Who We Are &
What We Stand For

from the creators of Craft Supply Swap 💖

Our Mission

Connecting our community of artists, teachers, hobbyists, and makers by giving new life to unused creative supplies. Through swaps, a community shop, and events, we model abundance, sustainability, and creativity while diverting materials from the waste stream.

Our Vision

A thriving Montana hub where creativity, reuse, and connection fuel resilience. By celebrating abundance and sharing supplies, we imagine a state where every community has access to affordable, inspiring materials and a place to gather.

Our Pillars

Smiling person wearing a crown unwrapping giant roll of black fabric

Abundance Exists 💗

What we need already exists; there's enough to share. We believe in the power of community resources and collective creativity.

Young woman smiles and holds leather scrap while older woman feels it

Creative Community 🧑‍🎨

Making together builds connection and joy. Creativity flourishes when we gather, share, and inspire each other.

Women sit around a table looking at colorful fabric squares

Reuse as Resilience and Reciprocity ♻️

Creative reuse strengthens our community and supports sustainability. Every material shared is a step toward environmental stewardship and connection.

Our Impact 💖

How it Works

Community Shop, secondhand arts & crafts supplies + workshops 🧵

We support individual creative impact through our retail shop. We provide the service of sourcing supplies, repackaging them into kits and workshops, and make materials available to our community with convenience and ease - especially over the long winter months. We make it easy to start or finish a project - on your own or with someone! We host workshops and socials so you can meet a new creative friend.

Craft Supply Swap, a gift to our community 💝

We organize free swaps to connect our community of artists, crafters, and makers with unused supplies. Everything is free; you do not need to bring materials to participate. In addition to the joy of finding new-to-you supplies and letting go of those you do not use (get ready to make someone's day!), we welcome you to connect with other creative folks at these events.

Items not taken by swappers will be redistributed by Creative Reuse Montana. We work hard to find a new home for every last supply. Some of the items may end up in the shop (including kits or workshops), partners, or be shared with local programs through our Art & Education Supplies project.

Art & Education Supplies, creative supplies for local programs 🎨

We source supplies for teachers, youth programs, senior centers, memory care, and other creative groups. We shop based on a program’s wishlist, develop activities and package supplies for them, and work to support organizations with bulk supplies, low cost options, and less prep time for projects.

Our Story

How It Started

We started with a free Craft Supply Swap in November 2024. We wondered, does anyone else have arts and crafts supplies they aren’t using that other makers would like? Would they want to share them? (We filled 11 tables!)

Then it got a little bigger...

We moved the Craft Supply Swap to the Old Lumberyard in May 2025! We had 21 tables of supplies that went to new homes! We leaned into distributing free supplies to programs and groups.

And then a little tinier...

We hosted free pop-up swaps for Wishberry Hollow Fairy Village makers, Back-to-School Storage Shopping for teachers and educators, and brought supplies to make clothes or embellish them to Bozeman Fashion Week at Studio Wheelhouse!

The October 2025 Swap was AMAZING!

We brought in 4,126 pounds of supplies spread out on 31 tables at the Old Lumberyard. All but 750 pounds went to new homes! People reconnected with friends in the context of creativity, wondered what others were making, and made someone’s day with the supplies they donated!

How It’s Going

We opened a shop for between swaps! We are operating out of the Studio 49 building. We have secondhand arts & crafts supplies and workshops! We want to make it easy for you to find your next project, start a new one, finish one, and meet a new creative friend. We’re just getting started!

Arts & Education Supplies

We’re eager to lean into our arts & education supplies program - focusing on getting supplies to youth programs, teachers, senior centers, and memory care centers. We’re looking for both donations and volunteers to support getting more supplies to these community services!

More Free Swaps :)

If finding the right supplies for free makes your day, just wait until you get to make this happen for someone else! Creative Reuse Montana will continue to support or free swaps – and you can too! Bring supplies, bring a friend, bring your creativity! In spring 2025, we held a free Craft Supply Swap at Eagle Mount Bozeman and mini swaps in Livingston to help crafters find supplies AND find their people.

Our Organization

Who is helping make this happen?

A lot of people! We've got people with all kinds of skills and knowledge supporting the creation of Creative Reuse Montana. From answering survey questions to help us prioritize the supplies and then actually sorting them and creating kits - we have a place for you! Contact us to get involved. 💖

We are community-driven. We are currently supported by volunteers. We will need to have paid positions so Creative Reuse Montana can support our team as contributing members of our community. One of the great joys of this project has been meeting and collaborating with folks in our community. Many of them connected through the craft supply swaps, which is an example of the powerful impact of creating opportunities for connection.

We are led by Emily Yost and many dedicated, creative volunteers. The people who shape our organization are:

Emily Yost (watercolor) - Emily is the founding swap organizer, LLC owner, and project driver. She is fully dedicated to this project. She has a background in lean product management, ecommerce and retail technology, was a child advocate, and has produced creative projects with artists and writers. Her favorite projects involve people bringing their unique gifts together to create something that didn’t already exist.
Laura White (oil painting) - Laura is a former hospital administrator and medical social worker, now an art teacher! Laura reached out to Emily in summer 2025 because she needed art supplies for an elementary school art program with limited funding. She has been an integral part of helping us develop a physical space, developing kits and programming, and being an important sounding board as we grow.
Roberta Connelly (lampwork glass beadmaker) - Roberta is a retired medical writer and spreadsheet whiz. She is one of our earliest volunteer signups with the first swap, hosted swap storage, brings organization and delight to details, and now volunteers at the shop. She moved to the area three years ago and enjoys meeting people through the swap and shop.
Melissa Johansen (knitting) - Melissa is a pastor and community leader focused on feeding people in mind, body, and spirit. She led our swap social media, cultivating the welcoming voice with care. She has done literal and figurative heavy lifting and is an important advisor.
Kay Potter (painting: K Potter Fine Art, The Artist's Guide to Business) - Kay is a fine artist and art business coach. She has provided important business strategy discussion, technical expertise for supporting systems, and facilitated our swap debrief.
Lindsey Hanna (needlework, bullet journals) - Lindsey is a software developer and brings an engineering perspective to projects. She organized the former Google Women Techmakers group in Bozeman. She initiated, named, and created the poster for our chill adult craft night, which has been consistently attended since November 2025 by 4-12 people weekly.

How does this fit in with the Craft Supply Swap?

The Craft Supply Swap is how we got started! 💖 The swaps are a gift to our community. We heard doing a Swap once or twice a year wasn’t enough to meet our community’s need for art and craft supplies, as well as the need for connection and community building. So we opened Creative Reuse Montana in Livingston to expand and continue the work that began with the Craft Supply Swap! We love connecting with creative folks and groups and would love to team up with you for pop-ups.

So, we wondered if we could make more creative supplies available to our community between swaps - especially over the winter - and the shop is our answer to that! The Swap is a creative, community exercise in abundance that we look forward to each fall (and spring, depending on volunteer availability). We love connecting with creative folks and groups and would love to team up with you for pop-ups. You can find volunteer opportunities on the Craft Supply Swap website.

Are you a nonprofit organization?

No. We've listened and learned from the experience of numerous nonprofit leaders (and crafters): we have chosen to operate as a small business (LLC) at this time so we can be nimble and focus our efforts on the areas where we can make the most impact for our creative community. You may donate directly to Creative Reuse Montana.

The Community Creative Reuse Supply (Craft Supply Swap and Arts & Education Supplies) is sponsored by the Community Outdoor Recreation Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. To make a tax-deductible donation to this project, see Donate.

Who We Are & What We Stand For