Repurposing

I have been MIA these last few days. I started to post that I was taking a break from blogging while we settle into a new routine here at home. But by doing that post I would have broken my break, so I didn't. But I'm back now. 

Do you love to repurpose things? I do. Especially when I want to change my decor a little and I don't want to buy anything new. So I just "shop" my house and find what I want and use it for a new purpose. Here are some thing around the house that I have repurposed. I needed something cute with a floral theme for my bathroom. So I decided to use this tea for one set. So I took the lid off and put my Q-Tips in the top of it.

Then I thought "The cup would make a good place for my cotton balls." I loved this idea. It was a great way to use a tea for one in the bathroom. 

Since I have tea sets, tea for ones, and tea cups all over the house, I thought this would be cute for my desk. My home office/craft room is in pinks, blues, and yellows so this pretty pink cup and saucer fit right in. 

I also have some black storage bins from Thirty-One in my office so I have a few pops of black in there. This cup semi-matches some of my Thirty-One items, so I put my hole punch and a couple of pairs of scissors in it over by my craft table. 

I found this beautiful candy dish at a yard sale last year. I just loved this shade of blue. But I never have used it for candy. So I started dropping my change in it and when it gets full, I move it to a tin that I have and when that gets full, I just cash it in. 

Can you guess which one of these items I repurpose? It's the coffee filters that my chicken is nesting in. I don't buy them for coffee. I buy them for bowl covers when I use the microwave. I simply set the coffee filter in the bowl over whatever I am heating and it keeps everything from splattering. Keeps your microwave a lot cleaner a lot longer. 

This is a vintage McCoy stoneware pitcher that my cousin and I bought for Mamaw Eden in the late 60's or early 70's. McCoy produced it in '69. I don't use mine to make tea. I use mine for flower arrangements for my table centerpiece. I change up the flowers every season/holiday. So it is ever changing. It is one of my favorite things. When Mamaw passed away, the cousin that bought it with me made sure I got it. I will forever be grateful to my cousin Patty.

My other bathroom is a beach theme so when I found this awesome pelican cup at a yard sale for about .25 cents, I knew I needed to figure out a way to put it in the bathroom. Another Q-Tip holder...wah lah.

And I found a pretty white milk glass candy dish shaped like a sea shell. It ended up being a soap dish in my beach bathroom. 

Recently, I found this beautiful pink milk glass pedestal dish. I had no idea what to do with it. But it turned out that it was perfect for storing some of my costume jewelry that I wear the most. And it matches the faint pink in my burgundy, blue and pink bedspread. So it found a home on my dresser. 

The hospital where Allen spent 4 days has a group that repurposes flowers. When someone leaves the hospital and doesn't take their flowers, this group pulls some of the better ones together and goes around to rooms who don't have any and gives them flowers. Allen got checked in about an hour before they did this that day. So he was blessed with this beautiful arrangement. 

Since we got to bring it home with us and since it was a tea pot style, I knew I had to find something to use it for. So I went through the big kitchen utensil crock and pulled out the things I use the most in my baking and put them in this tea pot. Now everything I need is easy to grab when I bake. 

I challenge you to go "shopping" at your house and see what you have already repurposed or find something you can repurpose. If you want to email me yours, I will feature it on another blog. You can email me at mamawsplace at Gmail . com. Rachel I know you can come up with some things for me to post. :)

Have a great Friday. I think I will go whip up a batch of peanut butter cookies.

Prayers needed

This is how I feel this morning. Please pray for my husband's health issues.

I do this every year....

Every year I find some awesome Christmas decor to make. I created a Pinterest board so I don't forget it. I blog about it so I can go back and find it. I share it on Facebook so I can scroll my pages. 

I start doing this in September and then I feel guilty because it is too early to think about Christmas and then I put it off to start crafting later. Then I forget all about it again and Christmas comes and goes without me doing any of the awesome crafts I saw. 

I am going to try to change that this year. I am going to attempt to accomplish some of the great ideas I see on Pinterest. Here are a few that I would love to try. 

I would do this in materials with red and green to create it to look like a poinsettia and leaves. 

Pinterest inspiration vs. Completed project

I love documenting my attempts at crafting ideas from Pinterest. Some turn out just like the Pinterest idea and some .... not so much. So I documented my most recent attempt. Success or fail? You decide. Here was my inspiration....

I checked my home supplies and then made a trip to Hobby Lobby for burlap and a flower. I gathered everything together.  

I cut the burlap ribbon and glued the checkered material on it with my Tacky Glue.

I wrapped it around my jar, gluing as I went. 

When that was done, I wrapped the thinner green accent ribbon and glued it on.

The flower is actually a scrapbook embellishment so it was peel and stick.

Then I filled my jar with candy corn. 

I put the lid on it.

And this was the finished project. Though I would not call it a complete success, it was at least not a failure. The width of the pre-fringed burlap cause it to stick up too high on the jar. I don't like that. But I didn't want to trim it down and refringe it because I was afraid I couldn't do it straight. If I do another one, it will have a smaller width burlap. 

I had this old chalkboard and I picked up these cute little Fall clothespins at Hobby Lobby.

So I am a little impromptu sign.

Set them on my table and I am okay with the result, but still may get some smaller burlap and redo the jar.

So what is your opinion. Pinterest success or fail?

Happy birthday to my beautiful granddaughter...

It's pictures like these that make me wish she could stay little forever. Such a beautiful baby. 

But as she grew, her own personality emerged. There is not a more caring, loving little girl to be found. She is always happy.

She loved coming over and having Papaw comb her hair after she got her hair washed. She would get a magazine (usually his FoodTV magazine.) He would slowly comb each strand until there were no tangles whatsoever. 

She is definitely my grandchild. We both love to go to Applebee's and we go together on our day out for her birthday and we usually share the brownie and ice cream dessert. 

She wears her hair shorter now, but sometimes she lets it grow long again. I just can't believe how much she is growing.

And I have never seen a child so ready to pose. You never have to remind her to smile because she smiles constantly.

She does occasionally do the "eye stray" when I am trying to get pics, but as you can see....still a smile.

She loves shopping with me and even likes to model some things she sees she likes.

Sometimes we shop so much I worry that I will wear her out, but she can outlast me. 

Last night we got together for her birthday and she picked Ruby Tuesdays so she could have their chocolate cake concoction for her dessert. 

Happy birthday to my beautiful, sweet 11 year old granddaughter. We love you, Alexis Caroline!

Sunday Songs

I am SO excited...

I got a Cricut Expressions machine yesterday! For just $50.00 used! It is like brand new. Still in the box with all the original packing and paperwork. 

It is like brand new. The lady that sold it to me (Nancy) said her sister bought it and used it about 3 or 4 times then was diagnosed with Cancer. After fighting Cancer for two years, she passed away. And yes, I felt bad for being so excited over my deal when I learned the story, but Nancy said her sister had been gone for four years and this has just been sitting in her closet. She is getting ready to move and was downsizing and decided she would never use it because she bought one herself at the same time. 

It came with a cartridge for fonts. Alexis, my 10 year old granddaughter, helped me figure it out and we played with it last night. She fell in love with it. She decided to make Colby, my 4 year old grandson and her brother, a sign for his room for Halloween. She picked out everything she wanted to say and what paper and did the whole thing by herself. She is addicted to it now. We are already planning future projects. 

I have a wonderful friend, Jenna, who just sent me a Facebook message this morning to come by her work and she is loaning me her cartridges to play with for a few days so I can try some things. I am heading to Joann's today to get some scrapbook paper. Very, very excited to start learning about all the things I can do with my Cricut.