Damn. The day after we recorded this, and while we were (and still are) reeling from this week’s loss of David Bowie and Alan Rickman (and many other in last month), we woke up to find out that Dan “Grizzly Adams” Haggerty passed away from cancer as well. Even if this is the first episode of our show you have ever listened to our theme song will have already told you that we love Grizzly Adams. A lot. The Gals have the blues about all of this and we here at Two Arts Gals just want you to know that it is perfectly normal and OK to grieve your heroes. We have heard and seen so many critical and jaded comments about people commenting and collectively mourning these deaths and it pisses us off, so quickly, this is what Katie has to say about the subject (perhaps a little more eloquently than she said it in today’s episode).

“These artists… musicians… actors… they may be complete strangers in the simplest terms, but    when is anything in this life ever simple? We have more intimate relationships with these “strangers” than we share with almost any person we know. They are with us in our darkest hours. They feel our heartbreaks with us. They are angry when we are angry. They see us at our most raw and vulnerable. They bring us hope when we have none. They are with us in our most joyous moments. They celebrate with us. They are our fiercest allies. They are witness to all that makes us who we are and they hold our deepest secrets. All of them. I cannot say this of any person I know. Not my mother and not my husband… not even my oldest and dearest friends. These artists represent where we came from; every single place we have been, who we have become, and who we will be. Of course we grieve them! For when we lose them we also lose tiny pieces of the fragile, secret parts of ourselves only they know about. There is no shame in shedding tears for that loss.”

Not to be complete Debbie Downers, we do have an actual episode to discuss this week and it is quite a bit more upbeat once The Gals get through their little talk about their sad feels on the matter of recent celebrity deaths. Katie was mistaken last week when she said they would be talking about dioramas in this episode (she should really remember to bring her notes and the schedule to recording sessions). That will come later in the month but today The Gals talk about all the little things around the house that they hate just tossing out (recycling or trashing) and how we can make them into some pretty cool art.

You are defiantly going to want to check out the Pintrest board we put together for this episode because it is full of incredible ideas that you are going to love. To see that board click here.

Loni and Katie covered a lot in this episode so be sure to listen and learn how to use empty toilet paper tubes, egg cartons, old tooth brushes, and your worn out shoes to create amazing arts and crafts!

The Gals don’t have any examples for you this week but as promised, here is the video tutorial for making the toothbrush bangles. She uses new brushes in this but we recommend repurposing your old ones like this instead of tossing them out (even if you use them for cleaning and painting they bristles are eventually going to be useless… keep the handle out of the landfill).

We love hearing your suggestions and comments (and topic requests). If you would like to share about projects using recycled items we would love to hear about them! You can email The Gals at twoartsygals@gmail.com. You can also call and leave a voicemail for them at 503-395-7190. Follow Two Arts Gals on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook by clicking on the links over in the margin… you can contact them on all their social media accounts. Subscribe to the show on iTunes and Stitcher for fresh episodes in your earholes as soon as they are available, and don’t forget to leave us some nice feedback.

Next week The Gals will be back to tell you all about starting your own art groups and running/hosting swaps with the people in your groups. It is a fun and informative episode (and subject we get a lot of questions about) so make sure to tune in and until next week… make some cool shit, yo!