This title may be a little confusing as it almost suggests I am using old pieces of artwork to celebrate the new year.

This is totally not my intention.

I hope all you wonderful young artists and your families and friends had a joyous time and are now looking forward to a healthy, happy creative new year.

As a grandparent, I know how difficult it is to lure children away from electronic devices. Fortunately for me my children, their parents, are all creative and encourage 'making and doing' away from screen time. They enjoyed making crystals and bath bombs and playing simple games of skittles, among other traditional ways of actually 'playing'.

We had fun flying a sensory fairy around the kitchen and jumping around on a sponge pogo stick bought especially for my autistic grandson. I think the adults enjoyed all the activities as much as or sometimes more than the children. Mobiles were put to one side, the house was a tip, and the screams of laughter rang through the house.

SPLENDID!!

Now, as an artist, I tend to squirrel away any packaging and unwanted boxes that are thrown aside after presents are opened, and these tossed-away items provide an amalgamation of useful collage resources for endless art projects.

My studio is crammed with boxes and bags filled with scraps of various materials that may become useful . They usually do.

In this day of recycling awareness, this time of year is an ideal opportunity to become creative with Christmas 'leftovers'. I want to encourage children and young people to see potential in otherwise discarded items. Practically all packaging can be given a second life and rescued from the binmen. For example, nearly everyone will have received or purchased a tin of biscuits. The plastic compartment trays are excellent for inventing a space landscape or merely a 3D abstract collage. Beads can be dropped into each section for an added effect.

Get out the glue, scissors, masking tape and paint. Throw in a bin liner of 'rubbish', 'stuff' and 'precious materials', and let their imagination run wild. It will be a chaotic mess but fun and rescue these young artists from mindless screen time.

If I watched more than an hour's TV as a child, my grandma used to say, 'You'll get square eyes.'

Granted it was in the 1950s, but my husband said it today to our granddaughter when she was transfixed by her dad's laptop. She glanced at him as if he'd fallen off the Xmas tree. It made me smile.

Also some parents have a clear-out of old toys that are no longer played with or are outgrown. As well as donating to charity shops, these too may provide inspiration to be reinvented into some Heath Robinson-designed concoction. Imagine the satisfaction. A whole family activity. What fun.

This hopefully explains the title of this article now.

The images I have included today are mainly new submissions, which proves that even throughout the festive season, families and children and still focusing on art and being creative. I am always pleased to hear how parents are encouraging their children to continue to produce artwork through paintings or other various mediums.

My next call out, on Curatospace online, will be COLLAGE in keeping with the new year and recycling all our Christmas packaging. The only difference will be a request for 2D rather than 3D work, making it more suitable to showcase in the newspaper. I look forward to your exciting submissions.

Please submit to my email purplegrandma48@gmail.com or for all details go to Curatorspace Online