trash to treasure

EDIT: I posted this a few days ago, but I linked up to A Soft Place To Land's Do-It-Yourself Day today (Tuesday, Nov. 10) so I'm adding a few notes about the tray below for those of you who may be visiting from that link. I made-over the tray below simply by spray-painting it! Yep, Rustoleum primer and a few coats of textured spray paint. That's all there was to it! And now, back to the previously scheduled post...




It's been a few days since I posted because I've been a busy little bee, out thrift-store shopping, brainstorming creative ideas and doing a little decorating. Have a mentioned that I am simply LOVING the concept of 'trash to treasure'? I've been so utterly inspired by the creativity of other bloggers, and I'm finally getting into the groove myself. This week I hit 2 local thrift shops, Liberty Ministries Thrift Store (the proceeds of these stores goes to prison ministry) and Goodwill. Dare I even admit...I've gotten stuff at these places this week that are going to be Christmas gifts!! Of course, they will be 'repurposed' and tweeked and made lovely, so I'm quite sure the receivers won't mind a bit (or even know, unless I choose to reveal my secret)! I am posting some pics below for you to see some (not even all, because some of it has already been put into process) of the treasures I found, and a few glimpses of what I'm doing with it all. And by the way, the most I spent for any one thing was $4!!

First, here's a sampling of what I found:
And there was this little number:
Which is now this:
These lovelies were from the other week: (the pic doesn't show well how roughed up looking they were...they really weren't in great shape)
But with a little spray paint and some adorable little bottles sitting atop them (also from Liberty this week) they have become part of the in-progress quest to make my bathroom 'work' (aesthetically speaking; the plumbing is all just fine)...in spite of the gray and pink floor tile. (Some day, SOME DAY this tile WILL be gone and I will have a loverly bathroom!) I still think they need a little 'something' more...but they're still pretty cute.
I don't know if you see these pieces in the pic above, but I found a cute wooden stand, and a glass dome lid separately for less than $1 each. Paired them together and plopped my little clearance pumpkin from last fall in the middle for a new little table centerpiece (on my $2 leaf place mat from Walmart).
I'm so excited to get on with my Christmas projects...and just to give you a teaser, I'm planning a little giveaway coming soon to kick off the holiday season!! Stay tuned!!!