Trash to Treasure - Found Mirror Refinished

Here is a mirror I found that was sitting by a dumpster. There was really nothing wrong with it except the colors didn't match my decor. My decor is old world - castle and the mirror was more of a Cape Cod beach style. So I decided to paint it and give it an old antique look. First I covered the mirror with paper, then I used a spray primer to make sure none of the colors would bleed through. I then sprayed it with an Ivory color. I just used what paint I had on hand. (Almost all my paint products are free and come from a place that collects and recycles paint products.) After the paint dried I applied antiquing glaze with a sponge brush. While the glaze was wet I used a rag to wipe off the extra glaze, leaving a nice old world look. Again this was another trash to treasure project.

Mosaic Garden Sun Face for Under $1.00

I picked up the clay sun face at my local thrift store for $.50. I decided to make a mosaic wall hanging for out in my garden. Using mastic I mounted the sun face on a scrap piece of plywood, and surrounded it with various sizes of glass babbles. I bordered that with scrap pieces of tiles and stone (free). The little gray corner tiles at the bottom were found at Habitat for 10 cents each. I finished the whole thing off with a wood frame that I painted to match the sun face. The sun face was chipped on the nose and some other places so I just used the paint that I mixed up to do touch ups. Then to finish it off I used pearl grout, which was also a freebie. So total cost for materials was 70 cents + tax. Finished size 13 1/2" x 19 1/2".

Useful Items Found From Trash

Well I’m a little behind on my posting and I wanted to share the Found Objects from last week. This is some of the things that we found one day as we went down a couple of alleys. My husband looks for electronics, tools, wood and recyclables. While I look for anything that still has life in it or can be used in another way. Here are my found objects.

3 – stackable 4Gal storage drawer containers originally from a popular bed and bath store
A colorful woven bag
The New Complete JOY of Home Brewing paperback book.
Foliage Clusters - these are for hobby train landscaping
A green ceramic canister
An Orange fabric tablecloth
One purple VIBRA-TONE and tom tom (this is a Latin Percussion Instrument)
Various scrap pieces of green fabric and a bag of feathers
A small piece of silk material that has beautiful oriental style fish swimming around.
Some aqua, turquoise & blue yarns
Seven red candles still in package
A box of tumbled cracked clear decorative glass
A small black metal lamp that shines upward
A dozen unused tea lights
Container of assorted nails
4” x 6” block of unused 1” thick Plexiglas
3 new paint brushes
Skein of 16 Ga. Dark Annealed Wire 2lb
10 old metal jacks, ouch I remember stepping on these as a child in bare feet. OUCH!
And assorted colors of watercolor and acrylic paints

Out of all this stuff the paint brushes, paint, wire, Plexiglas, nails, yarns, feathers, fabric, foliage clusters, woven bag and the old metal jacks are all supplies that I can use in my art projects. I placed all of this in my studio, along with the storage containers to await further use. The candles, light, decorative glass, canister, and tablecloth will be used for décor. The vibra-tone will be added to our musical instrument collection. And the JOY of Home Brewing book has me now looking for the bottles and containers needed to brew your own. I already know were to go to pick wild hops.
As I find a use for each item I will take pictures and post them. And keep you informed of new found objects.