scroll down.
  • Use the tags in the left column to help you navigate through all the drops and finds. You can also click country tags, or themed tags etc.
  • The links to the World Wide Christmas drop, maps and finders are still in the left column
  • Everyone is welcome to join The Toy Society. Just fill in the form in the left column, click submit and all the info will be yours.
  • There's a flickr page where all the photos land before they hit the blog.
  • The article says there would hopefully be 100 drops by April....the total count is now at 295!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Is it wrong...

... to be dreaming of ideas for the 2009 World Wide Christmas toy drop already?