Creative Junk Therapy allows customers to get crafty with everyday items

Liz Langevin and her son, Joseph, are taking old jars, broken toys, and cans to make something new at Creative Junk Therapy in Brandon.

It's a place to give purpose to everyday items that may otherwise wind up in the trash.

"We're a creative use center. We support local artists and the community. We're a combination of a thrift shop and a gallery and an art center for the community. The whole purpose is to try and encourage the reuse concept and try and get more people upcycling and doing cool things with the art," said Executive Director Karen Koseck.

Toilet or paper towel rolls could become a penguin or a shark.

"We have everything from bottle caps to lids from medicine bottles. We've salvaged over 6,000 pounds of salvage materials and saved them from the landfills," said Koseck.

Lori McDaniel says Creative Junk Therapy has helped her grow as an artist. 

"I never painted before in my life and Karen taught me and now it's led to me producing art good enough to show and that I'm proud of. I teach classes and I show my art and try to inspire and help wherever I can," said McDaniel.

"Our hope is to try and encourage artists at any level to be able to come in, show their work, teach it to other people, sell it, display it," said Koseck.

"You come in here and you see all the small things that people can make and it's just incredible what imagination can bring out in a person," said Joseph Langevin.

And you can create memories too.

"There's no phones and internet and Wi-Fi and gaming and you know what there's an actual moment we can talk to each other and just kind of bond for a little bit. It just lets my mind kind of take a break from the stresses of things and stuff," said Liz Langevin.

For more information about Creative Junk Therapy, https://www.creativejunktherapy.org/