I got these two giant tubs of arts & crafts supplies from the office of my old church. They’re doing a Spring cleaning of sorts and they’re tossing or donating a bunch of stuff.
It was like Christmas! Who could know what I’d unearth in the next layer of kid-friendly fare? Pom-poms, foam sticker shapes, a rocket kit and the makings for a pinewood derby car were near the top of the heap.
And then, underneath the sheets and sheets of construction paper, I found something brilliant: A clear VHS case filled with crayons.
Now, I don’t think the people who stashed the crayons in there were trying to be awesome. I bet they were thinking, “Where am I going to put these crayo…oh hey! There’s a video case!” But I thought it was a stroke of genius. For many reasons. One, because what else are you going to use those cases for?! We’ve moved on to Blu-ray and those things are from, like, six generations of technology ago. Two, they’re just the right size for an on-the-go coloring kit. The flat sides make them easy to fit into a shoebox alongside some small notepads or activity books. Three, they’re clear so there’s no wondering if the case is filled with just crayons or crayons and poo (I’ve had toddlers).
I feel a little smart, too. Like maybe I could run a site like The Upcycle Blog. You know, if having one good idea (that I really didn’t technically even have) qualified me to do that. If that counted then yeah, I could totally do that