Repurpose and Reuse Ideas

Hi there!  I'm so glad you stopped by.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to 2013, with all the ups and downs it will certainly offer.

Today, I'm going to share how I take random things and use them in different areas.  I hope it will inspire you to change things up a bit.

I L.O.V.E. to take things and use them in random areas.  Such as.......

The great lights my husband found. 

They were in a building that is over 100 years old, where they make furniture. 

They were switching out these lights and they were going to through them in the garbage!  Can you believe it? Throwing these beauties away.  Insert my scream here!

So, being the amazing husband that he is, and knowing my love for reusing things and my obsession with lights, he brought them home to me. 

We added these Edison Bulbs that you can find at Home Depot, and instantly fell in love with them.

To me, they are the focal point of our kitchen/dining room.

At another remodel he was working on, a gentleman was re-doing his bathroom. 

He had 2  bathroom light fixtures that he was going to throw out.  Again, my husband brought them home for me to see what I would do with them.

I hung one of them on our deck of course!

It hangs above the table in our little sitting area.  I would show you the deck, but it is covered with snow and not looking very pretty right now. 

I love to look out our patio door and see this charming little light hanging there.

Remember how I've told you that when you decorate, especially a large space, have a focal point.  Something that you will decorate around.

Well, I've decided that I am going to decorate around a mirror that I have had sitting in the basement since I redid my bathroom. 

Remember this mirror?

Well, I'm going to use it on the fireplace, as my focal/starting point. 

Since I'm convinced I have the biggest fireplace on the planet, which makes it really difficult to decorate, I need something huge to anchor it.

Stay tuned to see the mirror face lift and how I am going to decorate my mantel for Winter/Valentine's Day.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  It means the world to me.

Kelly

Hostess Gift

Hi there!  I'm so glad you stopped by.

Are you attending a party or dinner in the next week?  If you are like our family, you are doing both.

I have a super easy gift idea for you.

A candle with a decorative sleeve.

You can put this together in less than 30 minutes.

Last year, I got candles from Yankee Candle for 75% off, on the day after Christmas. 

Another place to get great candles is Walmart.  You can get the large ones for $5.00 and they smell as good as the Yankee Candle.

I bought a bunch and have stored them knowing that they would make great hostess gifts.

So here's how easy they are to dress up.

Take a piece of burlap and cut it about 2 inches larger than the candle.  Fold over the edge and hot glue it in place.

Next I took a metal Christmas ornament I had and fished a piece of twine through the hole. 

I wrapped it around the top of the jar and hot glued the knot, I also glued the ornament to the front, to keep it in place.  

Put it in a gift bag and you are set to show the hostess how much all her hard work means to you.

You could use so many things for this project.  Fabric and ribbon.  Craft paper and stickers.  Let your imagination run wild, ladies.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  It means the world to me!

Kelly

Easy Christmas Swag

Hi there.  I am so glad you stopped by!

Tonight, I want to share with you what I made for our railing. A Christmas Swag.

I decided I wanted to downplay the handrail and jazz up the corner posts.

  In years past, I've typically decorated the ever lovin daylights out of the railing and done a single bow on the corner posts. 

This year, I'm living on the edge and changing it up!

So, here is what I came up with.



These were so easy to make and with only a few items, you can make a big statement.

A pine branch (I've had for 857 years), gold sprays and ribbon (Michael's), bulbs (Target) and wire.

I did not glue any of this, because knowing myself, like I do, I will change it next year.

You can also use real pine branches for this, but I prefer the fake because of the wired branches.  It works great for hanging the bulbs and stuffing the sprays in to. 

I took the pine branch and added the gold spray. 

I attached it by twisting one of the pine branches around it.

I took at piece of wire and wrapped it around the post, on my railing, to hang it. 

I added a bow, hung a few bulbs on it and stuffed one more piece of gold spray in the top.

Seriously, could this be any easier?

The only thing I would do differently next time, is add 3 bulbs instead of 2.  My rule of thumb is, always go with odd numbers when decorating.

Here is another view, showing a little more of the gold spray underneath.

Thank you SO much for stopping by.  It truly means the world to me.

Kelly

Christmas Mantel

Hi there! I'm so glad you stopped by.

I'd like to show you my Christmas Mantel.

My starting point, the window I used in my fall mantel. 

This is another one of my "dumpster rescues"! As I told you in a previous post, I work for a remodeler and all the carpenters know what kind of things I dig out of the dumpster. So, when they have something from a job site that they think I will like, they bring it back to the office for me. This window was one of them.

I made the wreath last year, for a boutique. It didn't sell, so I decided to use it this year.  

It is not what I would normally use, but I really like the colors, so I decided to decorate around it.

Have you ever made your own wreath? It is SO simple. 

I went to Michael's, bought a plain wreath and a group of holly and berries in a bunch.  I cut them apart, hot glued them on to the wreath and added some red and gold bulbs. If I can do this, anybody can!

The lamp was also from my fall mantel.  I love the ambiance of it and thought it would be perfect for the Christmas mantel.  I added a poinsettia, some bulbs, a pine branch and a gold pick I had.

On the other side, I added this little Christmas tree and decorated it.

I added a few brass candlesticks with red candles, some more poinsettias and bulbs.  Super easy!

Turn on the fire, sit back and relax!

There is a lot more decorating to do, so the relax part is coming.....soon I hope!

Thank you so much for stopping by.  It means the world to me.

Kelly