Upcycled Paintbrush Peeps

OH. MY!  We can’t take an ounce of credit for having dreamt up these adorable little paintbrush people, but when we saw them we knew we didn’t have to walk too far across the room to gather all of the supplies we needed!  They were inspired by a super talented mixed media artist in Beckley, WV named Karen Lilly.  Run ~ don’t walk ~ to her blog right this second and feast your eyes on all of her whimsical creations!

Thanks to her, every artist and art studio on the planet now has what seems like such an obvious answer to the dilemma of what to do with all of those rusty old ratty paintbrushes that sit on the shelf collecting dust, but that you hate to throw away because technically the brush (though having degraded over the years into some sort of stiff appendage no longer very brush-like) is still attached to the handle!

The kids in our Monday afternoon Upcycle Open Studio class had a fabulous time making these out of odds and ends, little pieces and parts of old jewelry, hardware, wire, buttons, ribbons, fabric, & other do-dads.  We attached them to a piece of cork and they fashioned a decorative wire hanger to turn these into swanky little bulletin boards so they could keep better track of all of their important meetings, appointments, playdates & such.