Catnip as Pest Control

Catnip grown in outdoor gardens is a great method to deter mosquitos and rodents. Although, its good for pests, it may attract every cat in your neighborhood, so maybe some moderation in planting catnip in your garden might be best, if you don't want a cat festival in your garden.

This photo was on www. flowers.vg  which allows use of free photos of plants

Vintage Black White Photography for Crafts

Vintage black and white photography is great to make collages, create scrap books, travel journals, refrigerator magnets, old buttons and photo jewelry.  Old one of a kind images are original finds and can be used in creative ways to make a new object.  Scan images into the computer and print out on glossy paper and create framed wall art.  It's inexpensive when you purchase these photos in a block or lot.  Some photos can be made into Posters with photo services from Walgreens or CVS.


Here are some beautiful vintage black and white photography that I had purchased on Etsy.  These images are breath taking and I couldn't find a way to really part with them or reuse them in some collage.  



Landscape and river photo

River and dock

Vintage Beautiful overhead view of river

Old photography NYC and Europe

Vintage Statue of Liberty classic

 

Empire state building in NYC

 

Old church in Europe

 

Beautiful lake in Europe

 

seaside European coastal town

 

Statue in Germany

 

Amazing cliff 

 

Amazing gates and pillars in Europe

 

Shower curtain folding chair makeover

The vinyl on the chair became damaged and had to be changed. On a limited budget, I used what I had on hand; a vinyl white shower curtain. Using the seat as a template, I left about four inches on all four sides of the chair and cut around the seat. I placed the seat with the top facing down on the cut piece of vinyl, then I took one side and stapled it with 15.00 manual staple gun, until I did it on all sides pulling the vinyl tightly on each side. 

I placed the seat back on the folding chair frame, then I left the brown color vinyl that was in tact for the back of the folding chair. I used a plain white vinyl shower curtain liner but there are vinyl shower curtains that have printed designs so cover both the seat and the back.

Duct tape fixes a lot of things including folding chairs

Duct tape the corner

Duct tape the front corner

vinyl white curtain liner

Used vinyl white curtain liner to cover chair

Stapled the vinyl cover onto chair

Completed folding chair

Vinyl shower curtain liner covered chair

Bronx Bus Map Boxes

I took some old cardboard small post office boxes and glued vintage 80's NYC subway maps on all four sides of the boxes. I had cut the map in four pieces that were slightly larger to overlap the ends of the sides of the boxes, then I cut a fifth piece to cover the bottom of the box.  
I love how they came out, they are great for closet or bathroom storage.

Bronx 80s Bus map

 

Reuse old vintage maps don't throw them out

 

Recovered cardboard box with bus map

 

Cover those boxes up with old maps from anywhere

 

Love the NYC Bus design on this map

 

Added this Bronx map logo on other side

 

Kind of a blurry shot map box came out nice

 

Great bus map detail

Recycle computer part as letter holder

This metal computer part, I removed from a non-working Dell Desktop computer. I took the mother board and the CPU apart, resold some of the parts, kept the hard drives and some parts that I could reuse or reinvent in some other way.

I found this small metal computer part that had all of the computer internal connectors that are ribbon like, it had individual slots so I decided to paint it and use it as a letter holder and flyer ad rack for my desk.
 

Computer part up cycled painted and used as letter/ad holder

 

Old internal computer desktop part recycled as ad holder

Use a carpet remnant as area rug

A few years ago, my family and I purchased carpeting for two bedrooms, after the installation, there were two pieces of carpeting that were left over and they were cut in a 5x 7 size and the other in a 3 x 9 size. At the time I thought to myself I will use these pieces in the back room since the color did not coordinate well with the living room.
When I decided to paint the living room a medium blue color and installed laminate wood flooring, the room lacked a punch of color and texture. I did not have money to purchase a rug so I had the 5 x 7 remnant piece in the backroom which I had cleaned and placed underneath the glass coffee table in the living room.  I used a carpet remnant as an area rug.

It worked out great, the brown color of the carpet remnant   looked nice with the blue walls and white slip covered furniture.
To add some color or print design to the carpet remnant, use a stencil and some fabric paint.  Once the design is stenciled make sure carpet is dry before placing on floor. Wait about a week for the carpet to dry. Some paints take longer to completely dry depending on the amount of paint used and the humid climate.

  If there is no money to purchase a rug or any other new accessory, look around your home. Items that have been  stored in a closet or garage that hasn't been used in years, could work with updated décor.  Sometimes items are forgotten when placed in storage in the home, repurpose these items to enhance home décor or provide a storage solution for living room.

If the main living area has too many furniture pieces reuse the extra item in a different room.  By changing up some furniture pieces into different areas of the home; a new look is created without spending any money.

Using old keys as drapery weights

Don't get rid of old keys no longer in use; sew these keys into the bottom hem of curtains to give them weight.

Make Magazine holders out of detergent boxes

After using the powder detergent of large card board boxes; clean it with a paper towel. Make sure there is no more powder inside boxes; cut the top part of the detergent box; then cut the sides of the box at the top side to the bottom third of the other. Cover the box with self adhesive paper or left over wall paper.