Re-Purposing Frames from the Thrift Store

A few weeks ago I was at one of the thrift stores here in town looking for something. I can't remember what it was, but while I was there I started looking at pictures. I mean, you never know, right? I found the most ugly things ever. But, while we were away this year, I had bought some matted prints that needed new frames. I decided to pick up some really ugly pictures just to use their really ugly frames for these prints.

The thing was, the frames weren't really that ugly, mostly they were only ugly because of what colour they were. I decided to get some spray paint, and make them what ever colour I wanted!

I wish I had thought to take a picture of what was actually IN these
so you could see how far my imagination had to stretch! They really don't look
all that bad once you take the stuff in them out, and give them a wash.

I made them a neutral vanilla colour to make the black matte really pop. We are moving
in a few weeks and I'm really hoping to begin a really awesome gallery wall, and
these will be a fantastic part of it!

And that's it! It couldn't have been easier really! I ALWAYS keep my eyes open when I'm at the thrift store. Sometimes you can find really awesome things there if you take the time to look at what you might be able to DO with it, and not just at what it already is!

Christmas Paper Garland

Today in our office we made paper garland. I work for an environmental agency, so we used all recycled materials, and things we had around the house. The tutorial is pretty simple, and if you wanted you could probably up the sparkle of your garland by using some festive scrapbook papers, decorative ribbons, and a few embellishments to make your Christmas trees look fantastic!
The tutorial we used comes from this website: http://www.renewsing.com/2010/12/02/green-macgyver-christmas-paper-bauble-garland-%E2%80%93-an-eco-friendly-craft-for-kids/ but we decided to make our own, as we improvised some steps.

What you will need:

Scissors (or a circle punch), string (or ribbon, twine, etc.), glue, and the paper(s) of your choice!

Directions:


1) Trace and cut out circles. You will need 3-4 circles per bauble for them to be 3 dimensional. Most of us in the office chose to make 80 circles, for 20 baubles on our garland. You can make as little or as many as you like, depending on what you plan to use it for. Also, if you want to make fuller baubles, plan for more that 4 circles per bauble.

2) Once you have all of your circles cut out, fold them all in half.

You should now have several that look like this.

3) Begin gluing the folded circles together. I glued all of mine into pairs to start. Don't glue all four sides together yet.

*now you have a choice to make* in the link provided it shows that you do glue all four sides together, and then thread your string through the middle to put all the baubles together. We found that this would work if a) you are using yarn or something similar; and b) your needle is longer that your circles. We didn't do this, but if you want to, you can :)

4) Once you have all of your baubles, with one side open, lay your ribbon in, and glue the final side together. It should begin to look like this:

For this one, no space was left between the baubles

For this one, small spaces were left. If you are using decorative ribbon, this may be a  better option for you.

Of course, the spacing is your choice!

Eventually your garland will start to take shape!

I kept a loop at the top of mine to tie them together!

Some variations of this craft would be to make it from fabric if you like to sew, or you could make these into ornaments but making a larger loop than what I did above and making fuller baubles. One girl in our office even used squares instead of circles, and her's looks great to!

This is a very versatile craft, which can be as big or small, and as fancy or as eco-friendly as you want it to be! Also, its a VERY easy craft to do with children!

Enjoy your crafting!