Become a Recylce Artist This Spring

I like to think of myself as a green person- I try to buy organic and locally, recycle, and give back.  I didn't realize what type of green person I was until yesterday.  I was sitting at the dinner table with my fiance recapping our busy weekend when I started talking about all the projects I had completed lately.  It hit me, I love being a recycle artist!  In the three R's of going green most people don't think about reusing.  There are so many things we throw away that could easily be used for something else, either for ourselves or others.  For instance I painted a reproduction of a William Morris print on a cheap piece of shipping material.  I coated it with polyurethane and it now hangs outside in my container garden.  I followed it with an empty glass juice bottle filled with laundry detergent as a gift.  Then I made my wine glass vase and yesterday I made a garden sign and trellis from a recalled baby gate I was supposed to throw away. 

Think about this- what are you throwing away? Can you think of another way to use it? Or, are you heart broken throwing an old, broken item away?  I felt wrong throwing away the recalled baby gate- it was good wood and could be used for something! Then the problem solving kicks in.  What exactly can it be used for?  What can you add or take away to make it work?  The best thing is, you were going to throw it away anyways.  If you mess it up, it's no big deal.  Just toss it and pat yourself on the back for trying to do something good and fun.  Bonus, you can get your kids, friends, or even love muffin involved in the creativity!  

Spring is the perfect time to start this new train of thought.  Clean out your closets and garage.  Old clothes you don't wear anymore? Broken planting pots?  Toss the stuff you don't think you can salvage and then sit down and start working.  It's a puzzle and only you will find the way to put it all together.

Hopefully these pictures will inspire your creativity! (The purpose is to eventually cover the ugly fan that sits outside on our back porch.  Use your imagination to see the flowing vines and fruitful produce plants in the pots.  You can still garden when you can't dig in the ground- containers work great!)