Two weeks ago, I was texting with another fellow crafter who had just finished cleaning out space in her garage to accommodate a workout space in for her family. I gave her a big virtual high five because cleaning out a garage is a major accomplishment for anyone but especially a crafter. You see a crafter doesn’t see supplies the same way a non-crafter does. I know this because I, the crafter, live with a non-crafter. Where he sees messy piles of supplies that frankly overwhelm the minimalist in him, I see only possibilities. Since I see possibilities in everything, I want to keep it all. I might not always know exactly what I will do with it in the moment I add it to the ever-toppling pile of supplies, but I know that I will find a use for it at some point. While my husband might argue that is just a lie I tell myself and sometimes he’s right, (just don’t tell him I said that!) Often those possibilities do get realized. 

I will fully admit that sometimes supplies languish in my craft room for far longer than I had anticipated. However, I am also the one that has exactly what we need when there is a last-minute school project to build a _____ (insert any project your kiddo has come in with)_____, Or I am the one that pulls out a project to fill the afternoon when it’s day three of school closure for snow and it’s no longer exciting and fun but a soggy melting mess that no one wants to go out in. The craft kits, traditional supplies like rolls of ribbon or fat quarters of fabric that fill the shelves in my craft room are the most easily defended possibilities. Crafters and non-crafters alike can see and recognize the possibility that is there. It’s the recycling that is usually the much harder sell/to justify keeping. 

Lately I’ve been intrigued and inspired to find ways to create art from the massive pile of trash and recycling our family of four seems to generate each week. We try hard to cut down on packaging waste. In the summers we love to take our reusable bags to the farmers market and fill up on fresh fruits and vegetables grown just a few miles from our home- not a plastic clam shell in sight. A couple years ago we switched over to Earth Breeze laundry soap that comes in a paper envelope rather than giant plastic containers. I’ve opted out from as many mailers, physical bills etc. that we can. We often look for items at the thrift store not because we can’t afford to purchase new, but more because it means less packaging, giving something a new life vs seeing it end up in a landfill. 

Despite all these efforts there is a certain amount of trash that we still seem to make each week. So, we wash out our cans, and fold down the boxes and place them in our recycling bin. And sometimes those items make it into my pile of possibilities to find a new life, a new look or maybe a new shape on my art table. 

Here are my latest recycled pieces of art! Enjoy. 

www.etsy.com/shop/MEinspiredcrafts