There are two types of people in life: Bulletin Board People and Magnet People.
Bulletin Board People tend to be creative, spontaneous, and struggle to keep things organized. They like having everything in tidy rows but rarely have time to maintain such a lofty goal. They surround themselves with diverse, eclectic, exciting environments that stimulate thoughts and feelings. They build nests like muskrats and smell like fresh fruit strudel.
Magnet People tend to be organized and efficient. They streamline their daily activities in effort to get things done. They thrive on feeling accomplished. They are methodical, conscientious, and constantly remove clutter and waste from their homes and minds. They excel at creative endeavors that do not generate mess, like interpretive dancing, knitting and playing the calliope.
Sometimes magnet people have bulletin boards, or visa-versa, but deep down, we are all one or another. There are no two ways about it. Which one are you?
I am a Bulletin Board Person. There is one in every room of my house, even the bathroom. Sometimes they are just a simple old frame or foam board, but I can’t go without one. I need my slush pot! A visual, vertical junk drawer, if you will. This photo is all nice and neat and empty looking, but give it ten days and this thing will be loaded. Have you ever seen the bottom of an old boat that’s covered in ten years of barnacles and sea weed and hairy sludge and somehow and old shoe got stuck in the crud?
Yeah, that’s what my bulletin boards look like.
With that in mind, knowing that this board will soon fill with visually unappealing items, I thought I would dress it up a bit with some flowers made from egg cartons. Cute, huh?
These flower thumbtacks are made form cardboard egg cartons and were inspired by these flowers by Michele Made Me (if by chance you have never been to her site, you really have to check it out. It’s one of the few blogs that gets my creative juices flowing every single time and I’m pretty sure it will have the same effect on you!)
So, as you can see, Michele’s flowers are far more impressive and complex than these, but I’ll cut myself some slack as a first timer. For ten minutes and zero dollars, these came out mighty cute! Cutting the egg cartons was not as easy as I thought, although the cardboard took to the paint very nicely.
Egg cartons are the now officially the newest member of my club of waste/rubbish based art materials. I’m confident our first encounter will not be our last.
Does anyone else know of other fun things you can make with old egg cartons? I’m intrigued!
This project is linking to Craft School Sunday at www.creativejewishmom.com
Luv it. PS: I am a bulletin board person too!
I’m a magnet person, but I wish I was more bulletin boardy.
I am a bulletin boarder all though I like the ones with ribbon diamonds to hold oddly shaped/thick/not really pin through sort of things. You might like Patricia Zappatta’s egg carton crafts:
http://alittlehut.blogspot.com/2008/01/recycle-project-no-11-egg-carton-turned.html
She is a super talented designer/crafter if you havent already been to her blog A Little Hut, bring coffee I imagine someone as crafty as yourself will really enjoy it. She also crafts with recycled items a lot.
In my kitchen lives a bulletin board and very near it, the fridge is covered in magnets with all manner of kids art, calendars, old messages, family photos, you name it… This begs the eternal question: Who am I? Magnet or Bulletin Board? Or neither? Or both? Caught between two worlds, I seem to be… sigh…
Love love love the flowers, but I am somewhat biased. Thanks for the shout out Peaches. Really. You are so sweet!
i passed up a garbage can made from styrofoam egg cartons and acrylic yarn, that i saw at saver’s one fateful day. it took me quite a while to figure out what it was… the crafter used hole punches to make a series of holes down the side of each carton, through the lid and the base, and then used yarn to weave them together. it was breathtaking.
I just love your ‘Friday Flower’ ideas! Every Wednesday I talked about Friends and Flowers and so today I shared your blog; I hope you don’t mind! Beautiful!
Adorability! I am a huge fan of Michele and her outrageous fleurs, but love these, art becomes office supplies! (Hmm…the exact opposite of my usual craft.) Love the idea of a visual junk drawer. My darling, I have to ask…why is there a bulletin board in your bathroom?
Oh Michelle, leave it to you to pick out the one random line! But honestly, a little baby bulletin board is great for tacking up jewelry (w pearl pins) just before I hop in the shower, a baggy to stuff little cosmetics samples, a postcard from a favorite vacation, a hook to hang a lint brush… Odds and ends that get lost/unused when I put them in a drawer. (As a natural born slob, I know that If I can see it, i,ll use it)
haha! Loved the advice for the egg cartons. Last year for a fundraiser called Eggshibition, where we are given a ceramic egg to decorate as we wish, I went with the theme ‘Rear Window’ and my egg “Jimmy” spied on his neighbors (a bunch of chicks in egg crate condos). I posted it on my blog…it was fun. I am more a magnet person with a flair for the creative.
I’m a bulletin board person for sure…but I only have one! Deeply disturbing.
I don’t have a bulletin board and this must be remedied! Love the flower.
I give to you my lifetime “Best Use of Egg Cartons” award. Congratulations. Love these!
Those look so cool! But you could absolutely make them into magnets as well for those who don’t do bulletin boards.
Ohmygoodness! I just found your blog, and have been in stitches all morning, reading your stories. And I’m in awe of your creativity. I love to use trash, er, I mean upcycle my crafts, and have some egg carton ornaments I’ve been making for years.
http://houserevivals.blogspot.com/2010/11/little-boat-ornaments-tutorial.html
Hey there. I really, really liked your blog. You asked about other ideas with egg cartons. Here`s something little that I made:
http://creactiveallaround.blogspot.com/2012/04/drzac-cuvarkuce-od-kartona-za-jaja-egg.html
Best regards from Serbia,
Aleksandra