Re-fabricated Gift Box: Tutorial

This is what I like to call the, "broke college student" gift wrapping method.

I did this with a lot of my Christmas presents last year. With a house of 5 people, our recycling bin had a lot of gift box options to choose from.

1. Start with any box (cereal, oatmeal, toothpaste). Here, I am using a Yogi tea box because the inside of it is really pretty (Yogi, Detox tea is my new favorite).

2. Undo the box

3. Cut off any straggling tears/etc.

4. Start folding it back up, but with the inside facing out and the outside facing in. 

5. Glue down any flaps that you had to undo when unfolding the box (all purpose craft glue works best)

6. Ready to go! This is a perfect size for little handmade accessories and the print is gorgeous on the inside.

Vintage Lace Salvaging

After getting in a mass lot of Edwardian to 1960's clothing, my mom and I salvaged what we could out of the pieces. A lot of the garments were so delicate and old that they weren't wearable.

On this particular piece, which use to be a blouse, had holes and rips all over it but the lace was still in perfect condition! We used scissors and a seam ripper to carefully pluck the lace from the collar and cuffs of the blouse.

Next, we just washed it with "Woolite" and air dried it. Now, I just have to figure out what to do with it.

Antique Window Pane Table

1. Drill in supports

2. Screw in table legs and paint them

Cost: $25

Found Deer Antlers-Hook

I was given a pair of really run-down, half decayed deer antlers that a friend of mine found in the woods by his house. Apparently he finds stuff like this all the time (wouldn't that be nice?). The full pair in the picture was also given to me by him, while the other half of the decayed antlers were used for a photo project.

Here are the steps i went through to create this wall mount:

1. Saw the tip of the antlers off, cutting at an angle relevant to how you want it mounted (example: cut at an angle so that they lay angled on the wood and not straight out..wouldn't want anyone to poke their eye out)

2. Sand it into a flat edge (if needed)

3. Drill a hole in the stem of the antler, making sure that you go in at desired angle (perpendicular to the cut)

4. Drill a hole through the center of your wood platform

5. Then, drill a screw through the back of the wood and through the hole you made in the antler.

6. Attach a frame mount (which i already had at home) to the back.

Cost: $0

FOR SALE at Shop Columbia

Fancy Vintage Frame Idea

Yet another vintage frame...

Steps:

1. Measure out where you want your hooks to go and mark them with a pencil

2. Drill holes the same width of the hooks or a tad smaller, making sure you go straight into the frame (so that the hooks hang straight when you go to screw them in)

3. Screw the hooks in and make sure they're all even

Cost:

Frame: $0

Hooks: $3 (for a pack of 10)

FOR SALE at Shop Columbia

MYspace

 

This is the space directly next to my bed and after many searches and tries, I can now say that it is complete (until I change my mind).

All of these objects were acquired with little or no cost, as usual, with a couple elements I either splurged on or bought with a bargain!

Item A: Is a framed lithograph print that my best friend gave me. The frame came from my Grandmother's house and has been in the family for several generations.

Cost: $0

Item B: This is a faux wooden frame that i purchase from a tiny resale shop in Champaign, Illinois. It makes a bigger statement without anything displayed in it and is a nice breakup between the top picture and the bottom table.

Cost: 25 cents

Item C: This vase was made from an old lamp that i got in a giant Salvation Army in the Chicago suburbs. Since the wires were fried and more than likely, it was a fire hazard, I got the idea to tear out its guts and glue the bottom base on (i love the base and decided to keep it). It now functions as a vase and it's my absolute favorite find in my home.  

Cost: $5

Item D: Item D shows my new hippo ashtray. I purchased this from Ten Thousand Villages and since I don't smoke and since I love houseplants, I took a section of my other fern and planted it in the ashtray! 

SPLURGE Cost: $14

Item E: This was my first furniture purchase with my own money. I'm absolutely in love with antique furniture so my mom and I go to Third Sunday Market every summer to find our vintage goods. This particular side table was made from old antique doors/wood. All handmade by the very guy i bought it from

Bargain Cost: $30

Ready...Go

Finding vintage goods, refurbishing them and adding them to my little townhouse in Chicago is one of my many interests... hobbies, rather but it's now time for me to crack down and become more of an adult.

I'm about to graduate college and start not only paying off my loans, but also figuring out how I can still thrive in a city which i've grown to love so much because Chicago living is essential to my young adult life.

My current but, more so past blogs are a clustercuss of, well, the many things I find the need to blog about, I guess: my photography, others photography, silly quotes and the random craft projects that I underwent.

I had an idea to start a blog about how I'm constantly finding ways to maintain my hobbies, my chicago lifestyle and my all around interests, but in a more cost effective way. Upon further planning, I'm finally going to create a blog out of it, if not for the public but for myself as a documentation and a way of keeping my "new years resolution" on track.

The goals for my blog (outside of "living simply") will incorporate my photography (because, it IS what my degree is in), my Wabi Sabi design style, thrift/free/dumpster finds and how i go about repurposing and refurbishing them.