Baby Sock Advent Calendar

Sorry, I realize we are halfway though the advent season but I saw this and just had to share because it may be the cutest holiday countdown idea ever and it involves repurposing!  I'm smitten.  Head over to Rhythm of the Home for details!

Homemade Halloween

Filth Wizardry has a wealth of ideas for your recyclables including Milk Jug Storm Trooper Helmets. Near the end of the post you will also find links for milk jug batman masks, homemade light sabers and milk jug "treat pots" for trick-or-treating.  Plan to stay a while, this blog is full of great stuff!

Halloween Ideas

Savers/Value Village had some great Halloween decorating and party ideas last year.  Fortunately, I bookmarked that section of their site because they have updated it and I had to pull up my bookmarks to find these again.  As with the back-to-school ideas I posted last month, there are lots of examples of how to turn thrift store items into seasonal ones.  "Dolls of the Living Dead" and "Sinister Ceramics" are just a few examples.   The instructions can be downloaded in PDF format.  You may want to download them before this page disappears!

iPhone Holder

I love this idea I found on GreenDiary for reusing silverware.  I want one!

by ForkedUpArt

Green Fashion

I follow Eco-Artware on facebook.  They have a couple of fascinating posts this week.  One is an article from treehugger about an art camp in The Hamptons.  The kids there participated in a recycled fashion challenge and created pieces like the one below.

The other post was especially interesting to me because I had just been considering how to reuse medicine bottles a few days earlier.  For me this is a wonderful example of how exciting it is to see something old and familiar used in a new way.  Go here to see recycled pill bottles by LilacPOP.

ReUse Connection

A splendid idea!  ReUse Connection is not live yet but according to the info they have up now, it will be in the next few months.  I predict it's going to be big!  In the meantime, you can follow them on facebook.


From the site:
"Have you ever wanted to get rid of something but didn't want to throw it away...and yet not known what to do with it?  Come visit ReUse Connection and see what people around the world do with everything from old shoes to chemicals to anything you can imagine.

Take Beth, who doesn't want her old CDs to go into the landfill. She posts "CDs" on RC, and global users tell her that they ReUse "CDs" as compact mirrors in their purses, as scarecrow substitutes in their gardens, or as paper weights after they glue them together.

Mila's Daydream

I love this blog I just found called Mila's Daydream. Mila's mom Adele Enersen says "This is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I try to imagine her dream and capture it."  She does a beautiful job.  Go check out the rest of the pictures.  They are very inventive and lots of fun! 

Some Project Ideas for you

Have you seen the pamphlets at Hobby Lobby in the fabric section?  They have some interesting ideas in them.  You can download them here.  Also click here to get Hobby Lobby's weekly coupon.  You might want to bookmark the link.  The link doesn't change but the coupon does.  This week it's 40% off one regular priced item.  Last week it was 30% off Rustoleum or Krylon spray paint (no limit!)
Speaking of Krylon, their website has lots of spray paint project ideas and techniques like this one.

Check it out!

Thrift Store Trip

I went to the thrift store yesterday. A few months ago, it would have been news if there was a day when I hadn't been to a thrift store. I have been trying to declutter, use what I have and stay out of the stores. (I am proud to say that I started my Totally 80s theme week with the purchase of two 97 cent cans of black spray paint and the only other thing I ended up buying for my projects was a 35 cent spool of ribbon (on sale at Hancock) for The Boot!)

Look what I found on my little outing!

No date tiles and it cost four times 

more than the other one--four whole bucks!

Ready for a transformation? 

I'm thinking of making pincushions with this stuff.

 Another theme week?

And finally, it's nice when you find something for a buck

that doesn't need any work!

Turning "Trash" into Fashion

I was looking at some different repurposing ideas and came across this.  There are some interesting ones here but why do they have to call it "trashion"? *groan*

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Mauve to Mahvelous, Part 2: Chunky Hearts!

Welcome to day two of Theme Week: Totally 80s!
Today's victim:

Chunk heart city

My son loves that the middle of the hearts makes a star.

My first thought was to paint it...black.  Which I did.  Then I was going to Mod Podge some crazy colorful scrapbooking papers to the hearts.  I have a lot of scrapbooking paper for just such a task.  But you know what I really wanted?  A bright yellow with a cloverleaf pattern.  I did not have that.  But I did have...

 some radiator grill with a cloverleaf pattern 

and crayons.

I ended up using crayon rubbings of items around my house.  Talk about budget-friendly!

After I did the rubbings, I cut out heart shapes and Mod Podged them on.  Here is the result, which I am quite pleased with!

The drama of black and color!

Love!

Linking to:

From Mauve to Mahvelous, Part 1

Welcome to Theme Week: Totally 80s!

Back in the 80s, mauve was the hot color and we apparently didn't pronounce it correctly.  (It rhymes with "rove"...and I still think it feels weird to say it the right way.)  Thrift stores are rife with things that are obviously from the 1980s and well, really tired-looking:  hearts, ducks, mauve, sad "country" blue, peach.  It's kind of a challenge to re-imagine and update them.  That's what this week is all about.  (Though, seriously, I think I might have to draw the line at ducks.  The challenge may be too great.  Are you up for it?  I may have an Update a Duck link party...)

Here is my first victim.

Would you like a rocking horse with that raffia?

Babygirl needs a make-under.

News flash!  I like to paint things black.  I could have painted her red but that would have required a purchase and I'm stash-busting, folks.  I roughed up the edges with sandpaper to make her "shabby chic" et puis voilà!

Doesn't she look mahvelous?

Tomorrow: Mauve to Mahvelous, Part 2: Chunky Hearts!

Linked to:

The Gypsy's Corner

Money-saving + recipe

I don't usually talk about coupons or recipes here, but today I have a few odds and ends:

CVS stores have been springing up in St. Louis over the past year.  Shopping there can be a lot of fun because you can get ECBs (Extra Care Bucks-like money toward a future purchase) for buying certain things.  I used to shop CVS and Walgreens like a pro when I lived in Texas.  (Once at Walgreens I spent 4 cents for about $57 worth of stuff and got a rebate back on one item and a coupon good for $5 off my next purchase!)  This week at CVS you can get a 6x8, 10 page photo album for $7.99 and then get back $7.99 in ECBs, so it's free.  Nicole at Nicole's Nickels has some tips on how to make your photo book here.

Did you know that you can make cinnamon rolls from Trader Joe's (99 cent) pizza dough?  You could also use Pillsbury French Loaf (but it would take 2 cans and run you about $5).  I first read about this idea on My Dear Trash (go visit!) and then found this recipe for IKEA-Inspired Cinnamon Rolls on the kitchn (yet another chapter of apartment therapy).  They are so delicious!  We have been missing IKEA and their cinnamon rolls!

Lastly, I am trying to dig in to my thrift store stash and make some new things and I have decided to do a theme week: Totally 80s!  Come back this week and see how I update things that are obviously products of the 80s: chunky hearts, mauve, lace and peach ribbon and maybe ducks.  I don't know.  Wooden ducks are as quintessentially 80s as mauve and that sad shade of country blue.  Can they be updated?

An "Ode" to DIY and a Note to You

I really dig Ode Magazine.  They have a blog article celebrating the do-it-yourself spirit, "For example, sewing a couch cushion, growing a food garden, painting walls, or unclogging a toilet -- have you ever done these things yourself?"  Well, I wasn't going to mention it, but last week I unclogged my own toilet and it was really, um...empowering.  There I said it.  It felt good.  Let me know if you ever need to borrow a toilet auger.


A note:  My sister surprised me the other day by saying that she would never have thought of doing the projects that I have done on this blog because she's not that creative.  But the thing is, she is at least as creative as I am, if not more.  The only difference is I am "in the flow" as I like to call it.  (I don't actually call it that, but I'm sure going to start!)  Once you start creating it's kind of hard to stop.  Like a sickness.  Exercise that creativity muscle.  Mod Podge something or paint something.  Look around for inspiration.     


It's like writing.  They say if you want to be a writer, you should write every day.  See this Daily Pep Talk from a Best Friend called Today, You Become a Writer.  Today you become a creator!  Make time for it.


No excuses, OK?  We are going to get the ball rolling for you.  Only have like 10 minutes?  Go to wordle.net and create your own "beautiful word cloud" by pasting in your favorite quote or favorite attributes or whatever you want.  Then toy around with it until it is just the way you want it, print it out, hang it up on your bulletin/inspiration board and be proud of what you made!  So easy and fun!  (If you want to share, post a link in the comments section. I'd love to see what you make!)


Here is one I made using a quote from Louise Erdrich's The Painted Drum.  

Here is the text: 

Ravens are the birds I'll miss most when I die.  If only the darkness into which we must look were composed of the black light of their limber intelligence.  If only we did not have to die at all.  Instead, become ravens.  I've watched these birds so hard I feel their black feathers split out of my skin.  To fly from one tree to another, the raven hangs itself, hawklike, on the air.  I hang myself that same way in sleep, between one day and the next.  When we're young, we think we are the only species worth knowing.  But the more I come to know people, the better I like ravens.  If I have a religious practice, it is the watching of these birds.

You know, I made this quite a while ago and suddenly it occurs to me this would be great to Mod Podge on something...stay tuned!

Update:  See what I made with my Wordle here.