CRE-USE

One thing I really love is creative reuse -- finding interesting new ways to use what's already at hand. Let's call it cre-use, for short. I'm not very good at it, but I'd like to get better. That's why I really appreciate several of the instructors in these 21 Secrets art classes I've been taking, who are helping me to see things with new eyes. Art supplies are expensive! So imagine how relieved I am to start a new class where, instead of handing me a list of more things to buy -- things which I have no more space for -- the teacher says "look at these things we can use, which we would normally throw away." Things like those security envelopes Ro Bruhn had us use in her first project, and these paper plate palettes we used in her second one.

Normally, I use my big reusable palette, but I only have the one. So, when I have friends over to paint with me, I hand out foam or plastic plates for them to mix their paints on. Ro, apparently, teaches lots of kid's classes, and she does the same thing with them. But, when the class is over, does she toss all the paint-smeared plates in the trash, as I used to do? She does not! She gathers them up and uses them in her projects.

So next time you are about to toss one, flip it over instead, sketch a few simple flowers on the back, then cut them out.

Add a few doodles, maybe pick out a few buttons from your stash, and there you have it!

Cute little embellishments that you could stitch or glue to any journal page or other project, ...

and which cost you not a cent!