Unleash Your Art Supplies
Sat, May 2, 2009 at 04:00AM 
Do you have paper lust? A weakness for rubber stamps? A tendency to collect fabric? Yarn temptations? Office supply issues? Do you have Unfinished Art Projects that you know you won't do?
Your options...
- Find innovative ways to re-purpose, recycle or re-use materials your art journals, as in Weaving Paper Artist Trading Cards and Using Scrap Cardstock: Art Journaling.
- Use the paper in a decoupage project.
- Give them to a shelter for abused women & children
- Create a project using these materials for a girl scout group
- Plan a free craft or card making lesson! Invite friends, moms from your kids' school, etc. to a coffee shop with a large table. Provide as many materials as you can from your oversupply stash. I did this twice at our school and the moms had so much fun. We made cards for US troops overseas, for teachers and staff, and valentines to give to our kids.
- Sell them on ebay
- Make a tutorial about using them, documenting the process in words and images
- Pitch them (unlikely)
- Unleash your supplies, give them new life
My daughters (7 and 9 yrs old) have been creating stuff with the scrapbook materials I've UNLEASHED. My daughter used a circular punch to make the collage above and a mix of torn papers, markers and punched papers for the other collage.
What child could resist beautifully patterned papers, an array of adhesives with curious uses, rubber stamps & ink, self-inking stamps, scalloped scissors, ribbon, alphabet letters and paper punches.
Children's Art Project Ideas
- Use these materials to make birthday cards for their friends (make a batch and keep them for birthday parties)
- Make invitations and thank you notes for their birthday parties
- Make collages using paper punches, cardstock, ribbon, stamps, etc.
Keep aside anything dangerous (no sharp cutting boards, no exacto knives, no needle point scissors, please), chemicals, and beware of choking hazards. Some tools are complicated or require fine motor skills so little ones will have more limits.
Release your stuff responsibly and wisely. But let some of it go. Your kids will smile.
More ideas...
Reader Comments (1)
Their collages are gorgeous! Tell them artsy love from Sweden.