Thursday, December 19, 2013

I'M DREAMING OF A GREEN CHRISTMAS...


I'M DREAMING OF A GREEN CHRISTMAS...

...Not just dreaming, but making a green holiday happen. Our 8th annual Holiday Eco Gift-Making Workshop was a spectacular, Skraptacular success:
  • 200 busy elves of all ages beaded and collaged and sewed and glued
  • 100 pounds of fresh balsam, recycled from the PS 187 holiday tree sale, went home in fragrant cushions to scent homes with the splendor of the season
  • 50 Yards of fabric were fashioned into tote bags, aprons, cushions and confidence
  • Dozens of champagne cork and wire angels flew into homes across the city
  • 18 dedicated Skrap interns and adult helpers worked patiently to help transform old juice cans, wrapping paper or bottle caps into gifts and awe-inspiring gewgaws!

The Holiday Eco Gift Making workshop is Skraptacular's main way of  sending the message of conservation, sustainability and creativity into the community. We couldn't do it every year without your help! 
Thank You!
  
     
  
                                           

 P.S. We hope you are now inspired to turn found objects and items you might have tossed into presents, hostess gifts or stocking stuffers!


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Three Reasons To Visit Washington Heights

                   
THREE REASONS TO SPEND TIME IN 
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS 
THIS WEEKEND
  
1. 100 Overlook Terrace (190th St and Fort Washington) Skraptacular window display until December 7th. 

2. It's your last chance to experience the awe-inspiring sound installation, "The Forty Part Motet," by Janet Cardiff in the beautiful Fuentiduena Chapel of our neighborhood treasure,  The Cloisters.

3. Then stroll on over to our flagship event, the one everyone young and old enjoys:
 The Skraptacular Holiday Eco Gift-Making Workshop and Tree Sale
     
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a champagne wire angel in a pine tree...and there will be tote bags toting, bottle cap pins pinning, dream catchers catching, fascinators fascinating, old tool chimes tinkling and whatever your heart imagines and your --or your little ones'--hands can fashion out of bottle caps, garbage scraps, old spoons, glue, thread, fabric scraps, and more. See you there!
                 
    
              
       

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

                                      
 #GIVINGTUESDAY IS HERE

If you can spend just 5% of what you saved buying goodies during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, do it now, on #GivingTuesday . Please put that percentage to work at Skraptacular. We teach children how to transform trash and found objects into artworks and science projects. Sure, garbage is our raw material-and we have plenty of it-- but we need your donations to help us work with communities across Manhattan and beyond, spreading the message of sustainability and environmental awareness. Thank You!
 P.S. Skraptacular is one of the only nonprofit eco-organizations that actually pays its young tween and teen interns to work various events!

       

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgivukkah



     COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS, ONE LIGHT AT A TIME

Inspired by the confluence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah or"Thanksgivukkah", Skraptacular turned yesterday's throw-away news into today's Menurkey, now on display in all his papier-mâché glory in the window at 100 Overlook Terrace in Washington Heights until December 7th.

Because we are all about seeing the connections between odd, disposable, disparate items, we, at Skraptacular, are thinking about the connections between Thanksgiving, a time to count our bounty and blessings, and Hanukkah, a time to remember the miracle of how oil for only one day of light lasted eight whole days in an ancient temple's menorah.

We're also thinking of Skraptacular's eighth anniversary-from our scrappy beginnings in Michelle Del Guercio's apartment in 2005, to having our own studio space and partnerships across the city. It seems like a good to time to count our blessings, or at least eight of them. We're thankful for:

1. Every person who believes in a sustainable future
2. The dedicated young interns who breathe life into Skraptacular
3. Our new partnerships forged in 2013:
 4. The Johnson Ohanna Foundation who made it possible for us educate and engage the public at over 30 events this past year
5. The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance for helping to fund our new space
6. The Max and Anna Levinson Foundation that has been a loyal supporter, making it possible to continue our weekly internship program and develop our educational programs
7. All those who see beauty in creating art from trash 
8. Our volunteers who continue to keep light flames of inspiration

#GIVINGTUESDAY IS COMING
Don't forget that Skraptacular has partnered with #GivingTuesday to be part of a national movement to give to those in need and causes we support, coming after the spend-a-thon of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you believe in what we do, please use #GivingTuesday to support our vital work.

Skraptacular Holiday Eco Gift-Making Workshop and Tree Sale
Date: Saturday, December 7
Time: 1 - 5 PM
Place: P.S. 187, 349 Cabrini Boulevard @ W. 187th St.
Take the A train to 190th St. (take the elevator up to Fort Washington Ave)
What: Using refuse, old tools, fabric, jewelry parts, corks, wires and more "scraps" you'll come home with tote bags, hand-bound books, dream catchers, ornaments, and whatever your creative, fertile imagination concocts.
         
To find out more go to www.skraptacular.org
To volunteer write to: info@skraptacular.org
To be a part Skraptacular, sign-up for New York City Skraptacular Meet-up Group

 Please add us to your address book to prevent this e-mail from going to spam.                                                                    

Monday, November 25, 2013

#Giving Tuesday

 


Skraptacular Urges You to Join #GivingTuesday


Skraptacular is joining a national movement to celebrate #GivingTuesday: a day when charities, individuals, families, businesses, community centers, students, retailers, and others come together to encourage more, better and smarter giving during the Holiday Season.

Following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two of the biggest shopping days of the year, #GivingTuesday is a day to give, rather than spend. Last year 100,000 people like you participated. The #GivingTuesday campaign is a platform for you to contribute to your community to help make this the biggest giving season yet! All of us at Skraptacular know that you care about making a difference, and that's why we invite you to join #GivingTuesday.

Donate to or volunteer for groups you care about (we hope that includes Skraptacular) and encourage your friends to give. Let's show the world that when we open our wallets we can change the world for the better.
Watch this video to learn more about this movement:

Participate in #GivingTuesday on December 3, 2013

or read about Skraptacular's participation: 

 ***
Found: Gifts with Heart and Art

And you don't have to use your credit card or cash to participate in #GivingTuesday. Take a page from Skraptacular's (recycled) book: make something special for someone you love from all the plastic clamshells, packing peanuts and cardboard that come with Black Friday and Cyber Monday specials. Here's one idea:

If you thought that was fun, mark your calendar for our eighth annual
Skraptacular Holiday Eco Gift-Making Workshop
Date: Saturday, December 7
Time: 1 - 5 PM
Place: P.S. 187, 349 Cabrini Boulevard @ W. 187th St.
Take the A train to 190th St. (take the elevator up to Fort Washington Ave)
What: Using refuse, old tools, fabric, jewelry parts, corks, wires and more "skraps" you'll come home with tote bags, hand-bound books, mobiles, ornaments, and whatever your creative, fertile imagination concocts.
         

Tuesday, April 16, 2013



Hey Skraptaculators!!!
Skraptacular participated in the annual shearing of the heather at Fort Tryon Park on April 13th, this past Saturday. This celebration takes place every year and honors Scottish heritage and Fort Tryon's heather gardens. Skraptacular was there to raise awareness and get people to contribute to a tapestry made of plastic that we are weaving in preparation for Earth Day. Our tapestry is called, the "Skraptacular Tapestry of No Away." No away refers to people's misconception that they can just "throw things away," when in reality it all piles up at a landfill for generations. Participants used recycled plastic materials, and weaved them into the tapestry. Not only is this the Skraptacular Tapestry of No Away, but also, this relates to the idea of a Scottish tartan!
For more information about the shearing of the heather at Fort Tryon, visit:
http://www.forttryonparktrust.org
For more information about weaving and recycled materials, visit:
http://craftingagreenworld.com/2011/02/24/four-looms-you-can-make-from-recycled-materials/

Friday, March 1, 2013







 Hey Skraptaculators and Skraptacular followers! This is Gabi, Skraptacular intern. These are some pictures of recycling and sustainability around the globe. While I was away over seas in Chile, a thin south american country, I noticed that there are ways to reduce, reuse and recycle even 5,106 miles away from the city. Overall, Chile's efforts to recycle are overall good, however in the big cities like Santiago (the capital), Chileans produce 6,000 tons of waste per day! The small towns and organizations are the ones making an impact. I have provided some pictures that I took while I was away.



I traveled to a small eco hotel and restaurant  called "Posada del Parque"in Mantagua,  Chile (http://www.posadadelparque.cl/index.php). Throughout the property there are signs, reminding you to recycle and small containers, in which to put cigarettes. The first photo is a picture of their recycling bins. To translate, the signs read: red - plastic, green                        - glass, blue - paper and yellow - metal.  The second photo is a cigarette container surrounded by different signs that contain eco friendly facts. The third photo is a close up of one of the signs. It says: Did you know that plastic bottles take 500 years to decompose... help us keep the earth clean.  The next photo is of the 20 or more plastic bottles filled with all of the individual wrappers and small pieces of trash that they have found on the floor. My last photo is of a man in the big city of Viña del Mar collecting all of the cardboard boxes he can find to later recycle them. His small cart overflowing with all of the dump from the city.
Until next time, keep doing what you can to clean this world!
Skraptacular intern,
Gabi




Skraptacular Spring Classes


Skraptacular Studios Presents:  spring classes!
 Toddler Eco-Art Hour
ages 2 -4 years old
Thursdays 10:30-11:30 am
K-5th grade Eco-Art Hour
Fridays 4:00-5:00 pm

Cost: $180 for 6 sessions
March 7th - April 11th

Your child will learn how to.....
  • Sculpt with trash items--from non-recyclable plastic packaging to corks and bottle caps. 
  • Turn scrap paper, catalogs and magazines into precious hand-made journals, puppets, collages and book marks
  • Make magical mobiles out of boxes, broken toys and so much more
  • The most important lesson students will learn, however, is to be a part of something larger than themselves: a movement to tend and protect our planet 

4:30-6 pm
Cost $180 for 6 week session 
March 7th - April 11th






    Trashion Fashion Thursdays
    ages 11-14
    4:30-6 pm
    Cost $180 for 6 week session 
    March 7th - April 11th 

    • Design garments, jewelry, hair pieces and purses
    • Explore with unconventional materials such as fused plastic, shreaded candy wrapper confetti and tyvek envelopes
    • work with guest designers in the business
    • Showcase your best work in the Beau Monde Society Fashion Show in SoHo on April 20th


      Maximum 8 students per class
      e-mail or call to register:
      917 699 8136