Believe it or Not: Newspaper Flowers

A few weeks ago, my fiance and I went to Atlantic City, NJ for his birthday.  As you may remember (or as you can tell from my flickr stream!) we like to visit weird places.  Lucky for us, there is a "Ripley's Believe it or Not" on the boardwalk!

As a child my family visited the Ripley's in Toronto.  I remember it being interesting, but scarey.  As an adult, I found it fascinating.

One of the many wonderful rooms in Ripley's was full of amazing visionary art!  The photo above is one of the pieces.  They are, "believe it or not," flowers made from newspapers.  If you click on the photo, you'll be taken to my photostream and can check out all my photos from our trip. 

I'm amazed and inspired when I see artists reusing and repurposing everyday things - waste, in fact - to  make amazing art!

Maybe these flowers will inspire you to take your newspaper flowers to the next level!

Cardboard JFK

Don't Throw Out that Broken Mirror! (and don't recycle it either)

I recently did a post about ways to reuse glass, which reminded me that American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD showcases the work of mirror artist Bob Benson.

The tree above is his work, as well as other pieces throughout the museum. 

We had the pleasure of meeting him when we visited the museum recently.  He was explaining his Flatulence Post installation at the museum.  Yes, flatulence.  Farts are always funny, I don't care what you say.  Lighten up!

Photography isn't allowed inside the museum, but you can check out the Flatulence Post on the artist's website.  It's much funnier with the sound effects in person!  There was an actual farting contest that was recorded, which you can relive by pressing a button on the Flatulence Post.  Also, check out the artist rendering of different farts such as the "Chinese Firecracker Fart", the "Bottom Blast", the "Tuttie Fruitie" or the "Limburger Special."

(I must say, I never did think I would be discussing farts on this blog, but, here we are....)

Back to recycling....

You cannot actually recycle mirror.  In fact, you can ruin a whole bin of recycling if you throw the mirror in with the glass that can actually be recycled.  So, the best thing to do with mirrors is to reuse them.

I can't think of a better way to reuse mirror than by making a mirror tree!

If you want to scale it down a little - perhaps you don't want to create an entire mirror tree - be inspired by Bob Benson's tree and create a mobile, or a string of mirrors, to hang in your window.

American Visionary Art Museum

Over the weekend my family visited Baltimore, Maryland.  The highlight of the day was our visit to the American Visionary Art Museum.

From the mirror art tree outside to the fart post to the toothpick ship to....it's inspiring and amazing.

I even saw a form of art that I had no idea existed, but it's brilliant:  Screen art.  Painting the screens on your windows, doors, etc.

This tree is made of mirrors.

Here's a closeup:

The gift shop is worth the trip itself with reasonably-priced jewelry, books, art, and all sorts of stuff reminiscent of the five and dimes of my childhood.  (I'm not actually as old as that sounds, but I'm from a small town that kept it's five and dime going for quite a while in my childhood.)  I bought a bunch of supplies that will soon become a charm bracelet!

I highly recommend a trip to the American Visionary Art Museum for anyone!

{By the way, the digital scrapbook pages up top are from my memories.  Stay tuned here this week for a sweet giveaway of the software!}