Posts Tagged ‘erin mapes etsy’...
Erin Mapes: Art Teacher by day, indie designer by night!
July 19, 2010
Erin rocks! She is a public school art teacher for her “day job” and designs, explores and creates for her store erinmapes.etsy.com by night.
As Erin so beautifully described herself: I hand-knit scarves, hats, and other items, and upcycle old clothing into bags. I try to live my life in a simple, peaceful, and environmentally conscious way, and my craft reflects that way of life. I call my work “environmentally conscious” because I try to keep the environment in mind when making my work. Sometimes that means using all-natural materials or buying materials from local sellers. Other times it means saving materials from becoming trash by reusing, recycling, or upcycling, whichever you prefer to call it. Like I say on my site, I believe that with a little creativity, you can find a use for almost anything.
I personally find that refreshing and on the cutting edge. It’s motivation to where we should all strive to be on our crafting adventures.
Check out some of the items in her etsy store! Again, here’s that link! erinmapes.etsy.com

Erin, the amazing Art Teacher!
July 19, 2010
Some of you might have known that up until two weeks ago, Darn Good Yarn was not my full time job. Yes, I did work way more than 40 hours a week at the yarn helm but I was also working two other jobs. Unfortunately, I have lists of blog ideas/posts that I’ve promised to myself and others to post and alas life gave way and I wound up with notebooks and notebooks full of “love letters” to me!
Well, this post (forgive me Erin) was inspired by our own Erin Mapes. You know her! She’s one of our very talented featured artists and you should go and visit her etsy store: erinmapes.etsy.com
Instead of me re-telling you the story, read about the touching project Erin did:
I used some of your recycled sari silk in an art project with one of my classes earlier this year (I’m an art teacher here in DC). One of their classmates was shot and killed one weekend, and we wanted to do a project in his memory. So I created a mobile structure out of bent wire hangers that I wrapped in sari silk, and I gave them each a long piece. They had to cut a shape out of stiff paper and write a wish or thought for this boy, Oscar, then attach it to the string and hang it from the mobile. We put it up in the room as a memorial, and it’s still hanging there now. I attached a picture of it below. The light’s not that great, so it doesn’t look like anything spectacular, but the kids really enjoyed making it, and they LOVED the yarn. They thought it was the coolest thing in the world and were all asking to take pieces home with them, lol. So thanks for having such a shiny, colorful yarn to brighten up my students’ day.
~Erin
And here is a picture. It’s fantastic that all of the students could come together and create something so beautiful and touching for such a difficult subject.







