Month: November 2017

There’s nothing I enjoy more than taking something old and making it new again.  Ok, that sounds like an overused cliche, but it’s true!  I like to repurpose old things into things I can use again.

While I was digging through my Christmas decorations, I ran across a little village of houses that I collected quite a few  (around 30+) years ago.  I think a lot of people had them too.  We arranged them on cotton to represent an idealistic little village, turned on their little lights and they were perfect decorations for this time of the year.  This is much larger than my village, but it’s the same concept from Pinterest.

I couldn’t part with these little houses because they contain sweet memories – my mom gave me the church that she bought on one of her trips, and my children were small when we used these houses for Christmas decorations.  One is even a candle fashioned into a school (you can even see  the wick in the third picture).  Since I’m a teacher, it was a perfect addition to the group.

This is the church

This was a candle and I snipped off the wick from the rooftop

I pulled out my white acrylic paint and small brush and after cleaning the dust from these little treasures, I painted each with a couple of coats. These look similar to glitter houses, but I’m really tired of glitter coming off my other decorations, so I left these plain.

The paint adhered well (even to the candle!) and after quick coats and drying time, I was able to arrange these little houses into my Christmas decorations.

I also added epsom salt “snow” to a silver  tray and added another small village and bottle brush trees to the guest bedroom.

This is the little church that looks so sweet in its prominent place in my kitchen. I think mama would be proud!

This project was a quick and cheap way to dress up something old!

Do you have keepsake clothes you don’t know what to do with?  I have a couple of shirts from my dad and a duster from my mom that brought me great comfort after they passed away – the smell and sight evoked such sweet memories of each of them. I ran across these clothes the other day and after many years have passed, I still didn’t want to do away with these.  I surfed ideas on Pinterest and found some little stuffed stars and hearts that can be placed on my Christmas tree or just placed somewhere that I’ll  see in my everyday life that will remind me of my sweet parents.

I decided to go with the stars since they remind me of direction, light and searching.  Both my parents always loved me and tried to point me to the One who created the stars and directs my path!

I tried to guesstimate the size of the diamonds that make up the star, and cut out a pattern on cardboard, then stitched the pieces into little stars.

 Next, I stuffed the stars and added a button – which I took from my daddy’s shirt – and attached a string at the top, and voila – the finished star.

This picture shows the back where I used plain off white cotton

 This picture is the finished star next to a favorite picture of my mom and me that sits on my desk.

If you’re searching for ideas, hope this helps you keep your memories alive.  Of course, the sweetest memories are in our hearts, but these little keepsakes are an easy visual reminder.