Of Trash and Treasure

Just when I think it’s safe to throw out the trash, I notice something interesting that stops me in my tracks. I thought I’d share some interesting “trash” I’ve had my eye on lately!

I’ve spent most of my time since November with an on-again-off-again cold, so I’ve also spent a lot of quality time with throat lozenges. Have you noticed the new packaging for Hall’s Sugar Free cough drops? They offer “a pep talk in every drop,” with encouraging phrases such as “Put on your game face," "You can do it and you know it," and "Let's hear your battle cry."

I appreciate that little extra effort to bring a smile to someone who’s feeling a little crabby with a sore throat or a cough.

I don’t really see myself using the wrappers in my crafting, but there is plenty of “trash” that does find its way into my art journal and other projects. I’ve spent many contented hours cutting words and images from magazines and catalogs that come in the mail. Recently I watched Teesha Moore’s video tutorials for making Teesha-esqe art journal pages, which has brought about a new focus for my collage clipping:

I haven’t constructed an exquisite cadaver-style page yet, but I’m pretty sure there will be one in my current journal before too long.

I can’t remember where I first read about the interesting patterns to be found on the inside liners of business envelopes, but they popped back into my head last week. I have my husband saving business envelopes for me, and I used them to create the final page in my February/March journal:

I think that’s a pretty awesome look to create from trash most people toss in the recycling bin!

As a crowning example of using something you might be quick to throw in the trash, take a look at this recent post from a new “postcard swap friend”, Nae.  Creative sorts can obviously use ANYTHING to create their art!

And from trash, I move on to treasure.

I got my first two postcards from Hanna’s postcard swap! I’ve been racing to the mailbox for the past couple of days, wondering when the first cards would appear, and I was finally rewarded yesterday with these two beauties:

This postcard came to me from Michelle in Indiana. I absolutely love the look of a page of text as a background paper, and I think her painting is beautiful and so nicely composed on the card.

This postcard came to me from Suzanne in California. She used stitching to highlight a patchwork of papers that used acrylic and watercolor paint, oil pastels, stamps, stencils, vintage papers, copies from her journal pages and paper napkins. The card came in a translucent envelope, addressed and closed with masking tape and a little piece of the washi tape I keep reading about. Very special presentation!

Then, this morning, to add to the card receiving fun, my friend (and daughter’s Sunday school teacher) Mindy presented me with a beautiful handmade card before church this morning:

What a sweet and thoughtful thing for her to do! It really makes blogging worthwhile to hear from the people who are kind enough to let me know they have stopped by.

(By the way, Mindy told me she is working on a project incorporating candy wrappers and watercolor paints! She obviously understands that “trash” can be “treasure” with an open mind and some creativity.)

If you have a favorite piece of “trash” that you like to use in your art (or some other way), please share, so I can give it a try, too!