When I was a kid growing up in Idaho with four siblings, mom, dad and grandma all packed into a pretty small house I never realized that we were "poor". I had all the great outdoors to play in and wonder at. I watched as my mother made art from "found" materials, though no one knew that term at the time. Cardboard boxes from a furniture store's back lot, chicken wire from an old farm's dump site, newspapers saved for "recycle" (mom didn't know that term, either) all became huge amazing paper mache projects for the Holidays. In our house, if you wanted to make something, you browsed through the local craft stores aka discard piles and other abandoned treasure troves. I never lost that view of "upcycled" crafting. These days I've been known to take a new item and add paint and weathering techniques to make that item look old and rusty or time worn if the real McCoy isn't available. I love the well-used look, it equates to well-loved for me. Though my perspective has certainly enlarged since I started crafting many years ago, and now I love to create items from all manner of materials with completed products ranging from the vintage distressed look to a shiny gleaming finish, my heart will always be drawn to the aged and worn patina of time.

For me, it's not a question of what a found item is, but what it could be. The same goes for any "stock" art supply. The surprise of what it becomes in one of my art projects is the best part of crafting. I thank my thrifty upbringing, I learned the secret of seeing things from a different perspective, to give things a bit of a turn, and to find my own version of beauty in it.