Art Journal - 31 Things to Create with Recycled Materials -

John Lewis Journal

I picked up a while ago a John Lewis catalog after a visit to the store with my sister. I had also joined their loyalty program and received my complimentary tea and cake voucher, which they send out I think 4 times a year – which was yummy by the way (everything in moderation)!

Recycling can come in all shapes and forms and as you would have seen over the last few weeks if you can think of a creative problem or something you need to make you can probably use a majority of the things you have around you.

After looking through the catalog it sat around my house for over a week. I thought of some of the things that I could do with it and making a journal was what I really wanted to do, but I wanted the kind that you could use the background images as a place to start, and you could also completely go over the page with gesso and create your own image. 

John Lewis Journal - Recycled creatively

What I liked about the pages was the feel and the thickness, it holds gesso well, and it had some interesting images, and this allowed you to add to the image using art supplies. 

Page to add gesso to

So where you say have an image of a bed,

Were you allowed to jump on your parents bed?

I added to it and drew in children jumping on the bed, something we were never allowed to do as kids.  With each stage a part of the process you can enjoy the separate parts or the whole.  An enjoyable exercise was to block out some of the picture for the next stage, adding gesso and a bit of colour and then adding a figure

Here are some other ways in which I altered the pages, I enjoyed placing the characters within the picture and thinking about what their story was.

Some stories tell of hope and looking to the future.....

thinking about the past, and being present.......

So now I have a set of great pages at different stages that I can use when I have time to spend finishing off a piece

Why don't you check out your local store and their catalogs, you might find one that you will be able to use as your own journal. Here is my original post that will give you a closer look at some of the pages.

31 Creative Things to do with Recycled Materials - Tea Bags

Teabag Treasures 

Tea as you know like many people is something I usually drink every day, and I have my favorites that I like. Every now and then we buy a different variety tea, and for some reason or another no one in the house wants to drink it and it passes the sell by date.  Now I am sure you can guess what is coming next…there are so many things that you can do with an empty unused tea bag!  They are really versatile, and I will show you one of the ways in which you can put them to good use.

The tea bags by the way can go in the garden and depending on the bag decompose quite well (great for roses I hear). But you want to make something creative with them don’t you?

Tea Bag Treasures

Check out my post HERE for some step by step instructions. With the bags I have I enclosed them with words of encouragement, added texture and paint. On these ones I added the quinoa – I had so much (again out of date) to get rid of! 

They were then painted and an embellishment made from either fimo clay, or shrink plastic and then it was added to the bag.  Again, with those little bits of broken jewelry you may have laying around you can bring new life into them and add some sparkle. There are countless possibilities using the altered teabags in different projects, check out my Pinterest board to see some of the ways that I found that other artists are using. 

Can you see a creative possibility in more things now? 
There are so many things you have around you are screaming to be altered, reused and re-purposed, and I often tell Alan and Sekani that if they stand still for too long around me I will be seeing if I can find a creative use for them as well (smile).  There are a wealth of possibilities when we experiment with recycled materials, come back tomorrow to see what else I have got up to with my supplies.

Why not join me on some of my other platforms, and sign up to my Mailing list you will be getting information about what I am up to in my creative journey, tutorials, Arts and health advice and resources, giveaways and more

Stay blessed and be a blessing

Amanda

Myeloma Cancer - What can you do?

Happy Birthday Robert Lloyd Trought

Robert, my brother would have been 48 today.  On 2nd June this year it would be 4 years since he passed, I look at the picture and it feels like he was just here.  I never told him enough that I loved, admired and was proud of him.  We can't wait until our loved ones die before or get sick before we tell them how treasured they are.

Robert was loving and encouraging and had 3 gorgeous children and in 2009 he was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. He fought the disease for 4 years in the percentage of people where the chemo and other debilitating drugs had little effect, the cancer spread all over his body. 
Surely we thought, a Bone Marrow transplant would help - as his sisters we were initially encouraged only to be told we were not a match - how could it be?  

As I look back I there were many things that I could have done differently, and we can't beat ourselves up as we did what we could at the time, I didn't want to deal with the possibility that he wouldn't pull through and hid behind caring for my mother.  The guilt creeps in, the 'would haves', 'should haves', and 'didn't do enough' start to ridicule you for being less than you thought you were.  But you have to make room for action, we will not accept ill health and disease as our fate and fight to find remedies, cures and prevention measures.

Death will come to us all, and we don't want to face it with any regrets.  So now that you have time on your side, be it a day, a week, month or even a year, make the most of it!

I share some of the journey of the time we held on to hope that things would be alright and he would stay with us in the following posts:

Prayer

Update

Understanding

In the Memories of Home posts I share memories of growing up that I shared with my brother and sister.

Memories of Home

What you can do?

Where ever you are in the world YOU CAN make a difference, find your local organisation and support their work.  

Here in Barbados one of the organisations we have is The Myeloma Lymphoma & Leukaemia Foundation of Barbados you can support by becoming a member $25 and support the events and initiatives that they put on.  We attended their Annual Tea Party, they have a number of acts performing, and it is a lovely event, a lot of work goes into organizing it.

Tea Party, always well attended!

Tea Party Dance Troupe

Co-Founder/President - Hyacinth Grimes

Tea Party Young Steel Pan Band, excellent!

They also do a lot of much needed fund raising as well at different events, malls etc, sharing information about the disease and help available.  So many people who are diagnosed in Barbados face very high medical bills, and are unable to afford some of the treatment that may readily be available in the UK or US.

Information available at their stall in Sky Mall

Member - Daphne Springer sharing her knowledge of blood cancers in Barbados

Contact the The Myeloma Lymphoma & Leukaemia Foundation of Barbados at:

• Mailing address is P.O. Box 235, Bridgetown, Barbados, or Pine Medical Centre, 3rd Avenue, Belleville, St. Michael, Barbados.
• Office phone number is (246) 435-3990.
• General email address is: mllf.org@caribsurf.com

As an artist I will be creating a set of 3 Prints and Cards that you can purchase and 30% of the cost will be donated to the organisation.  I will tell you more in another post over the next few weeks.

Why not think of ways that you can donate or raise funds and do your part.

Donation

We also have a fund raising page in Roberts memory which is supporting Myeloma UK, and Cancer Research please help raise funds for more research, if we all do our bit we can one day find cures to prevent others from loosing their loved ones.

Give Blood/Bone Marrow

Become a bone marrow donor

Give Blood - If you have had a blood transfusion prior to 1995 you will not be able to give blood see HERE

Check out the following Organsiations

IF YOU WISH TO REGISTER AS A POTENTIAL BONE MARROW, BLOOD OR ORGAN DONOR VISIT: 

ACLT Office - Tel no. 020 8240 4480, 7A Rathbone Square, Tanfield Road, Croydon, CR0 4HA  Please call ACLT office to book a 30 minute appointment. 

NATIONAL BLOOD SERVICE; BLOOD DONATION CENTRES Tel 0300 123 2323

Anthony Nolan Register Tel no. 0303 303 0303, You must be aged between 16 and 30 and generally healthy

DKMS - DELETE BLOOD CANCER Tel no. 020 8735 4230To everyone over 30 who can't join the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register. You can now join via DKMS ‘Delete Blood Cancer' Please CLICK HERE They will register potential bone marrow donors from 17 to 55 years. You must weigh over 7st 12Ibs in weight

Robert, see, your memory lives on in our hearts through your children, family and friends!  So too all those who remember family members and friends who have died from Cancer.

What ever you can do is appreciated, do it today, don't wait, don't put it off, think creatively how you may be able to support, it could be money, time, skill, bake sale, car wash, art classes - we can do it together!  

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

31 Creative Things to do with Recycled Material - Tea Boxes

Tea Boxes Decorated

What are you going to do with your empty tea boxes that you have, throw them away, recycle, put them in the compost or do you make something from them? Yesterday I showed you a way to alter them and make something crafty, here are a few other ways.
Always one for experimenting I wanted to see how many different ways the tea boxes could be decorated based on some of the supplies that I have. Whatever you have in your craft supplies there are some amazing techniques to try.

Here are 4 ways that I decorated mine so far, this is a great way to use up some of those smaller pieces of your supplies – paper, embellishments that may be too small for one of your larger projects but may be just right for this one. (No it isn’t an excuse to start to hoard, though it can sometimes feel as if you are surrounded by a mound of ‘use it for later’ supplies).

I will be doing a series around the tea and tea boxes, so watch this space, and even follow along. I might even do a monthly tea box challenge with some giveaways each month!
So for the boxes I covered this one with handmade paper, brads and topper that was a free decoupage topper form a magazine. (You can make your own decorative paper with painted recycled paper. I then tool string and beads to decorate the front, and stamped the inside with a homemade stamp.

Quinoa Box
When I had loads of outdated quinoa, I wanted to use it to make a creative covering for the box and applying glue sprinkled it all over and let it dry. I then finished off with broken jewellery, ribbon and another homemade mini box.

Friend Box

Covered with stamped masking tape and glitter paper, with a tag on the top with the stamped message of friendship. I also used a clay embellishment on the top.

Sequin Box
This has handmade paper, paint, sequins and an encouraging word tag on the top. If you keep the embellishments simple your box will last longer and be more sturdy. It is great fun having these decorative containers and it would be great to do a series.

You can see how I went about altering the boxes HERE

Perhaps you will join me with the monthly makes and you can sign up HERE if you want to know when a new one is coming.

31 Creative Things to do with Recycled Materials - Spiced Tea Box

Spice Tea Box Container

Great ways to alter your teabox!

I did a post about this container showing you how to alter it as it utilizes a product that I use quite a lot and that is tea. 

Recycling at its best!

I have a least two cups of Spiced tea a day, the morning ‘wake me up’ to get myself in the work frame of mind and the 'afternoon reflection', the tea has such a delicious taste, I will be sharing at some point about some of the other tea in the Palanquin range.

Over a period of time I got through so many boxes that I thought it was time to create something out of one of them.

I kept the structure of the box with all its parts as I didn’t need it to close but to house supplies that were quite tall, such as paint brushes and things that I use on a regular basis. 

I used brown paper on the box to get the texture and then added gesso it.  You can see instructions HERE

Sitting on the desk I also wanted a reminder of why I was there, and that is to create, and added encouragement with a ‘teabag treasure’ - what do you do with those teabags that are out of date? (you’ll find out about these soon).  

Choosing the lettering

There are lots of great ways you can use these boxes and I will be sharing some more ideas.  

Tea Box Treasures - Amanda Trought - Realityarts

Again, a great way to use recycled materials, for your own space and they can make lovely gifts and you can add your own style.  Join me tomorrow for another creative recycling idea.

For more inspired recycling ideas and useful tips check out Zero Waste Barbados and Journey to Zero Waste

Have a look at some of my ideas on my Pinterest Recyled Board



Stay blessed and be a blessing!

31 Creative Things to do with Recycled Materials - Alcohol Marker Holders

Welcome to today's post showing you 31 Creative things to do with Recycled materials.  Even after the challenge has finished I will continue posting until you have seen all 31 examples, as I had things that got in the way, but we move forward!  

When I make something out of recycled materials I get a real kick, knowing that I have created something that I want, worked out how it needs to be put together, and so been resourceful, and also that I have created something that has another use from its' original intended form.

After I had made the first free-standing pen holder, there was nothing stopping me from making another one. I allowed some of my supplies to dictate slightly how it would look. I really loved the way it turned out and it means that my pens do not have to be stuck in a draw taking up valuable space for something else.

This storage container was made from almond milk and juice cartons, along side cardboard. I worked out the height and width that I wanted and the amount of storage I would need.

The cartons are made from a durable waterproof material, and they don’t readily get recycled here, so I knew I needed to find a way to use them rather than throw them away in the bin, (honestly I am not a hoarder). I think there has to be more government initiatives and more of us have to think about just exactly we are throwing away and use less packaging where possible. What if your rubbish was put in a hole in your back yard, you’d soon run out of space and who would want to live with that, you would soon find a use for more things that you ordinarily throw away. 

Once I had all the dimensions that I needed I put it all together, using one of my favorite tools - my glue gun, and the plaster fabric and painted. And there you have it.  I think it is quite cool!  I am debating whether I want to put an image on the side, perhaps someone with a story wants to come forward and grace the side of the pen holder.

For now I think that they look great in my space.  If I do decide to decorate I will share it with you.  It would be great to see what you come up with using recycled materials, tell me which one has been your favorite so far.  

For more inspired recycling ideas and useful tips check out Zero Waste Barbados and Journey to Zero Waste  

Have a look at some of my ideas on my Pinterest Recyled Board

Tomorrow I will be showing a spicy alternative!

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

Fear, Regrets, Life, Reflect...Begin - Life is still too Short

What you going to do with the life you have left?

Why are you hiding yourself away, are you caught up in your thoughts, are there things you are going through right now that you want to to talk about but can't speak to anyone until things pass? Is there someone that you can talk to and share your thoughts? what do you do.  

I sometimes have these spells where things don't make sense, things happen and you're not sure how to address them, or get a handle on them.  You might have previously been on a roll, and in the flow but then you get knocked for six.  We had another friend die.  Out of the blue, sudden, no sickness or anything.  Last year 2 of my cousins died - mother and daughter within 2 months of each other 2 other friends died and 2016 saw me at a total of 4 funerals.  

When I am 'feeling it' I don't feel like writing on my blog and I retreat somewhere that I can gather thoughts and reflect, wanting to share, but, you know how it is...... it can be hard to say how you really feel, try and keep it all sweetness and light and carry on as if business was as usual. 

For those who came back for the 31 things, I am sorry, but I dropped the ball for a moment, we all do sometimes don't we, nothing to feel ashamed about, forgive yourself and move on. I had to step back and allow the process to run its' course, or something.  

No Regrets

When you think about your life what is it that you would most regret not doing?  Think about those things that you currently take for granted, the things you wanted to try, the places you said that you would visit, the relationships that you wanted to make better or spend more time in, and ask yourself just what is stopping you at this very moment and what would it take for you to be able to put those things in place.

If you were told that you had a year, month or week to live what would you do with the time that you had left?  How would you spend each and every moment knowing that you would never see the faces of those people that you loved one last time.  

With so many family and friends passing away suddenly, we cannot make head nor tail of it, and each year wonder when there will be a break in the heartache that ensues, when you will get an ease - then another one goes.  We are now our parents position of going to yet another funeral, but it seems more frequent now, people dying younger, hidden agendas? conspiracies?!! reaching out for an answer, a reason, why...why?

Each year I say to my sister; we have to get fitter' healthier, stress less, value our time more. It is something that we all have to do - take our health and well-being in our hands, live and love more, appreciate, and look at those things that we are grateful for... don't wait till someone gets sick before you tell them how much you appreciate and love them.  

Express Yourself

As an artist I express myself in my art, but sometimes I don't want to share - worried at what people may think is the long and the short of it, but no more.  We are all given something to say, to share, to encourage, motivate or bring about laughter and more.  Who am I to play small, to shut down my voice because of what I think someone else thinks about what I am saying?

I want to encourage you that whatever it was that you were thinking of doing, sharing, creating, playing that you share it anyway, that you don't wait for approval, acceptance, or anyone else to tell you how you should do it. You don't know when you will breath your last breath, or the last time you will ever be able to tell someone you love and cherish them, don't wait for the 'right time' or 'when you retire' make plans, sow the seeds, put something in place .......do it now!

See the adventure in life, the joy, possibilities and things that you can do, the little things that mean the world to someone, that brightens their day and helps them to feel like maybe they could shine their 'light' as well.  

Don't waste another minute 'belly button gazing', feeling sorry for yourself, YOU CAN DO IT.  Life is too short to play it small, you will never get another chance to use the minutes that you just wasted so what you going to do with the life you have left?

I decided to go for it, to share, express, and live the life I want to live, be the person I want to be and share my joy, peace, encouragement with the world, and the bits in-between.  In some corner of the world someone is waiting for my words,  who will read to the end of this post and get encouraged when I write and inspired by my art, and I will not hide.  2017 is the year for being All I was called to be, and use the time fully not waste another moment being fearful about who might be watching a using each and every moment like it was my last, no regrets....  

Over to you..

So what are you going to do?  If you are living your life and being the person you want to be I congratulate you, if you express your love to others and are ALL you know you can be, well done.  If you are living fearlessly, grabbing hold of life grateful for the minutes I applaud you!  

If there are parts of you that you want to work on, you want to live life to the full and you are going to go for it regardless, I am in your corner and I am one of your cheerleaders who knows you have the ability and I will be there alongside you as we make the changes together....so come back on the blog tomorrow, sign up to the mailing list, let me know what you are going to do/say/try..  we got this!  Who else is with me?

We Pledge Allegiance - Exhibition - A Feast for the Eyes!

"We Pledge Allegiance" Curated by Oneka Small

This is one of those exhibitions that if you missed, you really missed out.  It was a real treat to experience the feeling of going into an Art Gallery and feeling like a kid in a candy store, with such a feast to the eyes, at every corner you looked there was a delight to be viewed.  

This was truly a brilliant exhibition.  Curated by Oneka Small, it ran from November 15th - December 17th at #1 Manor Lodge a 8,000 square foot space donated by Adrian Elcock. 

I had many favorite pieces

It was perfect, it was transformed from an office space to an art gallery in two weeks!  It was expertly filled by Oneka a very talented artist and curator and her team of people who gave their assistance to make this happen.

It was amazing, as soon as you walked into the space you knew that you were going to have every one of your senses inspired.  The space felt like it had always been a gallery and had breathed inspiration, creativity and talent, and you wanted to spend time there and you left feeling filled.

The location was ideal and it would be great if it could be used in the long term as a gallery.....

..... a space among us ....hidden in plain sight... there all along, housing the creative talents of the many artists living in Barbados!  It definitely is something to think about and the 'Manor Lodge Gallery' or the 'Elcock Gallery' has a certain ring to it!! (smile)

There were over 90 artists and well over 350 pieces of art by talented established as well as up-and-coming artists in Barbados - here are Artists that exhibited - 

Adrian Richards, Aguinaldo Belgrave, Akyem-i Ramsay, Alison Chapman-andrews, Allie Callender, Ancel Daniel, Anya Stephen, Ann Rudder, Anisah Wood, Arlette Sthill, Ashanti Trotman, Aurelia Walcott, Bill Grace, Catherine Forter Cheeatow, Cher Antoinette, Cherise Harris, Combemere School, Corrie Scott, Cy Hutchinson, Danielle ☥ Toppin, David Skinner, Don Small, Ewan Atkinson, Frank Taylor, Franz Phillips, Fred Odle, Gail Pounder-Speede, Graham Gill, Heather-Dawn Scott, Hedy Klineman, Henry Fraser, Heidi Berger, Heshimu Akin-yemi, Ichia Tiyi, Ilix, Indra Rudder, Ireka Jelani, Ras Jamonn Roberts, Jeena Chatrani, Joyce Daniel, Julia Seymour, Juliana Inniss, Kenneth Blackman, Kraig Yearwood, Leslie Taylor, Lilian Sten-Nicholson, Lorna Wilson, Lisle Warner, Marlon Ilion Skeete, Martina Pile Zahles, Margaret Herbert, Mathew Clarke, Na La, Nakazzi Hutchinson, Natalie Atkins-Hinds, Neville Crawford, Neville Legall, Nick Whittle, Oneka Small, Petra Toyin, Rae Garnes, Ras Ishi, Risée Chaderton-Charles, Rivenis, Rodney S. Ifill, Ronald Williams, Rupert Piggott, Sade Payne, Simbah Pile, Steven Haynes, Tandem, Israel Mapp, Taneisha Shepherd, Tracy Greenidge, Troy Romelle Bourne, Victor Collector, Virgil Broodhagen, William Cummins, Willie Alleyne, Woodpecker, Eileen Hamilton, Mary Armstrong, C Skeete, Norma Talma, Karl Broodhagen, Gordon Parkinson, Robert J MacLeod, Golde White, K C Hawkins, Bertalan.

Check out some of the names.  Luckily for you an online album has been created for viewing.  Check out the ONLINE GALLERY  Some of the work may still be on SALE so if you see something you like let them know.  

Once again, we were treated to  a really great exhibition, and I am looking forward to the next one!

If you want to keep updated with news check out the Barbados Visual Arts Event and you can Pop over to my Destination Barbados - Wanted in Barbados Blog for more creative ins and outs that I get up to on the island - a bit more of a taster.