Thursday, April 10, 2014

Make My Week - Will You Vote

So I am about to write a very long post to tell you about my entry into the Offset Warehouse Competition. If you're not one for reading these could I still ask you (very nicely) to go over and vote here.


There are four of us bloggers who have used some beautiful Offset Warehouse fabric to create something and it would be so nice if lots of people voted. Please vote for the one you genuinely like the best. Don't vote for me because you love me - vote for your fav. Ok?

So vote, vote, vote and make us feel like people are interested in our creations :o)


I was accepted with my idea by Zoe under the theme of Everyday Awesome and these are my thoughts.
When I read Zoe’s theme – everyday awesome – I loved it. What better thought to carry around in your heart than: there are ways as creative people to make everyday awesome.

We are given this day, others were not.  Some people’s days are taken from them by death, by force, by poverty, by slavery, by chance. We are given this day. This is a day to celebrate.  As a mama I have well known the pyjama filled days, those days of distaste at the stretch marks that have turned my tummy into something that resembles a deflating balloon. But I also know that getting up and dressing up for the day, choosing that favourite dress, those shoes that make you feel indestructible, those earrings given to you by someone who thinks you are wonderful – those days are better days.


Sometimes by being everyday awesome and wearing something special instead of saving it for a ‘proper’ occasion, we make someone smile. Maybe the person who smiles is the little person who looks up at a ‘dressed up’ grown up and thinks, ‘one day I will still dress-up too’. I think we owe it to ourselves and our children to send a message out to the world that we are more than bill payers, notice signers, dinner makers, environmental worriers/warriors, we are still just a little bit lot, wonderfully made. 

And so I was so thrilled to be chosen to make a dress from Offset Warehouse’s collection. Because I believe creativity is important and I am excited to see people helping us to do that in better ways – ethically, sustain-ably, leaving a gentle footprint. I am trying to make choices that reflect my respect for this great human family and for this wonderful earth we are charged to steward.


For the last 3 years we have journeyed through 10,000s of earthquakes in Christchurch, as the earth has destroyed grandma’s china, houses, sewer lines and lives it has also built communities that are knit together, it has made empty spaces that creative people have filled and it has taught us that what matters and what remains unshakable are relationships. It has taught me that joy and love and shared laughter are my gifts to the world and I will give them with all the generosity I have and in every creative way I can think of.  

It has taught me that I can, and should, use and enjoy my special things everyday or I can save them, only to find they are destroyed anyway. The value is not in the things themselves, it is in the use and pleasure we derive from them. It has taught me to use, wear, enjoy, and share today.


I’m not waiting for a special occasion. Today is awesome. Every day is awesome. I am not the youngest, oldest, wisest, strongest, prettiest, cleverest, slimmest woman in the world and so I owe it to myself, to other women, to my children and to others to declare (often with how I dress,) I’m not waiting for a special occasion, a better body, a better day. 


Maybe someone whose day is very far from awesome today needs to look at you and feel the hope of a better tomorrow. Go out with some glitter in your pocket (metaphorically) and make the world awesome.
Stop saving your blanks (in scrabble) until the end of the game. Wear your favourite dress, use your favourite china, use that massage voucher you were given, paint your toenails…. Or pay it forward and let someone else enjoy it.

I leave you with one of my favourite (slightly doctored) quotes:


Life may not be the party we expected, but while we’re here we might as well (don our favourite dress) dance (in public).

March to the beat of your own drum, dress with attitude, be imperfect, be everyday awesome.
Miriam x


Styling:
Self-made flouncy petticoat, shoes from the goodwill op-shop, hand me down tights, also earrings made from wood from deconstructed houses (as a result of earthquakes).

My sincere thanks to the fabulous folks at offset warehouse for the opportunity to make this ensemble and for their enthusiasm in all our correspondence.



Hugethanks to lovely Zoe for picking my entry and for her continued challenge and inspiration to make good, ethical choices in my own crafting. I hope I have made something you think is beautiful. Good luck to my fellow contestants I so look forward to being inspired by your fabulous makes. 

More crafty ladies over here

 Show & Tell Thursday's

love you more than a brand new stranger-stopping dress xxx