Mama Squirrel

Box of Days

 Eleven years ago, The Mister and I received a decorative wooden box as a wedding present from The Mister's sister Kate.  The card inside the  box said it was for storing photos so, for several years, that's what I did.  Unfortunately, the photos I stored in the box weren't ones The Mister or I looked at very often so  the box sat in a lonely corner of our living room collecting dust.  It was a pretty box with a design inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and its underuse in our house made me sad.  

When  I read a blog post about making a perpetual calendar I realized that this box would be the perfect home for this project, so I emptied out the photos and got started.  I'd been looking for an easy way to document our everyday life and this simple calendar is perfect.

Here's how it works:  You need  365 index cards, one  for every day of the year.  Write the month and day of the month at the top of each card (not the year).  Organize the cards so the current day is always the top card.  At the end of each day, pull out the card with that day's date on it, begin your entry with the current year and write a sentence or two about what happened.  When you are finished with your entry, put the card in the back of the box.  The new top card will be the entry card for the next day.  

Once you've been doing this for awhile, it's fun to look back and see all of the different things your family has done on a given date over the years.  For best results, complete your daily entry at the same time every day.  You could complete your entry right before bedtime, or first thing in the morning for the previous day.  Keep the box in a place where it is visible and easy to reach.  Ours is prominently displayed on our kitchen counter next to the phone and our keys.  Try your best to complete an entry for each day, but keep with the project even if you forget sometimes.  I've been working on this since July of 2010, but not every card has three complete entries on it.   I'm not perfect--now you know.  

All you need to make this calendar is a container, a pen (preferably one you enjoy writing with) and 365 4x6 index cards.  Design Sponge has a tutorial for how to make something similar here.   The two major differences between the Design Sponge calendar and ours here at Casa de Costello are that DS uses a berry basket for the container and divides the months up with vintage postcards, which adds some color. 

Vintage postcards would be pretty and I could definitely come up with 12 good ones, but since the calendar records our family activities, I think it would be more appropriate to use family pictures instead.   The next time I print photos I'll choose one from each of the 12 months of the year and those will serve as our dividers.  

Sew Much Fun!

Thursday was my last Basic Hand Sewing class of the summer session. Both of my week-long classes were full of amazing students who were eager to learn and take creative risks. Just look at this pillow made by a six year old student featuring the ultimate fantasy animal--A Rainbow Unicorn Pegasus:  

This picture shows this little guy as a work in progress, but he was just as adorable the next day when he was finished by the second grader who made him.  If I remember correctly, she named him Scraps.

Although I'm sad to say good bye to my summer sewing group, I'm looking forward to the classes I will be teaching in the fall  including a monthly embroidery class called Hoopin' It Up and Simple Gifts, a class where students can learn to sew and make something for everyone on their Christmas list!  You can read more  about these and other creative opportunities in the BAYarts Fall Newsletter.  

Since I'm blessed with two wonderful, creative  children the sewing lessons continue beyond my BAYarts classroom.  We spent quite a bit of time sewing this weekend because Little Tiger wanted to make some clothes for her American Girl Doll.  With minimal guidance from me, she completed a scarf, hat and pants.  When she was finished, she was very proud and pleased to dress her doll in its new finery.

I was especially impressed with the scarf.  She wanted to applique a sun onto one end of the scarf and her six year old hands sewed each little orange ray on individually.  Here's a closer look at her handiwork: 

I wasn't planning on breaking out the machine with her anytime soon, but that may change.  I think she's almost ready.  Does anyone have any age guidelines or advice for teaching machine sewing to young children?  

Zerolandfill '12 First Harvest: The Debriefing

When I arrived at the Zerolandfill (ZL) Cleveland site on Friday, I was pleased to walk into the biggest ZL harvest crowd I've ever seen.  There was a positive energy in the air as eager harvesters listened to an explanation from ZL's founder of what ZL was about and what to expect when they entered the warehouse.  

Meanwhile, volunteers inside the warehouse made sure everything was ready for the first harvest of the season.  Laura was busy setting up the ZL Gallery and ZL Lab for their inaugural use.  (You can read more about the ZL Gallery and the ZL Lab here.)  

One of the first entries in the ZL Gallery was this  mixed media collage piece made by a high school art student:

The ZL Gallery will be accepting donations at the next harvest on August 10th.  If you've made something wonderful from ZL materials, please consider temporarily donating it to the ZL Gallery.  You can donate it for the afternoon, or until the final harvest on 8/24.  Let your work serve as the inspiration for other artists, students and teachers!

At noon, eager harvesters descended on the warehouse floor searching through textiles, wood, glass, and stone.  Elementary teachers counted out class sets of carpet squares and crafters happily collected candy-colored glass tiles.  There were several children in attendance, many with their own little tote bags for choosing treasures.  I ran into my next door neighbor and her grade school-aged daughter who was excited to tell me about the quilt she was going to make from some fabric she found.

In my last post I wrote a caveat about bringing children to this event, but from where I was stationed on Friday,  all of the children  looked like they  were staying near their parents and following directions.  Here is a picture of the floor shortly after noon:

It was my intent to take more pictures throughout the afternoon, but several donations arrived and I was busy weighing and sorting.  I didn't take another picture until two o'clock when I stopped to take a break just as a man was bringing in this very generous donation from American Greetings:

The boxes in the foreground and the plastic wrapped boxes on the pallet in the background contain 480 binders.  ZL receives 100s of binders that are donated by designers, but most of those have the names and logos of various textile companies on them.  The binders from American Greetings that I saw were all 5  inches and plain black.  Since they arrived  toward the end of the afternoon, very few of them were taken by harvesters.  If you want to get your classroom or home office in order and need some organizational tools, get to ZL at noon on 8/10 and you should be able to help yourself to as many as you need.  

 Although I spent the overwhelming majority of my time volunteering, I did manage to find a few things, inlcuding more of this beautiful tile:

 When combined with tile from last week, it looks like the tile table I planned on making is going to have a decidedly floral/leafy theme:

My spatial relations are not the best.  Clearly, I need to spend more time with these in order to create something that shows them to advantage.  All of you expert Tetris players out there can probably see it right now and are cringing at my ineptitude.  By all means, I'm open to suggestions.

Some other volunteers beat me to the awning fabric, so there was not as much as I thought there would be, but I did pick up a few yards for The Milk Belly Princess' teacher.  She expressed interest in having more sewing projects for the children this year, which I'm really excited about.  Her methods for teaching little ones to sew amaze me ( she taught The Milk Belly Princess to sew a button and do basic cross stitch) and I want to support those efforts in any way I can.  Hopefully, she likes cool colors:

I'll admit, my nerdy English teacher instincts got the better of me when the font on the labels drew me to this box:

It is a collection of vinyl wallcovering samples, but I see great potential for mini books, hairclips and other crafty goodness.  Check out the intensity in the book titled "Vibrant Colors"

The final book of the collection is called "Walltalkers" and it is full of samples of dry-erasable wallcovering.  The possibilities for this are endless.  

The remaining ZL Cleveland harvests this summer are from noon until three on the following Fridays:

• August 10 Pollination and Harvest
• August 17 Harvest Only
• August 24th Harvest Only 

If You Go Part Two:  I wrote some basic guidelines here.  The following are some thoughts I want to share with you based on my most recent ZL experience.  I know that stern directives delivered in bold, capital letters can seem bossy and harsh, but it is not my intent to be off-putting.  Please understand that this message is being given with love and the best of intentions so ZL can be the best it can be.

1.  PLEASE CONSIDER VOLUNTEERING:  If you have benefitted from this organization in the past, ZL could really use your help during one of the remaining harvests this summer.  It would be especially helpful if you could volunteer on August 10th because it is both a pollination and a harvest.  While it is exciting to have the selection of materials replenished during harvest times, this means volunteers are needed to take in  donations AND organize the selection on the floor. On Friday we were a little short handed to start and really short on helpers at the end of the afternoon.  Volunteers  are allowed in early.  However,with this privilege comes the understanding that at noon you will stop your personal shopping and pitch in for the duration of your shift.  If you are interested in volunteering (truly helping, not "helping"--you know the difference--the way you want people to assist you when you move as opposed to what your toddler does for you in the kitchen) send an email to iida.clevak@gmail.com

2.  RESPECT THE YELLOW LINE:  Like I said, the event on August 10th is both a pollination and a harvest.  This means that donors will be dropping off their samples at the same time harvesters are selecting their materials.  Designers will drop off their donations on the far side of a bright yellow line where they will be weighed and sorted before being put out for harvesters on the other side of the yellow line.  ZL takes pride in being able to share the number of pounds of material it keeps out of landfills, therefore,  ALL ZL DONATIONS MUST BE CHECKED IN AND WEIGHED BEFORE THEY CAN BE HARVESTED.    Items will be brought to the harvest area when they are ready.  Standing on the yellow line and asking about materials that still need to be weighed slows down the volunteers.  If you are truly worried about missing something and want to see everything that comes through the door, please see item #1.  

3.  YOUR STASH = YOUR BUSINESS:  Keep all of the items you plan to take with you by your side at all times in your own labeled reusable bags, boxes or a wagon (but remember, there are stairs).    If you find that you have too many items to carry or keep track of, take a load out to your car, then return and browse some more.  There is no guarantee that items you place "off to the side" will be there when you return.  Chances are, if you see something amazing, then walk away from it, someone else will think it's amazing too.  

4.  BYO-B(and-Aids):  I learned this the hard way last week when I was looking through the tile, slipped and fell.  Since I left  my kids at home, I did not have my "mom purse" with me and I was completely unprepared.  Fortunately, Kate, one of my fellow BAYarts teachers, was able to help me out, but next time I might not be so lucky.  

I know there are potential ZL harvesters out there reading this who still aren't sure about coming because they want to know more about what it's like.  Do any other volunteers or harvesters have any advice to share?  I'd love to read it.  

 

Zerolandfill '12: The First Pollination and a Primer For Friday's Harvest

Last year I volunteered at one of the August pollination shifts for Zerolandfill (ZL) and wrote about it here.  At that point in the season there were already stacks and stacks of donated materials in the warehouse.  During that shift, my primary job was sorting and stacking a very generous fabric donation from the daughter of an interior designer who recently passed away.  I did not see the dramatic difference in the contents of the warehouse before and after the first pollination.  Walking into an empty room and leaving when it was full of tons of materials like Laura and I did last  Friday was a very different experience

One after the other, cars and vans arrived full of donated materials.  They were sorted, weighed and  taken to different areas of the warehouse.  One of my first jobs was carrying stacks of weighed glass to the glass table.  As I write this, there are HUNDREDS of 12 x 12 inch pieces of glass in need of new homes.  Some of it is plain, but some is striped and even polka dotted.  I wish I could think of a use for the polka dotted glass but, alas, I cannot.  

Along with the expected swatches of upholstery fabric, yards of outdoor awning material were among Friday's donations.  I snagged a couple of pieces of this to reupholster  two tired looking patio chairs.  Here is a picture of the fabric--isn't it cheerful? 

I'm not sure about the polka dots, but I know there is more of the striped fabric, at least enough to cover the seats of a couple of cafe chairs, if any of you are interested.

We were really busy processing new donations at ZL last Friday so I did not have a lot of time to select my own materials.  My selections happened furtively in between running loads of fabric, wallpaper, glass and tile to their locations in the warehouse.  However, in addition to the awning fabric, I did grab a few more things that caught my eye.  Two large swatches of this fun fabric were already serged around the edges, so I grabbed  them to use as placemats for my girls:

In the hot summer months we are perpetually drinking glass after glass of ice water at Casa de Costello and our four coasters are forever missing from the living room after being taken for use on bedroom nightstands.  As I was sorting carpet samples, I found these industrial strength, rubber-backed discs, and decided they would be perfect.  

I'm not sure I'm exaggerating (at least not by much) when I say that TONS of tile was donated, including these:   

 

I thought long and hard about whether to take these because I wasn't sure what I would do with them. Then I decided that between the two tables I wanted to tile and the work I wanted to do on my (dare I call it a studio?  "supply pit" seems crass) work space, they would find a good home.  

While I spent my time last week lifting, carrying and sorting, Laura was hard at work on two new features of ZL:  the ZL Gallery and the ZL Lab.  The ZL Gallery is a place where anyone who has created something with ZL materials can show off their work or that of their students.  The purpose of the ZL Gallery is for creative people to share and inspire others with their creations.  Items can be brought to ZL during harvest times and left for the duration of your harvest experience or this summer's entire ZL season.  Items that are not picked up by 3PM on the final harvest date (8/24) will become the property of ZL.  All items submitted to the ZL Gallery must be accompanied by a complete entry form.  The form is quick and easy to fill out with a few questions about what the item is made of and how it was created.

The ZL Lab is a place to see how different ZL materials work with different tools and media so when you leave the site  you know they will work as anticipated with your personal or classroom tools and media.   The materials at the ZL Lab are divided into four categories containing the following items for you to experiment with:

Cutting:  school scissors, Exacto knife, coping saw, utility blade and drill

Gluing: paste, glue stick, white glue, duct tape, hot glue, rubber cement

Applying Color:  crayon, Crayola marker, Sharpie, acrylic paint, watercolor paint, tempera paint, colored pencils, ink pads.

Fiber Arts:  fabric shears, regular sewing needle and thread, tapestry needle and yarn, iron

Please understand that the ZL Lab is a work station manned by art teachers willing to offer their professional expertise about media and tools.  It is not free babysitting nor is it a place for you or your children to complete "make it and take it" crafts.  (In other words, you can visit the ZL Lab to see what kinds of cutting materials work well with laminate, but you cannot complete your entire bird house, picture frame etc, at the lab.  )  

 If you go:

1. ZL Cleveland is located at 4750 East 131st Street in Garfield Heights.  The harvest times this season are from 12-3 on the following Fridays:  7/27, 8/10, 8/17 and 8/24.  Arrive on time, but not early.  Last year the doors did not open until noon.  You will see people entering between 11:15 and noon, but those are volunteers.  If you are a few minutes early, form an orderly line at the door.
2. Be prepared to get dirty.  This event is held in a warehouse at what is essentially the county dump.  While the donated materials are clean, the space is not.  (After kneeling to sort fabric for about five minutes my knees were black.)  Wear old clothes and close-toed shoes.  Bring gardening or work gloves if you're interested in tile, stone, brick or glass.
3. Think carefully about whether or not you should bring your children.  I have nothing against children.  In fact,  I say this as the mother of two little kids, one of whom is a bit wily.  This event is held in a big, dirty warehouse full of potentially sharp and heavy materials.  There is no one available to watch your children except YOU (the ZL Lab is staffed by and for use by adults).  There are some children who have a great time at ZL.  They stay close to their parents, follow the rules and delight in choosing craft materials.  There are others who run amok and create potentially dangerous situations.  Please, know which kind of kid you have,  what kind of day they are having and make your decision accordingly.
4. Bring provisions.  There is A LOT to look at.  You don't want dehydration to bust up your good time, so bring a water bottle. If you decide to bring your children with you, bring some snacks (and wipes to use before handling the snacks--see item #2).  
5. Supply your own boxes and bags.  Most of the boxes we received last week are being used to store donations.  While there seemed to be several empty boxes at the end of last Friday's pollination, those will be needed by ZLF if more donations are received this week.  While you can bring some sort of wagon or dolly to take heavy items to your car, there is a small staircase from the entrance to the warehouse floor, so you will need to negotiate that.
6. Be courteous.  Materials are available for free on a first come, first serve (and self-serve) basis.  If you see something that you like or believe would be useful to you, take what you need, but don't hoard.  
7. Don't judge the other harvesters.  Saying "I teach" or "I need this for my business" as a means of talking someone out of something you want implies that you are somehow more important than they are.  Everyone believes they have a worthy purpose for the available materials--they wouldn't take them if they didn't.  
8. Be flexible.  This year the International Interior Design Association is in charge of Zerolandfill.  In other words, it is under new management and, consequently, you might notice some things that are different.  Remember what it was like when you were newly in charge of something?  Remember how unhelpful it was for oldtimers to tell you how "this wasn't how we did it last year"?   The group from IDA has done a phenomenal job organizing tons of donations in a short time.  Be supportive.  Introduce yourself and tell them what a great job they're doing.  

 

Keepin' it Cool

This week I've been teaching an amazing group of kids in my Basic Hand Sewing class at BAYarts.  On Monday we made pillows. Tuesday we started stuffed bears and monkeys and finished them today.  Some students were even able to complete a sunglasses case today so they left for home with TWO completed projects.  

 This time around some of the kids got really creative with their stuffed animals and decided to make clothes for their new friends.  Yeah, right about now I'm kicking myself that I didn't take pictures.  I meant to, but we were all so absorbed in our work that time melted away in the summer heat.  When one of my assistants told me it was 11:30 (time to leave) I thought she was kidding...until I looked up from working with a child and saw parents waiting patiently at the door.  Oops.

Afternoons have been spent trying to keep cool.  Our friends Carson, Emily and their daughter, The Amazing Miss E are visiting us from out of town and  Little Tiger and the Milk Belly Princess are thrilled to have a live-in friend for the week.  Carson took these pics of Little Tiger and Miss E in the water and The Milk Belly Princess sporting the stylish sun shade that Grandma bought for her:

 

 

Whatever you're doing, I hope you're having fun and keeping cool!

 

 

Summer at BAYarts: Part Two

I'm excited to be teaching at BAYarts again this summer.   If you're local you can look here to find the descriptions for all of the the BAYarts July camps that begin next week (July 16-19).  I will be teaching Basic Hand Sewing in the mornings from 9:30 to 11:30.  The following week (July 23-26) I'm also hoping to spend the afternoons teaching  a class called Hand Sewn Accessories where students will use their sewing skills to create a variety of quick, fun projects to wear or give as gifts.  After all, handmade is so much nicer than store bought.  

Side note:  although "story time" has not traditionally been a part of my sewing classes I REALLY want to buy this book to read to my students.  I stumbled upon it while browsing at my local bookstore and, oh my,  I wish I'd written it myself.  There's even a blog based on the book which I will definitely check out the next time I have two minutes to spare.

At the present time, the enrollment for Hand Sewn Accessories is a bit low.  I'm really hoping more students sign up because I'm excited about the projects for this class.  Here is a picture of three of them:

The elephant is a pin, the violet is a hair clip and the pendant...well...it's not just an ordinary necklace.  Underneath the decorative cover is...

...a place to hide a key!  As someone who spent the better part of her childhood wearing a house key on a thick, itchy cord from the hardware store, I would have loved something like this.  I know that times have changed and there may not be as many children who need to carry house keys, but it could also be a useful place to keep a neighbor's key when tasked with feeding pets or watering plants while they are on vacation.

There is one more project for this class, but after I made the model I realized it needed some modifications.  My goal is to finish this evening and have a picture for you tomorrow...provided that the littles cooperate.

Ta-da!

After months of work, I finally finished it.  Before hanging in it's new home in Little Tiger's bedroom I took it outside to take a picture in the summer sun:

I really enjoyed this project.  Sewing took some time, but accumulating enough buttons of certain colors is really what made this take so long.  Purple and orange (especially orange) were the most difficult to come by.  I thought I had a large collection of orange buttons, but a lot of them turned out to be more pink or brown when I placed them on the canvas next to those that are truly orange.

As I sewed on the final button last night, I thought I would feel a huge sense of relief, but I didn't.  Instead I was anxious and kind of sad.  I've grown really comfortable with this project. Unlike other projects where I've questioned what I'm doing until I'm almost finished, I knew this piece was going to look good from early on.  It was comforting to spend hours every night working on something I knew I would be happy with in the end.  

But now its over and I'm not sure what I should do next.  I have a blank 8x10" canvas waiting patiently for me.  I could do another white heart.  I thought about a bluebird with the plethora of blue buttons I have in my stash, but then I thought that might be too silly.  Would I be getting too close to being the little old lady who recreates The Last Supper with different colored bread ties?  Is there something wrong with that?   

Grandma Audrey

Friday July 6th was significant to me because it was the 100th anniversary of my Grandma Audrey's birth.  Grandma Audrey was what a literature professor might euphemistically  describe as a "round" and "dynamic" character with her share of faults, but I loved her anyway.  

Unlike my other grandmother who made it four months into year 101 before she died, Grandma Audrey has been gone for awhile now.  Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess never met her.  When I was a child, most people didn't know their great-grandparents, but today it seems more and more do and I'm sorry my girls didn't get to know their Great-Grandma Audrey.  Despite giving the adults in her life a run for their money, Grandma Audrey was always wonderful to small children.  

To Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess, Grandma Audrey is the stuff of folklore.  She has been a life-long inhabitant of Heaven--a place where they've never been but has  been described as very nice--not unlike Florida.  Even though they never had the pleasure of playing on the beach with Grandma Audrey or making Christmas crafts with her like I did, I wanted to do something with my daughters to commemorate her birthday.  So we had a tea party.  Yesterday Grammy Susan picked us up and took us out for afternoon tea.  This was the first time Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess ever had afternoon tea at a restaurant and they were excited.  Here is Little Tiger with her tea + two sugar cubes:

 This tea was a multi-course affair.  For the children, this meant a main course consisting of their choice of peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese sandwiches served with a fruit cup and in the shapes of a heart and butterfly.

For dessert, they enjoyed strawberry ice cream, a brownie, a red velvet cupcake and a chocolate dipped maraschino cherry.  Little Tiger was really excited about all of the different desserts.

We enjoyed our tea here, but I've also heard good things about the child-friendly tea parties available here and would love to hear about other places that might be fun for a post-lunch time adventure.  Any suggestions?

Tenacity

The majority of this week was spent working on my contribution to the BAYarts education fundraiser.  I wanted to make something big, so I used an 18 x 24 inch canvas.  It took longer than expected, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  Here it is:
  The way I see it, there were three reasons why this project took longer than I thought it would.  First, I spent more time than I ever thought I would choosing a variety of different white buttons from my stash.  I like the juxtaposition of big chunks of shiny white plastic next to small, delicate shells and I wanted to make sure I had a good mix of both.  I probably told myself "this is the LAST TIME I'm going to look through the buttons" at least 17 times.  

Second, since the canvas is large, there is an additional support in the form of a piece of wood that runs from the top to the bottom of the frame right in the center of the canvas.  In order to sew on the buttons in the middle of the heart, I had to negotiate this unwieldy piece of wood.  Notice that many of the larger buttons appear in the middle of the heart.  Larger buttons = less challenging sewing on this part of the project.

Finally, I just finished reading this book and I think that's why I kept stopping every 15 minutes or so to look at my work.  I kept wondering about the original garments the buttons came from.  Who wore them?  What did the clothes look like?  How did the buttons get separated from the fabric?  How long did these buttons sit in sewing baskets or in the bottoms of drawers before they became part of my craft stash?  

If you're interested, here are the details for the BAYarts show in which this piece appears.  One hundred artists created 100 pieces of art that will be sold for $100 each.  The opening for the show is tomorrow night from 7-9.  I'll be there volunteering, so stop by and say hello.