Sidewalk chalk fence

Mid summer can bring on the boredom blues. You've thrown every activity at them you can think of, and they just smile and keep on coming.

Spur some creativity and reclaim that boring wood fence lining your back yard by handing your kiddos a bucket of sidewalk chalk. Let them turn your fence into a work of art!

It's washable, renewable, cheap, and a great conversation piece for your next bbq.

Want bonus points? Get out there and create with them! It's less trying on adult bodies than sidewalk art, and your babies will love you for it!

Trust me, you're gonna love it!

Craft Challenge-May 2012

I hear a lot of people wishing they were craftier.  People think you have to turn out beautiful family heirloom quality pieces in order to be considered creative, but I’m here to tell you that there is a crafty side to all of us.  No matter what level of crafter you are, we are going to challenge you to move to the next level.

Reclaimed Rubbish isn’t only about two giggling girls trying to craft the world into better environmental awareness, we are also teachers, art coaches, and creativity consultants.  This means our mission includes stretching your brain and making you work for it.

The rules are simple.  During the first week of every month, there will be a challenge.  The rules for that challenge will be posted, and please, do look for loopholes.  Your imagination is the limit, and size does not matter.  Work within your space.  If the challenge has to do with a car, that doesn’t’ mean you have to drag one into your apartment.  Work within the limits of your space.  Think micro art.  Think jewelry.  Think household items.  Think yard art.  Think sculpture.  Think canvas.  Think sewing.  Think paper craft.  Think of everything.

There will be a winner every month chosen by us (Thing One and Thing Two), and there will be a prize, but the catch to that is that the prize is even a surprise.  We don’t want the point to be competition.  We want the point to be people coming together and creating things they didn’t ever think of creating.  The only way you can cheat is by not creating your project yourself, in which case, we would give you a big tisk-tisk and ask you to try again next month.  

The reason for only one challenge per month is simple.  We are all crazy-insane-busy people who can’t spend all of our time throwing things together.  We have enough on our plate with kids, school, sports, church, dates, movies…and, well, you get the point.  This should be fun, not overwhelming.

TELL YOUR FAMILY, TELL YOUR FRIENDS, SCREAM IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!  THE CHALLENGE BEGINS NOW!  

May’s challenge has very few rules.  

1. You must create something
2. It must convey what your favorite childhood toy is
3. You cannot spend any money on materials

When you have completed your masterpiece, email a short description of what you used and how it happened, attach a picture, and email it to reclaimedrubbish@gmail.com no later than May 31^st, 2012.  The winner will be announced during the month of June along with the announcement of what your prize will be. 

Now, get crafting!!!

Fantastic Flubber

Flubber photo from OMSI flubber experiment

This flubber recipe is so simple, you'll be making it in every color of the rainbow before you know it!

What you'll need:

• Two bowls
• 1 1/2 cups of either white or clear Elmer's glue
• 4 cups water
• 4 Tablespoons borax(all natural laundry soap found in the laundry section at your supermarket)
• Liquid food coloring or liquid water color

What you'll do:

• In 1 bowl, mix 2 cups of water with the Elmer's glue.
•  Squirt in a few drops of color.
• In separate bowl, mix 2 cups of water with borax until completely dissolved.
• Add borax mixture a LITTLE at a time.  Add some, stir some, add some, stir some.  I recommend mixing with your hand until the flubber is the consistency you want it to be.    DO NOT add the entire borax mixture.  You will have cement instead of flubber.

Optional additions:

1. For sparkle flubber, add small amounts of glitter to the glue mixture before adding the borax mixture.  Add until you have the amount you want.  Glitter will come off on hands as it is played with, so keep this in mind when choosing how much.
2. For glow in the dark flubber, add 1/2 Tablespoon of glow in the dark powder to the BORAX mixture before adding to the glue mixture.  
3. Clear glue makes clear flubber.  There is no need for extra coloring if you don't want to.

Quick fixes to the recipe: If your flubber is too thick and falls apart instead of stretching, add small amounts of water and mix with your hands until desired consistency.

Store flubber in a ziploc bag and use over and over again until it starts to dry out and flake off.

Things to do with flubber:

1. Use a straw to blow flubber bubbles by sticking one end into the straw and blow slowly.
2. Put flubber on an old cheese grater and watch what happens.  
3. Put a flubber ball on top of a small up-side-down glass and watch what happens.
4. Ask your kids what they think will happen before you do every experiment.  Talk about the differences or similarities between the forecast and what actually happened.

If flubber gets on clothing or in carpet, vinegar takes it right out.  Mayonnaise will take it out of hair.