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!

Ice Skate Winter Wreath

It's been a crazy few months for me, and I have been doing a little bit of crafting, but have not made time to add it to this new blog yet! I have been remembering to take some pictures though :) so I'll try and get some posts up this week.

This wreath here is inspired by Pinterest, it was one of the first crafts I had found there that I really wanted to try. The picture from pinterest ended up being a store bought wreath (you can click the picture to go to the website that sells it) but I though it looked do-able, so this is a little how-to for my version.


Pinterest Pic:


My completed version:

They ended up being very different. There are pros and cons to this.
Pro: My skate is newer, therefore is whiter.
Con: Because my skate is newer, it doesn't lace as nicely
Pro: Mine has a bird and berries wrapped around the sharp part
Con: My branches are not as long and straight
Pro: I made mine, the one above is store bough.

So, my skate for the win!!

This is how I made it, feel free to make changes to suit your skate wreath needs :)

First, get a skate, and clean it up real nice. I didn't have a figure skate, so I visited my local Salvation Army and bought a pair for $5.99 (and also found out they sell books there - amazing!!)

Then, lace your skate back up. I was very careful to choose the whitest side, and lace it up with no twists in it. If you are very particular, you could buy a new lace, but I am very frugal, and did not. It looked like this:

 Other materials you will need is some branchy things to stuff it with, and other festive decorations. A hot glue gun would probably help to. I had to use white glue.

Then I stuffed my skate with newspaper so it wouldn't be able to collapse in any places in the foot area as that would look pretty ugly after awhile.

 After that, I just stuffed my decorations into it, and glued a bird to the toe. Easy peasy.

 And this is the finished product from the back end, and again from the front. We hung it on the door to the porch instead of the front door so it didn't get weather damaged. I live in Canada after all :)

Hope you feel inspired :)