The Happy Gardener Reycyles Cookie Tins!

These past couple of weeks have been spent sprucing up my "secret" side garden and the deck off my living room with flowers, flowers and more flowers.  It's just lovely sitting out there with my morning coffee and my Kobo... a little read,a cup of good coffee, some sunshine and this kid is a happy camper!

First let me tell you about those flower boxes.  They are the best thing since sliced bread for putting over a railing.  They are adjustable to the width of the railing but the best thing is that they have a leveling piece on the bottom of them that allows them to remain upright... no sagging, no danger they will fall over or off.  They also have a reservoir in the bottom of them so that in warm weather your plants won't be suffering from thirst.  They are more expensive than most planter boxes but worth every penny.  Called "fence and railing planters", they are available from LeeValley.

Recycled Cookie Tin Project

One fine sunny day, in the early days of spring, I was cleaning up and clearing out "stuff" that had been lingering forgotten in my downstairs pantry.  I came across some old cookie tins I had been saving for a couple of years.  They were the big ones from Costco that had once held some very delicious Christmas cookies.  I couldn't remember why I was saving them so they were earmarked for the recycling bin.

As I was about to place them in the bin and send them to recycling heaven, it hit me.  Of course, use them to plant flowers in this summer!  But boy the first thing they would need would be a paint job and some sprucing up.  They were okay as cookie tins but pretty ugly for fleurs!!

Over to the hardware store I went to buy some primer paint and some hot red and yellow spray paint for the second coat. Well it was a bit too nippy outside to do any painting so I had to put the project on hold till it warmed up some outside.  But in the meantime...

I went looking for vintage flower seed packet graphics and found  a whole collection of Seed Catalogues at the Smithsonian digital collection.

I found a bunch I liked, re-sized them in my graphics program to fit the sides of the cookie tins and printed them off.  Because they will be outside all summer, I decided to ModgePodge them with a couple of coats to protect them from inclement weather.

Fast forward to a warm spring day.  Out the door into the backyard I went with a big cardboard box, my primer paint and the tins.  Put the tins in the box to paint as spray paint goes all over.  Even being as careful as I was with both the primer and finish coat of red, I ended up with some rather pretty but unusual colored grass!!

Take your time painting inside and out.  Get into all the crevices with the primer.  Let it dry thoroughly... best to wait overnight.  The next day you can start with the your chosen finish colour for the outside of the tin.  You really don't need to do the inside.

Once your tins are thoroughly dry, you can modge podge your graphics to the sides of the tin.  Do all four sides as you may be turning the plants around for even blooming. Punch a bunch of holes in the bottom of the tin. Take a kitchen garbage bag and cut it to fit inside the tin, fill it with dirt and then your plants.

I made three of them... two red ones for the bench in my secret garden and one yellow one that sits on the table at our front door...

Happy Gardening,

Sharon

If the Shoe Fits...

 Fantasy Art Shoes that will bring a smile to your face and a chuckle to your heart...

Oh naughty me for not having posted since the beginning of last month!  My big excuse... I have been very busy with art *stuff*, doing some spring cleaning and supervising (tee hee) hubby's planting of our garden for this year. 

It is about to get even busier in our household as my hip replacement surgery date was set this week for the middle of next month.  Of course this would happen after I bought my super duper backpack beach chair for this beach this summer!  The sun had better shine a lot in the next few weeks so I can at least get to use it LOL

I did promise awhile back to post photos of the shoes I created for entry into the Coast Collective Shoe Show in mid May.  Of course I meant to post them earlier... before the show began... and alas the show has come and gone BUT I did take photos of my entries. 

The show was delightful to wander through and discover paintings, sculpture, and drawings you could purchase of  vintage shoes, boots, running shoes, fantasy shoes, RCMP riding boots, sandals, high heels as well as real shoes all "gussied" up... you name it, it was there.

I had a real blast making my shoes for the show.  It was a lot of fun and I laughed a lot as they came together.  It's delightful to experience that kind of joy when creating "art"!

The first shoe is called "Meal on Wheels" and the wheels on the shoe actually do turn!  Made from polymer clay, that cheeseburger, topped with a dill pickle and the crispy fries look so real you could almost pluck them off the shoes for a little snack and the strawberry for dessert is mouth watering luscious. 

I was surprised that this shoe "art piece" didn't sell at the show... it is just adorable sitting on a windowsill or shelf in a kitchen.  It certainly brings a smile and chuckle to the faces of people who see it!  Guess it is just waiting for the right person to come along, see it and want to give it a home in their kitchen. In the meantime, it will sit on the top of my pie safe in my kitchen along with Chef Pierre (remember him from a few posts ago?) and look cute!

The second shoe "Which is Witch?" is something to behold when you see it with light shining on it.  The sparkles are glorious... and something that photos just can't seem to capture and do justice to!

This shoe is a combination of many different mediums... a real shoe, paper mache, bookboard, clay, ribbon, acrylic paint, and more glitter than you can shake a stick at LOL. 

Anxious to see what it would look like and being somewhat impatient to get it finished,  I started applying the glitter at my art table.  I just happened to look down to see my little white dog, hovering around my feet,  starting to glisten and sparkle in orange, purple and glow in the dark glitter!  Well outside we went, pretty darn quick I can tell you, to finish the job.  Hubby remarked that we had the only glittering grass in our little village for at least a week. 

Once it was done, I just smiled every time I looked at it.  What a perfect Halloween shoe... I just loved the way it turned out.  Well I wasn't the only one it seems... "Which is Witch?" sold at the show and is now in a new home... no doubt bringing smiles to the face of its new owner.

So there you have it!  There is a third shoe that I did... I was definitely into this... that is just as delightful as these two... actually I think even more so,  but I am saving it for now.  I may enter it into an upcoming show and see if it makes the cut.

Have an "arty" week and see you soon...

Sharon

37+ Ideas for Recycling Reader's Digest Condensed Books

Last week, the "librarian" in our community complex got in touch with me to tell me that they had a number of old Reader's Digest Condensed Books and other hardbacks they were culling from the library in our community building.

Knowing that I am always on the lookout for books, she asked if I would be interested in them. She estimated that there were around 50 of them! All I had to do was take them away. "WOW", I thought, "What a find. Can't turn this offer down."

Later on that day, I went down to the community building to see just what kind of condition they were in. Even though some of them were 40 years plus old, most were all in pretty good condition. They had been taken care of by their owners over the years before they were donated.

I estimated that there were about 70 or 80 of them! But where would I put them all? And, what would hubby say when I came home with yet even more books? My first thought was to share them with other artists in my art groups. Then I remembered Canada Post's mail charges. They charge an arm and a leg to mail stuff and it just wouldn't be feasible. Scratch that idea!

I have to admit, my second thought was to hide them somewhere! LOL A secret stash! I figured that hubby might have a fit if he came in the door and saw a gazillion books lying around. But hubby and I don't keep secrets from each other (it's just another reason why we have such a successful marriage) so I made the decision to talk to him about it when he came home that evening. I figured out where I could put them... on a long shelf that leads down to our family room and my art "playroom".

Surprise, surprise. He agreed with me that they were a find, as long as I could come up with something I could do with them and actually use them (not just having them sit there doing nothing for the next ten years).

I told him about putting the "call" out to the art groups I belong to for ideas... Altered Books, Art Techniques, Art EZine Cafe and the Latest Trends and showed him the list of ideas I had compiled from the input of my fellow artists. "Okay", he said, "I'll help you bring them home."

When we started loading them into the trunk of our car, I realized that I had grossly underestimated just how many there actually were. In the end, we brought home 120 of them!

I couldn't get them all into one photo for you. It's pretty impressive when you actually see it. But to give you an idea of just how much book shelf space they took up.... that shelf is 10 feet wide and when we ran out of room we had to start double stacking them! Here's a photo of just some of them:

So, now what?


First, I know that there are some people who get very upset at the thought of altering books. Some books lovers think it is a sin! If you can't bear the thought of dissecting a book for its parts, then this blog post is not for you. If you have some books and would like to clear out some of your collection, I'd suggest giving them to a local nursing home or perhaps a "traveling" hospital library.

However, be that as it may, I can tell you that RDCB's are not suitable for altering as in "altered books". The spines are week, the paper is poor and not the best quality for altering. They just will not stand up to rigor of some art techniques when transforming them from a book that no one seems to want into something wonderful filled with gorgeous art.

Most public libraries do not keep Reader's Digest Condensed Books on their shelves. Many libraries will not even accept them as a donation. However those that do will often give them away "gratis" to patrons who want them.

A quick search of e-Bay revealed that although there are many of them listed for sale from anywhere from $1.00 to $5.00 a book, there is a distinct lack of any bidding going on. Charity thrift stores in our area sell them in the same price range as E-bay and have racks of them that have been there for years.

Although they may look "good" on a shelf because of their colourful covers, both my book loving hubby and I agree... they may have some good stories in them, but they are not well made "quality" books.

We both believe they were originally made for the "masses" to encourage people to read and purchase the books at a price much lower than the original hardbacks of the featured stories in each edition. However, once read, they languish on book shelves for years and finally like many worn out paperbacks, they land on a garage sale table, get sent to the landfill or (hopefully) to a paper recycling plant.

I like to think that re-purposing these RDCB books is making lemonade out of lemons. We book artists "salvage" what we can that is still usable, infusing new life into the elements and present them, once again for people's enjoyment, in a different form.

There are many things you can do to recycle these "unwanted" hardback books into your art. Here are some "re-purposing" ideas the very talented artists in my art groups and I came up with...

1. Gut the book. Use the paper to make paper beads, as scrap paper to try out new art techniques or as scrap paper at your art table for cleaning your paint brushes (and making serendipity papers).
2. Cut the paper up to use as "text" backgrounds in collage for cards, collage or use as wrapping paper for small gifts.
3. Sew or tape the paper together to get big sheets. You can use the sheets on your art table as a cover up when painting, for a barbeque tablecloth or wrapping bigger gifts.
4. Salvage the illustrations in the book for future use in your artwork.
5. Cut out the book titles. They used some interesting fonts when typesetting the books.
6. Some of the earlier books have wonderful, coloured end papers made from quality paper. Salvage them!
7. Save the bookplates from the front of earlier editions of RD books to use in your art. Recycle them into "modern" bookplates with the addition of some art work. Check on the web to find out whether or not these bookplates are collectibles. Many bookplates are. If they are, I'd love to hear from you. I've been too busy writing this article to check this out myself!
8. Many of the later editions have colourful covers. Photograph them and use them to create background papers in a graphic program.
9. The "bookboard" on the covers is very strong and the colourful backgrounds on some RDCB's make great backdrops for collage.
10.On some of the older, padded covers from the 60's, the "chipboard" beneath the outer cover has a thin layer of foam glued to it. Although you can't take the foam off, you could re-use the padded chipboard for "mini quilt" creations or anything that you want a padded surface for.
11. Some of the RDBC books came encased in an outer cardboard case. You can leave these outer cases as is and alter them, give them a nice new look with a coat of paint, use the light cardboard and the coloured end papers for diecuts, embossing with a cuttlebug, etc.
12. Use the block of paper in the book to make a book sculpture. Check out this photo show from artist Terri Noell , one of the very talented artists in my group, for inspiration.
13. Remember those angels, snowmen and Santa Claus' from the 70's and 80's made with the RD magazine? Well they are back! Do a search on the Internet for how to directions.
14. Stack the books up, drill a hole through the center of the book piles, insert a hollow metal rod and make a "book" lamp. You can also glue the books together in a random fashion before drilling for a more interesting arrangement.
15. Stack the books, drill a hole for a dowel through the center and use for table legs. You can paint them or leave them as is.
16. Use the covers as a canvas for collage and art plaques to hang on the wall.
17. Cut a hole in the center of the book cover and use to frame a photograph or art piece.
18. Glue the pages of the book together. Hollow out to make a book "case" for your treasures, a sewing box, a jewelry case, a love letters box, a "book safe" for hiding keys, important stuff you want to keep from prying eyes!
19. Glue the pages together and make a "book shrine".
20. Glue the cover and the book pages together. Cut an opening in the book cover and cut a niche in the book pages (just like in tip 18) for a shallower "display" area.
21. Make a book display. Open the book up in the middle. Letting the book pages fall naturally, glue the pages together on the right side, repeat on the left side so that you have an open book. When dry, decorate the book. When you are finished you can lay a copy of a favourite poem on the open book. Makes a nice display for a wedding invitation, Golden anniversary memento, special photograph, etc...
22. Cut out same sized figures from the book pages and use them in an altered book for pop ups, families, etc.
23. Cut out the titles of books and mix together for a collage of letters.
24. Found some vegetable illustrations in your RDCB book? Cut them out and make a pop up garden.
25. Turn your RDCD book into a purse. This particular article is geared towards a steampunk costume accessory, but it could be used in lots of ways.
26. Heather, who works in a library with children and young folks, sent along the instructions for a handmade journal she made in a workshop with the younger, budding artists set

"... we ripped out the guts and then added in blank pages to fill it- voila handmade journals with 'professional' covers. One girl went home, printed off a whack of daytimer pages and made another (journal) to use as her school agenda. To bind the pages together. we used regular paper (misprints, scrap sheets ) cut in half, clamped the pages to keep the edges even and glued away, applying a muslin strip to the wet glue for added strength and hold, created endpapers and used those to add the new guts. As these were to be notebooks for random notes/jottings, the partially used/printed sheets didn't cause any problems. Finally the covers were embellished/personalised. These random papers/covers books make great glueboooks. of course these can be done with any hardcover, not just RDCB's"

27. Use the books in assemblages.
28. Pile them up, put a board on top and use it as a shelf.
29. Use the gutted book cover (with the spine still attached) as a birdhouse roof in an assemblage.
30. Use a cover to make a very large postcard. Wouldn't that make a great mail art postcard?
31. Make "book board" out of the paper. Just glue and layer a number of pages together!
32. Use as a tablet for gluing smaller items. When you are done, just rip out the used page. You can also use old phone books if you don't have a RDCD.
33. Make a stationery holder with a cover. Make the cover pretty, add a pocket to the front and back for paper and envelopes.
34. Some of the later books have dust covers printed on good quality glossy paper. The dust jackets feature the covers of the original books that appear in the condensed book and use some interesting fonts. They could be "salvaged" to use in your artwork.
35. Look at these marvelous book vases created by Laura Cahill. What a great idea!
36. Jim Rossenau makes the coolest bookcases and book shelves you have ever seen. I've been a fan of his since I first saw his website a year or so ago. Visit his site, This into That to take a look at his funky creations.
37. Read this article about Book Lovers at MIT who make furniture out of books!

There are a wealth of sites that you can visit on the web. When you have a few minutes, go on a search to discover some of them!

So there you have it... 37 plus ways for you and I to use those unwanted books!

Stay tuned... I am already working on my first paper sculpture! Terri inspired me to take a crack at it!

Thanks again to all the artists who sent me emails privately or posted their ideas and suggestions to our group.... Pam x 2, Heather, Gale, Elizabeth, Terri, Lisa, Maxine, Bonnie, Alicia, Mary, Lee, Cathy, Ellen, Theresa, Kathy, and Cindy. I hope I haven't missed anyone! If I have just know that your contribution was much appreciated!

Have a great week... A Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers. Wishing you great bargains on "Black Friday"!

Hopefully I will get to posting on Friday but can't promise. It's a very busy week this week... heating up for the Christmas party season already... have three invitations this week, two of them before Friday!

Sharon

Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips - Bottle Caps, Blister Packaging and Canning Jar Lid Inserts

Now who could have guessed that Terry Howard, Martha B., Leslie, Donna Zamora, Susan Marie, Kelsey Jones Evans, Stephen du Toit, Moon Willow, Christine Bell, Pam Yee, Pam Crawford, Donna Hall, Elizabeth and Alicia Edwards would come up with 24 uses for a "lowly" bottle cap, 9 ideas for "useless" blister packaging and 12 ideas for canning jar lid inserts that usually go into the trash without much thought? Certainly not me! I don't know about you but I was pretty impressed by those numbers!

Here, for your arting pleasure, is the result of their brainstorming.....

Save those bottle caps and

1. alter them to use as an embellishment on a page, ATC or tag
2. paint/decoupage and make into Christmas decorations
3. bottle caps make funky earrings or pendants on necklaces
4. make magnets for the fridge using your favourite photos
5. cover with fabric, glue a cardboard circle that fits the back of the bottle cap. Glue a thumbtack to the cardboard backing and voila you have a “designer” thumbtack
6. glue bottle caps to a Styrofoam tray to store tiny findings or beads
7. adhere stickers to the top of a bottle cap for embellishments in scrapbooks, altered books, etc.
8. mount small fun-foam shapes on the back of bottle caps - more small printing blocks!
9. cover with fabric, threads and beads for Christmas decorations
10. drill a hole in the top and attach to a book page as an embellishment
11. fill the deep side of the bottle cap with resin and embed artsy bits, objects, micro beads, fiber, printed graphics, pictures or photos in it.
12. make into games pieces or charms
13. use as a dangle in wind chimes
14. plastic bottle caps are great for holding glue when you are applying with a paint brush for glitter
15. use as a stamp to make rings or bubbles for fish on your "canvas"!
16. bottle caps make nice tiny frames, distressed and painted for a textured area.
17. chain bottle caps together to make a jingly addition to a book, page or ???
18. flatten, bend in half and attach as page tabs
19. glue a makeup sponge inside a large 2 liter bottle cap to save your manicure when applying inks
20. make a finger-size pincushion
21. use as "feet" for a box or shrine
22. use to create a "Shadow" box with a mini-scene or art bits. Wrap the edges with fiber or micro-beads. A pin-back will turn it into jewelry.
23. melt the bottle cap liners together, stamp them while hot, colour with inks and they look like a wax seal.
24. use as a head on an art doll.

Save that clear plastic blister packaging and

1. emboss it or make a die cut for your art out of it.
2. paint with alcohol inks to make 'polished stone' backgrounds
3. frame 3-D artwork in clear plastic blister package boxes
4. recyclable plastic can be die cut (or stamped then cut out) to shrink with heat gun or oven just like the store-bought shrink plastic materials.
5. cut out a design, press into wet paint and “stamp” onto paper with it.
6. cut blister packing into cloud shapes. Paint them white. While the paint is still wet, spread tiny bits of cotton on them. Use as cloud embellishments in your art.
7. use the flat pieces to cut out a stencil pattern
8. make a miniature scene inside shaped blister packing
9. use flat blister packaging as "windows" in shaker boxes, cards. slides, frames or collages.

Save those canning lid inserts and

1. cover with fabric, used gift wrap, ribbons or images from cards, attach a hanger and use as an ornament for your Christmas tree.
2. drill a hole in the top and attach a chain. Use as a chime in outdoor wind chimes.
3. cover the insert with batting and fabric. Glue to the underside of the insert. Cut out a cardboard circle to fit the bottom of the insert. Glue to insert. Paint the outer canning ring. Push the insert into the ring and you now have a decorative jar lid for buttons, cotton balls or even preserves/jam you make to give away as gifts.
4. use the inserts to make picture magnets for the fridge
5. use the inserts to make interesting/different/unusual place cards for a party
6. make an unusual book. Collage on the inserts. Drill a hole to “bind” the inserts together with a binder ring
7. glue an image to the insert and mount in a scrapbook, altered book or card
8. paint and decoupage the inserts to make sun catchers, mobiles, etc.
9. use the inserts as a base for decorative candles
10. use the canning inserts to make bodies for “metal people”, bird house roofs, and tin assemblages
11. use as a base to make a round pendant. Drill a hole in the top and attach a jump ring and chain
12. use to cut out metal “dog tags” for your art.

I'll be taking next Tuesday and a couple of Fridays off from posting this month as I prepare for an upcoming art show in November. a workshop I will be doing on the Latest Trends in Mixed Media art group at the end of this month, eating turkey with all the trimmings on Canadian Thanksgiving (October 13) with my family and four days away at the Forest Storytelling Festival in Port Angeles, Washington.

WHEW... that should keep me off the streets and out of trouble for a few days!

Have a great week...

Sharon

Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips – Recycling Egg Cartons, Cardboard Inserts and Flat Styrofoam

This week there are 32 ideas for recycling egg cartons, cardboard inserts and flat Styrofoam pieces into your art… plus a project using one of my favourite techniques when I am in a quirky mood or my art muse has gone on vacation - “The Ugly Duckling into a Beautiful Swan” background collage technique!

Compiled tips, including some from yours truly, submitted to the September 2008 Brainstorming Recycling Contest. Thanks to Terry Howard, Martha B., Leslie, Donna Zamora, Susan Marie, Kelsey Jones Evans, Stephen du Toit, Moon Willow, Christine Bell, Pam Yee, Pam Crawford, Donna Hall, and Alicia Edwards.

Save those egg cartons and

1. use styrofoam cartons as disposable mixing pots for dye, paint, perfect pearls, glue, etc.
2. use as plant starters for seeds/seedlings
3. use for sorting and storing buttons. beads, brads, charms, small jewelry bits, sequins, vintage game pieces, grommets
4. use them for drying blown out eggs that you will be painting and/or using for mosaics
5. soak cardboard cartons in water until they turn to mush and make stiff pasteboard covers for books or other papier mache creations
6. use to sort and store stickers and alphabet letters.
7. use Styrofoam cartons to make extra ice cubes when you need them
8. use Styrofoam cartons as a watercolour palette
9. fill with wood chips, cover with beeswax or melted down candle stub wax and use as fireplace, bonfire or grill fire starters.

Save those cardboard inserts and

1. use the heavier cardboard for book covers
2. place in an envelope as a stiffener when mailing art for swaps, etc.
3. use the lighter cardboard to create templates for patterns, luggage type tags, small drawings, notes, file folders, dividers, postcard backs, bookmarks
4. lightly score them in half and make a funnel. Use to catch glitter, embossing powder, etc. and return to the bottle or jar
5. use to reinforce altered books and art
6. make small boxes, frames, backing material for your art.
7. use corrugated cardboard for adding texture to shrines, roofs on houses, etc.
8. strip parts of the outer layer of paper from one side of the cardboard and use as background for collages, etc.. Can also be painted/collaged for super textured books covers.
9. Wine box inserts can be used to organize your drawers
10. Use lightweight cardboard to create chunky book pages
11. Gesso both sides and paint on them to make art postcards, ATCs, Moo Cards, inchies
12. Make shims for diecut machines

The Ugly Duckling into a Beautiful Swan Painted Collage Technique/Project

Here’s a neat project for an interesting, highly textured background or collage using a heavier cardboard insert! I call this my “Ugly Duckling into a Beautiful Swan” Technique and you’ll soon see why.

Gesso the cardboard. Glue bits of string, yarn, cheesecloth, dryer sheets that have been shrunk with a heat gun, fabric leaves, play sand, bits of torn paper, cardboard and anything you can find that might be useful in your waste paper basket onto the gessoed cardboard! If you have a sewing wastebasket,,, go through it and pull out bits of knotted up thread, cut material bits, bits of fabric, serger threads or anything you find that is flat! Glue it down on your substrate. Let it dry for at least 24 hours.

Does it look as ugly as sin LOL? Great… that means it will be beautiful when you get done with it!

When dry, paint over it using some of your favourite colours in a haphazard manner. Use a comb to add even more texture in the paint. Just have fun using color and letting your free spirit guide you!

One of my favourite pieces of art was created just like this! I liked it so much that I had it framed. The art gallery that framed it actually valued it at about $900.00! It is unusually gorgeous, sits above my piano as inspiration and no, I won’t sell it,,,,

Where's the picture of this masterpiece LOL? Well, I took one but it didn't turn out very well because it is now behind glass and the texture/metallic paint doesn't really show up in the photo! Sorry....

Save those flat styrofoam pieces

1. cut to size, place in a container and use it to stick paint brushes in to keep them upright.
2. carve, paint and make into “adobe” miniature houses
3. make Styrofoam cutouts to paint or cover with paper or fabric and embellish for books, cards and art
4. you can use the soft, pliable Styrofoam packing material sheets much little cotton batting (wadding) in mixed media art because it can be quilted, glued, sewn to create a puffy effect and used as stuffing.
5. draw a design with an empty ballpoint pen or cut out designs for instant, textured printing blocks
6. Use as a backing for small wall hangings or in assemblages
7. Use blocks of Styrofoam as a holder for things you want to dry, i.e. beads you have painted and stuck on a pin, waxed leaves on picks, etc.. Just stick the pin or picks into the styrofoam and they will stay upright!
8. Use as a filler in plant pots to make them lighter. You can also use syrofoam egg cartons or peanuts as well. Just fill the bottom of the pot with styrofoam to the level you want, cut the flat styrofoam piece to fit the pot, place on top. Add the plant dirt and plant.
9. Use the flat styrofoam pieces to build light weight extensions or create frames
10. Emboss them with your Cuttlebug, Sizzix machine Diecut or punch them to create embellishments.
11. Thicker (1/4 inch) flat Styrofoam can be used in much the same way as foam core board to make small shadow boxes or to reinforce larger niches. This kind of Styrofoam was used to make the window wall in the French Bistro shrine in the Sept. 26th blog posting.

Have fun this week with your art... See you Friday!

Sharon

Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips - Recycling Plastic Drink Bottles & Fruit/Meat Tray Styrofoam

40 fantastic ideas for recycling plastic drink bottles and meat/fruit Styrofoam trays to use in your art work, studio or around your home…including instructions for two art projects.

Tips and ideas submitted to the September 2008 Brainstorming Recycling Contest by Terry Howard, Martha B., Leslie, Donna Zamora, Susan Marie, Kelsey Jones Evans, Stephen du Toit, Moon Willow, Christine Bell, Pam Yee, Pam Crawford, Donna Hall, Alicia Edwards and some from yours truly!

Save those plastic drink bottles and...

1. use them to carry water to do watercolours outside the studio
2. fill them with paint or diluted inks and pour washes over your work.
3. use the lids on bottles as tiny mixing pallets
4. use them as a package in mail art and to mail surprises for art friends or grandchildren
5. cut the tops off of several of them. Tape together like a wine rack. Use to store items that come in rolls, i.e. waxed paper, shelf paper, contact paper, Cut down small plastic bottles to store rolls of stickers, paper lace, etc.
6. Keep a bottle filled with water for washing brushes, filling watercolour troughs, mini misters, or spray bottles. Saves a trip to the bathroom or kitchen sink!
7. Fill them with craft items for storage or to send them to your crafty friends.
8. Fill with water, freeze and use as a “cooler” for picnic lunches at the park or beach. When the ice melts on a hot day at the beach, you can drink it!
9. Make them into wind twirlers! Cut off the top and bottom. Start cutting them evenly around the bottle from top to bottom.
10. Cut bottles into sections or strips. Heat gently with a heat gun to make them flat. Use markers to colour and reheat. Use them as embellishments in altered books or art.
11. Fill bottles with sand, cover with a glove puppet and use for doorstops.
12. Fill small plastic bottles or containers with sand. Use as weights when sewing or anytime you need to “weight down” something in your art to flatten it. Can also use them as pattern weights when you are cutting out a sewing pattern.
13. Make a pretty collage vase or paintbrush/pen/pencil holder by first painting with gesso, then painting and collaging.
14. They can be cut down, inked, painted, embossed and stamped and shrunk down in an oven or with a heat gun to make unusual jewelry.
15. Cut them up and punch holes all around and crochet or knit together to make a see through tote or purse.
16. Use them as a string dispenser. Cut off the bottom, slip in the string making sure to pull the starter out of the hole and attach to a wall. Punch another hole and tie on some scissors.
17. Fill with water. Insert plant cuttings you want to root.
18. Fill with sand and use as a rolling pin.
19. Cut plastic bottles in half and use the top as a funnel to put glitters, confetti, glues, sealers back in their containers. Use the bottom for mixing custom paints, soaking brushes, as water dishes, mixing bowls for grout, small trays for beads or trinkets.
20. Here’s a gorgeous project from my art friend Zeb Loray using a recycled drink bottle with Radiant Rain Daubers available from After Midnight Art Stamps. You won’t believe just how beautiful these look until you make one yourself. If you like texture, you'll love to have one of these in your art room.

Save those meat/fruit trays and

1. Use them for mono-print plates. Draw into them or texture them for unique textured prints on your paper.
2. Use as covers for a book about groceries, a vegetarian or anti-meat theme.
3. Use them to sort beads, bits you’ve assembled for a small project.
4. Trays make a wonderful, disposable paint palette and are a flat surface when using a brayer with ink, paint or rubber stamps.
5. Use the trays to capture excess glitter or embossing powders.
6. Punch out snowmen, animals, flowers with punches for craft projects.
7. Flat Styrofoam pieces make super bases for Christmas decorations or to mail breakables.
8. Use the meat/fruit trays to plant seedlings for your garden.
9. Cut into squares or circles and use them to separate your burgers before freezing.
10. Make your own stamps by carving a relief design into the Styrofoam. Ink and stamp.
11. Use as holding trays for project embellishments, brads, tiny watch gears, beads, etc.
12. Put a baby wipe in the bottom of a tray and use it to clean your brayer.
13. Cut Styrofoam trays into pieces and make stencils or quickie stamps.
14. Use as a postcard or ATC back.
15. Glue to the back of elements (i.e. photographs), cut out and create a 3-D effect when they are placed on your collage or assemblage. You can use the Styrofoam as a substitute “glue dot” or foam tape and as a way to “build up” different levels of element layers in your art project.
16. Cover with paper and use to make frames or mats for photos/images in your art.
17. Smaller pieces of Styrofoam can be covered with wide decorative ribbon for an interesting mat for an embellishment or image in your art.
18. Cover Styrofoam squares with fabric and use as embellishments in your art.
19. Sandwich Styrofoam between two pieces of heavy cardboard, cover with fabric and use as a “bottom” in an art tote, handbag or satchel.
20. Cut them into shapes. Heat with a heat gun to shrink. Brush with paint to make unusual charms, embellishments or jewelry. Here’s a photo of some charms I made for a swap using black Styrofoam meat trays, some recycled pearls, corrugated cardboard and metallic paint. The instructions to make your own are below. Unfortunately metallic paint does not photograph well but you’ll get the idea of what you could create!

Styrofoam Fruit/Meat Tray Project

Cut the Styrofoam into rectangles (or alternatively just break them into unusual shapes) Make them larger than what you want in the end… they will shrink. Put on a mask and go outside.

Fire up your heat gun. Hold the Styrofoam down with a long bamboo stick while heating (Styrofoam is light and will fly away from you if you don’t hold it down). If you are not planning on mounting it onto another substrate and want a hole in the top to attach a jump ring to, pierce the Styrofoam with a safety pin. Leave the safety pin in while you are heating it.

Dry brush the shapes with metallic paint. Glue a bead or pearl to the shape when dry. Mount onto a piece of corrugated card board cut to the size you want the finished charm to be (you can either recycle some cardboard that you have ripped the top layer from and paint it or purchase some coloured corrugated cardboard). Pierce the top of the cardboard and attach a jump ring to turn your creation into a charm.


Raid, Repurpose, Rejoice

is a new recycling 3 R's slogan just for artists that popped into my head the other day! RAID your recycling bin (and your neighbours too if you are so inclined LOL), REPURPOSE what you find, REJOICE in making art from stuff headed for local landfills)

Go forth and make recycling bin art today my friends… See you all again on Friday!

Sharon

Playtime – A ReCycling Brainstorming Game - Win a Mini Shopping Spree

Two of my biggest pet peeves used to be the “over packaging” of consumer goods (a tiny bottle in a large box) and “blister” packaging (everything from beads to high end headphones). Then I discovered mixed media art and those pet peeves turned into “yippee… more stuff I can use and it’s FREE”.

Now, mind you, when I received a whole box of fruit packaging trays from a neighbour (I had asked her to save those kind of trays for me), it was just a tad bit of recycling “overkill”! A couple would have sufficed… but 20? I don’t think so!

We mixed media types are the self appointed “queens (and kings)” of recycling! We’ll find a way to use just about anything that we can find in our own (and our neighbour’s) recycling box!

Now I don’t know about your neighbourhood but in mine the majority of recycling boxes are filled to the brim with all sorts of goodies like egg cartons, cardboard, juice boxes, plastic blister wrap and cereal boxes. Some folks even have two or three recycling boxes. I just have to close my eyes and keep on truckin’ when I go past them on recycling day. I think of all that potential FREE “art material” going to the landfill and I have to wipe a tiny tear from the corner of my thrifty eye!

Thrifty Artists UNITE…

Your mission this week, should you choose to accept it, …BIG GRIN… is to do some brainstorming about how you can re-use the mountains of FREE "packaging" material that comes into your neighbourhood every week.

No, no, you don’t have to go pawing through your neighbour’s recycling box and embarrass the heck out of your kids or your family. Just take a sideways peek at it as you drive by on recycling day or drop by for a neighbourly visit and tell them you are on a scavenger hunt (well you are kinda…) and oh, while you are at it, take a good long look at your own box in the garage. Now think about how you could re-purpose some of that lovely “stuff” into your art.

Below are 20 sentence finishing prompts to get your “recycling” wheels a movin’ and shakin’… They don’t have to all be filled in but the more you can complete with one or more of your ideas, the higher the probability of you winning the contest!

1. Save those envelopes and …
2. Save those plastic drink bottles and
3. Save those meat/fruit trays and
4. Save those egg cartons and
5. Save those cardboard inserts and
6. Save those flat styrofoam pieces and
7. Save those bottle caps and
8. Save that clear plastic blister packaging and
9. Save those canning lid inserts and
10. Save those old business cards and
11. Save those tags on new, store bought clothes and
12. Save those plastic shopping bags and
13. Save those brown paper grocery bags and
14. Save those small juice boxes and
15. Save those gift bags and
16. Save those elastic bands and
17. Save those cereal boxes and
18. Save those small plastic starter plant pots and
19. Save those soft drink pull tabs and
20. Save those tea bags and

How to Enter This “Re-cycling Brainstorming Game” Contest

Copy and paste the above prompts into an email . Finish the sentence fragments with as many ART uses or ART re-purposing ideas that you can think of as quickly as you can.

Now go have a cup of coffee or tea, read a book or do something else for 10 minutes. I’m betting that more ideas pop into your head for those sentence fragments that you missed. Add these new ideas to your “list”.

Get your kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews involved. Ask your neighbours. Call your mother. Brainstorm with your best friend. The whole idea is to have fun coming up with lots and lots of practical and useable ideas. You are guaranteed a few good smiles along the way! If you really get into this, you’ll likely stumble across some bizarre or downright strange ideas that make you laugh!

When you are ready to submit your entry, count up the number of "ideas" you have come up with, put that total IN THE SUBJECT of your email along with your name. Please remember to include your email address somewhere in your email. Click send, then cross your fingers that you win!

The Best Part is here… WIN a Mini Shopping Spree!

The more ideas you can think up, the better BECAUSE the person with the highest number of ideas WINS the Recycling Brainstorming Game Contest! In the event of a tie, the “timestamp” of the received email will determine the winner.

If you are the lucky winner, Linda Hanson of After Midnight Art Stamps has very generously offered to award YOU with a $10.00 gift certificate for a mini shopping spree in her online store! Wander on over to her site and check out some of the cool stuff that this lovely lady has to offer in her “shop”. Lately I have had my sights set on some Radiant Rain daubers, some more Midnight Art Glass and the teapot stamp to add to my “studio spot” drawers!

The contest closes at midnight (your time zone) on Sunday, September 7, 2008. I will announce the winner in the September 9th posting of Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips. So make sure you check back to see if you are the winner!

All practical and useable ideas I receive from participants in the contest will be sorted, compiled and shared with blog readers in upcoming editions of Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips.

Please take a minute to add a comment to the comment section of this posting! I’d love to know what you think of this contest idea and the chance for you to win a prize!

See you Friday! Get those thinking caps on….LOL

Sharon

P.S. Please note that I am not affiliated in any way with After Midnight Art Stamps nor will I receive any monetary compensation from them for this contest. This is strictly a generous offer made by Linda because she loved the idea when I told her about it! Your email address will be kept confidential and not shared by me or Linda with anyone without your prior consent.

Copyright 2008 Dr. Sharon House http://www.mystoryart.com/

Four Letter Words Blog Contest Winners...

With the long weekend ahead of us, and getting ready to saddle up and "git out o' town", today's post is going to be short but scrumptiously sweet.

Yesterday evening, my best "kitchen table bridge" buddies and I got together for dinner. When I showed up with my "Therapy in a Jar" (a jar that I keep all my art ideas in... art is the best therapy for whatever ails ya ) it really got them curious!

Now what they didn't know beforehand was that they were about to perform an important mission - pick the names of the winners in last week's "mini blog contest" for my list of forty PLUS positive four letter words AND the alphabet file to create their own set of "inchie"alphabet blocks.

Unfortunately, one of our buds was called away "out of town" on a family emergency at the last minute and couldn't make it! So what's a gal to do when she is short one impartial prize picker? Well she just recruits her friend's husband who is staying discreetly out of sight and earshot of "female" chat in the den! He readily agreed to do the honours.

"You can call me Diane," said he with a twinkle in his eye, a sly grin on his face and a cute little wiggle in his walk as he snuggled into place between the gals!

After we all had a great laugh, I took this photo of them enthusiastically waving the names of the winners and congratulating them. (l. to r.) my friend Gail, Diane (aka Pete, Yvonne's husband) and my friend Yvonne. Everyone should be as lucky as I am to have fun friends like these ladies to hang out with!

And the lucky winners are... CRASHING CYMBALS AND DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!

1. Deana

2. Troll

3. Nicki

Congratulations ladies! Please send me an email before next Tuesday with your email address so that I can get your zip file off to you.

Congratulations are also in order to four lovely ladies. Cynthia Powell, Sherre Hulbert, Elizabeth Dawson and Lesley Venable, the "art mamas" on The Artist's Circle and the Latest Trends in Mixed Media Art. These four, very talented ladies have just published "Exploring the Latest Trends in Mixed Media Arts - Projects & Techniques Volume I" .

This book, filled with lots of fun and innovative projects, is guaranteed to make any mixed media artist's heart just quiver with excitement! Having "hung out" with these ladies over the past year, if their book is anything close to what they have shared with me and other members of the Artist's Circle and The Latest Trends in Mixed Media Art groups, it is guaranteed to be a real keeper. It is so HOT off the press that I don't even have my copy yet (but I am waiting patiently... well sort of) Interested in a copy? You can order it here. Here's a copy of the cover.

And last, but not the least (don't ya just love cliches LOL), make a note to yourself to stop by on Tuesday (once the kidlettes are safely back in school if they are the 'late school returners' in your area) and check out the Recycling Brainstorming Game and the chance to win a mini shopping spree. I shall say no more!! My lips are sealed.

Have a fun filled long weekend. Drive safely if you are on the road. See you Tuesday!

Sharon