Upcycled Hand trovel

We are still in the grip of a major heat wave that is supposed to last all week.  Today's forecast is for 108.  Definitely not stepping foot outdoors.  I got up early this morning while it was only 85 to water my potted plants.  Thank goodness for the drip irrigation because there is no way I could have watered everything by hand.

All this heat has left me with Sciatica pain in my left hip to the point I could barely walk yesterday.  Today I am doing everything to try to stay cool.

So, while cleaning out an old garden box last week I came across a few rusty old hand garden tools.

  My first thought was to toss them out, then I decided to see if I could make some use out of them.

I try not to throw anything into the landfill that can be re used for a new purpose.

Among them was a small rusty hand trowel.  The first thing I did after cleaning it off was to coat the entire piece with acrylic varnish and let that dry.  

A while back I saw a similar trowel partially painted and used as a memo holder for the garden on Pinterest.  That's it, that is what I decided to do with mine.

Here you can see where I partially painted the lower half.

Next using the hole in the end of the handle I threaded some tea dyed seam binding through the hole and attached a bulldog clip to hold notes or seed packets or whatever I need to remember for the garden.

 

I next went through my photo files and found a victorian lady with a few flowers in the picture, sized it on my computer to fit the trowel and printed the image on my laser printer.  Next I roughly tore the image from the paper in the shape of the trowel and adhered it to the trowel using Mod Podge.  I also sealed to surface of the image with more Mod Podge.

Then I wrote on a tag, "It's time to garden"  and added some dyed seam binding to the tag and clipped  it into the bulldog clip.

I tied some pink dyed seam binding around the handle and added 3 paper flowers I made from scrapbook paper.

Isn't she adorable?

Now I can hang this near the door leading to the garden with any note I need to remember for the garden chores.

This rusty little trowel has a new purpose and won't be thrown out for a very long time.

Happy Crafting!

Up Cycled Tin Can Cookie Jar

I created a cookie jar out of an empty tin can, silver tray and crystal lid.

I found the crystal lid and silver tray at a thrift store awhile back.  They where priced at less then $5.00 for both.

I had them sitting around in my stash with no idea what I would make with them .

After I emptied this very large can that contained instant mashed potatoes I just couldn't bring myself to throw it out.

Then I saw something similar on Pinterest.

I first cleaned everything really well and polished the inside of the silver tray.  I used  E6000 to glue the crystal lid to the silver tray making sure it was completely glued and airtight.  I wanted the silver tray to not tarnish inside the lid.  I really like the sparkle when the lights shines on it.

While the lid was drying I cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit around the can and used Mod Podge to glue it to the can.  Making sure to press the paper into all the ridges of the can, leaving no gaps. 

 When that was dry I coated the whole exterior with Mod Podge and let that dry.  Once dry I cut a piece of white lace and glued it to the can with hot glue.  Wrapped that with a piece of coffee died seam binding which I threaded a couple of flower petals through from my stash and tied a bow.  Added a touch of hot glue to the back side of the bow to make sure it wouldn't slip down.

The overall cookie jar measures almost 12" high and almost 7" wide.

Now I will have to bake some cookies to fill the cookie jar.