Carnival Craft

It’s spring, and that means carnival time is right around the corner. My son’s school carnival is next month, and I’ve agreed to organize a craft for the kids to do. My goal is to use as many recycled items for the craft materials as I can. It’s cheaper that way (and thus more profitable for the school PTA) and eco-friendly.

Through the freecycle network, I have amassed a collection of about 300+ empty CD cases. (Can you just imagine the number of these cases that must be filling up the landfills as people switch to ipods?)

I found a few suggestions online for repurposing the CD cases, including a clip-art calendar and a card at Martha Stewart Living, a photo frame at lifehacker, and an art cube at craftgossip.

I like the idea of using the cases to display kids’ art work, so I’ve been fooling around with some ideas for a small, framable art piece.

For one piece I used scrapbook paper to create a collage.

For the other, I created a silhouette inspired by Anna Maria Horner’s painted fabric silhouettes. I cut a simple stencil, taped it to a piece of fabric (from books of swatches I got from the last SewGreen sale) with double-sided tape, and painted the negative space around the stencil.

Both projects are simple, easily and quickly done with a few supplies, and the kids can leave the carnival with their own piece of art. The creative possibilities are pretty much infinite, and I like how the young artists can change out the art piece as often as they like.

If anyone has any other ideas for how to reuse the cases, I’d love to hear them!