Make a great Chalk Board or Message Board.. by recycling!

Recycling is good for the earth, good for your creative soul, and good for business!..

This is what I do, in the spring and fall, we have "large items garbage day". This is where our township allows you to put out all those old couches, appliances, anything!.. Both these seasons are common for having a large clean out in the house, and I find especially in the Fall, as people are slowly moving inside to start those fall renovations in the basement or refurbish the kitchen and bathrooms.

This can be a great time for you, if you love to create by recycling. Spend some time scouring the neighborhood for treasures, you may drive down streets and find totally used up articles that are truly garbage, or you may find the jackpot!

Last year I found this great large wooden white frame, with no picture, just the frame, heaped up high on a pile of appliances, I took the frame home and I made this great chalk board, but you could also make a great message board using cork.

I went to my local lumber store, and purchased a cheap piece of hardboard and had it cut to fit my wooden frame. I then found an old flat piece of trim that I glued on my hardboard to section off the chalk board. I got the hardboard for 4.99 and the trim piece I already had,!

Since my passion is painting, I painted a scene in the top part to add interest to my chalk board or message board. If you do not like to paint, you could decoupage pictures, or frame a cross stitch in that part, your imagination is your limit. I then coated my painting with 2 coats of satin varathane, because mine is in a high use area in the kitchen, and I can wipe it clean, as well as the frame. (The black board can just be wiped with a wet cloth) Then I hung it on the wall, and it looks great!

If you are wanting to learn to paint, or would like to check out some affordable arts and crafts books, I have found that Ebay, is offering a site called Ebay half, and it contains all kinds of great books as well as electronics, movies, computers you name it, it is all "buy it now" so you can get started on being creative!

Recycling makes creating works of art fun, that saying "one persons trash is another person treasure" is very true, there are books out there written on that subject alone and fill with lots of ideas. I pick up a piece of "trash" and I like to vision what I could do to bring it to life. My favorite, are kitchen cupboard fronts, then tend to have trim to make it looked framed, and you can paint, decoupage, make a coulage, all kinds of ideas!,.. I also took a large old coffee table with a a good wooden top that obviously had lots of spills on it over the years and it was ugly, I took it home, sanded the top (it was real wood) and painted geese in flight, I have it still in my living room, and visitors comment on it all the time, and that would have ended up in the landfill..

So get out there and take a look, but be careful, some people just don't like you messing with their rubbish, so if you are concerned ask them first, and don't mess up their piles! Some other great finds can be old silverware boxes, and old jewelry boxes, don't let their horrible finish scare you, that is why they are likely being pitched, just make sure they are still solid, and there are so many products on the market now that you don't have to sand day and night, you can clean the piece and then use a good primer that sticks to anything, and then start fresh... wooden stools, can have the seats decoupaged.. that looks good too!.. Get the creativity flowing, and make a good part of your crafts business from recycling, each piece will be unique and a original.