Repurposing Baby Food Jars

Source: babysavers.com via Kristina on Pinterest

I've got baby food on the brain again! Our sweet 5 month old baby boy just started eating pureed veggies this week and I am thinking again about what to do with all those mini jars too cute to throw in the recycling bin.

A site called Babysavers had a post called "Ten Great Ways to Repurpose Baby Food Jars" and I love this idea I saw there-photo frame jars!

Aren't they gorgeous? I imagine how elegant these would look displayed on my mantel in a group like this with a few tea lights lit around them. ( Click here for the complete step-by-step instructions.)

Two years ago, when baby food was on my mind with my middle son, I made a few of these with Mod Podge and tissue paper:

Source: remadesimpleblog.blogspot.com via Kristina on Pinterest

I added a tealight and wrapped wire around the rim and the ordinary jars were transformed!

Another very simple, pretty idea I found on Pinterest were these:

Source: blogs.dexknows.com via Kristina on Pinterest

If I could decorate for my wedding day again, I think I would try this! So simple and beautiful.
Now, I can't wait for my little guy to go through a few more jars of food so I can throw them in the dishwasher and get started on my photo frames...

DIY {Reclaimed.Recycled.Repurposed.} Spring Flower

Happy Spring! We are getting ours early around here and to celebrate I have been having fun thinking up little flower projects lately-have you seen my Pincushion Flowers?

I have a really quick craft for you today that repurposes a few of my favorite things: wine corks, shutter slats and milk jug plastic.

  And I got to test out the new Martha Stewart paints and spray paint set. It would make a great kids' project too I think. Want some of your own?

Here's you'll need to make these flowers:

• clean milk jug circles (cut out of the side of a milk jug)
• wine corks
• shutter slat or thin strip of wood
• wire
• buttons
• scissors
• Martha Stewart multi purpose craft paint (or spray paint)
• Martha Stewart paint sprayer kit (or spray paint)
• low temp glue gun
• frame hanger

First, cut even slits all around three milk jug circles. 

Then, roll up the ends of them until they curl with a paint brush or pencil.

(they should look like this)

Then, cut a few inches of wire, loop the wire through the bottom flower, twisting at the base to secure.

Add a drop of hot glue to attach the second and third top circle.

Now it's time to add some color. Either use the Martha Stewart sprayer according to directions or spray paint in color of your choice to spray the center of the flowers. Allow to dry.

After the flower is dry, attach a button to the center of the flower with a hot glue gun. 

Then, attach your frame hanger with hot glue to the back of the shutter. 
Push the wire through the middle of the cork and hot glue to the shutter slat vertically.

Finally, loop a piece of wire into the shape of leaves, and connect to stem to finish.

I hung my spring flower in my tangerine jewel box half bathroom. Love how this tiny accent looks in my tiny space. (More on how we added this second bath into a corner of our house in a later post! )

I'll be decorating the house for Easter this week-can't wait to show you some of those ideas!
Hope you enjoyed this one today!

Linking up with these parties.

DIY Birthday Pennant

This weekend we celebrated my youngest son's second birthday! Where has time gone?

It really is crazy to think that my little baby, who I thought at one time would never sleep through the night is now a big boy, running around, talking, laughing, getting into trouble every day!  

Anyway,  I've been working hard on an idea I thought up for a cloth birthday pennant that would last a lot longer (and look a lot cooler) than your typical paper store-bought decoration, for only a few dollars to make. 

I used a lot of different colors and textures to make it cheerful and interesting to look at, with yarn letters just for fun. 

And, here at ReMadeSimple I try to do most things with a "re"in there--so here you have a "reusable, recycled" no-sew birthday pennant! 

To make this you'll need:

several pieces of felt (I like Eco-fi because it's made from 100%recycled plastic bottles)

scrap pieces of fabric (I used a woven burlap type of fabric)

permanent marker or pen

yarn

glue gun

scissors

Here's how I made this pennant:

You'll basically cut out your triangles (13) as large as you want them to be. 

I measured and cut one, then traced the shape with permanent marker onto all of the other pieces of felt and cut those out.

Then, arrange them right next to each other on a table or floor and use their length to see how long you'll need your yarn to be. (I allowed for about two feet of extra yarn on each side).

Use your hot glue gun to glue the edge of each triangle to the yarn.

Next, trace and cut out 13 circles out of felt or fabric in whatever color you want.

Hot glue each one to the center of the triangle.

Finally, cut small strips of yarn and shape them into letters, glueing small pieces at a time.

 (It might help to shape the whole letter first to make sure it looks right.)

The finished pennant hanging in a window, so bright and cheery!

Making this pennant took me a few hours, but it now makes decorating for birthdays

and tearing down so much easier and quicker.

The pennant will just fold up and could be stored in a small pouch for next time. 

(Maybe I'll have to fashion one of those next!)

I purposefully used colors and style that I can use for our whole family for years to come,

 and I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

(It's so fun to see something you imagine turn out exactly how you want it to be.)

What do you think?

Thanks for visiting today! I hope you leave feeling inspired and took some time to snoop around at the rest of my projects and tutorials!

In my next post, I'll be bragging more about how cute my two-year old is with some photos of his birthday bash and the fun theme I chose for him.

Until next time, 

I regularly link up with these parties and this party.

Milk Jug Vellum

So, my last post showed you how I repurposed milk jug plastic into pretty garland.

 And I promised, the milk jug fun wasn't over-it has only just begun!

Here's another use for all that translucent plastic-introducing "milk jug vellum". 

That's right. Vellum-the pretty see-through paper you see on wedding

 invitations and cards that you can now make yourself. 

And feel good about being a little more "green".

Check out this short video to see how I did it! 

So, if you watched my video, you'll have an idea of what to do:

Here are the materials I used:

card stock or index cards

blank paper card

scissors

small paper cutter

yarn

rectangles of milk jug plastic

Dremel or hole punch

opaque marker

yarn needle

glue gun

First, I cut out rectangles out of my washed and dried milk jug.

(I wasn't worried about them being perfect at this point because I knew

my paper cutter would do the trick with smoothly cutting the edges).

Here I am cutting the straight lines to form a plastic rectangle.

Then, I cut a heart out of a pink index card.

In the video above, you will see the that I used my 

Dremel to drill small holes along the edge of the plastic.
(but you could also use a sharp hole punch). 

Then, I threaded my yarn needle and wove the yarn

through each hole to create a pretty border.

After glueing my heart to the center of the card, 

I hot glued my vellum with a dot on the back of each corner and
placed over the top. I finished my card by writing my message in 

opaque marker. "Be Mine".Pretty sweet! 

So, what do you think? Inspired or at least amused? 

I know vellum isn't expensive to buy at the store, but why not "reduce, reuse, and recycle" whenever you can? And make something beautiful.

(That's what I'm all about here at ReMadeSimple)

 Thanks for visiting and come back again soon. I have many more ideas to share! 

Linking up with these and this party.

Milk Jug Love

If you've been following along, you'll know how much I love to repurpose

and take recycling one step further than the bin by making creative

things from ordinary plastic, paper and bottles. 

So, that being said, I've been cutting out the circles from milk jugs 

for a few months now, because I think the translucent plastic pieces could 

become something really cool.

Weird, maybe. 

But I've been a "think outside the box" kind of person my whole life. 

(And I like being that way!)

So, my first milk jug project is inspired by the lovely day of

Valentine's day coming up. A thrifty little craft idea that is practically free! 

Here are the materials I used to make this project:

• milk jugs 
• scissors
• Dremel (or hole punch)
• white opaque marker
• twine

DIY Wall-Mounted Bottle Vases

1. 
   

   

What happens when salvage shutters and vintage replica Coke bottles meet my imagination? 

You get a rustic, unique and vintage inspired wall mounted vase display for your home! 

My creative wheels started turning when the slats of a wooden shutter I had started to fall off. 

It had been used in our garden as a trellis, but was getting worn out and falling apart.

(It didn't help that my boys thought they were a part of their playground equipment...) 

But, in the spirit of repurposing and wasting less, I decided not to throw them away, 

 but to save the different pieces for my craft projects. 

And when I spotted these cool vintage-y Coke bottles at the grocery store around 

Christmas time, I couldn't resist buying (and drinking) them because I 

thought they would make great vases.  

So what did I do next? 

I repurposed these materials along with a few other random bits and pieces in my

 junk collection  to make project that I think turned out amazing! 

Want to make one of your own? Here's what I used:

(Tools you will need to assemble this include a drill and high-temp glue gun.)

And here is the tutorial:

And you're done! 

I used an old door handle as my "hook" to go along with my salvage style look. 

Here it is on my wall in my dining room with wintery pussy willows. I plan on changing out the flowers as the seasons change--maybe some fresh yellow ones for springtime next? 

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple!

 I hope you have enjoyed your time here and even peeked around a bit at some of my other projects and tutorials, and that you come visit again soon.

 Please consider staying updated with future posts by following with Google friend connect, liking us on Facebook, or following us on Twitter on the sidebar to the right. 

Linking up with these and this party.