Christmas Book Page Wreath

My good friend Maran use to have a little hobby of making the most beautiful book page wreaths.  I decided it looked pretty easy and had big fail numero uno.  Now while I am known to pull things out of people's trash to upcycle or repurpose, this actually looked like I had pulled it out of someone's trash.  And that's exactly where I put it.  In the trash.

Fast forward a couple of years.  I made a coffee filter wreath.  It turned out better than I imagined it would.  A thought dawned on me.  Why not cut book pages out to be the same shape as a coffee filter?  So that's what I did, using a scalloped edge scissors.  I folded them in fourths and hot glued them into place.  It worked like a charm and I can finally say I've conquered the book page wreath!

My little three year old loves to run the glue gun for me and was totally in to this project.  She had the great idea of putting the red glittery Christmas leaves and holly on the wreath.  It came off of a very "interesting" arrangement my neighbor Bob down the road gave me.

Oh, and someone asked me if  read the story first.  Well, I have to say I certainly wasn't going to... and it would have been easier if I had read it first.... because as I was making this, one of the pictures captured my attention, which made me read the context, which got me totally intrigued and sucked me in.... and I ended up trying to piece pages back together and stayed up until midnight solving the murder mystery.  True story.

 My Repurposed Life

So I Finally Made A Coffee Filter Wreath!

It's Wordless Wednesday. 

 And before ya'll start shoutin' at me that this can't be used for WW because you need a tutorial... please remmeber that Google is at your service.  Google it.  Although I did not use a tute, I'm sure you will find an easy one out there. 

There. are. lots.:)

Keep calm and Google on!  

Dude, I totally need to make that a sign!!! 

Okay,now I'm making Wordless Wednesday wordy.  Doht!

Bicycle Built For Three {Freezer Paper Transfer}

This morning I told my mom that my stats were scarily low yesterday.

She said "no surprise there!  Every time I go to Kammy's Korner anymore to see if there's anything new, nope!  There isn't!"  Well humph.  I personally thought two or three a day was all gravy baby.  What do you all think is a good amount of blog posts?  Every day?  Once a week?  Once a month?  Somewhere in between?  I've been cutting back on computer time, so I was only doing two or three posts a week, not including the Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday Link party I host each week.  

Anyways, let me know what ya'll think!

Maybe it's just my mom who wants to make sure I'm not wasting my days sipping coffee or soaking in sugar baths......  I promise, Mom.  I'm not. :)

Aunt Dee is a wonderful aunt. 
 She does things like give me her last jar of canned chicken.  Last as in, the last - for the rest of her life last!  She sews frustrating things like egg crate liners for my kitchen.  And she passes down old pieces of furniture to me that nobody else in the family wants.  That's what I call love!
She gave me this once loved little bench.  I was thrilled!  And since discovering recently how easy it is to transfer images from the screen to a piece of wood, I wanted to do it on this.  I'm rather in love with bicycles as you might have guessed from my original tutorial.  This time I went with a three wheeler though.  You can find these lovely images over on The Graphics Fairy.

Since I'm totally not up for doing that whole tutorial for you again, you can view it HERE.

And in case you'd like to see what that bench turned out like, here's a peek at it:

Okay, back to the one we're looking at today!

I simply painted the bottom black, distressed the edges and then sanded the top down, put my graphic on and then put two coats of polyurethane on top to seal it in.

 One last shot....

 My Repurposed Life

Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday {Linky Party}

You'll never guess what we did tonight.......

opened our Christmas presents!
Yes, I know it's only December 16th.  But that's how we roll around here.
  Untraditional, huh?  We took our time with a yummy honey glazed ham supper, read a letter we recently received from an orphanage in El Salvador that we correspond with,  read the Christmas story from the Bible, and took turns opening our presents from youngest to oldest.  Before a gift could be unwrapped, each person had to say something they were thankful for.  Even though we hardly spent any money (I think we averaged $20 on each child, maybe not even that much), all were happy and thankful and went to bed with sweet smiles and happy hearts.  Well, all but the youngest, who is not in bed yet but running around like she has all the energy of a nuclear bomb.

In case you missed what I was I posted last week:

  

Anyways, welcome to our Trash 2 Treasure Party this week!  The party where ya'll get to show what you took from "junk" status to "gem" status!

Our first feature from last week is the POST WITH THE MOST (views):

Thrifty Treasures has a gutsy sister.  This sister asked if Sarah would make her a quilt from her wedding dress.  Sarah, being even more gusty, agreed to the challenge and made her first quilt ever!  Turned out great!

Down To Earth Style turned trash into treasure and made this beautiful and rustic Christmas banner from the tops of an old fence.  Click on over to see what other incredible things she made with the fence wood!

Before you give your old sweaters to Goodwill, check out the cute things The Picket Fence Projects did with hers.  You may just want to hang on to them!

Please take the time to read through these rules:

1.  Your post must be a Trash 2 Treasure, but I'm not picky on the "trash" part!  

If you took something and made it look better and it's NEW to Kammy's Korner - link it up, Baby! :)

2. Place the Party button found on the right sidebar on the post or somewhere on your blog.

3. Visit the link before you and leave a comment!

 I do try to visit each and every one of them eventually!!!  It's hard with three little munchkins who need attention and hate mommy's computer time. :)

Link up, Buttercup!

Stenciled Christmas Carol Plaques

  Today I'm sharing some Christmas signs (upcycled plaques from a yard sale) I painted using stencils. 

Enjoy! :)

I love Wordless Wednesday!

Scarf Holder. Scarf Hanger. Scarf Rack. From Junk.

I was having an openhouse at my house to sell my crafts and jazz.  I needed a good way to display my scarves, and fast.  I ran outside in the freezing cold and started pawing through my junk.  

I found:

Yup, both of those things were freebies.  The fencing was free on the curb (and there's lots more where that came from!) during what is known around here as Parma Junk Days. The cupboard door was the other thing  (if you happened to read about the first one) I grabbed out of the big dumpster the men were tossing stuff into while dismantling a trailer next to the yard I was mowing.  You can see the "other thing" and the treasure it turned into HERE.

This was so ridiculously easy.  I left the fence the color it was, but painted the cupboard door front white after removing the pulls.  Then just hammered it on with some nails and added a hanging wire in the back.

A little rustic and shabby... just the way I like it!

Like the scarves?  Check them out in my Etsy shop!

Kammy's Korner on Etsy

use code 10CHRISTMAS for 10% off during the month of December.

  My Repurposed Life
 Home Stories A to Z

Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday {Link Party}

Welcome to another week of seeing trash getting transformed into treasure!
I hope you are taking time to enjoy the little things this Christmas season!

Take advantage of the 10% discount off already low prices in my Etsy shop with code 10CHRISTMAS.

Here's what I shared this past week:

A broken mirror gets the chicken wire treatment
Drawers are repurposed for under-the-bed storage
Truffles so easy it should be a crime!

   

Features from last week - you will want to check these out!!
Get ready for gorgeousness!

This piece makes me gasp - and you probably will to - especially when you find out that Attic Angel used wrapping paper with homemade Modge Podge on the inside and outer sides of this stunning vanity!

This the season for a little GOLD, according to Remastered Relics!

The Weathered Door wowed me with two furniture pieces linked up to last week's party - gotta love the two tone gray and white look on this gorgeous dresser.  Oh the curves!  I can't wait to see it when she gets the mirror done.

Now to change the tune a little, isn't this baby sock snowman simply adorable from Just A Little Creativity?!

Please take the time to read through these rules:

1.  Your post must be a Trash 2 Treasure, but I'm not picky on the "trash" part!  

If you took something and made it look better and it's NEW to Kammy's Korner - link it up, Baby! :)

2. Place the Party button found on the right sidebar on the post or somewhere on your blog.

3. Visit the link before you and leave a comment!

 I do try to visit each and every one of them eventually!!!  It's hard with three little munchkins who need attention and hate mommy's computer time. :)

Link up, Buttercup!

Easiest Dark Chocolate Truffles Ever {3 ingredients}

All you need is.... are you ready for this..... cream cheese,semi-sweet baking squares, and something to roll them in for coating (I like powdered sugar)!

Super Easy Dark Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients:

1 8 oz brick of cream cheese

8 semi sweet* chocolate squares (or you can use chocolate chips - the recipe isn't picky on the amount, as long as there is at least 8 ounces or more).

1/2 cup powdered sugar, sprinkles, or cocoa

Directions:

Microwave chocolate until just barely melted.  Stir until completely smooth.  (Never overheat chocolate!) Add softened cream cheese (room temperature or soften in the microwave for 15 seconds).  Beat until smooth  with mixer.  Refrigerate for an hour.  Form into balls by rolling about a tablespoon or two in the palm of your hands and then roll the ball in your choice of powdered sugar, cocoa, or sprinkles. Make sure the sprinkles are pressed in good.  Pop back into the fridge for a wee bit.  Help!  I can't stop eating them!!

*To make the dark chocolate more intense, I substituted a square of unsweetened chocolate for one of the semi-sweet ones.

 You can also melt almond bark, chocolate chips, or chocolate baking squares to dip them in with a fork.  If you choose to dip them, set them on wax paper until they have hardened. 

Gift idea: put some in a clear container with a big Christmas bow!

  Perfect for any chocolate lover!

Have other ideas of what to roll these delicious little chocolate bombs in? 

 Leave your creativity in the comments!

Stylish Under-The-Bed Storage

When you have more clothes than will fit in your two dressers, walk in-closet, and the drawers of your nightstand, what's a girl to do?  Get some under-the-bed storage! :)

These roller ball bearings were one of those impulse buys while Neighbor Grandpa and I were browsing the isles of our brand new Harbor Freight Tools.  They seemed like a good price, and I was sure I would need them somewhere... 

Yes, I really did use thumb tacks from the dollar store to hold these in place.  I was afriad screws would crack the already brittle wood on these antique drawers.  I added one to each corner of the drawer and wa-la!  Marvelous!  Oh, I also had to add some white drawer pulls to the fronts since they were MIA.  I happened to have four matching that I found in a garage sale box for fifty cents (woot woot), but only two were white.  Out came the spray paint.



I'm thinking they look meant to be!  Not only that, but they hide some ugly luggage that was being stored under the bed that was otherwise visible upon entering our room.  Not cool, yo.

Here is the dresser these were originally form.  I didn't even paint them!

And why didn't I want the drawers for the dresser?  Well have a look-see, it's our "media" station in the den:

Yes, that's a record player.  Bought at the same garage sale (my sweet friend, Esther's) that I got the dresser from.

click HERE to see the post on this "gutted dresser".

The one on the left holds all my tights, leg warmers, leggings, and belts.  

Yes, I said leg warmers.

 My repurposed Life