Mama Squirrel

Owlcrafting With Nicole McGee

Last night I had the pleasure of joining several other ladies for an owlcrafting workshop led by Nicole McGee.   Nicole  is one of my crafting role models. She is the creator of both  Plenty Underfoot and  Collective Upcycle, two businesses that use upcycling to create beautiful, original works of art.  In addition to learning how to upcycle vinyl tile samples into adorable, wearable art, I was childishly excited to finally get to see Nicole's studio.  

Check out this amazing decoration on her studio door.  (Sorry for the glare, it was early evening and the sun was definitely making its presence known.)

Here is Nicole's studio.  I love how the pool noodles that made their debut at an installation at CMA's Solstice Party a few years back (and then graced the store front at last summer's Collective Upcycle) found a new home here as a festive curtain.  

 

After some introductions and snacks, we were all ready to create our owls.  Nicole had all of the supplies really well organized into separate containers for owl bodies, beaks, eyes and those little crests owls have on their foreheads.  Crafters could assemble their owls from Nicole's pre-cut pieces, or cut their own embellishments.  

Owl assembly was quick, easy and fun.  Since we were using super glue, Nicole  recommended we gather our pieces and lay them out first.  This was important, because once a beak or eye was glued down it wasn't going anywhere. As we crafted, Nicole and her helper Devon were on hand to assist with glasses and nests, which some of the ladies opted to make.    

Before we left, we put our owls together for a class picture.  Here they are:

Nicole is offering a second owlcrafting workshop next week, but it is already full.  I hope that last night's success will inspire her to offer more workshops for different projects in the future.  

Collective Upcycle Holiday '12

Although Collective Upcycle's Holiday '12 pop-up shop does not officially open until next week (check out the opening party on Tuesday the 27th) you can get a sneak peek of what will be available during Cleveland's Winterfest TODAY!  Celebrate Small Business Saturday by purchasing items handmade from upcycled materials by local crafters!

The Milk Belly Princess and I took some Fuzzy Wigs, pins and hair clips down to this season's location in the Colonial Arcade (also known as the Colonial Marketplace) at 530 Euclid Avenue. Here is Miss Princess with our basket full of Fuzzy Wigs:

All of the loveys in the basket are made with the sleeves of cashmere sweaters and are very soft and cuddly.  I'm not sure if all of the dolls this season will be made this way, but I'll see what I can do.

Although Princess was excited to drive out to CU with me and took great pleasure in selecting her own dancing horse ornament made by the amazing Kris Barnes, her attention span was short.  I wanted to walk around the store,take pictures and read the artists' stories on their hang tags and business cards, but she wanted to get home and hang her horse on the tree.

The opening party for this season's pop-up shop is Tuesday November 27th from 6-8 PM.  You can read detailed information about dates, hours and parking for Collective Upcycle here.  I will be at Tuesday's party and plan to take more pictures.  For now, I'll leave you with a couple I managed to take on my way out the door.

These vinyl collage trees really caught my eye.  Volunteering at Zerolandfill, I saw LOTS of vinyl wallcovering. and I love how the artist grouped similar colors together.  I also appreciate how these trees are for sale, but double as seasonal decor in the shop.  

This little pin made me smile.  I admire anyone who can take small, discrete findings and transform them into something so endearing.

Oodles of (Used) Noodles

Collective Upcycle's summer pop-up is officialy closed.  After closing time on Sunday, The Milk Belly Princess and I stopped at the shop to pick up the unsold Fuzzy Wigs.  Robin Neorr of The T Shirt Diaries was there with her daughter so the little girls played together while Robin and I helped clean up.  

Everything in Collective Upcycle is made from repurposed materials, including the decor.  This season that meant a lot of colorful paper chains made from paint samples and red pool noodles.  Pool noodle slices were strung together to make garlands that festooned the ceiling and walls.  Hundreds of red pool noodles were glued and stacked together to create a giant wall that divided the show room from the storage space in the back.  This wall was especially helpful during last week's clothes swap.

The noodles were previously used in some sort of exhibition and Collective Upcycle acquired them afterwards to decorate the summer shop.  After the shop closed, no one really knew what to do with them so they were being offered to anyone who could give them a good home.

When Robin asked her little girl if she wanted to take some home to make a small table and chair, she gave me a brilliant idea.  We've never had a children's pinic table in our backyard and these noodles, in appropriately-sized clusters, would fit the bill.  They're sturdy, waterproof and free!  I eagerly selected a big noodle cluster for a table and four smaller clusters as the chairs. The girls enjoyed breakfast with them yesterday morning.

Then, at the request of Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess, they were temporarily moved indoors so some guests could enjoy an evening tea party.

Although My Friend Mandy and Bitty Baby would have you think otherwise with their unsteady posture, I assure you only water was served at this gathering.

Pop In!

In this post I concluded with a picture and promised to tell you more about it later.  The photo was taken by The Mister when he brought Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess to visit me during my volunteer hours at Collective Upcycle last Friday.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Collective Upcycle, it is a seasonal pop-up shop featuring work made from recycled and repurposed materials.  I wrote about CU's winter pop-up in Shaker Square in this post.  

Since June 7th, Collective Upcycle's summer pop-up shop has been occupying 6706 Detroit Road in the Gordon Square Arts District.  This is the same retail space it was in last summer, but what's different is that this year I HAVE STUFF  FOR SALE THERE!!!

This is my first foray into the world of selling my work and I'm really excited.  I've been making things for my family and friends for years, but I've never had the opportunity to sell my work to people I don't know.  

I'm selling dolls made of felted sweaters and other repurposed materials.  After days of trying to think of a name for them I finally settled on Fuzzy Wigs.  Why?  Well, I was taking pictures of the dolls before I dropped them off at CU and, to carry them all outside into my front yard, I put them in a big basket.  When they were all in the basket together they looked like this:

They reminded me of a silly nickname my mother called me when I was young (despite the fact that I had poker-straight hair).  When I posted this picture to Facebook the caption was something like "not much here...just a bunch of fuzzy wigs" and their name was born.  Here's a picture of what they look like from the front:

In addition to Fuzzy Wigs, here are some other items for sale through Sunday at Collective Upcycle:

Robin Neorr of The T Shirt Diaries is selling skirts and dresses made of  upcycled T shirts.  Her creations come in sizes for both women and children.  Here she is on CU's opening night holding one of her pieces:

Reclaimed Cleveland takes building materials from torn down structures in Cleveland and makes household items and beautiful furniture like this chair.  I sat in it while I was volunteering last week and it is really comfortable.  It would be MINE except, well, the life choice I wrote about here  has limited my budget for the forseeable future.  Every piece from Reclaimed Cleveland has a serial number on it which can be used to find out where the materials for your item originated.  I believe this chair is made from a former church pew.

These accessories were made by Maudy Paden of Sewing by Maudy.  Maudy is a seamstress who is selling hair clips and brooches made of beads and fabric to help fund her daughter's study abroad adventure.  

Jeanetta Ho makes beautiful jewelry from objects she finds in nature like this necklace and earrings made from tiny twigs: 

If you prefer more colorful jewelry, check out these earrings made from Legos:

When Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess came to visit they had a fantastic time running around the store and identifying the original materials of the pieces that were for sale.  While they were pleased to recognize magnets as originally being bottle caps and bracelets made of bicycle chains there were some things that stumped them.  For example, at 6 and 4 years old, they had no idea what this used to be:

This is the last weekend for Collective Upcycle.  The shop is open today (Friday) and tomorrow from 12-9 and on Sunday until 5. Whether you think my Fuzzy Wigs are cute or creepy, there is a lot of other stuff there, so you should definitely check it out.

What I Learned

The clock is ticking away the final hours of 2011.  After sixteen months, I think it's safe to say  I'm not going to crack in the next few hours and go on a shopping spree at the local Toys R Us.  

In other words, 

I DID IT!

In August of 2010 I used Facebook to ask anyone out there who cared to answer whether they thought I could go an entire year without buying toys for my children.  Not only did I get some enthusiastic responses, but it was suggested that I start a blog and write about my experience.  I began with this post.  

Even though  it was only August, I'd already bought quite a few toys for Christmas 2010.  To be fair, I decided that my experiment had to extend beyond the upcoming Christmas and through all of 2011.  In addition to a time frame, I made up some more rules and wrote about them here.  At the time, sixteen months, "until December 31, 2011"  seemed so long.

...except it really wasn't.  And now it's over.

So what did I take away from this experiment?

•  I will never see stuff in the same way.  Not just toys for the girls, but clothes, gadgets and decorative items for my home.  Where I used to buy impulsively for myself when I saw something that caught my eye, now I'm more apt to think about the purchase and it's long term implications.  It's fun to stumble upon kitsch from the 50s and 60s at an estate sale or flea market, but what's left after the thrill of the find?  Just something else to dust.  
• I've learned to value experiences over objects.  I put some of the time and effort I spent shopping for toys into providing Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess with experiences.  They've enjoyed classes in dance, swimming, ice skating, horseback riding, painting and yoga. In addition to teaching them different skill sets, those experiences have helped them develop poise and confidence in a way no toy ever could.  Along with different kinds of lessons, the girls accompanied The Mister and I to  concerts, plays and other family-oriented events.  We all savored our time together and focused on what we were doing rather than the souvenir we would get at the end.
• I got back to my crafty roots.  I started sewing again and wonder why I ever stopped.   Since August of 2010 I've had the pleasure of creating dolls and loveys for my girls and their cousins and friends.   I get a lot of joy from giving handmade gifts to people who are important to me.  One of my favorite comments from this blog is this statement by my friend Laura:  "Overall I believe that there is a correlation between the quality of the gift and the level of relationship. I think that if it isn't worth MAKING a gift for that person, then maybe a gift isn't appropriate for that relationship."  I know that due to time and skill constraints this isn't always possible.  (My lovely Aunt Barbara in Hawaii should not feel obligated to carve a surfboard for her children.)  But it is good food for thought.
• I discovered new opportunities that I never knew existed.   My job at Bayarts came about as a result of this blog.  Teaching hand sewing to children who really want to learn and use their creativity to take what I teach them and extend their projects into wonderfully original creations is so gratifying.  Without the craftiness that was reawakened by this experiment, I probably would not have become so  interested in Zerolandfill and, subsequently, Collective Upcycle which further inspired me.  

So what's next?  I've decided to continue with this blog.  I've always enjoyed writing and this space gives me an opportunity to write for an audience about topics that are important to me without the pressure of deadlines.  

I'm going to continue to give my girls handmade gifts, but give myself permission to purchase them when it is appropriate.  I'm not sure I'll ever again be able to justify the purchase of dolls or stuffed animals, but I won't feel guilty about buying them yoga mats since that isn't something I or anyone I know can make by hand.  

Happy New Year!  Have fun tonight with your family and friends.  I'll leave you with a picture of how The Milk Belly Princess and I spent our afternoon:

Handmade Happiness

I've already shown you the dolls and the kitties I made for Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess, but today I want to share four more gifts from this Christmas that made me smile. The first is this pair of earrings The Mister picked out for me.

To say The Mister is not a fan of shopping is an understatement akin to "Gee, that Michael Phelps is a pretty good swimmer."  If given the choice between Christmas shopping or poking himself in the eye with a sharp stick...OK, The Mister would still probably choose shopping, but he would think long and hard about it first.  So that's  why I really love these earrings from Bead Paradise.  I appreciate that he was willing to show his love for me by going outside of his comfort zone.  I also love them because...well look at them!  Peacock feathers!  I've always thought they were the prettiest feathers of all.  When they were feeling particularly proud or victorious, my little cousins in Hawaii used to do what they called "The Peacock Dance."  They would flap their arms, strut and chant "Peacock, peacock, peacock dance!"  I think I might have to do this the first time I don these earrings.

The next gift is one that I finished for The Milk Belly Princess.  I say finished because she actually started it herself on the night that we did this.  She drew the picture and then lost interest before sewing it into a pillow.  The clean lines and facial expression of the cat were too wonderful to stay stuck in the Milk Belly Princess'  overflowing bin of works in progress.  When I saw the blue patterned flannel on sale as a remnant at the fabric store, I knew it would be a perfect back for the cat.  Here is the finished pillow that I made and gave to The Milk Belly Princess on Chrsitmas morning.  The fabric it is sitting on is what I used for the back.  

In this post I described my visit to Collective Upcycle and the beautiful necklaces made of vinyl flooring by Nicole McGee of Plenty Underfoot.  After reading my post and listening to me rave about Nicole's store and her necklaces, my parents paid a visit to Collective Upcycle and this was waiting under their tree for me on Christmas morning.

Although Collective Upcycle is closed for the season, they will be popping up again this summer and I will keep you posted as more details become available.  

In addition to receiving handmade gifts,  my mom knows that I like to make my own to give to others.  After all, she's probably been my most enthusiastic homemade gift recipient for upwards of three decades.  She is a fan of estate sales and flea markets and is always on the lookout for raw material for my crafts.  Here's the gift that elicited the biggest reaction from me when I opened it.

Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess laughed at me as I shrieked and flapped my arms up and down when I saw this giant bottle for the first time.  The Mister was puzzled that I was so excited about something that he would have just thrown away.  

It wasn't long before I had all of the buttons organized into this:

If only I had the same enthusiasm for organizing the rest of my house.

A Visit to Collective Upcycle

After school today I hopped in my car and drove from my job in the middle of the country to Shaker Heights to pay a visit to one of my new  favorite places to shop.  Collective Upcycle is operating a pop-up shop from now through Christmas Eve on Shaker Square. Although the artists featured at Collective Upcycle work in a variety of mediums, all have one thing in common: the raw materials for their work come from previously used objects.  

Make no mistake, this is NOT a store filled with cheese plates made from flattened wine bottles.  Collective Upcycle is a place  to shop and to be inspired by the myriad of ways in which artists have reinvented the materials that they work with.  On my visit today, I saw purses made out of old neckties,

bracelets made out of bicycle chains,

and sturdy, colorful shopping totes made from what many believe to be disposable grocery bags,

Although I didn't buy one, I was particularly taken with the exquisite jewelry made from wire and vinyl flooring samples.  I saw a lot of this material at Zerolandfill over the  summer and couldn't figure out what anyone would do with it, but someone had a brilliant idea.

One of my favorite artists, Kris Barnes, had several of her Knitwits on display.

I was excited to see that her mama, Carol, had work for sale as well, including several versions of this adorable elephant made from telephone wire.
The Shaker Square store is the third pop-up endeavor for Nicole McGee and the rest of the Collective Upcycle team.  They began last year at Trinity Cathedral during the holiday season and appeared this summer in the Gordon Square Arts District.  The fact that they are able to temporarily add beauty and energy to empty storefronts is part of what makes Collective Upcycle so amazing to me.  Not only are the artists able to repurpose what some might consider "trash" into wonderful, functional art work but, by its transient nature, the business itself does not leave a permanent footprint on any of the spaces it occupies.

I had two reasons for visiting Collective Upcycle today.  One was to collect the prize I won in an online giveaway last week.  Nicole presented me with a basket of choices and I picked a sweet little red clutch made from a vintage dress.  The  second reason for my visit was to  buy the shrug I'd been thinking about since I saw it on my visit at  the end of November.  

On that trip I passed on the shrug because I found and purchased a dress  remade from an out-of-date style into something fun and modern.  I've worn it at least once a week since I bought it and it is both comfortable and cute.  It even has side pockets!  
Anyway, since I bought the dress on that trip, I felt weird and selfish buying two things for myself at the beginning of the Christmas season, so I didn't get the shrug, but returned to buy it today.  I can't help it, I've never seen anything like it before.  I've knit a few shrugs of my own, but it never occured to me to create one from the pieces of several old sweaters.  I really like how all of the colors work together on this one.

 If you're like me and haven't quite finished making decisions about Christmas presents, you really should check out Collective Upcycle.  It is an ideal and rare combination of fun, creative and environmentally responsible.

Sweater Friends

A few weeks ago, Little Tiger and I visited Collective Upcycle, a pop-up shop that  inhabited the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood from mid-June until the beginning of July.  The shop showcased the work of thirty local artists and every piece was created from recycled materials.  One of the featured artists was Kris Barnes, a teacher of Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess.  Little Tiger LOVES all kinds of arts and crafts.  She currently wants to be an artist when she grows up, so knowing that Miss Barnes is an artist who shows and sells her work is like knowing a rock star for Little Tiger.  She wouldn't be more excited if she sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with The White Stripes.

We spent quite awhile at Collective Upcycle browsing through all of the different pieces.  Little Tiger saw the majority of items  as potential craft projects and asked if we could go home and make at least a half dozen different things.  The biggest hit, by far, were the Knitwits, dolls that Miss Barnes made from felted sweaters and yarn.  As soon as we left the store, Little Tiger wanted to go home, shrink some sweaters and make her own "Sweater Friends" as she called them.  

So we got started.  We washed and shrank two thrifted sweaters.  We knew that while we wanted Miss Barnes' dolls to serve as our inspiration, we wanted to make them our own too.  The Knitwits had facial features made from felted yarn, but we decided to delve into our vast button stash for eyes instead.  While we were at it, we decided to sort the buttons.

The Milk Belly Princess wanted to help, so she was in charge of sorting her box of buttons into two piles of light and dark.  After she sorted her buttons, she handed them over to Little Tiger who sorted them by color.
We sorted and chose our buttons, sewed on faces with embroidery floss and our Sweater Friends began to take shape.  

Little Tiger is not quite finished with hers and wants to surprise Miss Barnes with it, so she would not let me take its picture.  Here are two that I finished.  I have two more in the works on my sewing table.  I have to admit, making these little guys (gals?) is addictive.   I wonder what our family members will be getting in their stockings this Christmas?