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.

Spring Time is Kite Time... Make your own

I remember heading to Woolworth's as a kid (that shows my age, sigh) and looking through all the cheap plastic kites... There were Spider-Man, Holly Hobbie, Dinosaurs, flowers...so many to choose from. This was a sure sign of spring time! 

Well, welcome to spring! And what a great way to get it started... making a kite from grocery bags or lunch sacks.  Here's how we did ours...

Grab a kid (if you choose too) and these items...

• Large brown paper grocery bag or lunch sack
• Strong string
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Masking tape
• School glue or paste
• Paint (any kind) (we used all natural dyes made from fruits and veggies)
• Crayons, markers, or colored pencils
• Paper streamers or crepe paper that you can cut into strips
• A few found objects (bits of paper, glitter, buttons — nothing too heavy)

1. Begin by taking the hole punch and making four holes in the top of the paper bag— one in each of the corners. Use masking tape at each hole. If you put it on after you punch, use a pencil to punch through the hole. This will ensure that your holes don't tear through.
2. Next, cut two lengths of string about 30" each.
3. Tie each end of the strings through a hole in the bag. The goal is to create two loops.
4. Next, cut another piece of string — again around 30". Loop this new piece of string through the two loops you created and tie in a knot. This piece of string will become the handle of your kite.
5. You are now ready to decorate the paper bag kite using paint, markers, or whatever else you desire. You can paint designs on the kite or turn the kite into a fish by adding eyes, gills, and fins. You can glue different items to the kite but be sure not to load the kite down with heavy items -- or it will have a hard time staying up in the air.
6. Use paper streamers as kite tails and glue them to the bottom of the paper bag. You can make your own streamers by cutting crepe paper, newspaper, tissue paper and even plastic bags into strips. 
7. Once the glue and paint is dry, the kite can fly. Hold on tightly to the string handle and run so that the wind catches the kite. When the bag fills with air it will float and flutter behind you.

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

The Junkyard Clubhouse, Events & Call for Supplies

WOW! We have been so busy booking and planning events for this spring and working to get the all the business side of stuff taken care of, I haven't posted here as much as I planned! But I think it is time that we let you all in on all the wonderful happenings at Good Garbage . . .

Behind the scenes, Anne has been busy talking and working with a lot of wonderful supporters and persevering through mounds of paperwork so we can see our dream of the retail, workshop, boutique and gallery space come to life soon. No concrete dates yet. Still lots to do...But she is hoping to get us going on a mobile basis soon! 

I've been busy working on events for Good Garbage, for both kids and adults! Along with our mobile retail side starting soon, we will be scheduling workshops and makes all over town. 

Anne and I have created the Good Garbage Gang and The Junkyard Clubhouse! The Good Garbage Gang is open to everyone. We will have promotions, games, contests and instructables for repupose makes. 

The Junkyard Clubhouse will be an educational and hands on area at local festivals, community centers and other places around town, geared toward kids from 1 to 101. 

The Junkyard Clubhouse will be introduced at our booth at the Mighty Kindness Earth Day Hoot on April 13 from 12-6, at the Brown-Forman Amphitheater on River Road.  

On May 11th you can catch me showing you some cool things to do with a t-shirt at the Louisville Free Public Library's How To Fair, just in time for Mother's Day! You can leave with a necklace, bracelet or scarf for the special lady in your life! FREE!

Also on May 11th we will be at the Buy Local Fair at the Louisville Water Tower from 2-8 p.m.

The grand premier for The Junkyard Clubhouse will be at the Old Louisville Spring Fest in the Kosair Kid's Zone on May 18th, from 12-6 p.m. Kids will be learning how and why we should repurpose items such as the infamous Plastic Water Bottle, through stories, posters, discussions and hands on crafts. We will be turning the bottles into sun catchers and medallions, snake bubble blowers, stamps and itsy-bitsy gardens. There will also be demonstrations throughout the day that will be geared towards older kids and adults, along with a display of many repuposed items. We will also have a booth in the vendor area.

We are absolutely honored for Good Garbage and the Junkyard Clubhouse to have been asked to headline the children's area at The Grass Roots Gala on June 7 from 4-10 p.m. on 4th Street, hosted by the Center for Neighborhoods organization. Keep your eye out for more information on this!

We have lots of other things in the works so the calender of events will be updated constantly. A link can be found on the right side of this page. Be sure to bookmark it!

I'm also putting out a call for supplies that I am desperately in need of for the activities I'm doing at the various events. If you have any of the following items, please email me at lynn.goodgarbage@gmail.com and I will be more than happy to pick them up. We have some time to save up! I would like them by April  13.

• 20 oz plastic bottles, preferably clear
• Bottle caps
• Older terry cloth towels and wash cloths (worn, thin ones are great)
• Colored permanent markers, or dry erase markers
• Styrofoam food containers (ie take-out containers, etc. NOT cups)
• Water color paints (ie the ones that come in kid kits)
• Small paint brushes
• Colored T-Shirts, Can be solid color or multi-colored, but not white. Old t's with small stains are fine, but they can't have dried goop on them. 
• Bins or medium/large lidded containers to put these items in.

***All items need to be washed, clean and dry.

I am SOOOOOO excited to get these events going and showing everyone how fun it is to repurpose stuff!!! Hope to see you at ALL of them!

~Lynn~