I found a neat looking basket in the discard pile at my job.
Yes, I trash pick. #notashamed
I liked this basket because it had feet and I liked the shape of it. It was also in great shape. I thought it would make a cute planter.
I promptly painted the basket white with some chalk paint.
I let the paint dry and painted a second coat of white chalk paint.
I then popped in some boxwoods and I thought it was perfect!
This thing would be cute with some faux apples in it for fall, or some mini gourds. I can’t wait to see how many different ways I can decorate with it!
Have you turned any trash into treasure lately? Comment and show me your projects!
I have had this old picture frame for ages, and while I knew I could make something cool with it, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do.
I had painted it green at some point. I initially thought about painting it another color, but I found some old scrapbook paper that matched the color perfectly.
I found some really cool drawer pulls in a basket of junk parts that we never seem to throw away. I promptly drilled some holes in the side of the frame.
I brushed the dust away and then made two more holes on the opposite side.
I then screwed the drawer pulls to the tray.
I am pretty pleased with my cute little tray. It’s currently brightening up a corner of our office.
You may recall when I made the folk art-inspired flag from paint sticks this summer. My folk art flag was beginning to fall apart and it had passed its phase of being useful…so I decided to repurpose it.
I started by taking the flag apart. See the paint? I didn’t bother taking the paint off since the sticks would be covered with burlap.
I laid it out in a star pattern and hot glued it together.
Then I began wrapping the star in wide burlap ribbon, taking the time to glue it at each pass. It took a long time and lots of ribbon, but when I finished, I had this:
I’m planning to hang it up and hang a wreath in the center of it. Isn’t it cute?
With two little girls who like shoes as much as I do, I don’t see it getting any better. My husband isn’t impressed by the shoe buying, nor is he impressed by my shoebox-hoarding. I just knew I could do something cool with them.
I’ve wanted to reorganize my train wreck of a craft cabinet for awhile now, so I thought these would make cute storage boxes for my supplies. I raided my craft cabinet and found chalk paint, antiqued book plates and some paint brushes. I pealed all the stickers and tags off the boxes and wiped them with a dry microfiber cloth.
I gave the box lids two coats of green chalk paint. Keep in mind anything chalk painted usually has an ugly phase. Don’t let it deter you. Just wait 12 hours and apply a second coat. The picture above is after the first coat- see how streaky and thin the paint looks?
And that massive green blob at the bottom is where my unattended (only for a minute, I promise) grabbed my paint brush and paint I’d left out and got to work. A word of caution: put paints and brushes out of the toddler’s reach when you’re not using them. I’m lucky that’s ALL she painted.
I then applied two coats of paint to the bottom of the boxes and allowed them to dry.
I then attached these antiqued bookplates to the box fronts. I already had these in my stash, but you can find them at Hobby Lobby. Side note: if you are having trouble poking holes in the shoe boxes to attach the brads, I’ve found using a grill skewer works well to poke through the cardboard layers.
When I finished, I had three sets of cute little storage boxes.
And with these, I loved the bottom of the boxes and opted not to paint them. I love how they turned out! They’re pretty enough to display on a desk or bookshelf.
Next time you buy shoes, don’t toss the box. Get yourself some chalk paint and book plates, and make some cute little storage boxes.
I was packing up my classroom for the summer when I noticed an abundance of these things:
I used to use them a lot to organized cabinets at my old school, but I really don’t use them as much as I used to. I got rid of most of them, but looking at them gave me an idea.
I already owned some white chalk paint and some book plates and gold spray paint. I peeled off the stickers, wiped them down with a little rubbing alcohol, and got to paintin’.
Two coats of paint later, I decided the bright colors were sufficiently covered, and I attached these gold book plates to the bins and stacked them.
I’m loving them, and since I’m in the middle of shopping for a smaller desk, I’ve decided to use them in my craft cabinet in the meantime. I’ll show you all my newly organized craft cabinet next week.
Have an awesome weekend! Join us tomorrow for giveaway results and tips on simplifying your meal planning.
