Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Thrifty Recycling Bin Art

My new bff, Kendall Kindle, and I have been spending a lot of time together lately. Sometimes we study. Sometimes we play word games. Sometimes he tells me a story. I was feeling a bit guilty though because my poor fella didn't have any clothes and there's a chill in the air -- he was all nekkid and exposed to the elements. After checking around the internet for prices on outfits for my dude, I nearly had a heart attack. Fifty bucks for a quarter yard of fabric? No way. With all the furry mouths to feed around here, there's no room in the budget for that kind of silliness.

Anyhoo, I recently took an online painting course with Alisa Burke that taught us nifty stuff like how to upcycle materials from our recycling bin trash and transform it into art. Surely I could jazz up something for Kendall for free. Nobody said art can't be practical. I needed something that was padded to protect my new friend, something that would keep him from getting scratched and bruised in my bag of very important stuff crap that I haul around most days. On my first trip to the recycling bin I hit the jackpot. One slightly used padded envelope cut to size + a couple blobs of paint + a few Sharpie scribbles later = new shirt for Kendall. 

Okay, so maybe it's more mumu. Kendall doesn't mind, he's secure in his manhood. To make it a bit sturdier and safe from the inevitable spalshes of coffee and lunch shrapnel it will endure, I gave it a nice layer of clear packing tape for durability. Voila! $0 dollars and one less item to haul to the recycling bin.