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Saving Usable Things from the Trash Heap at Work
by Michelle Weaver
In the building where I work, there always seem to be piles of stuff in the halls that are to be thrown into the trash. A lot of times, I see really good stuff that is being discarded to make room for new stuff that is also really good, but the old stuff is still good too. Why throw it away? My employer has a system for recycling a lot of the things that would otherwise be put into the garbage, but when something is sitting in the garbage pile, I have a bad habit of snatching the really useful items from the top of the heaps. I just can’t see buying new containers for paper if I can get those containers for free and pretty them up with paints. I think that’s killing two birds with one stone – free stuff, and I get to play with it.
This last month I rescued these wonderful magazine holders.
They were a little battered, a little beaten up here and there, but I knew with just a little TLC, they were perfectly usable and I had been looking for a place to store my StarDream Metallics papers anyway. I just had been playing cheap, not wanting to buy more containers.
I started out by painting the boxes with gesso. Then I picked out my designer papers, the Starry Night line by Rusty Pickle. This is very masculine and young paper, with camping and travelling themes. And the colors are fun, light blues, olive greens, and oranges. I picked paints that closely matched the papers, but were a bit more vibrant to provide contrast.
I was trying to decide how to paint the boxes when one piece of the Starry Night line really jumped out at me. This line has a beautiful camouflage pattern. Camouflage is a very basic concept – break up the lines of color to make the wearer harder to discern from its surroundings. I can break up lines of color pretty well with paint. I decided to paint in a faux-camo pattern and hoped for the best.
After the paint job, I added the designer papers from Rusty Pickle and did some stamping with stamps from Artistic Outpost. The stamps went so well with the rustic paper line (Starry Night), and I was thrilled to be able to blend stamping with painting. I used Palette Hybrid Ink from Stewart Superior, and that “superior” isn’t just a name, to stamp on the paper to add some interesting elements to the box.
The second piece I decided to recycle is a recipe holder/index card holder that was also in the trash. I rescued it and prettied it up, so now it’s ready to use! I covered with the papers from Rusty Pickle’s Starry Night and used buttons and lettering that match, also from Rusty Pickle. I added some ribbon in a light blue, and I have a very pretty recipe box!
Of course I had to make a card. I couldn’t get stamps as cute as these from Artistic Outpost and not make a card! This stamp set would be perfect for cards for men. I have so few stamps that are good for masculine cards and this one just fit that bill so well. Since the Starry Night line went so well with the stamp set, I used it to stamp on for the elements of my card.
Smooth Sailing!
Michelle Weaver
michelleweaver@ssreflections.com
Altered Arts Deck Crewmember
http://princessmatildalovestostamp.blogspot.com
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