Last week, instead of teaching something specific, I let my upcycling students “shop” from what I’ve collected in the Creative Reuse Center and come up with their own projects. The creativity and chaos that followed drew some attention from students passing by our room on their way to other classes.[Read more]
Do you save your old spice tins? For the longest time, I’ve coveted vintage spice tins I see in magazines and online, used to organize art supplies or as a home for tiny succulents. It turns out what I was really coveting was their exterior, because the spice tins in[Read more]
Too many things are keeping me from writing a nice leisurely post, but it’s rare that anything can keep me from doing something creative each day. So, here’s what I’m working on now: I call them mini masterpieces. I’m painting on paint chips (is that considered irony?). Every year I get a[Read more]
Teaching a weekly class on The Art of Upcycling is really 20% instruction and 80% planning, practicing, and making samples of what I’ll teach others to make. You know I love living in that briar patch, spending time every week practicing what I’ll preach, er, I mean teach. Pinterest is,[Read more]
Remember that scene in Steel Magnolias, when Truvy’s husband surprises her with a new beauty salon – Truvy’s West – and she exclaims: “I’m a chain!” Last year, the Oldham County Schools Arts Center gave me space to store my overflow of rescued materials (beyond what’s in my barn and the[Read more]
I’m not sure if age has taught me not to worry about what others think or if I’ve just learned what’s worth worrying about and what isn’t – either way, the older I get, the less likely it is I’ll be bothered by something superficial. Our 2001 Honda Odyssey – whom I lovingly[Read more]