Where's the burlap?

I've been getting numerous requests about burlap and buckets... "will you ever make them again?" seems to be the most frequently asked question. The answer is YES! There are already several in the construction phase. And I'm finally creating another pattern... or two. I needed a little breather, desperately. I'm simply not cut out for mass production on a regular basis. (Well, unless they're unicorn ears!) I need room for new ideas to emerge. You do too, I'm sure. Stepping back and finding inspiration from new sources always recharges me. Working with other repurposed materials (such as newspaper and cracker boxes) also helps me to return to burlap with new appreciation and passion. I'm planning a shop update on February 1st!

One more thing...
Being nominated for Handmade Eco-Artist, over at The Poppies Award Ceremony, really touched me... deeply. I felt awkward and shy about saying that before. I tend to be a little bit wary of titles, mainly out of concern for their limitations. However, hearing that I was in the running as a Handmade Eco-Artist made my heart sing. Truly! I often have a difficult time telling people what I do. That little box for your occupation on forms always disturbs me. I have not always had the confidence in my art that I do today. So much of it has grown right here on my blog... with you. So regardless of who ends up winning the category (especially since I love and admire many who I'm competing with), I feel like I've already gained such a sweet gift. Handmade Eco Artist... I love that, and I may just write that down on the next form I sign. So if you did vote, you should know that it was appreciated more than you might have realized. I send you a heartfelt thank you! The link for more info is up in my sidebar.

The Poppies: Handmade Eco-Artist

Poppytalk Handmade, is a wonderful art/design blog in the middle of having their first Virtual Awards Event, The Poppies. There are several categories to vote for your favorite artists. I was happy to be nominated in the Crafter category. After all the excitement around The Homies, I felt a little reticent about requesting your participation again. I quietly put it up in my sidebar and thought... we'll just see what happens. Low and behold, I just discovered about an hour ago that I had been nominated for another separate category that I didn't even know about: The Handmade Eco Artist! How did I miss that!? If you feel so inclined, please hop over and give a vote. No signing in necessary. Thanks so much!

Green

Apartment Therapy has just announced that maya*made is the winner of the Green category of The Homies! I never set out to be a celebrated Green Home Design blog. I just enjoy sharing what I make and how I live. I don't know how many times I can say how thrilled and honored I am to be recognized for this. Thank you! You are witnesses to my dreams unfolding. You are the reason I write each day. The five other blogs I was featured with are all such incredible resources for green living. I hope you'll spend some time visiting them. For any new readers traveling here today, I thought I'd share my inspiration for how I often create. I think that what I wrote for my new workshop, Reinvention, sums it up the best:

In our “throw away” society we tend to glorify the new, rather than celebrate the habits of former generations. Traditionally, the ability to repair, mend, and ingeniously turn a little bit of nothing into something were skills highly valued and honed.

One of my favorite interpretations of GREEN is making something from nothing: cleverly reinventing simple house hold items and bits from our scrap baskets into items of beauty and utility. Pouring through the Make section in my sidebar always gets me excited about my superheroes of reinvention: milk cartons, cans, and toilet paper tubes. Is there a certain object that you find filling up your recycling bin? If so, consider using it as your next craft or repurposing challenge. What else could it be used for?

The Homies: Last day to vote!

Having the honor of being a finalist in Apartment Therapy's best Green Home Design blog of 2009 contest: The Homies has definitely made for an exciting first week of this new year. Your votes have made me so proud and happy. I love sharing with all of you so much, and this has been a wonderful (and unanticipated) way for me to really feel your support for the energy I put into maya*made last year. If you haven't stopped by at The Homies site... today is the last day to cast your vote. You'll also love the long list of other fantastic Green sites to visit. Check it out!

Happy New Year!

I want to thank you deeply for another phenomenal year! Even while I've stepped away for some holiday time with family, you're still with me... as I jot down ideas and take photos in anticipation of more to come. As I was compiling this photo retrospective of a couple of faves from 2009, I was alerted by Apartment Therapy that I was a finalist in their best Home Design blog of 2009 contest: The Homies (in the green category)! WOW!!!I continue to be amazed and totally humbled by the attention my little blog has received this year. Your love and support inspire and motivate me daily. If you're so inclined, I'd be honored to have you visit over there and cast a vote. What an unexpected and thrilling way to begin The New Year! Here's to 2010!

lisa leonard designs' winner

Thanks for all of your wonderful contributions to the give-away. Every time I offer one, I feel like I get to know so many of you that much more. That's my favorite part about give-aways... my least favorite part is that I can't send each of you a gift! Today our very lucky winner is Theresa!

Theresa said...

I'm in the same spot--nothing but a wedding ring lately. This piece is lovely and would fit me to a T!

Congratulations, Theresa! Will you please e-mail with your address so that I can pass it on to Lisa, and you can look forward to your new treasure in the mailbox.

Hope your weekend is filled with beauty. I wish I could send you some of our blue skies and crisp autumn air... or at least a fall bouquet!

renewed love and a special give-away!

So, I've found a long, lost love! Jewelry. Long, long ago I had a passionate affair with jewelry. Lots of it. Bangles up and down my arms, anklets, toe rings, several necklaces at once, and intricate seed bead earrings. Much of it I made. When I hit my mid twenties, I simplified... but still adorned myself. Then I had a child. I simplified some more. I stopped wearing all but my wedding band. This has gone on for 11 years, with only an occasional bit of mild bling for special occasions, or a borrowed bauble from my mom now and then. But now, now I'm finally ready. I decided that I want to wear something simple and delicate that makes me feel strong and beautiful. Lisa Leonard's Designs have been calling out to me. It's quite likely that you have seen her work before... she sponsors some very good women. I was searching and I found the just right piece to wear everyday. Although it is so gorgeous, I bet I'll keep it on for special occasions, too. This little sterling silver necklace is called "be still". It has a tiny bird resting beside two reeds. I can just imagine when my day is spinning out... I will touch that little bird and remember to breathe. I will think about the quiet place out back where the reeds grow tall and the red-winged blackbirds perch. Lisa is generously gifting one lucky reader this very necklace, also. I'm so excited and deeply grateful to have this opportunity for such a lovely give-away. Lisa puts so much love and thought into what she creates. Do go visit her shop and admire all of the incredible work that she does. You may also find another perfect piece... or two. Her blog is gorgeous, also: a reflection of what a remarkable woman, mother, and artist she truly is. Her spirit shines through instantly... you'll see. If you would like to have a chance to wear this extremely special piece... filled with peace... to slip "be still" around your own neck, please leave a comment in this post before Friday, the 18th at 5 pm EST. I will announce the winner on Saturday.

On a little side note: I absolutely adored styling this jewelry photo shoot. Who knew?

2nd softie awards

I entered the 2nd Softie Awards with several of my other elephants, here are my last two contestants:

Sweet Petunia was created from a felted, pink cashmere cable cardigan and vintage fabrics. She has been stuffed to plump perfection with eco-craft, an earth friendly alternative to poly-fil.

Lulu is all dressed and ready for her birthday party. She's fashioned from re-purposed cotton velour with striped accents on the inside of her feet, ears and tail. She's filled with eco-craft, an earth friendly alternative to poly-fil.
Lulu is wearing a coordinating and removable cloak and crown (both in fabric by kitty yoshida). She's delightfully soft and appropriate for all ages.

on to cookie magazine!

Well, it's not quite over for the Bucket Brigade. Cookie magazine has already posted their voting site for THEIR storage contest and my happy little buckets are up on the page. If anyone is interested in checking it out/or giving a vote, click here.

Thanks for all the support! This continues to be quite a ride.

ohdeedoh presents...

I'm so so so excited!!! The Bucket Brigade is one of the lucky winners of the Ohdeedoh Now you see it, now you don't storage contest! Yippeeeeee!

another contest...phew!

I'm really loving the inspiration and motivation that a contest infuses in each new project. I haven't enjoyed the on-line voting process of the last two that I entered. It always feels a bit awkward enlisting my family and friends to join in. This next contest has a professional panel of judges, and I'm looking forward to entering and then relaxing. My good friend Pat, over at ZenCrafting, discovered The Second Annual Softies Award at Softies Central. There happens to be a category for elephants...to honor the very first stuffed animal ever, an elephant. How could I not give it a try! You can enter as many items as you'd like...yippee! I will be posting more elephants throughout next week. This has been a great motivator to create inventory for my soon to open Etsy store. Here is an almost completed LuLu. She's made with recycled blue cotton velour from SewGreen and a favorite floral and stripe by Kitty Yoshida. Lulu is stuffed with an"earth friendly" alternative to polyfill, called Eco-Craft.

thanks ohdeedoh!

Hurray! The Bucket Brigade is up for voting on Ohdeedoh. You have to join Ohdeedoh/Apartment Therapy to login and cast your vote. Register to comment here, then you will receive a verification e-mail. Click on the link and log back on. Scroll down to your voting choice and you should be good to go!

Jump down for more pictures and info on this project.

utterly orderly

Just a little update...my daughter is loving all of the new additions to her room. There was such enthusiasm for getting dressed "all by herself" these last two mornings. She even helped with the laundry. She rolled up her socks and put them in their bucket!

bucket brigade

Here is my entry for Ohdeedoh's Now You See It, Now You Don't Contest.

I created this framed storage wall for all of my daughter's hair and clothing accessories. It corralled everything to one easy to access location - great for a three year old's need for independence and autonomy. I removed the screen from a vintage window frame, painted it with Sherwin-Williams Stem Green, and backed it with a yard of fun fabric. Then I attached three rows of heavy gauge wire to eye hooks in front of the fabric. I hung metal paint buckets from our local paint store and tin buckets from Target along the wires using S hooks. I repurposed a kitchen scrub brush holder for hanging a hairbrush. Hand painted clothespins hold lengths of ribbon with hair clips attached. Extra S hooks and clothespins are awaiting more accessories: some things like sunglasses easily drape over the wire.

I love this storage idea for its versatility and ability to be unique for any age or any member of the family. It's important to find storage that can develop and grow with your child. Raise the height, change the fabric and paint and watch this frame easily morph into a new personality suited to a more sophisticated tween, and so on. My daughter uses it for her personal storage, but it would be just as at home in an arts and craft area with buckets filled with crayons and paints...clothespins hanging up a painting to dry on the wire. How about a LEGO organizer?

I am a firm believer in everything having a place. In addition, I think it has to be accessible and easy to put away. Little buckets work perfectly for young children, and they can travel directly to a clean up site.

I gave my daughter's room a little spring face lift:

-new duvet cover with Amy Butler fabric and some yellows and blues from my stash.

-pale yellow pillow cases and two coordinating mini pillows (her new favorites!)

-Amy Butler scraps worked perfectly on her existing lampshade

-created a foam pouf out of a foam cylinder and a chartreuse jersey sheet (SalvationArmy); can work as a stool or night stand

-painted three wood scraps a robin's egg blue and decoupaged elephant silhouettes to them

-mini "sweet dreams" banner

I'm just trying out a bunch of prototypes for future endeavors and my little one is so appreciative...what good inspiration!

ohdeedoh contest

Ohdeedoh, the children's site of Apartment Therapy, is having a contest. Now You See it, Now You Don't is the name of Apartment Therapy and Cookie magazine's Spring contest on children's storage. Did somebody say CONTEST? How could I not enter?!! I think I've become a contest maniac these days, and this latest one is just so much fun. There are three categories to choose from (clothing, toys, and entryway) and only ONE design per household....oh, the injustice of it all. Of course, I had way too many ideas. I chose one to focus on, but I might try to execute a couple of them over the next few months.
I've been working on my concept all week and I'll give a preview tomorrow when I send in my entry. Here's my idea: a bucket wall to help organize my three year old daughter's accessories and some clothing. What 's a bucket wall? Check back tomorrow for visuals. I took a vintage screen window frame from an architectural salvage store, some fabric, paint, wire and lots of galvanized buckets and am almost finished transforming it. I decided to re-vamp my daughter's room as well. I 'll try to get some pix up tomorrow after the photo shoot. Here are some of my supplies (I chose the larger black screen):

sew green gallery opening

Last night was the opening night of the Sew Green's Green T Gallery, featuring all of the winning entries from the contest and a handful of other inspiring re-purposed pieces. Only recycled cotton, primarily t-shirts and jeans were used. The amazing amount of ingenuity that went into everything displayed blew me away: intricate hooked rugs(from cotton scraps), giant pot-holder like mats(using t-shirt loops), capes, dog coats, and re-fashioned t-shirts in every shape and size. Here are a couple pictures. Unfortunately, I have a brand new camera and I'm still figuring it out.

This is Laci's play mat and cool little bag-belt...I want one!





These next ones were created by middle school students. The diamonds are individual pieces of t-shirts sewn together!






And my favorite, the winning entry in the teen category.... Orange Bug Hoodie with designer, Pat of Zen Crafting and her muse, daughter Katherine.




The gallery was packed during the first few hours and continued to have a good sized crowd for the entire duration. My sweet family was right there with me... what an exciting night! I think it might never sink in that I won...there were so many worthy "winners". It's all a bit surreal.

grand prize winner

Sew Green has not officially announced the results of their Green T Reuse Design Contest, but all of the winners have been informed. I have been shyly sitting on this news because I think I am still in shock.

I am the GRAND PRIZE WINNER with my little kimono ensemble!! Go Figure!

Green T Gallery Show, CSMA
Winning entries in the Green T Reuse Contest, and other ecofashion and sustainable sewing exhibits will be featured in show at the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA), downtown Ithaca, April 2 through 13. Come to the opening, 5 - 8 pm, Friday, Apirl 4, which is Gallery Night.

sew green contest

The same weekend that I entered the Design Sponge DIY contest, I entered Sew Green's Green T ReFashion Design Contest. I had fantasized about entering this contest for years, and this seemed like the right time to dive in!

I was now designing for two contests simultaneously, after never entering anything in my life. It did make me question my sanity more than once! Chaos ensued as our entire house was turned upside down to become my temporary studio.





The Challenege: design something from reused cottonT's, denim or other cotton fabric. Sew Green wanted to bring attention to:

"The ubiquitous T, icon of freedom and self-expression, is not the benign item it appears to be. Conventional cotton is the most toxin-intensive fiber on earth. It requires 1/3 pound of pesticides and herbicides to produce the cotton used in a typical t-shirt, and about 3/4 pound of toxins for the average pair of conventional denim blue jeans. Dyes and finishing add more toxic chemicals. " -Sew Green

So what did I come up with? I took a pair of striped jeans from Salvation Army, a pair of my old jeans, and a vintage pillowcase then started cutting. I love taking adult clothes and refashioning them into creative outfits for babies and children. I designed an ensemble for a size 6-12 mos. old: kimono jacket, booties and elephant.

diy kids table and chair instructions

My entry for this year's Design*Sponge DIY Contest was a child's table and chair set made from a contractor-grade cardboard tube. I'm happy and proud to say that I made it to the top 20. I was among some wonderfully talented folks. Thought others might want to try it themselves...

MATERIALS:
-6 foot cardboard tube (12"diameter)...these heavy-duty tubes are used for concrete molds and are found at any building supply store.
-2 foam cylinders 12"Hx12"D
-1 to 2 yards fabric
-4 16 in. cardboard cake discs
-1 16 in. pizza pan
-bias tape
-white duct tape

DIRECTIONS:
1) Cut tube to size -Using a craft blade or sharp knife(my bread knife made the cleanest cut), cut a 16 inch height table base. -Next, design chairs. I made the front a 10 inch height that curved gently around to 18 inches.

2) Assemble table top with cake discs. -Glue four discs to one another. -Weight them with a heavy book until dry.

3) Paint all cardboard pieces with two coats of your color choice in a semi-gloss acrylic paint.

4) Make cushions while the paint dries. -I used a great cotton jersey knit that I had gotten used from our fabulous local sewing resale shop Sew Green. -I created a simple pattern by tracing the 12 inch foam tube onto the fabric with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. I made two circles and attached them two a tube made from a rectangle that was 37x12 inches. -Create a hemmed 54 inch by 2 1/2 inch strip in coordinating fabric to finish the table top.

5) Assemble the set. -Stuff cushions into the chair -Attach cake discs to table base with duct tape.
White tape on white paint virtually disappears! -Use a hot glue gun to attach fabric strip to your table top side. Add bias tape if desired. -Set pizza pan directly on top...it's removable for clean-up!

6) Have a little friend over for tea!

When it's outgrown, the cardboard can be recycled, the cushions reused, and the pizza pan...make a pie!

design madness

Two months ago, my design ideas and suggestions were recognized by a wonderful local entrepreneur, Kelly Moreland. Kelly owns Mama Goose, a hip and extremely popular children's clothing and toy resale shop. Mama Goose's original store-front was bursting at the seams and Kelly was looking to expand to a larger building. She asked me to be her design consultant and pull out those idea books!! One of the first things she did was to turn me on to one of her favorite blogs, DesignSponge. I loved checking out their DIY Wednesdays. I even decided to enter their DIY contest with one of my many ideas...a modern children's table and chair set, created out of a cardboard concrete mold. I love finding new uses for common supplies/objects I already have at home or things that are readily available to anyone. The cardboard tubes are inexpensive and at every home building store.

I entered the contest with the goal of getting used to putting my creations out there. I never anticipated the wonderful reception they would receive. Out of 500 different designs, my little set became a semi-finalist. I had a weekend to re-shoot photos with 100 other excited DIYers. I then went on to become one of the top 20...a finalist in the DesignSponge DIY contest 2008! My table and chairs, along with 19 other fantastic and creative DIY projects, were posted on DesignSponge. Click here, to see my set and all the others. There was a tense week of public voting. Although I didn't win a prize in the contest, I won an absolutely priceless gift...the confidence to keep creating and making each and every one of those ideas in all of my little books. So thanks to all of you who voted for me and each of you who check back to see what I come up with next. I've got a bunch up my sleeves...