Thrift Store Re-Use Idea: Plant Clipping Containers

If you're a plant person who takes small clippings from your thriving plants to turn into new plants, here's a little idea for you. 

I used to put my clippings in old jars and cups by a window, and they never really looked great.  But, lately I've been picking up pretty glass candle holders from the thrift store and using those instead, which makes the clippings look even prettier than potted plants while I wait for their roots to grow.

One of my favorite spots in our new house is this little window box right above the kitchen sink.  It's a perfect spot for plants and delicate things to keep them out of the kids' reach.  Plus, being in Minnesota in January, it's really nice to be able to look up while doing dishes and see green plants and colorful glass, rather than the usual brown and white.

A couple hanging candle holders from the thrift store, hung  with little screw-in hooks in the window box "ceiling"

I love this little blue one that hangs on it's own stand

Colorful glass bottles work great too, especially for this straight bamboo!

There are so many cool options for your clippings if you think outside of the box!  How about some pretty vases, or even wine glasses?  So next time you're in the thrift store or at a garage sale, if you're a plant person, be sure to peruse the glass and candle holder aisles...the possibilities are endless!

My Recycled Trivet Rug

If you are an avid reader, you may remember this post from over a year ago of a cool rug made from old trivets.  I've been collecting trivets at thrift stores and garage sales since then, and finally finished my own trivet rug!

 I incorporated a couple placemats and little coasters in there as well, which are made of the same material as the trivets.  I laid them out on the floor, then stitched them together with fishing line.  I was a little worried that these could scratch up the wood floor over time, so I glued a non-slip rug pad/mat thing on the back and then trimmed around the edges with a scissors.

It's not quite perfect but I still like it.  :-)  We'll see how it stands the test of time with two little boys and two big dogs!

 Speaking of dogs, here's Amos.  He thinks I should post about his awesome doggy self instead of that stupid rug.  He'll have to settle for a photo of himself AND the rug.  ;-)

Amazing recycled ball gowns

I know, it's been forever since I've posted!!  Life sure is getting busy these days!  I came across this blog post today and just had to share these ball gowns made from recycled materials.  Check out the link to see more.

Also, here are a few other posts you may enjoy from my other blog:

• Homemade teacher gift ideas

• What we did for Halloween this year (including a homemade thrift store costume, & of course jack-o-lanterns)

• How to turn baby food jars into Halloween decor

• Egg carton pumpkins
• A very special garage sale find

Junk Bonanza Vendor Spotlight: MakeShift Accessories

 Alright, I got a little bit of a late start this week but here's the first of a few Junk Bonanza vendor spotlights I promised!

Today's vendor spotlight is on artist Devin Johnson of Makeshift Accessories! 

Love the signage!

Devin Johnson, the creative engine behind MakeShift Accessories

 Devin turns a very interesting selection of recycled, antique, salvaged, and other found objects into real things of beauty...

I was really drawn to his amazing metal cuffs, which showcase some unique illustrations and typography from various found metal objects:

As an industrial and graphic designer who has both engineered things and illustrated their components and use instructions, these really caught my eye, especially this one above with assembly instructions.  

 These are just way cool...are they gears?  They seem too pretty to be!

Cool money clip embellished with a key...I love the little exposed hardware details.

Rings...super cool...

Colorful array of rings made from street signs!

Cuffs made from street signs...check out the reflecting flash! I think I need some of these, you know, for safety reasons while walking out at night.  Yeah, that's it...good justification!!

Devin makes some awesome leather cuffs too.  I have a thing for keys!

Sweet curly fork and leather cuff

Devin gets the bragging rights of being the one and only vendor at the Junk Bonanza to have inspired me to whip out my wallet and buy something! :-)

Here's the little beauty I picked up at this year's Junk Bonanza from MakeShift Accessories:

Isn't it cool?!  It was the last blue one left...and according to Devin, it is made from an antique metal ruler from Italy, and he hasn't been able to find anymore since.

He had a bunch of silver rulers with black letters, but this one jumped out at me for the contrast.  Some upcycled objects I love for how subtle they are about what they're made of....this one I love for how much it screams "RULER!"  Plus it's one of those tools I use a lot as a designer so it was very "me."

So, be sure to stop on over to Devin's website, as well as his Etsy shop, and check out his Facebook Page!  Thanks for the awesome conversation piece, Devin!  :-)

What to Do with Doilies?

Woah, it's been a crazy busy summer and fall for my face painting business, so I blame that on my absence from blogging!  However, I recently got addicted to Pinterest and have found some really fun things.  This post is all Pinterest finds!

I bought a few a couple years back from a fund raiser for an animal rescue place...really beautiful hand made doilies for just $1 each.  Being a crocheter, I can really appreciate the work that goes into them. But, people just don't put them around their house much anymore.  So, what to do to bring 'em out of the attic and into the 21st century?  Here are some fun ideas!

Check out this gorgeous doily lamp!

This cute baby mobile uses paper doilies, although you could put some fabric stiffener in real doilies and make a better lasting one.

Another idea for paper doilies, unless you want to dye your real ones...but a fun idea for the fall season!

These luminaries are really pretty, and you can re-use some mason jars at the same time!

I always find these embroidery hoops at thrift stores...here's a great idea to pair them with doilies for some pretty wall art!

I think this table runner is a great way to showcase special doilies that may have been passed down or hand made from your grandparents or great grandparents!

Recycled Planter Roundup!

What's greener than upcycling something? Why, planting something green IN that something, of course!!

It's that time of year when plants are springing up all over the place.  Well, we're lagging behind a bit here in MN after a winter of record breaking snowfall, but that makes us appreciate the greener things in life all the more. 

Since moving into our new home, which is landscaped with beautiful perennials everywhere I look, I have LOVED watching our new yard reveal itself.  I'm also excited to plant some stuff, now that our yard isn't all shade. With so much landscaping already done though, it's hard to find places to plant things. So, I have been inspiring myself with some fun recycled planter ideas online, as a way that I can still plant things elsewhere...on the deck, the patio, along the sidewalk, etc.  Here are a few fun recycled planter ideas that caught my eye! 

Check out this cool recycled barrel planter over at Design Sponge. Makes me wish I had a barrel to recycle!

Here's a cool little urban garden in London, where they've turned old 55 gallon drums and plywood into planters with built in seating.

Even old tires can be turned into pretty cool giant planters.

This recycled chandelier is just WAY too cool.  That's it...I'm putting old chandeliers on my garage sale and thrift store shopping list!!

How about an old book?  This is super cool.  I'm thinking, if you used a book about gardening, all the better.  I wonder if you couldn't stack several of these to make a larger "pot."  This would be such a neat gift for a teacher, or a housewarming gift for a book lover.

And, of course, I have to end with a link back to one of my old posts where I turned a bbq grill into a planter!

Happy [creative] planting! :-)

Recycled Paper Garland: A Great Project for the Kids!

We have this sweet lady across the street who saves fliers and various pieces of scrap paper for my boys to color on.  The other day we were visiting in our cul-de-sac and she ran back in the house to bring me a stack of colorful fliers.  So, since it's raining and we're stuck inside, today I thought we'd utilize this colorful paper and make a project...paper garland!  This is a great project to recycle scrap paper including junk mail!

Supplies needed:

- Paper (colored and/or white)

- Scissors

- String or yarn

- Toothpick or skewer and some tape (or a blunt plastic tapestry needle that's safe for kids)

- Glue

- Crayons, Markers, etc

- Hole punch

- Optional extras: paper edger scissors, paper crimper, paper punch, glitter, stickers, etc...

Our stack of paper from our neighbor.  (It's all blank on one side)

So, basically we made various kinds of beads out of paper to string on our piece of yarn...

 This project is great for short little attention spans because there are many different things to do...color, cut, glue, punch, string, etc.  I started by having Sammy fill the white pages with colors. While he did that I got the string and "needle" ready...

 

I swear I use these bamboo skewers for craft projects more often than for cooking.  I cut one in half and used some masking tape to secure one end of yarn to it, and had a nice "needle" that was easy for kids to use.  On the other end I tied a bread bag tab just to keep the beads from sliding off.

Once I got that ready Sammy had a colorful piece of paper to turn into tube-shaped beads...

 

I cut it into a couple strips.

...then rolled them up the long way and glued it into a long tube.

 

 Hold the tube with the seam against the table for a few seconds for the glue to grab hold and dry a bit.

 

I did this with pieces of the colored paper too. Some of them I let the writing show to add a little graphical interest...others I rolled so the blank side showed.

Now have some fun looking through the tubes or pretending they are walrus tusks or giant straws...

 

 Next we get to play with SCISSORS!  Cut the tubes up into beads!

 ...meanwhile, Toby is having a blast tearing up my kitchen.  This is one of his favorite activities.  But, since he's still at the crayon eating stage, I let him trash the place explore while we do projects. 

 I'm not sure where you even get these things, because I found them at a garage sale, but Sammy had a blast rolling strips of paper through this paper crimping tool.  We then used the crimped paper in some of our other "beads."

Another type of bead we made was just a strip of paper folded back and fourth in a zig-zag...

 ...Then we used a hole punch to go through the whole thing. You can also easily make flat beads by cutting different shapes and punching holes in them.  We did circles, squares, triangles, and of course, fish.

Here are some of our beads. It might be helpful to you to put them in two piles...the 3-dimensional ones and the flat ones. (an opportunity for your child to learn how to sort things)  This will help with threading them, because it works best to alternate flat ones and 3-D ones.  (thus preventing smaller tubes from slipping inside the larger ones) Then you can tell your child to alternate between the two piles.

 A little tip, if you're making fish, you can easily make mouths with a hole punch only half way on the paper. ;-) Depending on your child's level of patience and attention span, they could even decorate/color each fish.  (Milk this sitting-down-being-busy thing for all you can!)

 Now you can really keep your kiddo's fingers busy with threading their beads on the string!  Sammy didn't last for all of that part so Mommy finished it up.  But I figure, hey, if I can get him to sit and work on something creative with me for even a few minutes every day, I'm doing my job!

 Don't be afraid to let your kid's creativity take over and side track from the project.  Their little heads are full of great ideas!! Sammy picked up one of his little "tube" beads and said "We can make it into a tiny little cup!"

 ...to which I replied, "That's a GREAT idea!  I'll make a handle!"  And, we made a tiny little cup.  Well, proportionally it looks more like a pitcher, but he got a kick out of it.

 

 Sipping some pretend water from our teeny tiny little cup!  Sammy had another great idea too.  When we strung a white tube between two flat squares he said, "Momma! It's a paper s'mores! Let's make paper s'mores!"  (And of course, we DID, complete with a paper fire pit to roast over, but I'll save that one for another post!)

So you see, a little side-tracking is great for the imagination! Now, back to the project at hand...

 Concentrating on stringing the beads. I think the long length of the bamboo skewer as opposed to just the end of the string made it easier to feed the string through the beads.

 We got quite a string going!

 Sammy showing off his awesome paper garland!  If you don't have the patience to make a long string, you could also do these as little vertical dangling decorations too, much like the hearts we made on Valentine's day.

 So much fun!  I hung it on the underside of our fireplace mantle, where it currently waits for Daddy to come home to see!

 There are an infinite amount of things you can do with paper. This is one project that ANYONE can do.  Feel free to go nuts on your paper decorating too...glitter them up if you want!  Heck, you can even throw in some cheerio's or dry pasta in there.  Anything with a hole in it goes. Got little girls? Make it into a necklace!

This project can so easily be adapted to go along with any holiday theme!  With Memorial day coming up, try making this with red, white and blue paper and cut some star shapes.  You'll have some one-of-a-kind decorations for your Memorial day bbq and a great conversation piece!  Put some supplies out on a little table if you have kids coming over and they can make their own to take home!

Enjoy those rainy days....Happy paper recycling! :-)