trying to reduce and reuse AND create at the same time

My friend Elise has been exploring a project of reducing, reusing and recycling over at her (always inspiring) blog FLIP. 

I've been thinking a lot about how we can be better about that over here in our little casa. 

(O and I organized the crayons from one big tub to individual colors...it was fun sorting and now they can easily find the color they're looking for. We just used containers we had around)

My goal is to maintain a space where OM can easily access materials that will fulfill their creative impulses and minimize both the amount of waste we create (did you know that the US produces more garbage than any other place on Earth?) and money I spend on buying new materials.

So, lots of the items that one might normally toss in the recycle bin we hold onto so that hopefully OM can find a new, creative purpose for.

However, I haven't figured out a way around buying new paint, paper, markers, glue etc. 

For now I just try to get the lids on everything right away so nothing dries out, wash out the paint brushes, use both sides of the paper and keep everything as organized as possible so what we do have doesn't go to waste.

 (Owen had an idea for an experiment so he drew up some plans)

 (The result...)

 (Good job O!!)

 (This one didn't turn out how he hoped.)

 (Maya is in a cutting, gluing, taping, stapling phase. Lots of tiny pieces of paper can be found all over the house @ any given moment)

 (That painting took care of the rest of the black paint.)

 (Maya's cannonball pictures [she is prolific in this type of picture] always crack us up)

 (Maya turned the mushroom tote into a paper puppet)

(The table is where most of the creating goes down. Although, now that they have their own rooms more and more is taking place in the privacy of their own space.)

We strive to minimize our reliance on energy dependent resources for creating and I would love to know what ideas you have for using existing items as raw materials for art and other creative endeavors.

Alright, I'm off to hug a tree!