How To Upcycle Thrift Shop Finds Into Trendy Home Decor: Part Two!

Thrift Shop Hot! What to look for right now...

In my previous post, "How To Upcycle Thrift Shop Finds Into Trendy Home Decor"  I shared some great tips for upcycling common thrift shop finds into swanky home decor and crafts, including silver plated serving trays, vintage scarves, maps and globes, picture frames, and old cashmere sweaters. 

(If you haven't read that article, you can play catch-up by reading it here!)

Now I'm going to share with you some MORE items commonly found at thrift shops that are perfect for upcycling into fun home decor and crafts. Again, these items are great because not only are they inexpensive, but they are very much in style as current home decor. Check it out! 

What should you be looking for right now?

1)  Vintage Pie Tins & Cake Pans
I always see lots of old pie tins (aka pie plates) and pie pans when I go thrifting, and they're usually inexpensively priced from about $1 each. The neat thing about old pie tins is that you can sometimes find ones with bottoms that are embossed with vintage advertising.  

What to do with them?

Hang a collection of them on a wall as you would china plates, making a display that works well in a kitchen.
(Click here for more wall-display grouping ideas)
Or, collect a few and construct a tiered organizer or pedistal server using thrift shop found candle sticks in between. These are great for displaying items and for chic organization! Check out the photos below for inspiration.

Vintage pie tin

Make a vintage inspired kitchen wall display with vintage pie tins (via BHG)

Three tiered kitchen organizer (above and below) by Kaytie Yost via Etsy

Pie plate pedestals by Sweet Girl Expressions

Pie tin mirrors 

2)  T-Shirts

Usually there are so many t-shirts at the thrift shops I visit that the shops organize them by color instead of by size. Why are they a great deal? T-shirts are abundant at thrift shops and also cost next to nothing. They come in a wide range of colors and patterns, so they are great for repurposing and upcycling into all sorts of things.

What to do with them?
T-shirts can be quickly and easily repurposed into many different items; shopping bags, quilts, and they can even be used to cover throw pillows. My favorite thing to do with them is to restructure them into entirely new shirts. I love to do this with my old concert shirts and have made quite a few for myself!

Craft an easy to make recycled t-shirt tote bag

Make an awesome recycled t-shirt rug 

No-sew t-shirt hula hoop rug 

DIY instructions for old t-shirt bibs from A Little Tipsy

Pillow made from an old t-shirt (tutorial)

This quilt was made from old children's clothes - click for tutorial

3)  Vintage Framed Art

I always make a point to flip through the wall art at thrift shops. As I always say, you never know what you might find! As well as looking for unusual and unique frames, I'm always on the lookout for interesting artwork too. Some things to look for that make great collections are vintage framed needlepoints, old paint by numbers art (see the first two images below), as well as original amateur art paintings and "sofa art" (that's mass produced paintings that are created for the furniture industry.

What to do with them?
Display a unique collection as a gallery wall in your home, or, if you're the artsy type, try your hand at creating an altered thrift shop painting by adding an interesting or unexpected element to an already existing scene. See below. 

Paint by numbers collection 

Altered thrift store art by Coy Powers

(Click here for lots more gallery wall ideas!)

4)  Vintage Costume Jewelry

Vintage enamel flower pins, brooches, old clip on earrings - you get the picture. These vintage treasures are abundant at thrift shops, flea markets and estate sales, and the great part is that you can often find them for sale by the bagful for just a few dollars. 

What to do with them?
Not only are these great to wear as-is, they're also perfect for upcycling into new items for yourself, your family, and your home. Check out the photos below for a few examples of how some creative folks turned old costume jewelry into unique accessories.

Create a vintage brooch bridal bouquet

Brooch bouquet with locket by Amanda Jane Heer via Etsy

Create a necklace with vintage brooches and ribbon. DIY instructions from Martha Stewart

DIY Fridge magnets made from old jewelry from Country Living

Create a brooch bouquet topiary

Frame made with vintage costume jewelry by Kat Smith via Etsy

(Click here to see lots more ideas for what to do with vintage costume jewelry!)

5)  Old Books & Outdated Encyclopedias
Just like road maps, encyclopedias become outdated and are replaced with new, up to date versions. Thrift shops are the best place to find old obsolete encyclopedias, dictionaries, and the like.

What to do with them?
Use the pages for decoupage projects, or create some wonderful book page art by drawing or painting directly onto the page. Or, run the pages directly through your computer printer to create some unique personalized art (think black & white family photos printed on the old pages as shown below).

Computer printed art on old book page by Prrint via Etsy (above and below)

Coasters made from vintage encyclopedia pages by The Painted Lily via Etsy

(Check out my previous post Bookish for lots of ideas of things you can make with old books and pages!)

What do you think?
What's your favorite way to repurpose thrift shop finds?

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I hope you enjoyed this post! 

Please leave a comment below! 

Which is your favorite? 

Have a great week!

 Laura

My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Check out my new jewelry instruction books and DVDs

Article copyright ©Laura Beth Love for Dishfunctional Designs™ 2018

all rights reserved

Originally published July 3, 2012, refreshed and updated for relevancy

Easy Beginner Tutorial: How To Make A Basic Elephant Necklace

I remember when I first got the idea to make jewelry. When it came to the technical aspect of tools and components, as a beginner, I had absolutely no idea where to start. 

I had been making stained glass and also making mosaics out of stained glass and vintage broken china, when I started setting aside certain china shards that I would come across that just seemed too special to be put into a mosaic. I knew they had to be the main feature in whatever way they were to be recreated, so I set them aside to hopefully one day turn them into jewelry. 

When the day came to turn my soldered china prototypes into actual wearable pieces of jewelry, I had to teach myself everything. Learning what the different components were and what they were used for, learning about different metals and chains and wire gauges was a bit confusing at first, but I just took my time and figured it out the best I could. Then came the tools. Some looked like they were from another planet! I quickly found out that there were a lot of tools that I really DIDN'T need, and that the most important thing I needed was my own creativity and lots of good lighting. 

But the whole point of this blog post is that we all have to start somewhere. When you first start out, even the most simple necklaces can seem confusing when you're not sure what goes where. 

In this beginner tutorial I will show you how to assemble a simple chain necklace with a chain, clasp, and charm. I chose an elephant charm for my project. You can use any type of charm you like. This basic assembly will become second nature to you quickly as you create more jewelry. 

Supplies needed:
Jewelry chain in desired length (I use 18")
Lobster-claw style clasp
(1) 4mm jump ring
(2) 5 to 5.5 mm jump rings
2 pair of basic jewelry pliers (sometimes called chain nose pliers)

First, assemble your supplies. It's always good to have extra jump rings in case you accidentally bend one out of shape. Work in a well-lit area. Reading glasses work great for helping to see small components! 

First we will add a jump ring to your charm (AKA your component, or your focal piece). Charms sometimes come with jump rings already attached. Yay!  Sometimes they don't. So we'll easily add our own. Important: Make sure your large jump ring that you are going to attach to your charm is big enough to fit onto your chain. If it isn't, get a larger jump ring, or get a smaller gauge chain. 

First we have to open the jump ring to thread our charm on it. We always use two pairs of pliers to open jump rings. Using two pairs of pliers is important because the jump ring needs to be twisted with both ends turning away from each other (see photo above). 

To open your jump ring, hold the jump ring with the seam side up, use one pair of pliers in each hand to grip the jump ring ends where they meet. Now use a small twisting motion to separate the ends of the jump ring so that one end goes up and one goes down (see above photo). The most important thing is that you do NOT pull the ends apart from each other left to right or you will land up with a misshapen jump ring that will never close properly. 

Once your jump ring is open, thread your charm onto your jump ring as shown in the photo above. 

Now close the jump ring the same way you opened it - using two pair of pliers, one in each hand. Just grip the ends of the jump ring and carefully twist them back together until they meet. If you hear a clicking sound when the ends come together, that's good! 

Now thread your charm onto your chain by putting the chain through the jump ring. 

To finish your necklace all you need to do is attach your clasp and jump rings to your chain ends as shown in the above photo. To do this, open your smaller (4mm) jump ring using the same technique above, and thread the loop that's on the bottom of your clasp onto the jump ring. Then thread the end of your chain onto the same jump ring and then close the jump ring as we did above. 

Now attach your last, larger jump ring to the opposite chain end. This jump ring will serve as the catch for your clasp. That's it! You've put together your first simple chain necklace. 

What did you think? Easy? Maybe next time we will add some coordinated beads...

Let me know what you'd like to see!

Have a great week!
love,

 Laura

My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns

Check out my new jewelry instruction books and DVDs!

Learn how to solder and make unique jewelry!

article copyright ©Laura Beth Love 2017 all rights reserved