Come show off your talents! We are now accepting applications for reuse artists to showcase their work in our gallery. Here’s some great reasons why you should consider exhibiting your work at DIY Studio:

• DIY Studio is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with a mission to promote creativity, community, environmental awareness, and self-sufficiency through reuse.
• We are currently located in a 3,300+ sq.ft. space in Salem Center Mall.
• The property is strategically positioned between Salem’s most affluent neighborhoods and located within a high growth region that continues to exceed the national average in terms of population growth.
• Over 84,000 daytime employees are located within a three-mile radius of Salem Center; a significant majority of whom are government employees within walking distance to the Center.
• DIY Studio is open to customers: Thursday – Saturday noon to 6p.m. starting June 8th.
• The artist will receive 60% of the retail price and DIY Studio will receive 40% of the retail price of sold artwork.
• If the artist volunteers 6 hours in the month their artwork/product is sold, the artist will receive 80% of the retail price and DIY Studio will receive 20% of the retail price of sold artwork.
• DIY Studio will promote artists and products through its website, Facebook, e-newsletter, in store, and with posters and flyers in the community.

And the best part of becoming a vendor at DIY Studio is that we have a passion for reuse. We have donated thousands of volunteer hours to make our creative reuse organization successful so we can promote creative reuse. We understand the time and skill that it takes to create a well-crafted item and we want to see the creative reuse movement grow.

If you are interested please visit this link to download the application. And let us know if you have any questions.

We are thrilled to announce our grand opening Saturday, June 8th from 10am to 6pm. The first 50 people will receive a limited edition DIY print. DIY Studio now occupies a 3,300 sq ft space next to Made in Oregon in the Salem Center Mall.

We have lots of classes and events planned and look forward to showcasing the benefits of reuse and hopefully inspire others to look at their trash differently. Since we’ve received our keys we’ve been busy painting, moving, scrubbing and getting the space ready to receive material donations. We still need help moving fixtures, building fixtures and would love to connect with more people who own trucks or vans and are willing to help us move things. Within the week we’ll need more hands to help sort materials and schlep goods from vehicle to store. If this is an area where you can help, please let us know!

Others ways to help would be to become a member. We are operating on a very small budget and things surely add up quickly. Becoming a member not only helps us to cover programing costs, but also benefits you by giving you special member’s only discounts and opportunities. Please consider joining DIY Studio as a member today!

Also we have exciting classes for father’s day, a parent kiddo artbot class, and other classes that are sure to inspire your creativity. And remember, all of our classes focus on reuse so you can feel good knowing what you are creating is eco-friendly. Classes range from free to affordable and members receive classes at a discount. Sign up for classes here! 

Back to work we go, but before I do, thank you for being a supporter of DIY Studio. Without supporters like yourself, we wouldn’t have had the momentum to move forward and make the creative reuse center a reality. We are so very thankful for all the support we have received!

We have an exciting opportunity for you to be a part of the DIY Studio family. We’ll open our doors in June, and we’d love your help to help fund our programs while enjoying the numerous benefits of DIY Studio membership. Also if you join before June 8th, you’ll receive a $5 DIY Studio gift certificate that can be used for materials in the store!!!

We are dedicated to creating high value for your membership dollars, and know that members are a critical component to creating a thriving Creative Reuse Center and Arts & Crafts Community. All members enjoy DIY Studio benefits and year long perks and you can feel good knowing that your membership dues directly support DIY Studio’s programs.

Become a DIY Studio member today!
The following is a list of membership benefits enjoyed by ALL levels of membership.
• Members only store specials
• e-newsletter and invitations to special events
• DIY Club Card wallet card
• 10% discount on used materials all of the time
• 10% discount on event room rentals
• Discounted DIY Studio classes/workshops
• Name mentioned on our Supporters and Sponsors web page

Visit our Join Page today to sign up!

1. Going Green by Going Gray
Reuse is our mission so we wanted to reuse as many reclaimed materials that we could find. Although this paint is recycled at the curb, it’s remixed and filtered so it can be reused again. Giving this product two lives is better than buying new, and that’s good for the earth too!

2. Nice Color!
Yep, the warm gray shade was the perfect neutral backdrop for art. It looks good with wood, white, or almost any color. But if you don’t want grey you can always head to Metro Paint where there are 16 shades of recycled paint to choose from.

3. The Price is RightEveryone likes a deal and that’s true of DIY Studio too. We want to be good stewards of the earth but also our donations. So when a donor asks where their dollars are going to, they’ll know that the funds go directly to programs and outreach, not administrative or material costs. With a space so large (over 3,300 square feet) we were looking at a pretty steep price tag for retail paint, but Marion County’s Latex Recycled Paint saved the day. It was….FREE! You can pick your jaw up off the floor now. That’s right, we received enough paint to paint our space at no cost.

So we are feeling rather proud of ourselves and our space. It looks pretty spiffy and we are feeling sort of smug with our paint score. I guess I should stop gloating and get back to painting. AND since I mentioned painting there will be a painting party this Saturday, May 11th from 10 to 5pm. The best way to check it out is to take it for a spin (on a roller that is). I  think you’re going to love it as much as we do!

We are excited to announce we received our keys for DIY Studio Thursday. We’ll be located at the Salem Center Mall, nestled between Beauty Nails and Made in Oregon.

Check out the space. That’s 3,300 sf of DIY goodness right there!

We plan on opening our doors in June so that means there is a lot of work to be done. And in the spirit of DIY studio and creative reuse, we’ll keep everything as green as possible (the style not the color). We’re planning on using reclaimed  paint, pallets, barrels, and buckets for fixtures and lots of elbow grease.

We’ll have a clean up party on Sunday, May 5th from 1-3 https://www.facebook.com/events/416922378406312/ and a painting party on Saturday May 11th  https://www.facebook.com/events/513152498752492/.

We’d really appreciate any help you can offer! And thanks to all of you for your continued support!

At DIY Studio we love simple projects and we love sharing our upcycling ideas with others. That’s why we host Creative Reuse Craft Nights every 4th Tuesday at the Salem Public Library. This week’s creative reuse project of choice was upcycled t-shirts. We came up with three separate projects all using one shirt and a pair of scissors.

Sandi brought along extra scissors to share with others (many thanks), I brought a bunch of old shirts and detailed instructions and everyone and Carlee helped out with instruction. Soon everyone was busy, cutting, knotting and creating.

And this is what we made….
T-shirt vests

Woven Headbands, bracelets and belts

And upcycled bags. No sewing required. Just a little bit of creativity and inspiration!

Xerox solid ink printing  touts 90% less printing waste than comparable color laser printers. No longer will empty cartridges pile up along with senseless packaging. Nope, this solid ink printing technology appears to be a brick-like crayon with no packaging to hold its ink. And no longer will owners need to ante up hard-earned cash for fancy coated paper. The ColorQube 8570 appears to print beautifully on recycled paper or whatever one sends through the machine. Plus its duplex printing saves paper.

I can picture it now. Our non-profit organization, DIY Studio printing up our instructional booklets, photos, projects, class lists, and flyers. Students coping off their zines and artwork to share with the masses. All the while knowing that we are reducing waste at the source. Stop me. I think I’m in love with a machine!

Okay, we can’t afford one now…but someday it will happen!

DIY Studio pulled out our donated books (thanks to Karla), pencils, pens, upcyled dodads, embellishments, and glue. And of course we brought along our 2.5″ × 3.5″ cards, our blank canvases. Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) were first created by M. Vänçi Stirnemann in Zurich, Switzerland in 1997. He created 1200 cards for an exhibit. When people wanted to buy them, he instead encouraged them to come back on the last day of showing for a swap. Since then, people have been trading ATCs around the globe at swaps, galleries and through the post.
To encourage our swap, DIY Studio made a trading post out of reclaimed metal tubing and the ever so glorious duct tape. We also created a hand carved stamp for the back of the cards. Children and adults alike spent time creating their miniature works of art and waited just as long to decided which work of art to take in return. Turning the card to look at the back, each participant could see who made the artwork and the title of the piece. And our reward was watching the smiles and sense of pride on each creators’ face.

ATCs are a great way to use up bits of scrap papers, fabrics and supplies. Use cereal boxes as a base or any other cardstock and let your imagination soar. Just remember to swap it with a friend!

We started with an idea and a sketch.

And our neighbor found this old cedar box that was once used as a camping kitchen.

And then we (err, our very talented neighbor Mike got to work). Mike built his own home so we knew he’d be a pro at this project. Since we decided to have two shelves for our Little Free Library, we made ours taller than the original plan. We used old shingles from another project and scrap wood. The only thing we purchased were springs and brackets for the door and plexiglass.

We also registered our Little Free Library and received an upcycled sign created from old barn wood from Amish Country.

Neighbors created colorful artwork on shrinky dinks, and I incorporated them into mosaics on the sides along with broken jewelry, cobalt blue glass from bottles, and broken china.

We decided to have a lunch potluck for the grand opening and loved meeting with our neighbors and catching up on a warm, spring day.

You too can create a Little Free Library and we’d love to see the movement grow in Salem. Right now Summer Street Little Library is the only Little Free Library in Salem. Visit http://littlefreelibrary.org/ for more information, to get ideas of types of structures as well as the important FAQs. Also if you have a question feel free to ask. DIY Studio would love to make a community build day where we assist others to create Little Free Libraries out of recycled and repurposed materials. Or I can put you in touch with our fabulous neighbor Mike, who you can hire to build one for you. Either way, it’s a wonderful addition to any community and a fun way to promote reading and reuse in your neighborhood. Happy reading and feel free to stop by and visit our Summer St’s Little Free Library anytime, 2055 Summer St SE, Salem OR 97302. We’re open 24-7.

“Movin’ right along.
Footloose and fancy-free.
Getting there is half the fun; come share it with me.
Moving right along (doog-a-doon doog-a-doon).
We’ll learn to share the load.
We don’t need a map to keep this show on the road.”

So last week DIY Studio received some pretty sad news. One of our grants we were hoping to apply for (actually our very favorite, most promising, and prized grant) was discontinued due to budget cuts. We moped, threw our arms up in the air, got all grumpy cat, and now have come to the realization that we’ll keep movin’ right along. We quickly set a strategy meeting and 10 of our supporters joined us at the planning table to brainstorm other fundraising options. Because of our fabulous supporters we now have a road map of what we need to tackle.

If you too would like to help, please visit our volunteer page. There you will find a quick volunteer questionnaire as well as a list of opportunities for you and ways you can help support the creative reuse movement. Sing with me now:

“Movin’ right along.
We’re truly birds of a feather,
We’re in this together and we know where we’re going…”