Repurposed Thursday: A Tree and A Vase

Welcome to Repurposed Thursday!

Repurposed Thursday is where I am going to share my repurposing projects. Some of them turned out great, and others...not so much. I still have a lot to learn, and need a whole lot more practice. There are a ton of blogs out there by people who are crazy good at this. Some day, I may be one of them, but for now...

The idea for this project started for me last fall. I've seen it elsewhere on the internet since then, but I hadn't when the idea first came to me.

We plant a garden every summer, and a big part of that is tomato plants. Tomatoes are vines, and to keep them in one place, they have to be staked to some kind of support. Enter tomato cages. They come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and price tags. My cages are the cheap type and I have had them for several years. Next year, I'm doing something different, and hopefully, that will involve more repurposing.

My cages are pretty much shot. When we cleaned out the garden last year, we set the cages off to the side of the driveway. One day, when we were going out to the car, I stopped to look at those cages. I was not going to throw them away, but what could I do with them? Then it hit me! I turned to Ed, pointing at the cages, and said, “Christmas trees!” He said his standard “Uh-huh. That's a good idea”, which translates to “Oh Lord, help me! She's at it again!”

The last few years, we've had a very small table-top tree, because that is really all we have room for. Katherine was already complaining about the “dinky” tree before we ever got it out of storage. She saw four-foot trees in Kmart, and said, “Those aren't too big! Could we get one of those, please!!!!” I said “no” of course, because I already had a better idea.

Here is the finished product. Since I (again) did not take before pictures, I took some as I was taking it apart so you can get an idea of how it went together.. Katherine loved it, and even Ed was impressed.
Oh, and it didn't cost me a dime. I used things I already had. Thinking ahead to next year though, and wondering if maybe I might be able to sell a few.

As I was taking the gold garland off the tree,  I remembered where it came from and I had to laugh. My dad used to own a business where he tore down old buildings. A lot of times, he would be told that if he found anything inside, it was his. He found all kinds of stuff. He was also very good at picking things up that other people threw out. Anyway, one year, probably about 1995, he came for a visit, and brought me a garbage bag full of gold garland. Yep, the same gold garland. There isn't much left, but I still use what there is!

Without the decorations. You can see the  frame around the bottom.

I used four wired garlands. The kind with the little wired "branches" comimg off them.

I used duct tape to hold the top together.  The cage is ready to go back outside.

The next project was done last fall. A lot of things came together at once, allowing me to create something that has spent the last few months displayed in our living room. As I've said before, Ed and I were married in September. A dear friend got me a beautiful bouquet of cream roses and other purple flowers. My sister told me that I could dry them upside down which I did. Several weeks later, I'm looking at the upside down bouquet hanging from a piece of twine, and thinking: “Now what?” I had no idea what to do with it.

Right around the same time, I discovered Angie's blog at Knick of Time. I wanna be like Angie when I grow up! Anyway, she was decorating with book pages. I didn't think I could bring myself to tear pages out of books, but what if they were already falling apart. I had some of those, and I already knew how to do decoupage. So I kind of started looking for things that I could maybe cover in book pages. I will say that I have since gone a little nuts,

As you know, I try not to throw anything away that I might be able to reuse. At least not until it starts taking over the house. I started drinking almond milk this last year, and my favorite kind comes in a really cool plastic bottle.

Plastic bottle + old book pages + mod podge + twine + dried wedding bouquet = awesome dried flowers in a rustic-looking  vase.  What do you think?

Yeah, its a little wrinkled. Like I said, I need practice.
See you tomorrow,
Connie