Thrifty Thursday-Use Whatcha Got

Looking forward to seeing these Johnny Jump-ups 
blooming in an old coffee can.

These seeds were itchin' to make their way into the garden

and there wasn't a spare pot in sight.

I gotta make do with what I can find.

Eggshells work.

I poked a small hole in the bottom with a nail and a shovel.

Just big enough for drainage.

We get these lovely eggs from Colleen,

who raises her chickens humanely.

An old strawberry container makes do as support.

Titan sunflower seeds were sown in these.

This variety could get 12 feet tall!

Nasturtiums are not only pretty to look at,

they're edible.

Since I didn't buy organic seed, I will just enjoy their beauty.

They are also supposed to be beneficial in keeping away

white flies and pumpkin beetles as stated here..

Guess we'll plant some of these near our pumpkin vines.

The outer shell is quite tough,

so it gets nicked with a pair of scissors or pruners.

It helps with germination.

I read about making pots out of tp and paper towel rolls here.

I've never seen white marigolds before.

These also keep away unwanted pests.

Those went into an egg crate I found in someone's recycle bin.

I poked holes in the bottom for drainage.

We'll keep them moist and soon have lots of transplants 
to add to the garden.

There's no end to possibilities for planting containers.
Don't think you need fancy equipment to be a good gardener.

Mother Nature does the hard part.
Happy gardening, y'all! 

repurposed ideas weekly




 

Thrifty Thursday-All Keyed Up

Earlier this month,

we repurposed a cabinet door from a kitchen project.

We turned it into a key corral.

I hadn't decided what I wanted in the blank white space.

Adding vintage to our home appealed to me,

and it needed to be a quick solution.

Decoupage seemed like the way to go.

Just a few materials were needed.

We always have butcher paper left over from packages we receive.

It was smoothed out just a bit.

Then the sides were creased...

and hand-torn.

We're going for a rustic look.

I laid the piece on the cabinet door to check for size.

Yup, that'll do.

 A vintage picture was found on a free online clipart source.

It was copied and printed out on computer paper.

 Then I checked to see if I liked the combination of rustic paper

and clean lines of the photograph.

Nope, it needed some tweaking.

(I'm not much for straight lines.)

 Using craft scissors,

the edges of the picture were trimmed.

Yeah, I like the contrast better this way.

The adhesive was placed on the butcher paper.

I left the wrinkles 'cause I liked it that way.

Gives it more character.

(At least, that's what I keep telling myself about wrinkles!)

Then the photo was glued onto the butcher paper.

Just eyeball it.

It's supposed to look handmade!

A few coats of adhesive over the whole thing

adds a sepia-type tone to it.

You could probably use the spray adhesive,

if that's what you have on hand.

  

Hope you have time to craft something useful soon!











repurposed ideas weekly

Thrifty Thursday-We've Been Framed!

 There's been a lot of painting goin' on around here lately.

Don't know what got into me.

I felt the need to simplify.

 

The frames in our bedroom had been this sage green color for a while.
It was time for a change.

Shades of chocolate now surround us.

I guess it makes sense.

It's something that gives true pleasure.

Our handy-dandy drying rack came to the rescue.

With the sun and cool temps cooperating,

the paint dried in no time.

Pictures were removed from some

and replaced with family treasures.

This is a pillow case hand-sewn by my mom

when she was in boarding school as a girl in France.

I think it's a work of art.

It's one of the first things you notice
as you enter the foyer.
It helps me keep Mimi near,
even though she is no longer living with us. 

This is a repurpose project.
When we had our kitchen cabinet replaced,
we had two extra doors, because we just put the old ones back on
(they hadn't suffered any damage).
I'd been wanting to change out our key corral,
so I just painted the outer edge 
and glued some clothespins on the front.
(I've got a thing for clothespins.)
The keys fit over the clothespin tops,
or can be used to hold letters 
destined for the mailbox.
I'm still thinking about what I want to do with the white surface.
(I finally figured it out here.)

 This frame had been in Lil' Guy's bathroom
with pictures of him as a baby in the bathtub.
As we're preparing our house for staging,
family pictures are replaced with less personal items.
I simply placed a couple of landscape photos 
from our last vacation, and a few encouraging words 
in the newly painted frame.

The change has done us good!
I'm enjoying the unified color scheme.
It seems calmer, more pulled together.
Such a simple thing that packs a punch.
I won't wait so long next time to shake things up.

 

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Thrifty Thursday-Recent Finds

Recently I made my way to Jane's curiosity shop

and came out with these beauties.

This corn seed sack was a total surprise.

I've never seen one for sale before.

I'm thinking of keeping my homemade bread in it.

This linen napkin was the perfect shade of brown

and only cost a buck.

If there had been more of them,

I would have snatched them up.

I'm looking for some this color 
to line the insides of cupboards and cabinets.

I prefer using fabric to paper liners.

For now, this one will be used on the foyer table.

She had several of these colored metal bins.

 

It's being used in the bathroom drawer

to hold our supply of bar soap.

I couldn't pass this beauty up.
I've gotten aprons from this shop before,
but this one was callin' my name!
And just in time for Valentine's Day!

Hope you get to spend the day 
doing something you love
with someone who means the world to you. 

 
photo credit