REINVENTION CONVENTION--A Trash to Treasure Wrap-Up

So...when I said meet me back here on Saturday, I TOTALLY meant Sunday night.

You knew that, right?

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and a wonder-full weekend. We had such a great time with all sides of our families on Thursday, helped my Dad and Step-mom move into their new home on Friday, and painted our kitchen and great room on Saturday and Sunday.

Whew!

Needless to say, I'm a little tired, and I have this pain in my lower back...

Now on to the holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the decorating season!

There were so many great ideas in last week's Trash to Treasure Tuesday, I wanted to highlight some projects that involve repurposing, upcycling, and "reinventing" items that in previous years we might have thrown away. (we might have even bought NEW, ewwww!)

NOT THIS YEAR, this is the year we're saving money AND the environment by reinventing our holiday decor, incorporating new ideas and fabulously festive colors.

Our first idea is from Yoga Gal. Yoga Gal's outdoor wreath was losing a little of it's luster, so she updated and refreshed it. Love that festive bow!

Next up are these ADORABLE aprons from A Little Bit of This and That, made from thrift store dish towels! Be. still. my. heart.

Have you seen all of the ornament wreaths around blogland this year? My Backyard Eden used an old wire hanger and a bunch of dollar store ornaments to make this gorgeous version. She used the classic red and green, and I'm in love.

Need stockings for Santa to fill? Shop your local thrift for wool sweaters, and make a colorful stocking like Holly, from Homebody did.

Just think of the possibilities!

Glitter and garlands, oh my. Mustard Seed Creations made this spectacular "WISH" garland from an empty cereal box. AND some fabulous glitter.

Ahhh, I love GLITTER season, I mean, the holiday season.



I can't wait until Tuesday, the sheer volume of fabulous ideas is STAGGERING!

Happy Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to my wonderful readers!

I wish good times, safe travels and long afternoon naps for each one of you!

I'll meet you back here on Saturday, to share some of my favorite "REINVENTED" holiday ideas from this week's Trash to Treasure party!

Trash to Treasure Tuesday

You laid awake all night last night wondering what I did with those chipboard letters, didn't you?

You didn't? Oh, okay.

I'm gonna tell you anyway.

So, I had this piece of scrap wood... (I've now written 3,349 posts that start with that phrase)

It's a piece of MDF actually, leftover from our master bedroom shelves. I spray painted it with silver paint, then sanded the edges and roughed up the shiny finish.

Next, I brushed on my new Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze, and wiped it right off. I'm just loving the look of tarnished silver/aged metal this creates. Remember the frame I tried this on first?
Just to warn you, you MIGHT see this finish again this holiday season.

I painted three chipboard letter with "colonial red" craft paint and glued them on the wood. Then I just used some small letter stamps and a black stamp pad to finish the thought.

A few small ornaments and some fake snow in my apothecary jar, and my powder room sports just a touch of Christmas color.

How much? Well...the whole alphabet was $2.99, so that's about 35 cents for the letters. I already had everything else. A touch of Christmas for UNDER a dollar. Now THAT brings JOY to MY world.

Link up those projects!! Please be sure to link back to REINVENTED in your posts so that we can share the love.

I'm linking up to Kimba's DIY day.

Change Up Your Christmas Decor

Do you change up your holiday decor from year to year?

Ever since I was diagnosed by Wendy with the raging chronic illness called OCD ("obsessively consumed with decorating"), I have been obsessively consumed with making small changes to freshen up my decor ALL. YEAR. LONG.

Why should the holidays be any different?

Last year, Christmas was red, white and aqua blue.

This year, after several hours in a zombie like state at Hobby Lobby (man, that was fun!), I've decided to go with a darker "barn red" and sage green combo.

I know, I know, these are the traditional holiday colors, so I'm not exactly shocking anyone with my originality here.

I found some really cool stuff, though, for not much money, which is KEY if you like to change up your decor each year. Or each day, not that I'd ever do that.


Here's what I bought. The scrap book paper will be perfect for adding these colors throughout our home, and at 59 cents a sheet, it won't break the bank.

I am in looooove with this red frame, it's metal and scrolly and just perfect for our family room. AND it was 50% off.

Just perfect for THIS. Christmas card picture? Done. done. done. (if you're getting a Christmas card from me, don't look at the next picture, okay?)

The four sweetest children on the planet. All of their bones are healed, even.

Ribbon is half off too this week at Hobby Lobby. Polka dot stockings? I couldn't resist.


More dots.

Oh my, check out this wrapping paper, it's fabulous. A HUGE roll for $4.00.

I bought these chip board letters too, but you'll have to come back tomorrow for Trash to Treasure Tuesday to find out what I used them for!




C u then! (my kids think I'm cool when I use texting language, just so ya know.)

My Favorite Things Party

Hi y'all! Happy "Exactly one week before Thanksgiving Day day!"

Today I'm participating in my very good blog friend Melissa's MY FAVORITE THINGS party at 320 Sycamore.

Melissa's party guests are sharing their most favorite things, from any category: home decor, makeup, food, clothing...ANYTHING.

Let me tell you, before I share my list, that ALMOST ALL of these items I tried on the recommendation of a friend, and FELL. IN. LOVE. That's why this party is such a fabulous idea, like we're all in Melissa's living room talking about what we like. So cool.

So, here we go.

I'll start with the obvious. Rustoleum's Heirloom White spray paint. You can paint ANYTHING with this stuff: glass, wood, metal, brass, you name it, I've tried it. AND IT WORKED. The color is gorgeous, but you didn't need me to tell you THAT.

Believe it or not, that's the only home decor item on my list. I decided to veer a little off course today.

Next up is Maybelline's new Colorsensational lipstick in TOTALLY TOFFEE. My friend Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman recommended this to me. It's a beautiful pinky brown color, very close to Bobbi Brown's "brown" color.

Okay, okay, so I don't exactly KNOW the Pioneer Woman, but I read her blog EVERY DAY, so when she featured this lipstick, I was pretty sure she was talking to ME.

After I put on lipstick every morning (ahem), I clean up the mess in my bathroom (yeah, sure, I do that every morning too) with THIS amazing stuff, Method's Tub and Tile Cleaner, in eucalyptus mint.

IT. SMELLS. LIKE. HEAVEN. And you can actually stand there and INHALE after you've cleaned, because it's totally non-toxic.

I can even make the kids clean with it.

What's my favorite treat? I'll stick with the MINT theme here, because I love to smell it AND eat it. If you haven't tried Dove's "Give in to the Mint" ice cream, then YOU. HAVEN'T. LIVED.

I can eat a whole pint in one sitting. That's kind of gross, isn't it? But it's SOOOO GOOD.

It's also part of the reason why I need these.

Lee's Slimming Secret jeans. These are fabulous. And comfortable, soooo comfortable. They are stretchy, but hold their shape. They eliminate "muffin top", and EVEN "Dove ice cream" top. Seriously. AND, they're less than $30 on sale.

I think that my single favorite Christmas purchase each year is one of these "Perfect Christmas" evergreen candle from Bath and Body Works. This candle lasts the whole season, and smells EXACTLY like a fresh cut tree.



Lastly, I'll clue you in on on my favorite beverage. Tazo's Chai Tea lattes. Oh. my. gosh. Sometimes this is the ONLY THING that gets me out of bed in the morning.

I used to blow LOTS of money on Chai Tea lattes at Starbucks, until I realized that you can buy this concentrate at the grocery store. It's the SAME stuff they use at Starbucks. Just mix 1:1 with milk, heat, and ENJOY.

Can you believe that NOTHING on my list came from the Goodwill?

Enjoy the party everyone!

Trash to Treasure Tuesday and A Tapeswell Winner!

Good morning, my friends and HAPPY TRASH TO TREASURE TUESDAY to all.

Before we get to today's project, it's time to announce the winner of the FABULOUS Tapeswell giveaway. Today's drawing proves that the "early bird gets the worm", because the Random Number Generator actually picked NUMBER ONE!

That's you KARLY from Coastal Plains Living! Congrats!

For the next few weeks, I'm hoping to feature as many TRASH TO TREASURE gift ideas as possible, and inspire us all to have a "REINVENTED, REPURPOSED" holiday season.

I'm sure we would probably all agree that trash to treasure beauties and repurposed items might not be the best gifts for EVERYONE on our lists, especially the loved ones we buy underwear for, but lovingly "REMADE" gifts are pretty close to perfect for LOTS of people.

Today's TRASH TO TREASURE idea is brought to you by The Old White Cottage.

This project is a fabulous way to add some gorgeous to any thrift store frame.

All you need is an ordinary frame with some flat surface area, a can of spray paint, buttons and hot glue.

Take these from this...

To this!

Aren't they beautiful and sparkly and gorgeous?

Now, let's get to the PARTY!

Please remember to link back to REINVENTED in your posts, so that everyone can share ideas, 'cuz, after all, that's what we're all here for!

Stylish and Sticky: A TapeSwell Giveaway!

It's that time of year again, time to shop for thoughtful and creative gifts for friends and family.


Well...I've heard that there are some people who shop in November. Those annoyingly organized planner aheader types. (If you're one of those people, I'm speaking about you totally GREEN with envy of your skills.)

Do you have friends and family that are geographically distant from you? Do you find yourself shipping out large brown boxes full of gifts?

Ever wish you could do something to dress up those plain brown boxes with something festive and colorful, but still acceptable to the US Postal Service?

Have I got an idea for you! I recently became acquainted with TapeSwell, an awesome company that sells stylish shipping solutions.

AND...Eileen, from TapeSwell has offered a lucky REINVENTED reader $20 to spend at their site!


Look at this black and white damask shipping tape! If anything ever falls apart in my black and white powder room, I am soooo taping it back together with this.


Here are a couple fabulous rolls of holiday shipping tape. Just think how excited your friends and family would be to get a package decorated with this!

TapeSwell has shipping labels too. I'm in loooooove with this black and scrolly one. Am I getting a little too predictable?

Don't answer that.

Here's the holiday shipping labels to coordinate with the fabulous tape above.

These envelope wraps are a genius idea. One of those that I wish I would've thought of. What a cool way to dress up your correspondence.

Wanna know how YOU can win $20 worth of TapeSwell sticky fabulousness?

1. Visit TapeSwell's site and then leave me a comment with your favorite product.
2. Tweet about this giveaway, TapeSwell loves tweets and so do I! (Be sure and leave me a second comment that you tweeted to count as your second entry.)

That's it! Good luck!

Trash to Treasure--The Ralph Lauren Editon

Hold on, now, I KNOW what you're thinking. What does Ralph Lauren have to do with Trash to Treasure projects?


Well...apparently my new boyfriend Ralph can transform more than just a girl with no fashion sense.

Meet my new love. We went on our first date today. It was a blind date, set up by the
Shanty 2 Chic sisters.


Cute, huh? This is "FAUX TECHNIQUE GLAZE" tinted to the "Smoke" color that the sisters use on LOTS of beautiful projects.

Ralph is NOT a cheap date. He set me back $15, bu this quart should last for a VERY LONG TIME.

I have been dying to try this famous glaze, and the wheels have been a turnin' for an excuse, I mean a project idea. I love the look of aged metal finishes, so I decided to see if Ralph could help me out.

I bought one of those raw wood craft frames at Joann's, then promptly forgot to take a BEFORE picture.

I painted the frame with some silver spray paint that I had on hand.

I sanded it down with a sanding block, then dipped my paintbrush in the glaze and painted it on.

Then I wiped it off with an old orphaned sock.

Here's what I got. Galvanized metal? Tarnished silver? A good idea gone bad?

I actually love it. (the picture doesn't do it justice, honest) You could try this finish on a thrift store frame too. What do you think?

Link up those Trash to Treasure projects!

This post is linked to:

Pottery Barn Style On My Budget

Those of you who, like me, drool over every Pottery Barn catalog that lands in your mailbox, will appreciate today's project.

Did you loooove these pillows?


I am smitten with the texture, the typography and the red stitching. So homey and RED. Red is my favorite color.

But, seriously PB, $29 for JUST THE COVER? Not in this lifetime.

I decided to make my own.

I started with this pillow, the perfect size for our leather armchair, but the colors weren't working with the family room decor.





I got out the canvas drop cloth that I've been cutting up for projects, and cut two pieces. The pillow measured 12 inches by 18 inches, so I cut the canvas 14 inches by 20 inches to allow for seams.

I printed out the word PEACE on Microsoft word, using Lucida Handwriting font, at size 300.

(Tip: use the "quick draft" setting to save on ink, and print on scrap paper to save on trees!)

In this picture the letters are printed at size 400. I quickly realized that was too big, so I reprinted at 300.

I cut out each letter with my craft knife.

Using Colonial Red fabric paint, I stenciled each letter on to the canvas.




After the paint had dried, I turned the fabric "right sides in" and glued a seam on three sides.

This stuff is THE BEST.

After the "seams" dried, I stitched a border with three strands of embroidery floss on those three sides.



Then I stuffed the pillow in and sewed the bottom closed!

If I had a SEWING MACHINE (Dear Santa...) this project would have been even EASIER.

How much was my copy? ZERO DOLLARS. Zip. Nada. Nothing. It just cost me my time.

And one hole in my thumb.

This post is linked to the following parties:

"I Can Make That" at Just a Girl

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage!

Check out the fabulous ideas!

DESIGN RULES WINNER and COPY CAT PROJECT!!

Happy Monday morning!

We have a winner in the Design Rules book giveaway,

COMMENTOR # 121!

Her name is "Anonymous", and here's what she had to say:

"I love what this book is saying and could absolutely use that help in my home. It would definitely help me focus on what needs to be done."

Well said! If YOU'VE felt like you need focus and advice, then DESIGN RULES can help you too, so I highly recommend that you get yourself a copy.

And...that's all I've got to say about THAT.

I'm off to work on today's project.

Do you loooove these Pottery Barn pillows as much as I do?

Wish you could have them for MUCH less money?

Then stop by here later on today and I'll show you how!

Pumpkin Perfection For Your Thanksgiving Table

I start off each day with such GOOD intentions. The kids leave for school, and my "To Do" list is waiting patiently for me on the kitchen island.

Then it happens. I think "I'll just check my e-mail REAL QUICK before I start cleaning."

Down the slippery slope I go.

First of all, I was sooo excited to see over 100 comments on the DESIGN RULES giveaway post from yesterday. This is a MUST HAVE book. I just wish I was OPRAH and could buy you all a copy.

What? You want me to get to the point?

Okay. So I was over at Edie's, checking out today's 12 Days of Christmas Craft, and I clicked on the link to her friend Denise's blog. She's the lady who made those cute little birds that Edie featured yesterday.

I'm liking what I see, so I keep scrolling through Denise's posts. Does this ever happen to you?

Then I see these:

Holy Thankgiving Centerpiece, Batman. These ribbon embellished pumpkins are the cutest thing EVER. Click here for the tutorial.

Now I'm an hour behind on that "To Do" list that easily could have taken ALL DAY LONG.

You're welcome.

Design Rules Giveaway

My friends, I just finished reading the first nonfiction book that I. COULD. NOT. PUT. DOWN.

I hereby boldly predict that DESIGN RULES: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator, by Elaine Griffin will soon become the BIBLE of home decor for us fanatically amateur decorators. (I say soon because this book just came out yesterday!)

Reading this book is like meeting your best friend, who happens to be an interior designer, at Starbucks, and picking her brain for hours on end, never realizing that you've missed three meals and the laundry is growing mold in the washer.

Ahem. Not that that's ever happened to ME, mind you.

The inside cover of this book says that Elaine is "one of the country's leading interior designers and style experts. She is a graduate of Yale (!) University and attended the New York School of Interior Design."

Uh-oh, I thought, she's one of those snobby designer types. The ones whose only clients are ultra-rich and stylish. She's probably never worked with a Mom in central Ohio that only has $25 to redo her powder room.

Boy, was I WRONG. This book is written in a delightfully conversational style. Elaine is down to earth and downright chatty.

The book is divided into twelve chapters: the first nine are full of ideas for specific rooms (even the laundry room!), numbers nine and ten cover window treatments and flooring, respectively, and number twelve is all about choosing colors.

Each chapter covers the "design rules", as well as how (and when) to follow them, break them, or just plain ignore them. Elaine offers tips for furniture arranging and accessorizing for small city apartments, palaces, and everything in between.

This is a fabulous book to read straight through, like I did, or to use "encylopedia style" and look up information as you need it.

Here's my favorite "rule": "Rooms should look like the people who live in them. Because if your house doesn't look like you, then, sugar, you never really get to go home."

Nuff said.

NOW FOR THE SURPRISE: YOU CAN WIN A COPY FOR YOURSELF!! Gotham Books is offering a free copy of DESIGN RULES to one lucky REINVENTED reader.

Just leave a comment on this post to be entered to win.

Living with Lindsay is giving away a copy of DESIGN RULES too! Head on over there to double your chances!

(Note: I was contacted by Gotham Books (wheee!) and received a copy of this book in exchange for this review. I was not paid for my opinion, my awe and excitement over this book are my own!)

Trash to Treasure--The Wall Art Edition

Welcome to Trash to Treasure Tuesday! If you're new here, then a double welcome to you, and thanks for visiting. Put your feet up and fix yourself a drink.

You're sure to find LOTS of great Trash to Treasure ideas, 'cuz I have some talented friends.

If you've got an idea or project to share, then LINK UP!

And NOW...for some wall art.

Do you have a naked wall, and an almost naked wallet?

I've been there, done that. And I revisit the situation often. DIY Home Ideas has solved our problem.

Got some stencils? Stencil a pattern right on your wall and frame it with a thrift store frame. Instant wall art! If you don't want to stencil directly on the wall, use a piece of poster board, or some fabric. I cut up a canvas drop cloth and stenciled on that. Look here for that project.

Speaking of fabric, how about just framing a beautiful fabric scrap? Beautiful pattern AND color on your walls. Isn't that what art is supposed to do?

How about another empty frame? This one is hung over a map, but you can also just hang empty frames. This adds an architectural element to the art.

Look out, fabulous kitchen art idea below. What a great idea for displaying photos in the kitchen. I guess you probably should use NEW pans for this, the ones in my cupboard are, shall we say, less than pristine.

I loooove these ceiling rosettes. Simple and graphic. My favorite.

Speaking of graphic. If you're into typography, this license plate collage is DROOL WORTHY.

My husband would think I was NUTS if I hung license plates on the wall.

Click here for instructions and more ideas.

Now link up those projects!