Me-Made-May: Clarification and Flickr Group

Dearest Me-Made-Mayers (that's us in the picture above) and those who are still deciding whether or not to take the plunge and join us, I would like to take this opportunity to correspond with you directly. There are two main topics on which I would like to offer discourse today. The first of which: clarification of what the Me-Made-May challenge actually consists of.

I see now, that in my haste to make the challenge as inclusive as possible, I have inadvertantly raised many more questions of which subsequent attempts to address have not been wholely sufficient. I would like to apologise for any confusion and hope today to settle these questions once and for all. I have received many queries in the vein of does handmade jewellery/altered or refashioned clothing/hand-knitted items/handmade clothes worn by my daughter etc. 'count'. The answer is: if, after the inclusion of your particular queried item, Me-Made-May remains a challenge, then 'yes'. But which I mean, if the result isn't in line with your normal life and requires extra thought, then it's still a challenge. For example, if you are considering including refashioned and altered clothes, but have a wardrobe which is half made up of such items, wearing one a day for a month isn't going to be much of a challenge. Maybe try and make it two items a day or something like that to raise the stakes a little. If you have a pile of rarely worn refashioned and refashionable clothes, then including refashioned clothes in to challenge would make sense as Me-Made-May will more than likely encourage you to rethink these items and how you can make use of them. You catch my drift?

The 'rules' you chose to follow are yours, only you know what you wear at the moment, what would be easy to implement in May, and what would be more of a challenge. You decide the guidelines you want to follow, state them on your blog if you have one, and ENJOY!

Secondly: I am very excited to announce that a Me-Made-May Flickr group exists! A couple of Me-Made-Mayers have asked this and I'm delighted to give you a positive answer. I never thought the challenge would become as popular as it has. I thought perhaps a handful of people would be interested, so popping round a few blogs a day would be managable and fun. But over 50?! To keep abreast of what everyone of up to through out May is going to be more work than making an entire handmade wardrobe! Plus there are people without blogs, but with Flickr accounts, who will subsequently be able to participate visually who previously wouldn't be able to. The Flickr group is obviously optional, do not feel obliged to use it, but it's there if you want to. I would also still encourage people with blogs to document their preparations and the month itself on your blog too. We are making mini-history, people!

The Flickr group has been created as a way for us to share our Me-Made-May outfits which will obviously include or entirely consist of handmade (and/or refashioned, whatever your 'rules' are, see above) items and see what each other is sporting.It is a public group, which means anyone can view its contents, but you have to be a member to upload images. If you wish to become a member (or a Me-Made-Mayer, as I have named them in the settings) you of course first need to have a Flickr account. Then email me at sozoblog@gmail.com with either your Flickr screen name, real name or the email address linked to your flickr account, and I'll invite you via Flickr within a couple of days to become a member. Any questions? If so, either email me at that email address or leave a comment.

I will still prepare a post just before May kicks off with a list of participants and links to all the blogs that have been left in the comments sections so we can keep an eye on each other that way too! Hope your preparations are going well and you are getting excited, I know I am!