Paper Jewels

Hey, this is part of my never-ending quest to find stuff that you can really use - around your house, or to wear, or to, well, even clean stuff.

I knew about baking soda and vinegar already - but salt? Who knew? Well I recently found a super useful article on 46 Smart Uses For Salt!

Ordinary, Everyday, Super-Useful Salt

Here’s a sample of how you can use salt (and avoid Overhyped, Overcommercial, Overtoxic Other Store Bought Products):

Giving credit where it’s (totally) due - here’s a link to the original post over on Yahoo Green! There are lots more good tips for all kinds of uses.

Salt is cheap - it’s one thing we’ve got a lot of on this planet! And it’s eco-friendly. And it works (at least one the ones I’ve already tried - which makes me think it really does work as advertised here!)

And did I mention, cheap?

I found another great example of wallpaper-as-art and wanted to share it, especially because there’s an extra bit of food-for-thought here. First, here’s the inspiration photo:

Wallpaper as Art - Inspiration from Style-Files.com

Now there’s a point to all this. First off, this is (part of) a great-looking room (and Style Files is full of inspiration, truly, go look around!) But even more - here’s the bear-with-me idea.

I happen to think this is a great looking vignette. I also think that the wallpaper they’ve used in this pic is totally unremarkable - in and of itself. It’s okay. It’s not fabulous. But the way they’ve used it, as a strong graphic statement, framed AS ART, really does look terrific.

Okay, that’s Idea Number One. It doesn’t have to be priceless art. It has to say something to you, or be a color you love, or whatever. Treat it as art, be bold with it - and it IS art.

Which leads me to my second point. I took the photo from Style Files and fiddled with it - excuse me ladies, it was just to try something out. What I did, was grab what I consider a totally inappropriate graphic from my own files (inappropriate meaning, it ain’t “art”, it’s just a graphic). This particular graphic is of a pair of earrings on my site - and yes, I do think the earrings are terrific (you can find them here). But as wall art? No, I wouldn’t choose this graphic.

But in my doctored-up-photo, I took the earrings image. I copied it a bunch of times - just like you could do if you took any image you liked and made 20 copies at your local copy shop. Then group the images together on the wall (put pasteboard or something behind them if you don’t want to paste directly on the wall) and presto: you’ve got strong wall art.

See what I mean? This isn’t priceless art. But because it is a strong image, and the repetitive idea makes it even more graphically interesting, and because it’s framed on the wall like “real art” - it works. It looks good. It makes a statement.

It costs practically nothing if you use images from magazine pages. Or maps. Or wallpaper samples. Whatever. Use *recycled* images, that’s even better.

Try it. It works.

This is such a simple idea I’m crushed I didn’t think of it - but it’s so cool I have to share

I discovered this idea over at Domestically Speaking Blog - there’s bunches of useful info and fun ideas over there and you really ought to check it out.

And this idea is lovely - fun - easy!

Painted Bottles - Do It Yourself

She shares how she made them and it’s worth reading the tips she offers - but basically? You take clean empty bottles, drop in several drops of acrylic paint, put the lid back on the bottle, and shake! Much prettier than painting the outside of the bottle because you get not only the color - you get the shine and gloss of the glass.

Check out her blog - and then add a terrific punch of color to your house with recycled bottles.

PS Once again, this could be great for brides. Use silver or white paint on the inside of the bottles, and add real or silk flowers, as centerpieces for your reception tables. Or make a big grouping of the bottles, in your wedding colors of course, to add drama to any table. You’ll think of more ideas than I have - and you’ll be adding a personal (thrifty) touch to your wedding!

A bucket, you say? Now wait, it is MUCH cooler than you’re thinking.

If you’re like me, you always need places to PUT things. You need to get more organized. You don’t want to spend a lot of money but you want whatever it is that’s doing the organizing, to look good. And you’d be thrilled to do it yourself - if you just knew how.

So take a look at this absolutely terrific burlap “bucket” - container - catchall - magazine holder - tote - you name it:

DIY Burlap Bucket or Tote - PDF Instructions from Designsmayamde on Etsy

Think how many ways you could use this. In every room - in colors made to coordinate and look good with what you’ve already got. You can do it yourself. You could use all kind of great recycled fabrics!

And she offers online help if you need it!

Of course I always think vintage is a great idea - it’s usually thrifty (or downright cheap) - which always helps. And so often, you’ll find clothes made better than new ones. And there are so many beautiful finds!

As, for example, these wonderful wedding gowns I found today at Pink Ribbon Bridal on Etsy:

Vintage Alfred Angelo White Lace Wedding Dress Bridal Gown Plus size 20W BNWT
and

Vintage Moonlight Plus Size 28 Wedding Dress

I know it’s sometimes hard to find terrific plus size garments when you’re searching vintage - for that matter, it’s always a crapshoot to find any particular size. That’s part of the hunt! So when there are wonderful choices like these, I think they need to be found

Now I will say, I’m not sure if these fit the definition of “true vintage” because they’re from the 1990s I think. But if I was looking for a wedding gown in those particular sizes, would that bother me? Oh no. I’d be thrilled to find them!

These gowns were purchased from a breast cancer charity - read more about it on her Etsy page so this is just a win-win all the way around.

Of course the most important thing is that you are finding the PERFECT wedding gown for your most special day. At a great price. Talk about a win-win!

Talk about a color lift! And I’m not talking about your roots here. I’m talking about a shot of color you could use every day - red is the “new neutral”. This would be a happy-making bag!

You know I think vintage is the best shopping ever. And when I find a goodie like this, I want to share! You can see the quality (and there’s several pics, so you get a good look).

This particular bag may or may not be sold by the time you go peek, but this seller - RiffRaffReview on Etsy - has lots of goodies - and more on the way. Check it out!

Couldn’t resist - the article in Apartment Therapy even called this “The Best DIY Ideas to Steal”. Well…okay! Take a look at this cool use-wallpaper-as-art example:

She’s surrounded the paper with molding to “frame” it. And has lots of other good inspiration-ideas

Meant to post this yesterday for Earth Day but kinda missed…. but this doesn’t need to just be an “Earth Day” idea. Hopefully we can all learn to see with new eyes. To “rethink” - how can we use this? do I need to throw it away to just fill up a landfill, or can I do something totally new with it? And NOT BUY ANYTHING. (Of course I’m all in favor of buying stuff - I’m a retailer - but even I know that we have to learn to buy selectively, to buy only if we need it or we want to give something wonderful to someone we love… you know, the *good* reasons).

Anyway I ran across this picture (sorry didn’t save the link, I was having a leaky brain day) - and am proposing it as a General Idea rather than just a specific. Take a look at this terrific colorful basket:
.

These are made from rolled-up newspapers, and I don’t have directions so would be experimenting myself. Roll the newspaper tightly to make tubes - lots of them. Start to coil your basket, securing the coils with cotton string? Clear fishing line, IF you already have some and would not be buying new…. Or, maybe colorful cotton strips torn from an old sheet (okay, cut from an old sheet - sheets are tough and strong!) Or yarn you have anyway? Anything that could be used to “sew” the coils together.

The basket would be lightweight and strong (paper is very very strong in compressed layers). I bet there are lots of adaptations we can think of, using this general idea. Let’s think of more

You know I love to hear about new ways to recycle paper, since paper is after all one of my preferred materials I saw this totally cool idea that tells you how to make a “new” wastebasket out of recycled magazine pages!

Recycled Wastebasket made with magazine pages

This is from Homemade Originals and there are clear directions included here.

You’ll probably think of a lot of variations on the theme - hey, if nothing else, you can take a wastebasket you already have and decorate it with magazine pages - not so original, but still a lot of fun. And all it costs is a magazine you’ve probably already got, and some glue.

Vive recycling!

I’ve been peeking at Budget Diva, an online budget shopping blog that also has its own thrift store. Not only is it great fun to look around there, you can also score great deals in their shop. Right now they don’t have tons of goodies there but it’s totally worth checking out. Look at these shoes for example!

Nine West Pumps

These are work pumps, not as fun as flip flops maybe, but so goodlooking and if I have to dress for the office, I want my shoes to be this cool! If they were my size I’d have grabbed them asap. I have hope though. If they can find goodies like this once, they can do it again. Check them out!