Crafty 2: Scavenged Crafts

A couple of years ago I noticed that nearly every other house on the street displays something pretty and seasonal in planters on their doorsteps... spring annuals, robust summer blooms, harvest colored mums, and then piney boughs and berries for the winter. Since then I've been trying to keep up... but have felt bad because it seems so wasteful to spend all this money on things that I end up throwing away when the season's done.

I was thinking about this the other day when I noticed all the planters were filled with wintry bouquets... and my eyes alighted on the dogwood bush in the corner of our yard. Hey! The same red branches that I saw for sale at local fancy grocery store! Then this morning I drove over to my parents and found a teetering stack of pots next to their garbage. Hey! Two perfect planters! A sweep of their backyard (part of a former pine tree farm) and I had arm fulls of boughs and a sack full of pine cones.

It's a bit free-flowing and needs a little touch-up after some of the branches settled, but hey, it was free!
























My second scavenged craft isn't something that I put together but something that will enable me to do crafts. Since I got my sewing machine in June I've been thinking idly about a table for it... wondering if I should buy something cheap at Ikea... or ask around... or make something from an old door in the garage.

Then Husband and I were driving home from running last week and I spied a table on the curb with a FREE sign. I'm not usually one to pick up random stuff, but after half a block I asked Husband to drive around again. We hobbled out the car, inspected it, and shoved in it the back.


















It's got a metal top and is nice and big, and has these extensions tucked under the top to make it even bigger. It just needs some fresh paint on the bottom part.


















Good timing, as I start my sewing classes next week!