Jam Packed Summer Camps, Week One

This past week was jammed packed with fun, creative activities for the kiddo's. At Shelby Park Community Center we created these awesome abstract 3D art pieces. The cardboard shapes were cut from the box that my fair tent came in. It was cut into cool shapes and the kids got to express themselves and learned a little about texture and 3D vs 2D art.

At Passionist Earth & Spirit Camp Odyssey, we made magazine picture frames, paper bag kites, toilet paper binoculars (see below) and paper rockets from magazine pages. Then on Friday we launched the rockets and watched them with our binoculars. The binoculars also came in handy to find my rocket that landed in the trees. Unfortunately we couldn't figure out how to get it down.

The binoculars are a great way for the kids to go exploring in your own back yard, parks, on walks or on long trips in the car. Here's how to make a pair to keep around for these fun days.

What you need:

2 Toilet Paper rolls
String/yarn
Paint or Markers
Glue
2 Paper Clips
Hole Punch

Glue the two tp rolls together by running a single line of glue end to end on one of the tubes and putting the two together. Place the paperclips at each end to hold the tubes together while drying. This allows you to decorate with paint or makers while the glue is drying. When the paint is dry, punch one hole on the side opposite the glue of each tube and tie the ends of the strings through the holes to allow the binoculars to be worn around the neck. Now the kids can enjoy bird watching, searching for things on a scavenger hunt or spying on their siblings. 

Have a creative and fun week and I'll see you back here later this week to show you how to make simple paper rockets and the launcher for some more summer fun from your "I'm bored! Box."

Picture Perfect Summer...

School's out! Kids are bored! Let's keep their minds going this summer and follow along with me as the kids from some of the summer camps I am working with make all kinds of fun crafts from Good Garbage! So send the kids on a scavenger hunt for fun crafty items around the house and build your rainy day craft box up with fun things like toilet paper tubes, colorful magazines, cardboard, plastic shopping bags, newspaper, old t-shirts, rubber bands, and anything else you think could be repurposed and join the fun world of creative reuse with Good Garbage!


The kids at Shelby Park Community Center summer camp sure were creative with their magazine and cardboard picture frames. Seems they had a lot of fun as well...

Here are the instructions for making this fun magnetic picture frame. 

What you need:

• Colorful magazines, the one time the more ads the better.
• Piece of cardboard, about 5x8" but whatever size you want. It could be from a mac'n cheese or cereal box. Mine was from a UPS envelope that I'd gotten.
• Scissors
• Glue (Stick or bottle)
• Straw (I used a small one, for kids the bigger, thicker ones are better)
• Advertisement magnets

  

  Cut the center out.
  I made it 3.5x5.5"

  

  Cut the cardboard to the size you want.

Make sure you use colorful magazine pages and cut into strips.

Using the straw, roll your strip twice around the straw and cut.
Add glue to the end and seal.

Glue the roll to your frame.

Be creative...

Those outdated magnets found on your phone books...

Cut two strips from your magnet

Glue magnets on the back side. Make sure to align  with the inside edge .

Hang on your fridge with a 4x6" picture behind it.

Another option for rolling the magazine strips.

I did this one with just torn pieces of magazine for the younger kids at  the camps.

T-Shirt Necklaces, Bracelets and Scarves - LFPL How to Festival

On Saturday, May 11, the Louisville Free Public Library will host the How To Festival at it's main branch from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. I will be there from 1-3 p.m. demonstrating how to make a t-shirt necklace, bracelet and scarf. Here's the instructions so you can do it at home if you can't make it to the festival.

Supplies

• Clean t-shirt (most stains won't show up), One with stripes or a colorful one will work best. Almost any recycled fabric will work.
• Scissors
• Masking tape or heavy object

Starting from the bottom of the t-shirt, cut 1" strips across it (this will form rings). (Also if you are using another type of fabric you can cut a snip into the fabric, then tear to give the finished product a funky frayed look.)

If you want to make a necklace or bracelet, you can cut the rings in half.

If you want to make the scarf, you will keep the rings in tact.

Necklace/bracelet:

• Choose 2- 3 strips of fabric, tying a knot at the top to hold the pieces together.  You can choose different fabrics, or all the same, whatever you like.
• Begin braiding or twisting the fabric strips.  Placing a book or other heavy object on the knotted end or using masking tape to tape it to a table will help hold the necklace in place as you braid.
• When twist/braid is complete, finish by knotting.
• Take the two knotted ends and tie a third knot to make a loop, pulling very tightly.
• Cut the excess fabric and original end knots off, leaving only the finishing knot.
• Try layering necklaces of various sizes and colors for an easy summer look.

Scarf:

• You will need as many circled strips as you wish for the length of the scarf, usually about 10-15. You will get about 15-16 from one t-shirt.
• Stretch out each ring and wrap around your hand three to four times. The more times you wrap around the shorter and thicker you scarf will be.
• You will need some smaller strips, approx. 2", to tie the scarf together. These can be cut from the sleeves of the t-shirt. They should be cut about 1/2" wide.
• Once you get the ring strips ready, you will link the loops made on your hand with the smaller strips by tying it around two loops. You can either leave it open so you have one long scarf or you can tie the two ends together to make a round scarf.

The Garbage Lady, Finally an Introduction

Hi all! Thought I'd tell you a bit about how myself and my vision for Good Garbage. My name is Lynn Quire, born in Louisville and raised in Southern Indiana now back, residing in the wonderful area of Old Louisville. I am an avid advocate for reduce and reuse. A self-taught sewer and crafter, I mainly love to create  bags from shirts, pants and other various reused material. I have worked in business from the time I was 18 and have a love of learning new things. This has given me the opportunity to learn businesses inside and out from accounting to human resources to information technology. With this love of learning also comes a passion for teaching.

I have been involved with many non-profits, volunteering, fundraising and organizing events. Though mainly my focus has been on school and youth organizations, I have logged many volunteer hours teaching various skills and working at area events.

As Executive Director, I will be working hard to take the message of reducing and reusing across our community by working with reuse artists, teachers, community centers, other non-profit organizations and Corporations through workshops, classes and camps for preschoolers to adults. My goal is to get our community to stop and think before an item is tossed or recycled as to the other lives that item could potentially have; if not by you, by someone else.

In turn, this will help the community, especially teachers, obtain inexpensive materials for their classrooms, art and craft projects and masterpieces.

During this time I will be searching for the perfect place to call home for our retail store, workshop area, gallery and boutique. I'm always up for a challenge and this one is a dream I'm making a reality. 

You can reach me at Lynn.GoodGarbage@gmail.com or 502.437.9021. I would love to hear about places (Community centers, senior centers, after school programs or summer camps) where I can share the Good Garbage message and ideas on reuse projects and crafts. I believe the only limitation I have is the imagination...and seems there is no end!!!

I am plowing through fundraising and events, shedding blood, sweat and tears, to make Good Garbage: Center for Creative Reuse an Institution in our great city of Louisville!!! 

Call For Volunteers

We are looking for some awesome volunteers to help out with events and camps we have planned around town through the summer. You must be passionate about the reuse movement and good with kids as these mostly revolve around guiding them through a craft project.  All volunteers will be put through a background check either through us or the facility we will be working in. Timebanker's and teens needing service hours are encouraged to volunteer. 

Please email me at lynn.goodgarbage@gmail.com with the event you would like to help with ONLY if you can completely commit. It would be awesome if I got a lot of volunteers where we could work you in shifts. We will rely on volunteers to make these events fun and successful. We will have a meeting prior to each event to go over the crafts, expectations, etc. The times listed are the event times and events are subject to change. I will need volunteers to help set up and break down as well.

Events:

Mighty Kindness Earth Day Hootenanny April 13 12-6 p.m. (3+ volunteers)

Ohio Falls Earth Day Celebration April 27 10-4 p.m. (3+ volunteers)

District 9 Community Wide Recycle May 11 9:30-12 p.m. (2+ volunteers)

Buy Local Fair May 11 2-8 p.m. (3+ volunteers, no kids craft just informational and possible selling of product) 

Louisville Library's How To May 11 1-3 p.m. (3 volunteers, FULL already)

Old Louisville Spring Fest May 18 12-6 p.m. (4+ volunteers)

GrassRoots Gala June 7 4-10 p.m. (4+ volunteers)

Community Center Summer Camp Tuesdays 2-3:30 p.m. From June 11 to July 30 (3+ volunteers)

There will be additional volunteering opportunities so stay tuned.

Thank you for all your support! We are looking to have a very fun year!

~Lynn

502.437.9021

It's Time to Start Those Seeds... And Reuse That Shredded Paper

Today is looking to be a very cold day and we are expecting ice this evening! Yuck! But I know spring is right around the corner. My friends at Timebank and various blogs are talking gardening and I realize I'm missing my garden, badly. Moving to an urban apartment, I don't have a great green space I can just till up and community gardens have waiting lists. This year, though, I have decided I'm not going to let that stop me. I am planting a container garden! 

Of course, I don't want to just go buy plants...I want to grow from seeds! And NOW is the time to start them... So I found this great way to reuse shredded paper or torn newspaper to make seed starters. It was so easy! 

You need: Blender, Newspaper, Water, Strainer, Muffin tin, and the sun preferably or an oven will do. 

Tear the paper in about 1" squares (doesn't have to be precise) or use shredded paper and fill your blender about half way. I don't have a blender, so I used my 'shake maker.' Fill the rest of the way with water. I let it soak for a little bit because the newspaper soaks it up. Blend until its a soggy mess paste. Add water or paper as needed.

Pour in the strainer and press most of the water out,until just moist. You don't want it to be completely dry. Then just put a bit of the goo the muffin tin, spreading it up the sides and making sure your bottom is good and covered. You don't want too thick, but you do want it strong enough to hold your dirt. 

I would have preferred to use the sun's heat to dry these, but the day I decided to make them was cold and rainy. I set the oven to 250 degrees and put the muffin tin in. I honestly didn't time it and at one time I turned the oven off because I could smell them baking. Later, I turned it up to 350 because they weren't drying fast enough. My suggestion is to turn it up to 400, then turn it off and put the muffin tins in. Best time is after you bake something and you can put them in when you've finished cooking and use the heat left in the oven. 

Once completely dry, they pop right out of the tin. Fill with compost, soil, seeds and give them sun, water and love. When ready to put them in your garden, the whole thing can be planted. Happy Gardening!

For more awesome repurpose, reuse and recycle ideas, follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@GoodGarbageSDF) and Pinterest! 

Keep up with our Materials List & Wishing for a Scale

Be sure to check out the list of materials we accept HERE and start saving for us. I'm planning to get out in the community very soon with educational talks and make-and-take projects and I need inventory, especially items on the wish list. The list is updated often so keep checking back.

We are looking for businesses to partner with too. Things like corks, wine bottles, colored pop and beer bottles, bottle caps, scrap vinyl (signs), etc. If you have a business or know of a manufacturing business here in town that has something unique that is cast off as seconds or scrap, let me know. We would love to sit and see if we can join forces to keep as much as possible out of the landfills.

Also note the Terra Cycle Brigades we are collecting for. These will help raise much needed funds for our education and community programs.

And at the top of our Wish List is a scale! Something big enough for us to weigh bags/boxes of items as they come in. A postal scale that would go up as high as 50 pounds and have a clear view of the weight. We will use this to log the weight of all donations and be able to see the tonnage we are keeping out of the landfill. We have so much already in our storage facility, I'd really like to get that all weighed soon. Anybody have an old one they want to get rid of?

Email me with any questions or info.  

~Lynn (Lynn.GoodGarbage@gmail.com)

CALLING ALL LOCAL REUSE ARTIST, CRAFTERS & THINKERS

We would love to showcase your artwork, crafts and reuse ideas on our Community Pinterest Board. Email me a picture, a short description and a link to your blog or website or Facebook page, if you have one. From kids to adults, amateur to professional! Show us what you got and what the Louisville area can keep out of the landfill!!! I plan to showcase some of you on our blog itself, as well. These need to be pictures and things you have actually done yourself, not just reposts from Pinterest.

Even though I have tried to incorporate pictures of local items on our Facebook cover photo, I wish I could take full credit for this, S.C.R.A.P. Bin posted this wonderful idea on their Facebook page, and I thought it would be a cool idea for us to do too.

Looking for this to be a fun project!

~Lynn

AND THE WINNER'S ARE....

Congratulations to Jennifer Elizabeth Dulles and Brian McMahan! Though it wasn't announced I also want to congratulate our 200th Facebook fan... Virginia Poole Parks!!!! 

I have decided to give each of you a choice of the five t-shirt grocery bags or a vinyl LP clock.  For the bags, if any of you happen to be a Kentucky Wildcat fan, I have received a donation of quite a few t-shirts and can make all your bags supporting your Cats, otherwise you will receive a random variety of bags. The clock if that is your choice, are made from some old albums and clock mechanisims and numbers from the Habitat for Humanity Reuse Store. Please message me or email me at Lynn.GoodGarbage@gmail.com with your preferences and your address so I can be sure to get your gifts to you in the next week.

Thank you for your support!

Friend's Question and Prepping for the Drawing

Good morning everyone!!!! What a beautiful day here in Louisville! Hope everyone is getting out to enjoy it!  

We absolutely love when we get great questions on how to recycle or repurpose items. We know we have people really thinking! This morning I got an email from one of our friends asking what to do with glass candle holders with a little wax left and an assortment of old wax.  I suggested simmering the candles holders in a pot of water to melt the wax and to melt the other wax and combine them into one or more of the containers and add a wick to use as emergency candles. Do you have other suggestions? Please share in the comments! 

Right now, I am currently preparing for the drawing we are having since we hit 200 fans on Facebook, by writing everyone's names on paper and placing them in a bowl. There are three ways to enter between now and Noon. One - become a Facebook Fan, two - join as a follower of our email and I made a post on Facebook this morning. If you like it I'll add your name one more time to the drawing.  

Right now I'll have drawings for two sets of t-shirt shopping bags. During the course of the day... who knows what else I'll draw for! Depends on just how crafty I get during day! The winners will be posted here and on Facebook this evening. Good luck to everyone and thank you again for all your support. We are looking forward to opening the first and only Creative Reuse Center here in Louisville!

Good Garbage Gab: A BREAK FROM BEING CRAFTY

Good morning Gab followers!!! I have so many exciting reuse and repurpose projects for the upcoming year... But I thought I would give you a break today. As much as I love crafting, I said Good Garbage Gab would be about finding ways to repurpose all sorts of things. 

Today's topic? Dryer Sheets! Do you know how many ways you can reuse a dryer sheet before you decide to toss it? Well, there are LOTS!!!! Some I've used, some I haven't, but can't wait to try. 

• Keep some used dryer sheets in a container in your car for wiping the dashboard. Place one under the driver side seat to give it a fresh smell. 
• Use them for cleaning bug splats from your windshield. Just wet one or more softener sheets and wipe over splats. Wait a couple minutes, wipe again and then flush with water. 
• Place a used dryer sheet near the trashcan at your next barbecue or picnic; it will repel bees and flies. Also, wipe one over your arms and legs to repel mosquitoes. I've even heard of golfers keeping on in their back pocket to keep the bees away. 
• Soften the soles of your feet by soaking your feet in some warm water and rubbing them with a used fabric softener sheet.
• Place them in the rafters of your home to keep spiders and other bugs from nesting.
• They're great for removing stuck on foods from your pots and pans. Fill the grimy pan with water and drop the sheet inside. - - Let soak for about an hour and wash as usual.
• Use old dryer sheets to easily wipe up messes like talcum powder and flour.
• Use old dryer sheets in the bottom of flowerpots to cover the drainage holes.
• Use them instead of paper when doing 'paper piecing' for quilts. First ironed them smooth, then trace your pattern onto the dryer sheets. They’re lightweight, don't add bulk to your quilt & they smell great.
• Use them to remove pet hair from your clothes and furniture.
• Use them to remove soap scum on your glass shower door, or use to wipe windows when cleaning.
• Used dryer sheets make great dusting cloths for your wooden furniture.
• Use just like you would a Swiffer sheet on your floors to pick up dust and pet hair.
• I have used them as the interfacing when using my small embroidery/sewing machine.
• Use as stuffing for small sewing projects like felt ornaments.

Grab an old Kleenex box or the like and start collecting those used dryer sheets. Let us know if you have other ways you might reuse those dryer sheets!

You can find more at Recyclebank. Recyclebank is a great interactive way to learn how to be green. You earn points and can redeem for things such as coupons, gift cards and magazines. To join click HERE. 

Lynn's Calendar Repurpose Project

This weekend was the most productive I have had in a good while. I completed two repurpose projects. One is an old, wooden window sash which I will post about later. The other is the calendar repurpose I spoke of in the last Good Garbage Gab. I had a stained glass window calendar given to me as a birthday gift last year. It is so pretty, I just had to find a use for it and I needed some art work for my living room, so I put the pictures of that calendar to good use.


Looking around I realized everything I have hanging or sitting is square or rectangle, I needed something different. It hit me... I had a box of old scratched records someone gave me a long time ago, and I also had a bunch of those OLD AOL "1099 Hours Free" CD's sent out when you had to pay hourly for dial-up internet. I put some of both of these items to great use in this project.

I cut circles out of the calendar trying to use every bit I could that had the beautiful stained glass pictures on it. I decided on four big ones and was able to get 20 small ones. Using Mod-Podge, I glued them on the old records and CD's.

With this many, I knew exactly where they were going to go. My couch sits on a wall that used to be a flue for a fireplace and there was big empty spaces on either side. I just knew these would work wonderfully to fill in those spots.

Here's a close up of each grouping and then an overall picture... I LOVE IT!!!! New pretty artwork for me and pictures from a calendar that I love, preserved.

Did you work on a calendar reuse project this weekend? Or any other repurpose project? We'd really like to hear about it! Email us pictures and we will feature your's in an upcoming Good Garbage Gab!

-Lynn

Good Garbage Gab... DON'T THROW AWAY THOSE CALENDARS!!!!

Art Journal

 Hope I caught you in time! Don't throw away those old calendars!!! There are so many things you can do with them once they have served their purpose on your desk or wall. They can become bookmarks, wrapping paper, coasters, art journals, puzzles for a rainy day and you could even print out new dates and use them to cover the old ones, saving the beautiful pictures to admire again during 2013. 

Bookmark

The that one that kept me organized during 2012, hung in my kitchen and was a gift for my birthday last year. It celebrated the wonderful stained glass in homes around the beautiful neighborhood I had just moved to, Old Louisville. The colors on it are gorgeous! The pictures fabulous and the stories are wonderful...I just can't throw it away!!! (Well I couldn't even if it was ugly, but that is beside the point.)  I love this calendar so much I plan to cut pieces out and actually mod-podge them to either small canvases or tiles or some other medium and group them together on my wall in the hallway, or the kitchen, of my little apartment. Instant artwork! I can't wait to get started on them. I will post pictures hopefully in a couple weeks to show you another great repurpose idea. 

For more ideas be sure to check out our Pinterest page, Calendar Reuse Pinterest Page.  If you use any of these ideas or come up with new ones, we really, REALLY want you to email us a picture of how you reused your calendar! I love seeing all the creative things being done out there and I know there are LOTS of creative people following us... so SHOW ME THE MONEY! Ummm I mean SHOW ME THE ART!!!!

And if you just aren't feeling crafty... Good Garbage is always willing to take them for you and they will someday become something wonderful again instead of sitting in the landfill wasting away. 

Celebrating Our Friends and Creating New Ones

T-shirt bag given away at DIY Louisville Ornament Swap

It's hard to believe that we have been at this already for nearly 4 months, but yet at the same time, it is hard to believe we have only been at this for nearly 4 months!!! In that time we have been out passing out brochures and business cards at  the Flea Off Market, Trolley Hops, the Bluegrass Bioneers event, the Mighty Kindness Festival and numerous other events and shops. We have had lots of coffees, some lunches and wonderful conversations. We have been able to meet some of the most amazing and talented people in Louisville and made lots of new friends along the way! We are very lucky! 

Today we hit 149 fans on Facebook! WOW is all I can say. But...I want to see now, how quickly we can hit 200! Please share our Facebook page and our Blog with all your friends and family and coworkers! We also would love to see you sign up to follow our blog. We will be posting lots of information here and as much as we love Facebook, it may not always get there and we would hate for anyone to miss out on all the great things happening with Louisville's first and only creative reuse center! All you have to do is enter your email address to the right of this post, confirm the email you receive and that is it!

Once we hit 200 Facebook fans we will be giving away a set (or two) of really cool t-shirt grocery bags and maybe a few other neat, repurposed items! If you also start following our blog you will have a second chance to win. We will announce the winner by the weekend after we hit the 200 fans! 

Photo courtesy of D.I.Y. Louisville 

Happy New Year!!!!!

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas, or another holiday you may have celebrated this season! We've had sicknesses, birthdays and lots of family time this week and still working hard to start the new year off right for Good Garbage. Good Garbage Gab will continue next week! 

Remember to continue saving things like bottle caps, corks, plastic containers, tp and paper towel rolls, and other items on our list found HERE. 

Wishing you a happy and safe New Year from our families to yours!

Like us? Well be sure to share our page with all your friends and family! We will have so much going on in 2013, everyone will want to continue watching us grow!! 

Good Garbage Gab - Creative Wrapping

One week until Christmas!!!!! I'm so excited!!!! How about you? Are you ready? This coming week I will be busy finishing up some handmade gifts, picking up the last few stocking stuffers, baking and  wrapping gifts!

There is nothing more fun to me than watching kids and adults ripping into a beautifully wrapped present. That is a big part of the fun for me! I really hate buying Christmas paper. Spend a fortune for it to last all of a minute before it's tossed in the trash. So, what alternatives are there? Just look around! You can use newspaper, comics, brown paper bags, and book and magazine pages. Add special touches by making your own bows from the same papers or scrap fabric. And if you are just dead set on bags... Then make your own from newspaper!!!

If you are making goodies like muffins, cookies, or candy, use some of these fun containers: aluminum box wrapped for muffins, Pringles cans wrapped for cookies and a toilet paper roll for candy! 

For instructions and more ideas, check out our Pinterest page. There you will find some great ideas for all kinds of repurposing! 

Please send us pictures of all your wonderful repurposed holiday crafts! We would love to share them on our blog and Facebook page! And if you use store bought wrapping paper (and don't fret, I am too, as I have paper I have purchased over the last 10 years I'm trying to use up), be sure to save the cardboard tubes. We will be using these for some wonderful gardening ideas and future crafts after the first of the year!

Anne and I want to wish you and yours a very, very Merry Christmas!!!! 

Good Garbage Gab - From Trash to Gifts 12/5/12

Today I'm hoping to inspire you to not only handcraft some wonderful Christmas gifts, but repurpose things you my have around your house to do so. Saving you money and of course, stuff from the landfill!!! 

Crayon Initial artwork

Do your kids or you have a lot of crayons that are broken? No, I'm not going to tell you to melt them into new mixed colored crayons... Take a piece of poster board, cardboard or construction paper, just as long as it is strong enough to hold the glued on crayons, an old frame (don't need a shadow box, just remove the glass from the frame), the broken crayons and some glue and make the initial of the gift recipient. You can write the name like here in the picture, or decorate any way you would like. These are great gifts for babies, families and babysitters.  

T-Shirt Scarves

Oh man... Did I ever get into a frenzy making all kinds of these last winter. I have so many different ones!!! They are awesome gifts this time of year and can be sewn or not. The one pictured here is actually unsewn and embellished with odd buttons and such that can be glued on. How? Just lay your t-shirt on a flat surface and cut a strip from the bottom (after you cut the hem off),  that is 4-6" wide. I usually do 4" just because that is the width of my straight edge. Take the circle piece and cut along one of the seams to make a long rectangle piece.  Cut the fringe and add the embellishments if you wish. Voila! Done!  

Jean Slippers

Who couldn't use a new pair of funky slippers???? This one I haven't done yet, but it is on my to do list for someone this Christmas!!! To see how to make these, come on over to our Repurposed Gift Pinterest page. Recycled Lovelies has a great tutorial. The blog is filled with wonderful ideas, but unfortunately she no longer updates it. Hopefully it will stay up for a good while! 

Come follow our Pinterest page and find lots of wonderful repurpose/recycle/reuse gifts as well as other great ideas. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.