Recycled Art Class: Moss Terrariums – $20

Tuesday, June 15th: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Thursday, June 24th: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

With Artist and Coordinator of Upcycle Exchange Autumn Wiggins
Come create an enclosed indoor garden while learning proper assembly and care techniques from an experienced terrarium maker. These beautiful, low-maintenance biospheres are unique and inexpensive to craft for your own use or for a gift! Bring up to three clear glass or plastic enclosures less than a foot wide at the base that have metal, glass, or plastic lids. Other necessary materials will be provided, but you may also bring small props made of plastic, porcelain, or non-rusting metal to use in your terrarium.

Register at the store, or at the customer service desk by calling 314-968-7744.

WHEN: Saturday, June 5th, 10a.m.-6p.m.
WHERE: Webster University’s Grant Gym
175 Edgar Rd.
Webster Groves, MO 63119 (view map)
MORE INFO: http://GreenwithIndieCraftShow.com
Become a Fan on Facebook!

And without further ado, here is our brand spanking new Summer 2010 Wish-list! If you have been saving stuff from our Spring Wish-list, we will still happily accept it, but be sure to check the new one for some notable additions by new members!

(WishList-Spring2010.pdf)

Get your requests on our Wish-List and, get listed in our artist directory, and gain entrance to our monthly members-only Green CrafTea Pick-up Party where you get to take home as many supplies as you like at no additional charge.

Our program headquarters is conveniently located at Finders Hive on Cherokee St. in St. Louis.

Applications For New Members Available thru May 14th!

Also, we are making a slight change to the fee structure. It ends up being cheaper and simpler for artists in the end. Instead of paying a $15 quarterly fee and $5 monthly pick-up fee, there will be a flat quarterly fee of $20. That’s $10 less for a full season of supply pick-ups!

(lovely upcycle illustration by member artist, Teresa Stanton)

WHEN: Sunday, April 25th, 11a.m.-6p.m.

WHERE: Muny Grounds in Forest Park
St. Louis, MO 63112 (view map)

MORE INFO: http://stlouisearthday.org

WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING DONATIONS AT EARTH DAY! Check out our updated Donation Page to see the events we are collecting at this Summer!

When: Sunday, March 28, 2010 – 12p.m. – 4p.m.
Where: Finder’s Hive @ 3022A Cherokee St. in St. Louis (view map)

We have two sizes of bags that you can fill to your liking:
Large (paper grocery bag) – $10
Small (paper lunch sack) – $4

Prices of large items that will not fit into bags are negotiable. We have tons of fabrics, notions, yarn, paint, paper, beads, and much much more! All proceeds benefit The Upcycle Exchange program. We’d love it if you would RSVP on our Facebook Event Page ! See you there!

WHAT: Indie Craft Revolution
WHEN: Saturday, March 13th 10 am-6pm and Sunday, March 14th from 10 am to 4 pm
WHERE: St. Louis Artists’ Guild  (map)

Use your Upcycle Exchange coupons in-person with member artists who are participating in the show! Check out our Artists page to see their individual donation incentives:

• Twisted
• Stick to Your Knittin’ Kitten
• The Science Faire
• Squaresville
• South City Studio
• Red Anvil
• Just Liv
• EKRA

Anxious to empty out those closets as the doldrums of Winter recede? Here is our new Wish-List (WishList-Spring2010.pdf), just in time for Spring Cleaning! Please spread the word and help us keep more of this stuff out of landfills:

When

Sunday, February 21st:  2p.m. – 4p.m. (All Ages!)
Sunday, March 7th: 2p.m. – 4p.m. (Just for Kids! Ages 5-15)

Where

Finder’s Hive @ CAMP
3022 Cherokee St.
St. Louis, MO

The discarded and forgotten
the bits and pieces
found tucked away in attics and basements
picked from alleyways and dumpsters
will be re-discovered, re-purposed, and re-created
into journals and sketchbooks, notebooks and storybooks
uniquely handbound to hold our stories and dreams
visions and schemes.

Don’t forget to check out The Upcycle Exchange’s Wish-list and see if there is anything you’d like to purge that would be useful to other artists! We’ll be accepting donations, as we do every Sunday, at Finder’s Hive!

What do you make stuff with? Buttons? Fabric? Yarn? Bottlecaps? Ephemera? Beads? Vintage anything? Evil Toasters? If it’s not already on our Wish-List, we’ll add it, and you’ll get unlimited helpings of our veritable supply buffet at Finder’s Hive, our new distribution headquarters on Cherokee St.! See details on our Participate Page about all the other perks and bragging rights.

The application deadline is February 14th!

So, get on that. Then you can get all this…

Actually, those pics are over a month old, and only the tip of the iceberg…..
make that…more than this!

at CAMP Headquarters during Cherokee Print League!
(Attending The Big Ass Indie Art and Crafts Show? We’re just a few blocks away!)

Wow! We’ve come so far in less than a year. Movin’ on up to the South side…on Cherokee St. that is! The Upcycle Exchange has partnered up with CAMP (Community Arts Media Project) to create a “co-op junk shop” that will now serve as our central sorting and distribution center called Finder’s Hive. The Upcycle Exchange will still be collecting at area events, in addition to new drop-off locations to be announced in January 2010.

The basic concept of the program will stay the same, but some of the logistics will change. We will collect specific supplies that artists are asking for, sort their unique requests into individually labeled storage, and group common requests for members to pick and choose from. At the end of every month, Finder’s Hive will host a private pick-up date for member artists, where they can collect their unique items and have first dibs on everything else we’ve collected that month.  Anything leftover after the pick-up date will go to stock the shelves in The Hive, which will be open to the public on a limited schedule, at first. We plan to host events and activities in the space as well, but our focus continues to be catering to participating makers.

Open Enrollment is NOW thru December 18th!

Click here for more details on becoming a member

Our Wish-List, member enrollment, and incentive parts of the program are switching from an event-centric format to seasonal cycling. 1 month before a season is slated to begin (every 3 months), we will hold open enrollment for artists for 2 weeks. During this time, existing members will be able to edit their lists and incentives for the upcoming season as well. A new Wish-List will be published, and new Coupon Passports will be printed at the beginning of every season, which will run for 3 months. Coupon Passports (given to anyone that donates at events or drop-offs) expire 6 months from the beginning of the season.  There will be a $15 seasonal member fee.

Every month, The Upcycle Exchange will run collection drives at local events, and run pick-up routes to drop-off locations. All donations will be brought back to Finders Hive and sorted in preparation for our scheduled members-only pick-up date, tentatively the last Sunday of every month. For $5, members will be admitted to collect the unique items we’ve sorted for them, and may take whatever they like from a veritable buffet of commonly requested items that have been sorted into categories.  Any members that cannot attend the pick-up date may make arrangements with us to pickup there unique items and have a go at common leftovers afterwards.

So, that’s basically how it’s going to work! Just look at everything we collected at Strange Folk Festival this year…over 250 donations in one weekend. So, we think there will be plenty to go around!

Wanna join the really green party? Our inaugural open enrollment starts TODAY! Since the Winter 2009 season is already upon us, you’re going to get a discount! Only $10 membership fee for this season! We already have a list out with lots of common supplies, but will add in anything you guys are asking for, and have Coupon Passports ready and drop-off locations set-up by the New Year. Our first pick-up date is scheduled for January 24th.

After we receive your application, we’ll send you an invoice for your membership fee within 3 business days.

Hurry up! Winter 2009 Open Enrollment ends on December 14th! Tell your artsy fartsy friends about it too

Next up, Hello St. Louis At Home readers! We’d love to keep you posted about upcycling news and events in the metro area. So, pick your poisen: Twitter, Facebook, RSS Feed, or good ‘ol fashioned e-mail (sign up for the Weekly Digest on the right column of this page). We aren’t spammy, we promise.  In the meantime, be sure to check out our participating artists…you can find eco-friendly locally made merchandise 24-7 in their online shops!