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Trash To Treasure

A 'trashy/treasure' Christmas

21 years ago

How much of your Christmas decorating involves things that you've "created" from other stuff?

I have two rusted metal store rack/fixtures that will soon go up on the mantel. I put tiny strings of white lights on them last year and loved them!

How about you? Got stories/ideas to share?

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Comments (8)

barbara52
21 years ago
I have an idea which I'm going to implement (and take pics of) in the next few days...
I'm going to take some vintage ornaments, place them inside a glass cloche, and display them on a cakestand. The ornaments, cloche, and cakestand are all thrift-shop finds.
I'm also going to display some ornaments on candlesticks. Pics to come later.
Would love to see pics of those metal fixtures w/lights, Des Arc Ya Ya !
secondhandrose2
21 years ago
I trash picked a wooden high chair that lost its tray. I painted it white and distressed it. An old Christmas bear sits in it. He is holding yard sale Christmas picks, berries, bells and beads. He is wearing a stocking cap my daughter made out of felt at school. Very cute.
barbara52: I have done the vintage ornaments in the same manner in the past and it is a very chic look. This year, I put them in a tall wide glass vase with pearls intertwined. Looks very cool. I am thinking of putting some vintage ornaments in a yard sale bird cage I have and putting a wide ribbon with a bow tied around the base. Someone gave me the idea at another forum
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conifers are trees... and trees are NOT houseplants.. simply by definition.. even bonsai is better off outside ... i see no reason why you could not make it a balcony plant.. and simply bring it in now and then ... i dont really claim any expertise on potted conifers.. but you will need a high drainage.. low peat potting soil ... I DO NOT KNOW IF THIS IS A GOOD TIME OF YEAR TO REPOT IN YOUR AREA ... perhaps bboy can help there ... the trick on the balcony.. is to allow the sun on the plant.. but protect the pot from the sun ... wild fluctuations of temps on a black pot.. can cause root damage ... so if you put your pot inside a decorative clay pot ... so that there is an air buffer .. and lower soil heating.. you may get away with it ... in my frozen great white north.. what would kill it indoors is insufficient light [especially with the newer windows which block UV light] ... and lack of humidity from the forced air furnace ... among a lot of other things ... if you were to repot.. you might want to look into a cactus mix .... lots of sand and large chunks of bark and low peat .... which allows most water to run out ... err toward the side of a dry soil .. over a wet tropic soil like most houseplants prefer ... this is not a plant you would be watering every few day ... MAYBE every couple weeks ... but the bottom line.. you only have a few bucks invested.. have fun.. love it up.. but dont be surprised if you fail .. so what.. you had some fun ... ken
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The trash house is half a mile away and you are disturbed by the view? Do you use goggles or a telescope? If it bothers you so much, why don't you talk to the people? I am in a similar situation but reversed. I bought a run-down house with overgrown yard last fall and I didn't have time yet to clean up the yard because all my time was spent fixing the inside, which is more important to me than the view of my neighbors. Also, during this time, I accumulated an old air conditioner, coil, stove, countless cardboard boxes, old kitchen counters etc. in my side yard (behind a gate, so not visible from the street, but visible from my neighbors second floor). It'll be disposed off sometimes this year but I am not going to rent a dumpster more than once. Disposing of bulk trash can be expensive. I'd not be insulted by a neighbor asking me politely to clean up. Why don't you try asking?
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User
21 years ago
I had a "chance" at two wooden chairs this morning....DH said where are you going to put them???? LOL We had to move into a smaller place, darn, I want those chairs!!!!
Ina Plassa_travis
21 years ago
made a lap rug. out of scraps and remnants I collected from my weekend job.

made two scarfs out of the polar fleece left over from the backing.

made another lap rug.

used a thrift-shop flannel sheet as the backing

took all the pink and gold scraps I had left, and sewed them all together- and got a THIRD lap rug out of them.

going to back it with upholstery velvet I bought for a buck at a yard sale this summer just because it was SUCH a deal (never thought I'd have a use for pink velvet)

going home tonight, and try out the 'rag quilt' technique to see if I can make some coasters- I think toile coasters would be fun :)
Carol_from_ny
21 years ago
When my kids were little I was looking for a project to keep them busy while I decorated the tree and yet let them be apart of it all. What I came up with was using packing peanuts...the ones with the holes in them..strung together on dark green yarn with plastic sewing needles.
The kids had a blast stringing the peanuts and when we were done we put them on the tree....it looked like snow had fallen on the tree.
This was 20 some years ago....what I thought was going to be a one time decoration has turned into a must have on the tree.
jaybird
21 years ago
I have an old rack that held bags of chips, that I got from Sherree, holding Christmas cards and the 2004 dose of family pictures!!! I changed her pretty peach colored ribbon to one that is red plaid!!! Looks pretty cute on my wall!
barbara52
21 years ago
Merry Christmas to All. Here are my decorations made with "trash" -- vintage ornaments and bottle-brush trees, fake snow, cake stands, and garden cloches. Everything except the snow is from the TS or flea market.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Barbara
hailefinn
21 years ago
I picked up a wooden highchair (no tray)and had a guy glue the spindles and restain it(cost $5.00). I put a Teddy Bear in it. I also have a chips rack..never thought to use it for cards.

Jay Bird ...what are cloches?

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