Do-Vember
I didn't have a Frugal board on Pinterest until just recently. Frugal, for me, isn't a separate category, it's just what is. I'm not usually posting things that are very un-Frugal on the rest of my boards.
But I did want a place to pin some ideas about things to make and do with thrifted finds, and other kinds of upcycling. Some of them are ideas I would seriously use. Others I pinned just because they were amusing. Who would ever have thought of taking old magnetic letters (the kind the kids play with on the fridge) and spray-painting them gold? How about 299 No-Sew Ways to Alter a T-Shirt?
Here are a couple of ideas that I think illustrate good principles about thrifting and upcycling:
1. From Thrifted Wine Box to Pretty Tea Box: You see a wooden box like this at a yard sale or at the thrift store, or somebody gives you one. Maybe it's a wine box, maybe it's an old jewelry box; anyway, it seems to have been made for one purpose, and at first that's all you can see; but then you decide to think (wait for it) outside the box. This is how old stereo cabinets get repurposed as children's play kitchens, and night tables find new life as end tables, or vice versa. Whatever it is, think of it not as a wine box, or as a magazine holder, but as an empty box, and start from there.
2. Turn a $3 plaid blanket into two sofa pillows. Don't get too excited about the $3, because you are still going to have to buy pillow forms (unless you have boring unused pillows), but here's the point: some people see a blanket, others see fabric. Some people see sheets that are the wrong size for their beds; others see tablecloths, or dresses for little girls, or drawstring bags for MCC school kits. Some people see tablecloths that are the wrong size for their tables...you get the point.
3. Two sock snowpeople hugging each other: Because two of something is more fun than one. Or, in this case, because you've created a little snowperson scenario. (Warning: the link goes only to a Pinterest image, but after that it doesn't go anyplace useful.)
But I did want a place to pin some ideas about things to make and do with thrifted finds, and other kinds of upcycling. Some of them are ideas I would seriously use. Others I pinned just because they were amusing. Who would ever have thought of taking old magnetic letters (the kind the kids play with on the fridge) and spray-painting them gold? How about 299 No-Sew Ways to Alter a T-Shirt?
Here are a couple of ideas that I think illustrate good principles about thrifting and upcycling:
1. From Thrifted Wine Box to Pretty Tea Box: You see a wooden box like this at a yard sale or at the thrift store, or somebody gives you one. Maybe it's a wine box, maybe it's an old jewelry box; anyway, it seems to have been made for one purpose, and at first that's all you can see; but then you decide to think (wait for it) outside the box. This is how old stereo cabinets get repurposed as children's play kitchens, and night tables find new life as end tables, or vice versa. Whatever it is, think of it not as a wine box, or as a magazine holder, but as an empty box, and start from there.
2. Turn a $3 plaid blanket into two sofa pillows. Don't get too excited about the $3, because you are still going to have to buy pillow forms (unless you have boring unused pillows), but here's the point: some people see a blanket, others see fabric. Some people see sheets that are the wrong size for their beds; others see tablecloths, or dresses for little girls, or drawstring bags for MCC school kits. Some people see tablecloths that are the wrong size for their tables...you get the point.
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