Crafting into Spring

After weeks of anticipation, the warm weather is finally here! Time to pull out your spring clothes and flip flops and begin to think of new spring crafts! Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:

If you enjoy gardening this project found on Instructables.com will be perfect for you! This garden glove rack only takes a piece of wood, clothespins, synthetic garden string, and a few more small items. For complete instructions, click here! Don't worry if you don't have any gardening gloves of your own, we have some here at the store for you!

You can also make these cute vintage fabric garden markers that were found on Design*Sponge. All of the materials that you need for this DIY project can be found right here in the store. We have fabric, paintbrushes, wooden rods, glue, and scissors!

Another craft project that is perfect for spring is to make a birdhouse out of Popsicle sticks (or small pieces of wood)! The nice thing about this craft you can create your birdhouses of different shapes, sizes and colors. (Picture to the left found here)

A final idea that was found on Familyfun.go.com are these basket buddies. These are perfect crafts for the kids and will look perfect outside of your house for the spring! You need a basket to be your base and the rest is up to your imagination. For ideas of how to create your own basket buddy, click here.

If you have any other craft ideas for spring crafts, feel free to leave a comment!

Go Green Club visits the I.D.E.A. Store!

On April 5, 2011, the Go Green Club from Westview Elementary School visited the I.D.E.A. Store! The Go Green Club is a club for students who are interested in learning how to keep their school, community, and planet cleaner, more energy efficient, and more naturally beautiful. Each student came in and filled their own Fill-A-Baggie! Here are a few pictures from their trip!

Even more ideas at the I.D.E.A. Store!

If you have ever entered our store and immediately were overwhelmed with a number of creative ideas, we have solved this problem for you. The I.D.E.A. Store has created scrap booking kits!

These kits lay right beside our relatively new color kits and sell for $1.75 per kit. Each kit has its own unique theme to it containing different materials such as paper, markers, stickers and more. In addition, each kit contains its very own theme! We have themes ranging from "Easter Dreams" to "Life's a Beach."

For example, the "Easter Dreams" kit contains:

• Different colors and sizes of scrapbook paper
• Purple and green cutout letters
• 2 markers
• A stamp
  
• A set of Easter stickers

What are some unique and creative themes that you can think of?

Still Accepting More Chain!

We would like to give a special thanks to everyone who has taken part in our community chain building! Don't worry though, we are still making and accepting more chain!

We still have a number of billboard kits for you to take home or if you are feeling really adventurous you can cut your own pieces of chain out of our large sheets of billboard. If you are sick of being cooped up in your own home from this icky weather, feel free to come to The I.D.E.A. Store during our business hours for our open studio.(We supply all the materials!) To learn more or attend this chain making event Facebook it!



In case you forgot where the chain will displayed, just look below!

The Indi Go Artist Co-Op during April 12th- 19th

CUSF Gala, where it will be displayed in the I-Hotel

The chain link fence surrounding the corner of Neil and Church Street.

Framing Creative Reuse

With the photo frame sale on Saturday, you might be asking yourself what you could do with the photo frames that you buy. Here are some easy and money saving ideas for you and your family to enjoy:

The first idea is a photo frame tray that was found on Design*Sponge! All you need is a picture frame, two handles, and something colorful to put inside. This tray is perfect to put your breakfast, lunch and dinner on and it’s also perfect for doing all sorts of work on it!

If you are a pet lover, here is something that will save you a little money. With a shadow box picture frame and four napkin rings, you can construct a raised dog feeder! The idea and instructions for this dog feeder came from Re-nest.com.

We all know that photo frames make great wall decorations, but you can also re purpose photo frames to create different wall decorations. You can create a message or photo board by taking out the glass and replacing it with a chalkboard, cork board, or a dry erase board. You can see the examples on this page here and here

Finally, you can paint a number of old picture frames or cover them in fabric and you have an instant wall decoration! These ideas came from countryliving.com and here!

New ideas at the I.D.E.A. store!

When you first walk into The I.D.E.A. Store the first thing people notice is the Wall of Intrigue that is adorned with different materials that don’t usually have a category. The other things are the bins that are piled high with wood, metal, glass, and art supplies.

Have you ever wondered where the odds and ends go when people donate them? Well, they usually end up in a few hundred places before they are sorted and placed out onto the floor, but now we have finally found a quick and easy solution to get items right to the store!

We have taken all of those pieces that you have donated that are too small to make it in a box and have divided them into different colors. We will be taking empty tennis ball tubes and will be filling them to the top with an assortment of items. They hit the shelves today and will be sold for $1.75.

Creative Reuse Art

Some of you might wonder what creative reuse is? Today is your lucky day! Creative reuse is defined as the process of taking used or recycled materials and turning them into creative pieces for art, home decoration, or other useful items.

Here at The I.D.E.A. Store, we are currently looking for fine pieces of art work that can be used in The I.D.E.A. Store gallery exhibit at Indi Go Artist Co-Op. The store is accepting all kind of art donations including, but not limited to, sculpture, home décor, jewelry, etc!

If you were wondering what would be considered to be creative reuse art, take a look at some of these art pieces that have been created by artists from around the world!

"Indradhaunush" by Guerra de la Paz

"Telephone Sheep" by Jean-Luc Cornec

"Pop Smile Necklaces" by Margaux Lange

"Credit Card Cardinal" by Bryant Holsenbeck