Let’s talk about trash! There are 5 reasons why I think you should create with trash! Trash is anything you might normally throw away or recycle. It has served its purpose, but what if it could serve a second purpose!? You could get more mileage out of your goods and your money?? That is a win!
Follow along with Erica and Reagan in a new video where they teach these tips or keep reading to be inspired how you can create FREE fun at home this holiday season.
Let’s dive in and see, if I can convince you to create with trash. We go through a lot of it everyday, and I believe that we can creatively be intentional with what we re-use.
Have you ever turned a spaghetti jar into a flower vase? Or a soup can into a pencil holder? These are some quick ideas to get you thinking of how you can repurpose something to serve you again.
In this post, Reagan and I make a collage out of trash. A collage is sticking a variety of different objects together to cover a backspace. We use cardboard and a tin pan as our backdrops to hold our collages in this example.
Now, let’s talk about why creating with trash matters!
1. Trash Turns into Art
When we work with new and unusual items it taps into a different area of our brain. As a result, we are learning. We are experimenting and can enjoy the process. We are doing something we have not done or maybe seen done before. We aren’t creating towards a finished product, but we are having fun and learning in the process.
2. Trash is cheap
There are so many assumptions and stereotypes that art is expensive. It doesn’t have to be. We all have supplies (yes, like trash) that we already have paid for and can use to create. When we create, we are bringing something to life. That is art.
3. We Learn
When we work with unusual supplies, we are placed in a position to learn.
We learn about the artist. What are they making? They must care about that!
We are also figuring out how things attach, work together, and so we are being engineers. In the process, we learn about 3d creations. Paper is the cheapest form of “typical” art supplies, which is just flat. When we work with trash, we can create bigger sculpture projects.
4. We Have Fun
When we create with trash, there are no expectations of what we need to make or how something needs to turn out. What a freeing feeling to be able to take risks without judgement and just play!
5. There are no souvenirs
The clean up, when we are done creating with trash, is super easy! Just throw all the extra stuff away or take it to the recycling center. It was going there anyway! There is no need to store any extra supplies.
We can then enjoy our creations, but we can also toss them when they end up taking up too much space and need to move on. We didn’t invest a lot in them.
We had fun. We created. The supplies served their purpose and now they can move on and we can create more.
What do you think? Did I convince you that the next time you feel an itch to create something to first stop and look in your recycling items? The kids are coming home for the holidays. I promise you, if you save some trash, invest in a hot glue gun and scotch tape that you will have hours of what feels like FREE at home fun to do together. It’s such a fun way to connect and see your artists’ brain at work being an engineer and imagining the possibilities!
Are you curious at what you can do with your newly created trash collage, after you create it? Reagan and I will be showing you a second part to this idea in a new video going out in our newsletter this week. It’s a collaborative art game that is fun and teaches TEAMWORK.
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It’s that time of year. We are thinking about school and getting back into routines. The long nights of summer are quickly coming to an end.
In most large home improvement stores (like Home Depot and Lowes), they sell painters paper. This paper is intended for laying on the ground while you paint to protect your carpet or other flooring. The large rolls are really thick paper. That roll can be hard to work with. There is usually a shorter roll next to the big rolls that is around $2.00. This is the stuff! The paper is not as thick, so it wraps well and stays in place with any tape.
The bonus is how the shorter roll is so much easier to work with than regular sized wrapping paper! I love it. So often when you use regular wrapping paper on a smaller gift, you don’t need half of what you cut off. I know for me, I then wrap it back around the tube or just throw it away. This shorter roll is the perfect size for those smaller gifts. There is also no need to worry if you have the right wrapping paper for special occasions, because this paper can be used for anything.
I buy twine or rope at the Dollar Tree (in the utility section) to wrap around my gifts. It keeps the cost low and that stuff can be used for other projects as well. One of my favorite things about this kind of wrapping paper is the way you can dress it up. Let your kids color on the paper, save money on a card and just write on the paper, leave messages, or stick in your business card or another little goody (like a print). You can embellish as much and as far as your imagination can stretch!
If you have ordered something from 