ink on my hands

Sunday was a day of settling in after a busy and full Thanksgiving weekend in NYC. Have you ever just needed to throw yourself into something you love to feel nested and home? Yesterday, as the washing machine rumbled through mountains of "vacation" laundry, we all found ourselves at the kitchen table doing our own special things that we love- together. While my daughter drew half a million pictures with a new set of markers, my son read a new library book, and my husband worked on a NY Times crossword puzzle. I hesitated for a moment (the clean laundry was starting to pile up on the couch), and then ran for my carving tools. Creating a new image to print is my favorite way to unwind these days. I love drawing freehand and then transferring it onto a block. After the meditative carving, getting my fingers covered in ink relaxes me further. Do I love my little Black Capped Chickadee? Sure, but I mostly appreciate how he mellowed and eased me into being home. Do you have a special way to transition back into your space?

sponsorship

Did you notice a little invitation over in the new left hand column? I'm happy to announce that I am now accepting sponsors. I've put a lot of thought and planning into how to seamlessly incorporate this new feature into my blog. Sponsorship feels like the perfect next step, and will enhance my ability to continue making and sharing with such frequency. I'm quite grateful to be in a position where I can promote and highlight independent artists, crafters, and small businesses to the people that are most interested in what they have to offer. maya*made receives 41,000 unique visitors and over 144,000 page views a month * from a very enthusiastic group that is steadily growing. Please see my Press page for more details on where I've been featured and published. Because I'm ready to just dive in and see how this goes, I'm offering two months for the price of one. Sign up between now and the end of December, and you'll receive not only December, but a space for January with no additional fees. Please e-mail me for more details: mayaluna{at}yahoo{dot}com.

5% of all sponsorships will be donated to Dining for Women.

*Statistics updated on 12/11/09

count-down calender 2009

Yay! It's here... my new countdown calendar: the 2009 Toilet Paper Tube Advent is ready for December. Last year's advent calender gained a lot of recognition on crafty blogs and even continues to be part of advent round ups for this year. I think part of its popularity was due to the use of the common toilet paper tube. We all have them, and they won't stop filling up our recycling bins anytime soon! Therefore, they're one of my favorite resources. This year's design is so simple to customize to your own style and what you might have stashed around the house. It was also much easier to involve my children... so many steps my littlest could be part of. If you'd like to make your own and don' t have enough tubes, ask your friends! Wrapping paper tubes can be cut to size, or you can always make a few extra from heavy paper in the recycling bin. Here we go!

Count Down Calendar

Materials

• 24 cardboard tubes (or as many as the days you will count.- for example: only 8 for Chanukah, etc.)
• acrylic craft paint
• security envelopes
• snowflake hole punch
• sewing machine, stapler, or glue gun
  
• cork board
• mini clothespins(available at craft stores)
  
• ribbons or lace
• fabric for covering board
• stamp pad and numeral stamps
  

Make

1. Close one end of your tube. I loved running mine through my sewing machine with a zigzag stitch. Quick and satisfying. Alternately, use a stapler or a glue gun.
   
2. Decide if you want to paint them. I knew I wanted a snow and frosty blue palette and opted for white. We painted them on a blanket of newspaper next to our wood stove to speed up the drying process and stay cozy. (Please ignore my not so tidy floor.) This is the perfect step to enlist a helper. (My assistant got bored with white quickly and shifted over to a cracker box in perfect pink.)
   
3. The next step was everyone's favorite: punch out snowflakes (with our brand new Martha snowflake puncher) from blue security envelopes, of course!! I have a feeling we'll be making snowflakes all winter.
   
4. Adorn your tubes with whatever suits you. We pasted our snowflakes right on. Although we kept our decorating simple, this is where you could go to town with rickrack, pompoms, buttons, etc.
   
5. Number them. Numeral stamps are easy. Printing numbers on stickers would work nicely, too.
6. Choose your method of display. Ideas: suspended on a ribbon, hung from branches, or on a cork board. My first thought was to just tack them all on a cork board. That seemed super easy, but needed a little oomph. When I went in search of a scrap of white fabric for covering, I spotted my suitcase filled with vintage lace. I bought a collection of crocheted pillow trims at a church sale years ago. They were cut right off of the pillow cases to salvage all of the hard work someone had done. They've felt too special to use, until now! I could use them without cutting into them.
   

I wrapped my fabric around the cork board and then tacked the loops of lace in rows. You could do this with your favorite ribbons.

I'm even in love with the raw edges and even fancy the delicate, drapey backside.

All that's left is to attach your little numbered pockets.

We'll fill ours with new time tickets and bits of chocolate. Have fun! I'd love to see yours if you give it a try...

grateful

A moment of thankfulness.
Pause
Gratitude
Connection
Deep breath
Open heart
Appreciation for all that is.
May these words touch your day.

Sew Hip issue #11

Yesterday, I went out to the mailbox and discovered the latest copy of Sew Hip (#11). The publishers were kind enough to send me my own copy because...


I'm featured on pages 67 and 68... and even a little on 69! Seeing my words and designs in print is a bit surreal each time. The thrill is hard to describe. I think I floated all the way back into the house to show my family, because I don't really remember walking.
Journalist, Christine Chitnis, contacted me some months ago to ask if I could do a phone interview that would be part of an article that she was working on. Her story is entitled Simple Living, Handmade Touches and highlights four women who embody this. Of course, I wanted to be involved! What an absolute honor to be included with these three other amazing women:
Amanda Blake Soule : soulemama
Michele Simeon: a house called nut
Tif Fussell: dottie angel

Christine did a wonderful job of weaving all four of our inspirations/motivations for a handmade life into one seamless piece. It was my first time being interviewed via phone, rather than just writing down my answers to questions. I won't pretend I wasn't nervous at first, but it felt much more like a warm and friendly conversation than anything else. Thanks so much, Christine! Sew Hip is a UK based sewing magazine that is available in the states at fabric shops. I've even gotten a hold of copies at Barnes and Noble. I'm not sure when this issue will be available, but I'll be on the look out.

Editor's Note: Because it is harder to locate the magazine in the states, Christine has now put the article up on her blog in its entirety for you to enjoy. Go here.

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So, moving right along to the next handmade project... can you guess what these are being prepped for? Yes, it's time for the next rendition of the TP roll count down calendar! I'm quite excited about this year's version. Hoping to unveil it soon. It's totally different from last year's.

paper whites

This week we will begin our annual paper white planting. I've found that bulbs planted during the last days of November will begin flowering by mid December... right when we like to gift them to teachers and friends. By keeping them on window sills and close to our wood stove, they stay very happy soaking up the heat and light. We've been saving our tin cans for the last month or so, because our list is longer than usual. For instructions please see last year's post. If you choose to do this with your children, keep a ruler on hand. It's fun to chart each paper white's growth. We like to make guesses as to which one will be the tallest, etc.

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Have you noticed some subtle changes around here? I'm in the process of freshening up this space and had some wonderful help from a good friend. Thank you, K!! I'm especially excited about that brand new search bar in my new left column! Very handy, I tell you. I feel a bit silly admitting to how much I've enjoyed searching my own blog, but I spent far too much time typing in words Sunday morning.
Happy Monday!

shop update today!

I'll be adding to my shop at around 2pm EST today. I have a sampling of seasonal items, with more to come in December. My cardinal friend has been popping onto linen, organic cotton, and moleskines with much enthusiasm. I had really hoped to have more ready, but sometimes my plans are a bit ambitious for the reality of what's truly possible. So for all of you looking for more coffee sack buckets with typography, they are cut and ready for sewing as soon as I get the chance! WIP buckets have received quite a bit of Etsy fame in the last week. I'm grateful that they've been included in so many treasuries, front pages, and gift guides. They really are a wonderful present for all of your crafty friends and family. So these ARE in the shop update coming up shortly! Yay! Happy Friday!

Simple Gifts: Memory Game

I hope I got you sufficiently excited about security envelope patterns, that you've started saving them. This project utilizes as many patterns as you can get a hold of. Remember how excited my whole family has gotten about saving our envelopes? This enthusiasm led to sorting and matching. A four year old's favorite activity! We decided to make our patterns into a matching-memory game. Because the patterns are so complex and similar in color schemes, it's a game with some challenge. An advanced memory game, if you will. Yes, it's fun for all ages over 3 or 4.

I think it makes a great little gift to stuff in a stocking or bring for a child at a holiday party to keep them engaged.

Security Envelope Memory Game

Materials

• patterned envelopes
• card stock or cereal boxes for backing each tile
  
• scissors or shape puncher thingy
  
• paste
  

Make

1. Cut out two of each pattern in whichever shape you choose.
   
2. Cut out a corresponding piece in card stock or a cereal box for each pattern piece.
3. Add paste to card stock and adhere pattern. If you use a box, make sure the graphics side is the one that you apply the paste to. You want the back of each memory tile to be uniform.

I made a little gift basket/ game holder with a scrap from a felted red sweater. Cut a circle larger than your tiles. Take a long strip of felt (measure to see that it fits around the perimeter of your circle)and fold it in half. Sew up a little seam at the edge to make a "cuff". Attach this cuff to your felt circle and turn inside out. Done! Have fun with this one... we certainly did!

Big Blog Family Interview

Apartment Therapy has been very good to me over the last year and a half. All of the editors are always so warm and gracious. My designs have been featured in various places from re-nest to their main site... but Ohdeedoh, their children's segment, is where you'll find me the most. Today, I had the honor of being included in Ohdeedoh's Big Blog Family series. I'm in very good company, as you'll see. You can read my interview right here. Thanks so much, Ohdeedoh!

coffee sack stockings with a new how to

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

I'm working on a few seasonal pieces for a shop update on Friday. This trio of coffee sack stockings will be part of it. I'll be back with a new addition to Simple Gifts. Oohh, and it's perfect for stuffing in one of those stockings! Now, I'm off to bundle up so that I can join the sun outside... on this beautiful, brisk day.

Update: for 2010 I'm offering a simple How To for your own stockings: find it here.

rusted remains

Past fields and pastures, around a bend, and over a creek there is a secret place I like to go. On a quiet back road, icons of another time stand proudly in their hidden home among the November weeds.

Big rusty beasts grazing in the meadow.Steel bodies enveloped by fluffy goldenrod ghosts.
Their stately grandeur is only enhanced by the natural backdropI can't help but wonder about the people who drove them. Who sat behind this wheel?

And what did they deliver in their world that is so vastly different from ours today?
This sculptural art installation (or junk yard) never ceases to enthrall me. There are dozens and dozens of antique automobiles and trucks being reclaimed by this field. We had good friends visiting all weekend, and I'm so happy I got to share my tucked away treasure with them. Hope you had a little magic in your weekend as well!

corn jewels

Have you ever plucked dried corn kernels from the cob? My four year old has been very industrious since last night... plucking row after row of corn. It was the first thing she wanted to do when she woke up. It's one of my favorite November projects for young children. The extraction of each little piece is thoughtful and meditative. It also strengthens the muscles in little early writing fingers. Sort them, count them, collage them... you get the idea. We buy decorative corn from a farmer nearby. Being surrounded by cornfields has some advantages. You can also buy it at most supermarkets, pre-Thanksgiving.

My daughter thinks of them as jewels... and they most certainly are. As soon as she's done with the plucking, we'll soak the kernels in water over night. Then (with a little help from mom , a sturdy needle and thimble) she'll string them into harvest jewelry. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

security pattern napkin rings

I'm so pleased that my burlap ring was well received. It got such nice attention! I have some more napkin rings for you. The burlap one had a bit of funky looseness to it (in a good way!)... these are minimalistic and modern.

They are also free and entirely from your recycling bin. Introducing my new love: security envelopes. The variety of interior patterns your bills come in are vast and beautiful. Simply paste a strip to a TP tube and add a contrasting one on top. Maybe stamp a number or initial. Easy.

I've been playing around with these papers all fall. My entire family has gotten into the action. Sometimes we all traipse out to the mailbox to see what patterns have arrived. Bills have never been so exciting! This is a little black and gray set, but I have lots of blues and a prized green one, too.

I kept the above napkins rings simple, so that you could really see the paper, but what if you added some shapes... or a sprig of berries!


I've come up with several projects I'll share in the future, but for now please enjoy this list of security envelope craft links from some very creative folks:

little idea notecards
business card holders
center piece and flowers
bunting
pendants
tiny house
modern beads
mini journal
inside out security envelopes

one of my favorites:
the security blanket

Aren't they fun!?

simple gifts: monogrammed napkin ring in burlap

With the holidays getting closer, there will be lots of gathering and shared meals. We use cloth napkins daily, but this can make for an incredible increase in laundry when you have guests. With the question of "was this your napkin?" and the response of "oh, just grab another"... the wash piles up, and the eco-value of cloth decreases. By creating a personal napkin ring for each family member/guest, you can give a gently used napkin another go at a following meal. Monogrammed rings also dress up a table setting and make wonderful gifts to go along with a set of handmade napkins. (Here's a link to diy cloth napkins and 5 napkin tutes.)
I combined some of my favorite ingredients for this burlap ring, all of which came from my scrap basket and recycling bin. Very festive for such humble materials!

Materials:

• toilet paper tube
• scraps of loose weave fabric (burlap is perfect) cut into short strips and one larger piece for the roll
• selvedge from a compatible fabric (linen)cut into smaller strips
• linen covered button(button kits available at sewing shops or online)
  
• alphabet stamps and stamp pad
• Mod Podge
• needle and thread

Make:

1. Burlap blossom- first loop: fold strip of burlap and secure ends with a stitch.
2. Repeat first step until you've added all of your loops of burlap. Stitch each consecutive one to the next.
   
3. Continue with smaller loops of selvedge.
   
4. Cover a shank button with a piece of linen (kits available at most sewing shops).
5. Stamp with initial.
   
6. Stitch button securely to the center of the blossom.
7. Cut a tp roll into thirds.
8. Paint a section of roll with Mod Podge.
9. Attach a piece of burlap to the roll.
   

When almost dry, stitch the burlap blossom to the covered ring.
If you're really opposed to needle and thread, I'm sure you could get away with glue gunning each stitch step. Don't you think a little burlap blossom would make a fabulous present topper, too?! There are so many ways to customize these... the basic ingredients are a tube and some form of ID: an initial, number, symbol. Make these in your favorite style, and your holiday table will feel complete and personal. I've got another very different version coming up!