Two Ways to Reuse Vintage Christmas Lights

Here's an easy repurposing Christmas decorating idea I thought of while my husband was stringing up lights outside. We like to put the big fat vintage looking lights out there. But one strand wasn't working. Instead of throwing the whole thing out, I unscrewed the lightbulbs and put all the blue, green and white ones inside of a hanging lantern in my dining room.  

Then I filled a mason jar with the warm colors, red and orange.

I like it because it's fun, easy and unexpected. And I'm not piling lightbulbs into a landfill...
Next, I'll show you my fireplace facelift. Something about Christmas coming gave me the itch to finally paint the dark brick to transform the look completely. Stay tuned for the big reveal! 

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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...

Martha Stewart Mother's Day Campaign: Stenciled Garden Sign

A couple of months ago I signed up to be a part of an exciting Blueprint Social campaign sponsored by Plaid to test out a new line of Martha Stewart's Craft Supplies. You can guess that I had a lot of fun getting this huge box of freebies and dreaming up a project to make for a Mother's Day gift. (Check out what I got to choose from here.)


When I found out that  Martha's new craft paints were good for use indoors or out on wood, glass, metal, fabric and just about any surface I figured the sky was the limit with what I could create.

So, my task was to create a pretty Mother's Day gift using any of the supplies in my goody box. Knowing how much my mom enjoys being outside made me think she might like a decorative garden sign.

 So, in the spirit of repurposing I grabbed a pallet plank from my stash, picked out some of the adhesive and monogram stencils, paint and brushes to design a bright sign to hang outdoors.

Here's what I used for my pallet garden sign:

pallet plank
rope
staple gun
Martha Stewart Monogram stencils
Martha Stewart Craft Paints
Martha Stewart Adhesive Stencils
stencil brushes
paint brushes
stencil tape
pencil
electric sander and sandpaper

First, I secured a piece of rope to the back of each end of the wood with a staple gun so it could be hung from a branch or nail. 

Then I spread out my monogram stencils to spell out the word "GARDEN" across the pallet. 

I drew a line down each edge of the stencil so I could paint the background in sections before stenciling the words.

Next, I painted in the penciled in sections with two alternating colors of brown and fuschia.

I decided to sand down my dried painted wood before adding the stencils to give the sign that nice distressed, weathered look I love.  

Then, I used the adhesive stencil, stencil brush and paint to add a design between the sections where my letters would go with a light aqua. 

I also taped off squares in each section using the stencil tape and painted them in a medium aqua in for even more color borders before adding the letters. 

It was finally time to spell out my word!  I used my monogram stencil and smaller stencil brush to add each letter in brown.  Once these were dry I outlined each one with my light aqua to add contrast. 

I decided my sign was done after adding a few flowery stencils around each letter in light aqua. 

And the humble pallet was transformed! The project had taken a few more steps than I had envisioned in the first place but it was worth it because I was really happy with the nice pops of color in the end result.

Here are a few beauty shots of the garden sign hanging in my yard:

I have to tell you, I was really impressed with the quality of the Martha paints. I loved the pretty, modern colors and how smooth they were to apply. And I admit stenciling was a craft I used to shy away from because I thought it would be too easy to mess up, but the adhesive ones were so easy to work with and could be used again. Also using stencil tape to hold down the letters helped too. 

Now, I love stenciling and plan on using these again-maybe on fabric next time?

If you like what you see here and want to be inspired by more Plaid craft ideas and find out about their latest products, ideas and promotion, you can find them on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.


I wrote this post as a part of a paid campaign with Plaid and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are 100% my own.

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple-hope you enjoyed your time here and left with a little inspiration!

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Simple Greenery Display

Who loves Hostas? I know we do! My husband is the big landscaper around here while I pretty much take care of the inside, but while he was transplanting some Hostas, a few branches fell off. Because the leaves were so pretty I didn't want to just leave them laying outside, so I grabbed a jar, tied some lace around it, filled it with water and added the Hosta branches. 

I love having fresh plants around the house and they look just as pretty as a bunch of flowers to me and cost nothing. Wouldn't these be an easy and frugal table decoration for a summer party? Ferns would be another easy and pretty plant to add to water-filled jars. 

 By the way, if you noticed my chalkboard framed sign in the picture and want to know how I made this interchangeable photo/chalkboard frame,  click HERE for the tutorial. 

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple! I hope you enjoyed your time here and come back on Friday for the reveal of my Martha Stewart Mother's Day Campaign project! 

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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, 

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