SCRAP Tri-Cities offering ‘12 Days of Making’ in December

Forget partridges, pear trees, turtle doves and golden rings.

SCRAP Tri-Cities will spend its 12 days leading up to Christmas on hand-stitched stockings, paper magazine trees, snowflake ornaments and the like.

The creative reuse center in downtown Kennewick is organizing a “12 Days of Making” series, with classes on all sorts of holiday and winter-themed crafts.

The 12 Days event kicks off Dec. 2 with a picture frame wreath session.

Classes continue each business day — the center is open Wednesdays to Saturdays — through Dec. 19. Costs ranges from $5 to $25 and includes instructions and supplies.

“I think a lot of people are interested in making things, and we always have people coming in asking, ‘How do you do this? How do you make that?’ ” said Chrissa Terrel, SCRAP Tri-Cities co-director. “We always make a mental note and try to offer those classes.”

Rachael Gale, fellow co-director, added that the classes can offer a fun and creative alternative to buying gifts.

The SCRAP center opened earlier this year. It’s part of the nonprofit SCRAP USA network, which originated with the popular SCRAP Portland.

It sells art, craft and office supplies, from paint and frames to fabric, colored pencils, yarn and more.

The items are donated, and SCRAP’s overhead is low, so the prices are too.

The center also has a gallery, as well as a “reboutique” that offers handcrafted items made largely from reused material.

Since July, the creative reuse center has diverted nearly 2,950 pounds of material from the waste stream. Volunteers also have logged more than 200 hours.

Terrel and Gale said they’re looking forward to the 12 Days of Making classes, and they’re pleased with SCRAP Tri-Cities’ inaugural few months. It’s a special place, they said.

“It’s one of the few places where creative materials can be (taken) and resold, as opposed to being disposed of,” Gale said. “And it’s a really good place to get inspiration.”

SCRAP Tri-Cities could use more volunteers. For more information on how to help, go to www.scraptri-cities.org. The website also has information on making donations.

To sign up for 12 Days of Making classes, go to www.scraptri-cities.org/programs/craft-night.

SCRAP Tri-Cities also is offering holiday gift wrapping from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. during its days of operation.

The wrappers will dip into the center’s trove of donated blueprints to make the wrappings creative and unique.

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 10:30 PM with the headline "SCRAP Tri-Cities offering ‘12 Days of Making’ in December."