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.

Creating Anthropologie Style in Your Home for Less!

Hello everyone! It's another bright sunny February day here in the midwest--

and I'm loving it! It has been so nice to let my boys go out and play this winter

with our mild temperatures--the best winter I can remember! 

So, if you're been following along, you might know that I've been working 

on a few projects inspired by that gorgeous store, Anthropologie. 

(Did you see my table revamp? )

 It's not within my budget to buy things there, but I love

making a good knock-off decoration! 

Something I really like to do this time of year when I'm antsy for

 spring to arrive is buy a few new houseplants to bring 

something fresh and living inside.

And today I'm going to show you how I took a thrift store milk glass vase

and repurposed it into a pretty planter to create my Anthro style for less! 

On the left, you see what I created. And on the right, my inspiration:

This is so easy, you barely need a tutorial, but pictures are always fun, so here goes: 

Here's what you'll need:

 I used wine corks as a drainage and filler. 

I bought my milk glass vase at a thrift store earlier for only $1

(which I don't think is genuine milk glass, but I like the look).

Next, I added my organic potting mix from the greenhouse. (Do you like my action shot?)

Then, I carefully added my succulent plant.
(these are nice because they are low-maintenance plants)

And, was done! Easy, right? 

I hope you enjoyed this post! I've been really overwhelmed by all the great comments I've been getting on my projects-I am so thankful for all of my followers and support by fellow bloggers and friends.

Please bear with me as I work on responding and visiting all of you too-
I am also a full-time mommy of 2 active boys learning how to juggle my responsibilities and hobbies! (But I'm having a lot of fun! )

Thanks for visiting today! And don't forget, you have only one more day to enter the $100 Ramsign giveaway-click on the button on the sidebar to the right to enter!

Linking up with these parties

Repurposed Cabinet Panel Chalkboard

Happy New Year to everyone!

I thought I'd make my last post of 2011 one of my very first repurposed/recycled projects that got my creative wheels turning and inspired me to start this blog this summer-I can't believe it's been 6 months since I started! It has been an adventure!

There's this amazing non-profit store in my area called Scrap 4 Art, where you can fill up a large bag of donated scrap items for only $6. (If you are a teacher, everything is free! )

They had these forgotten about cabinet door panels waiting for some creative reuse and I bought a few, with the idea to paint them into chalkboards.


Here is one of my favorites that doubles as a chalkboard and message board--thumbtacks can be pushed into the cork section with a reminder note, list or photo.

Here's how I made this chalkboard: 
 -First I painted the middle section with chalkboard paint. 


-After that was dry, I used painter's tape and plastic to cover and protect the entire chalkboard section from the next step of spray painting.


-Then I spray painted the framed area. (I used a Rustoleum color called Paprika).


- After everything was dry, I hot glued the corks onto the side. To finish, I nailed a picture frame hook to the back. 


Well, I guess this sums up the first 6 months of ReMadeSimple--it has been a thrill to share with the world and get inspired and connect with other bloggers out there!

I sat down today and wrote out some creativity goals for myself and I am excited to share some new craft ideas and recipes, money saving tips and furniture and room revamps with you in 2012!

Have a safe and blessed New Year!

Linking up with these parties and this party.

Mini Rosette Christmas Tree

If you've been following along, you'll probably know I've been doing a "mini series" of three types of miniature Christmas trees I've been making. If you are just now tuning in and missed all the fun of the first two, you can click here and here to view them! 

Here is the final of the three trees made with cloth rosettes and beads. This was the most time consuming tree of all to make, but I am really happy with how it turned out. 

In keeping with the recycled theme of most of my projects, I'm proud to say the cloth I used to make the rosettes was repurposed from a dress and cotton tote of mine that were wearing out, but could still be used for craft purposes. 

If you've been browsing through blogland, you'll  know that rosettes are all the rage and that there are tons of tutorials out there for them. But if you don't know how to make them and would like a good tutorial, click here to view a cool blog called Craftaholics Anonymous (she has lots of other great tutorials on there with great pictures-go check it out! )

To make these, I used a floral foam cone and just made a ton of rosettes and glue gunned them to the cone. Because there were little gaps where you could see the foam, I glued in some metallic beads to fill in the spaces. I attached tulle bows to the top for the "star" along with a few silver  jingle bells.

Then I glued three wine corks to the bottom as my "trunk". This finishes my mini tree collection!  I hope you enjoyed the "mini series" of little trees! I will be having fun this week decorating for Christmas and finding places to display them in my house. 

Stay tuned these next couple of weeks for more original, homemade Christmas decorations including garland, ornaments and wreaths by ReMadeSimple. 

Thanks for reading! 

Kristina

Linking up with these parties and this party.

Upcycled MIni Christmas Trees

Ok, drumroll please...here is number two of my "mini series" of Christmas tree to display in your home!   I am going to have a mini forest!

If you missed my first whimsical paper tree made from a Land of Nod catalog, click here to view. I'm proud to say these trees were made using mostly upcycled and natural materials-Izze bottle caps, wine corks and reindeer moss.

My inspiration for these all started with my collection of Izze bottle caps. If you've never had an Izze, you are missing out on the most perfectly refreshing bubbly fruit juice with the cutest little bottles and caps I can't throw away (and no, they are not paying me to write this! )

I love collecting the caps because of the pretty flower shape on them. I have used them on frames and chalkboards I thought they would be fun as ornaments on my tree.

I also have this wine cork collection I've been using in different projects. I thought they would be perfect for the bases of the trees. I used three together to help keep the trees steady. Do you want to get started on your Christmas forest like mine? Here's what you'll need:

1. floral foam cone
2. glue gun
3. reindeer moss (I used two different colors)
4. bottle caps (I used Izze)
5. wine corks (three for each tree)
6. ribbon
7. tulle
8. small jingle bells (I used three)
9. scissors

Pull out small pieces of the moss at a time and glue, covering the cone completely. 

Apply glue around edge of one bottle cap at a time, press firmly into the cone.

Cut several pieces of ribbon and tulle a few inches long. 

Knot together and glue to top of tree. Glue three jingle bells to top.

Glue three corks together. Glue them to base of tree. 

I love how these turned out-- they go along with my childlike, whimsical theme this year and I can't wait to decorate for Christmas! Are you excited to see tree number three? Stay tuned later this week! Thanks for reading and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Linking up with these parties and this party.

Wine Cork Monogram

So, I have this collection of corks waiting to be used creatively--I am privileged to have them sent to me from my cousin's vineyard in Sonoma County, CA-thanks, Allie!  I love everything about them--from the stamped vineyard names on the sides, the wine stains on the tops, the different colors and smell of them. When a friend showed me this idea for using them in a monogram, I was happy to give it a try.

All you need are wine corks, a glue gun, and a monogram letter. I bought a wooden monogram at Michael's for around $3-it is nice because it already has holes in the back to hang on a wall, but I think you could also print a letter off on the internet, trace it and cut it out of sturdy cardboard too.

Here's how I did it-first I positioned all the corks so they would all fit onto the letters without showing any white. Then I glued one at a time on one side and the bottom and pressed it onto the one next to it.




Here's the finished product!