(Oh, and by mamas I mean any woman at all – be you mama or the female (grown up) child of a mama.)

Who doesn’t love a handwritten card in the mail???? Whose heart doesn’t burst when the mailbox is opened and there’s an actual letter, written with love and addressed with good old fashioned penmanship? And who doesn’t love a night of making stuff with mamas with a little beer and wine in the mix??!

Just in time for Mother’s Day, come celebrate a night out and the ancient art of the letter. Drink a little drink. Eat a little nosh. And make and talk all night long. (well, til 10 anyway.)

We’ll start with a person in mind. Someone you love and miss and want to write to. Then w’ll cut/stamp/draw/collage/fold up a custom card full of love and specifically for that lucky recipient. We’ll make cards and stationery using piles of beautiful recycled/reclaimed and repurposed materials and other fun stuff you won’t even believe.

Maybe it’s a letter to your grandma to thank her for the socks she made you. Remember she sent them four months ago and you still haven’t said thanks?

Or maybe a note to your mom to tell her what an amazing mom she’s been.

Or maybe you’ve been itching to write a letter to a long lost college pal who is such a Luddite you can’t find her on Facebook.

We’ll start with the question, Who do you need/want to write to?

And from there we’ll get making. With custom cards specific to your needs.

We’ll have all the materials necessary to create your very own pile of handmade cards and stationery. We’ll introduce the back and forth card ala Round Robin Press

And together we’ll work to revive the lost art and reinvigorate your love and desire for the handwritten letter.

Oh, and once again we’ll be in the amazing atrium of the Austin Children’s Museum (at night when the building is closed to all small beings.) Parking is free in the nearby parking garage.

Details in bullet form:

• Thursday May 3rd
• 7:30pm – 10:00pm
• $22.00
• Bring your own wine/beer
• All materials provided for as many cards as your little heart desires!
• Austin Children’s Museum
• Click here to register! (you must register in advance)

We are pretty good about writing thank yous. Some of us better than others. Given the tools and the space to do it though, we can usually get the job done; just not always in a timely manner. But I stick to my theory that it’s never to late to say thank you or sorry. Or happy birthday or hey there for that matter but this post is specifically about thank you.

While my kids are good about making cards, sometimes when the list is so long it’s hard to keep the momentum. A few get written and then, something comes along to distract and, before you know it, the half finished list is all that remains of the intention.

This year we’ve discovered the collaborative thank-you. It piggy-backs on our collaborative drawing game that we like to play, wherein we pass the drawing around the table for all to add to their own ideas, drawings, collage, etc. We make a big thank-you note using a big piece of paper: brown paper bag, old page ripped from the calendar, etc. It has to be bigger than a regular piece of paper in order to accommodate the entire family’s gratitude. We then pass it around the table for all to add their thanks.

We just made one for Grandma using the back of the December calendar page. This was fun because in addition to giving thanks, we were able to give my mom a glimpse into our world. She saw our December parties and craft events and school functions and all the rest. Another we did on a giant piece of cardboard that we sent as a giant postcard. (Disclaimer: whether that arrives in the mail remains to be seen!)

So not only are we getting the thank-yous written, but we’re doing it together, thereby getting a little needed family time as well. And the recipients are getting some cool notes in the mail full of our family’s drawings, notes and gratitude.

Search your recycling bin for some cool materials to make into cards. Clear off the kitchen table and get break out the pencils, glue and whatever else you need. Call the family together and get writing! It’s satisfying on so many levels.

Score one for win-win.

I was lucky enough to meet the author a few weeks ago at a Crafty Event here in Austin held at Book Woman and put together by Spike Gillespie. Not only do I love the book, what I have seen of it thus far, but I really love the author too. At the event, Kate did a demo on making pickles that made making pickles seem like something anyone could do and should do. In our house we LOVE pickles but the good ones are often more pricy than what I can spend. Never before did I dream of making my own pickles. That seemed something reserved for farm women and 4H members. But alas, after watching that demo and eating samples of her pickled okra, I’m totally in.

So, if you’ve got a home and you want to make it really sing with the essence of you, I think this book can get you there. It’s not about buying a bunch of stuff to fill your house. Or copying someone else’s style. It’s about figuring out what you like. What you want. What you’ve got. And making it all work together as comfortably, stylishly, economically and as fun-ly as possible. And it’s about finding connection in it all!

Thank you folks!

photo by Katherine O'Brien

And if you can’t come to our back-to-school clothes swap, here’s instructions on how you can host your own!

The new date is  SUNDAY, AUGUST 28th!!!from 10am – 2pm. Zilker Elementary 1900 Bluebonnet!

Yes folks! It’s time!!! Time for the Zilker Elementary 4th annual clothes swap brought to you by Future Craft Collective, Andrea’s Art Class, dozens of volunteers, and hundreds of closets and dresser drawers across Austin. We’ll have sewing stations to redesign, reconfigure, recraft the duds you find. We’ll have screen printers on hand printing up some amazing designs – even if it’s just to cover up a stain on a much loved item! And we’ll have mountains and mountains of clothing for everyone from infants to adults!

WE’ve added a book swap so bring them too!

photo by Katherine O Photo!

We’ve been given the keys to the cafeteria at Zilker Elementary School in South Austin. Thank you Principal Thomson!

The guidelines are the same. Bring what you can. Take what you need.

Infants to adults. All clothing, jackets, backpacks.

We’ll need volunteers so if you want to help sew, sort or screen – just email us!

Photo by Katherine O Photo

Oftentime these books can often be found at thrift stores and used book sales and can either be found as a whole set or in bits and pieces. Even if you never make a thing from these books, they are filled with ideas and inspiration or just fun crafty browsing.

We have said it’s a wonder someone doesn’t make a hip and modern version of these types of books – filled with ways to wile away a rainy afternoon in the craft room. Filled with crafts and skills and pictures of fun handmade, homemade stuff ranging from puppets to forts to planters and more.

Behold Black Dog Publishing’s craft books: Making Stuff, An Alternative Craft Book and Making Stuff For Kids. These books capture that same DIY spirit that filled the pages of those classic craft books and at the same time offer a modern and green twist to things. They capture the idea of making, crafting, creating on every page with projects that range from functional to just plain fun to make. Most of the projects use materials that you most likely have around the house such as felted wool sweaters, old t-shirts, random scraps of junk such as watch parts to make a puppet or balled up newspaper to make your own Wings of Desire. 

In the kids’ book each craft has a rating system for messiness, time and adult supervision required. Some of the projects use classic “recycled” craft materials such as the plastic milk jug but there is something about the delivery that is a far stretch from the usual milk jug crafts.

Whether you actually spend the afternoon making something from these books, or just wile away the hours perusing their pages, you will be inspired nonetheless. There truly is a project in here for everyone  and for every time frame too. And if you’re planning a handmade holiday, these books will help you come up with something for everyone on your list. Or you could just give them the book. 

If you email Jessica at Black Dog publishing she’ll give all our Future Craft readers a big old 40% off on any of Black Dog’s books.  Put Future Craft Collective book order in the subject line. This should hold you over until our book comes out in June!

Just recently Black Dog Publishing found Future Craft and because they love us so, and because their work is so connected to the work we are doing here in Austin and with Wiley, they are making a deal to all our Future Crafters. In honor of their new book set to come out next week in the U.S. Outside the Box; Cardboard Design Now, they are offering 40% off on any of their books to all Future Craft(ers). Just email Jessica at Black Dog and put Future Craft Collective discount in your heading. They’ve got some beautiful books on craft, making stuff, design, architecture, sustainability and more. And 40% off is a pretty sweet deal!

So, those these plans are still in the works, here’s how it looks right now…

Andrea and Penny will be silk screening once again. Right ladies?

Back to school clothes swap at Zilker Elementary

• Saturday August 28th
• 9am – 2pm
• Bring your old clothes
• Get some new ones!

We plan on having the usual, sorters, sewers and silk screening stations. If you feel like volunteering, please email us and let us know. We might not get back to you right away but we’ll definitely save your contact info. And if all you can do is swap, that’s fine too!

So don’t go shopping. And don’t throw away that bag of primo kids clothes! Save them for the swap and we’ll see you there.

We’re back on Craftzine this season with a new collection of projects under the heading, Reduce, Reuse, Refashion. Our first project out the bag, (pun totally intended) is for these super cool, lightweight and breathable produce bags made from sports jerseys. Get on over there and check ‘em out. And while you’re at it, check out the newly revamped Craftzine site. Full of super crafty ideas for your itchin’ to craft fingers.

There is an organization called Center for Commercial Free Childhood which is helping people organize screenings and they are encouraging this via their website. http://www.commercialexploitation.org/

I think that teaching our kids to create and make their own beauty is a great way to combat the powers of the marketing machine. It is after all, one of the basic tenets that had us start Future Craft Collective in the first place. If a kid knows that happiness, creation, beauty and digging, scraping, scrounging and making all lies within, they will be less likely to fall victim to the talons of the commercial beast.