Wait, what?

Inspiration can come from just about anywhere…you never know when it’s going to hit.  Today, Google has a zipper down the center of the page.  Hovering over it reveals that today is the birthday of Gideon Sundback, the perfecter of the zipper. He’d be 132 today!

Uh, so what’s that got to do with the SW Scrap Exchange?  Go to Google Images and search for “zipper reuse”.  You’ll find some creative and,  in some cases, downright beautiful ways to reuse zippers.  I’m really digging the brooches made out of old zippers. So, happy birthday to Mr. Sundback…I’m off to check Mom’s sewing box for some inspiration.

Happy New Year!

Okay, so it’s February.  The year is still new.  We’re in the process of changing our website, so bear with us while we make some changes.

We’re busy here in Scrap-land, knee deep in preparations for the Mesa Festival of Creativity.  We’re part of the team that is creating an interactive sculpture exhibit.  Not to toot our own horn, but we think it’s going to be awesome!!  The Festival runs from March 9th through the 18th.  The experience will differ from day to night, so you’ve got to come by at least twice!

If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you may have noticed an open call for anyone who might be interested in serving on our Board or helping us in the Fundraising department.  We are trying to find people who would be interesting in serving on a fundraising committee to help us get up and running.  We are anxious to have a brick and mortar location so that we can provide our arts and services to this great community of ours!  If you are interested, or if you know anyone, PLEASE let us know!  Don’t worry if you don’t have a ton of (or any!) experience.  We are looking for people who are passionate about reuse and interested in what we are trying to accomplish.  Contact us at scrappy@swscrapexchange.org if you want to help!

11-7-11

We have been busy here at the Scrap and it doesn’t look like it will be stopping any time soon!  On October 30t, we participated in our very first outreach event at the annual Fall Festival of the Arts sponsered by the Arizona Consortium for the Arts. (http://artizona.org)  We had a free booth set up for kids of all ages to come by and make and takeitems made from our scraps.  It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot!  You can see pictures from the event on our Facebook page.

We are also getting a chance to work with the Mesa Center for the Arts and the Downtown Mesa Association, helping to facilitate a holiday wreath competition open to the public.  All wreaths will be made with reusable materials!  SWSE will be making some examples of wreaths along with helping to distribute the wreaths to downtown Mesa businesses where they will be displayed.  There are cash prized for kids 5-18 and adults can get involved too!  We have the flyer and application forms here on the website; all applications need to be in by November 21st.  We can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!  Even if you don’t enter, make sure to come by downtown Mesa to check out the wreaths!

9-20-11

Welcome to the very first post of the SW Scrap Exchange!

I’m going to try and keep everyone informed about our creative reuses center; how the business is moving along, and hopefully keep you up to date on our journey to opening a creative reuse center in Phoenix!

I guess first off I should tell you about what possessed me to do this in the first place.  It probably can be chalked up to obsessive compulsive behavior.  Reuse and up-cycling has been a way of life for me since I was a child, and if you knew my mother you’d understand.  She was an elementary school teacher who couldn’t stand to throw anything out. Thrifty as well as creative, she had a flair for art projects.  I also have a brother who is a professional artist and maker of things at Aesthetic Engineering, Inc.  He began his artistic/design career from the moment he could hold a pair of scissors.  We were always pulling over to the side of the road to pick up cardboard boxes for him to design a new spaceship or a car for us to play in.  We spent many a weekend afternoon using egg cartons, paper plates, left-over string, melted crayons and old candles creating imaginative adventure lands of our very own. (I might be dating myself here, but one I remember fondly was the rocketship and detailed costumes that were inspired by the cartoon, Battle of the Planets G-Force, made out of cardboard and an old plastic tablecloth.  We were into Anime CosPlay before it was cool!)

I’ve always tried to look at “stuff” in a different way; maybe it was for creative reasons or maybe just to try and save a buck.  I’m a gig fand of antiques, thrift stores and yard sales.  I love the thrill of the hunt, the excitement of wondering what treasure I would find on any given day.  As I’ve gotten older, I now see this as not simply a way to use my imagination and save a little cash, but I recognize this as imperative behavior in a society that needs to rethink its consumption.  We are consuming EVERYTHING at an unsustainable pace.

My goal with the SW Scrap Exchange is to try and help create a dialog about this sustainability issue and encourage people to explore reuse through creativity!  So much of the time I think that environmental issues are seen like eating your vegetables – you have to do it, but it’s not really fun.  Not so at a creative reuse center.  We make it accessible to everyone…creative and fun and you are still helping to do your part for the environment.  It’s kind of like eating your vegetables with a yummy cheese sauce