There will be no tutorial this week, as I have been helping to run a 24-hour a day marathon fundraiser since 6pm on Friday, Nov. 18, and crafting has, this very once, taken a back seat. I would, however, like to take a moment to reflect on the week. Desert Bus is without a doubt one of the most unique and amazing things in my life, and this Desert Bus just past has topped all other, previous Desert Buses, which I didn’t even know was possible. Through the incredible support and generosity of thousands of wonderful people, Desert Bus 5 raised over $379,000 for the children’s charity Child’s Play.

I am utterly flabbergasted by this number, flabbergasted and delighted. And I feel deeply deeply honoured and privileged to be part of such a phenomenal event, and to be able to work with all the other wonderful people who put so much into making this week of insanity happen every year.

My main role in the event is as organizer of the Craft-Along, which encourages artists and crafters around the world to send in unique handmade items to auction and give away in order to raise even more money for Child’s Play during Desert Bus. I would just like to take a moment to say that the skill, love and creativity demonstrated by all these crafters is remarkable. And as a crafter myself, I know that it is incredibly gratifying for these talented people to see their work bringing in such huge amounts of money for charity, to see their time and effort being so highly valued by others in the community. The Craft-Along attracts some highly gifted individuals, and it is an honour to be able to see and handle their work, and to get to know many of these fantastic people a little better.

One of the crafters, Helen Cowart, has very thoughtfully constructed a list of all this year’s Craft-Along participants who have a blog, website, store or other artistic online presence, along with links to those places. I encourage you very much to check out this list and the people on it. And of course, you can see the names of all the crafters and all the Craft-Along items we auctioned and gave away this year, here, here and here. If you are interested in participating in the 2012 Craft-Along, we will be opening submissions in mid to late spring, so stay tuned to the Desert Bus Twitter account and Facebook page for updates and details.

And again, thank you so much to each and every person who in any way participated in Desert Bus this year, whether it was organizing, volunteering, crafting or donating other auction items, putting up posters, telling your friends and family, watching the stream, participating in the chat, bidding in auctions, donating $5 or donating $500. I am blown away by what all of us working together are able to accomplish for the greater good.

Very very very well dong!

Note: While there is no new tutorial posted here this week, a couple weeks ago I did this paper flowers tutorial for Julie, who recently featured me over at 8 Balloons. Check it out for this week’s crafting fix. Thanks Julie!