Making stuff with tubes

SCRAPpy bracelets are one of our favorite crafts to bring to fairs and festivals for people to make and take home. The inspiration? Sterile acupuncture plastic tubes (they hold the acupuncture needles before the needles are used) that Karen's been diverting from the waste stream for awhile. Karen makes awesome jewelry with the tubes by wrapping them in fabric, paper or yarn and making them in to earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Here's one of the bracelets.


Super cool, huh? Karen also made a rockin' display board so you can have step by step directions on how to make fabric/paper/yarn beads at home and create your own jewelry. Any kind of tube will do--try using used juice box straws.






Make the beads:



Play with the beads:

So there you go. All you need to know about making beads. Have fun!

After a month and a half...

Whoops. How quickly a month and a half go by! Especially when you're busy doing stuff. Karen and I have been bouncing all over DC, MD, and VA doing super scrap-related things. Here's a quick update:

• 10/9 River Front Fest-We made bracelets out in the sun all day, watched kids and adults patiently and very artfully string beads, listened to a bunch of bands (quite the variety), decided a pop-up tent is a good idea for outdoor festivals, premiered the SCRAP banner that our intern Melissa made
  
• 10/16 ReCREATE-Attended the opening of the Center for Green Urbanism that celebrated with a fantastic display of recycled art. The kind of art that really wows me. I'm tapping Karen on the should every two seconds saying "LOOK!".
• 10/24 GreenFest-Well, we weren't officially on the docket, but we both scoped it out! Karen bought cool stuff. I enjoyed the free samples.
  
• 11/7 BIG donation day-We racked in 585 pounds of stuff in just one day. Let's call it the big Virginia drop. Way to represent VA.
  
• 11/9 SCRAP-to-go Kits-Karen and I played with all the donations and made the colorful kits that contain bits of fabric, paint samples, colored pencils, buttons, lace, yarn, pipe cleaners, thread, puffy paint, whatever! Very, very fun to make.
• 11/11 Artists Boutique Opening at the Mind + Spirit Center-A great place that has made space for artists to show and sell their work. Want a crocheted handbag made from plastic bags? Repurposed jewelry? Screen printed bags? Check out the boutique!
  
• 11/13 Trash to Treasure Green Craft Fair-Headed out Watkins Nature Center in PG County for a super day of making stuff. SCRAPpy bracelets were accompanied by SCRAPpy stationary. Creativity was bouncing off the walls. And we got 61 pounds of donated materials that day (some REALLY cool stuff like homespun yarn and colorful synthetic fur material!).
  
• Other: Conference calls, graphic designing, space investigation (the trail is hot!), more supply pick-ups, compiling email lists, meeting up with other creative reuse enthusiasts, going to cool events around DC

Next up? DC Craft Mafia's Holiday Heist at the Soundry in Vienna, VA. Get shoppin'!

SCRAP at Crafty Bastards

Unlike yesterday and today's cloudiness and drizzle, Saturday was a perfect, perfect day for the Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair. SCRAP was pleased to sponsor a craft at Hello Craft's "Make Something Awesome" area. We brought over handmade beads (handmade by our fabulous volunteers!) and donated beads along with elastic for people to make SCRAPpy bracelets. At the beginning of the day all the different craft projects sponsored by Hello Craft, SCRAP, Sublime Stitching, and Etsy were sectioned off into corners of a large table. Very neat, very organized. And then there was an explosion. An explosion of craft. Beads and felt and colorful duct tape and buttons and paper were everywhere and it was, well, awesome. I saw some very great creations-tote bags, felt stuffed animals, jewelry, duct tape bowls, etc, etc. Not only did Crafty Bastards patrons Make Something Awesome, but the artists and crafters made many many awesome things. The booths were all hoppin'. One of my favorite booths was Bookstruction. What a fabulous example of creative reuse. Artsit Robin Delaloye is a local Maryland-er who takes unwanted books and makes fabulous pieces of art from them. Check it out. I'm sure you'll be amazed!

For those of you who couldn't make Crafty Bastards this year, be sure to put it on your calendar for 2011!

Our Very First Event

Come one, come all to our very first SCRAP-DC event!

Where: Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, in the Gallery
When: Wednesday, September 29th at 7:30pm.
What: We'll be collecting donated materials, making crafty things, telling you more about SCRAP, and talking about volunteer opportunities.

Questions? Email us!

Introducing SCRAP-DC

Hello friends! A very big welcome to the SCRAP-DC blog. This is where Karen and I (SCRAP-DC Co-Directors) will be keeping you updated with all the latest SCRAP news plus sharing things that are just darn cool. For those of you who are stumbling upon this for the first time, here's the basic info you need to know.

SCRAP (School & Community Reuse Action Project) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Our mission is to inspire creative reuse and environmentally sustainable behavior by providing education programs and affordable materials to the community.

SCRAP has been going strong in Oregon for over ten years (check out their history) and is working toward the vision of SCRAP USA with new branches in Traverse City, Michigan and now Washington, DC. DC is beyond ready for a creative reuse center and we're excited to make it happen. While we search for a permanent space, SCRAP-DC is going mobile. We are working on setting up donation drop-off points, hosting gatherings of crafters and artists to create with donated supplies, coordinating our own art show and much more.

This fall we'll be at a few Art and Craft shows, as well as festivals. Stay tuned for details about where and when you can find us!

Alright DC, lots more to come. Get pumped.