Recycled Craft-O-Rama

 Lately, I've been trying to incorporate some more environmentally friendly ideas into our daily life. I've been saving boxes so the kids can try their hand at making recycled art. I had quite the collection of boxes and milk cartons going on in my kitchen. At one point, I was pulling out of the driveway and I noticed Fran walking out to the recycling bin with a cereal box and milk jug. I rolled down the window and started yelling, "Save the recyclables!" "Put those back on the kitchen counter!" I'm guessing he was secretly afraid that I was competing for a spot on Hoarders, but I had better ideas. Normally, all of our art supplies are located in various plastic bags (see "Magic of Mason Jars" post on my sad obsession) and I was planning on buying some new containers to organize the tangle of crayons, paint and play-doh.  I then remembered my hoard, I mean, organized pile, of boxes on the counter and got to work. It was easy really. Just a couple of cuts here and there and I had art supply containers! I decided against having the kids paint them because when they eventually tear, I would like to recycle them and that's not possible if they're covered in paint. For the art project, I cut a plastic apple container in half and filled the individual "cups" with paint. We cut flower petals out of a waffle box and a stem and leaves out of a spaghetti box. The kids painted their leaves and stems and set them out to dry. Lilia glued her painted petals, leaves and stems onto a large sheet of white paper and illustrated a garden scene complete with a bee, butterflies and two fairies. Voila! A recycled masterpiece fit for the fridge!