Neutral Winter Thrift Flips / Oversized Beaded Garland Pottery Barn Inspired / Winter Wishes Collab

Hello my crafty tribe, this is Artsy Maddie and let's do some winter themed thrift flips. So I've done some thrift shopping, found some great items. This little crate here was only $2.99 which I thought was a great deal. I love the mixed metals on it and I'm just going to finish the bottom of it just to make it look a little bit better because I want to use it as a riser in my vignettes. So just to get some different layers and different heights. So I actually did a google search just searching up snow themed songs and I found this hymn called pure as snow that I thought was really pretty and kind of antique looking. So I just got that printed out and then I am just gluing it down with an Elmer's glue stick just so I don't have to worry about any bubbles or anything and just dries nice and quick for me. So once the glue was all dried I just went in with actually an emery board and a little bit of sandpaper and just work in a downwards motion to get that nice clean edge on the paper. So then the edges had that little bit of a metal bracket there on the corner so I just went in with a little spatula tool and just kind of tucked in just that little bit of extra paper just with some glue on the back of it. Just got it all nice and finished and then here it is. This is how I'm going to use it so I'll just put each piece in as we go and this is how I just started staging the little vignette. So these are all going to be nice neutral colors and just really easy to work in with any of your winter decor. So next find was just this funny little faux wood log. So the bark is real, in the middle there is just some styrofoam and then the tops are just these little odd pieces of paper that were very very yellow. So I'll show you how we're going to fix those. So I just got it all glued back together it was really pulling apart so I just got a bunch of hot glue in there and taped it shut while it dried and then for the top here we're going to get rid of this horrible yellow and it's not very even rings either like it's a very odd shape of tree rings so we're just going to do more of a round effect with our tree rings and I'm just going in with some mist tint that I found at Home Depot. So it's just this kind of parchment off-white ivory type color and I just knew it would come in handy for lots of things so I picked that up for three dollars. So I'm just trying to work in nice even circles and just create those faux tree rings. So once that was all dried I'll just show you the other one as well just although it's kind of an odd shape like it isn't a perfect circle and they don't have to be a perfect circle like if you look at actual tree rings they're never quite perfect so it's very forgiving very easy to do and then once they're dry I just went in with some glaze and the cashmere tan color from Dollar Tree and I just mixed those together just so it's going to be a little bit transparent. The paint if you don't have glaze you can just water down your paint to get it a little bit more transparent as well but I just love the effect the transparency that the glaze gives paint so I use it in a lot of projects I will have it linked in my description box if you're interested in picking some up or just any arts and crafts store it's it's just called glaze medium. So again just working in very imperfect rings super forgiving they do not have to be perfect at all to get that wood effect. So then these little wooden words these are from Dollar Tree as well I just thought it would be a cute little accent to put on this faux log so I went over that with some white wax this is the bear brand from Home Depot and then I'm just going to wipe it off just so it kind of sits in the little corners and just gives it kind of a whitish antiqued effect and then I'm going to tie that onto the log with just a piece of twill tape that's kind of a natural color and then a piece of jute cord from Dollar Tree. Or jute rope or twine jute twine maybe is what they call it so just did a double knot just super simple and then just cut off the edges nice on an angle and that was all there is to this just nice and simple just super neutral pieces to have to add into little vignettes. For the next project I'm going to do some super oversized beaded garland so I found these really lovely ornaments and although I don't decorate with gold a whole lot I just I love this kind of lighter champagne gold that these had to them so I'm going to be burning a hole in both ends so the top end where there already is a hole and then the bottom I could tell directly across from it because it had a snowflake exactly on the opposite side so just on opposite ends and then I'm going use this nautical rope this is from Dollar Tree as well and I'm going to separate it so it's three strands roped together so I just want the one strand which is actually a whole bunch of strands as well but just the one so I'm going to separate it from the other two and then just to kind of tone down that champagne gold I am just doing some flicking of white paint onto it just to give it more of a like a little snow texture just some added detail so then I need to create a way to thread this rope through these faux beads so I ended up just using a piece of wire and some electrical tape and just got it all taped to this wire and I actually had to go back and make the holes just a little bit bigger I needed them about approximately a centimeter to get this rope through it is kind of wider than I had anticipated so then I tie a knot at the end of the rope and I leave enough to be like a little tassel sort of effect and then once I get the first bead onto the rope I got it all fastened down with some hot glue and then I'm going to tie another knot to keep it firmly in place and just like tight down to the first bead ornament sort of thing and then I'm going to leave approximately an inch and a half and tie another knot and then slide another ornament down onto that knot so I was just securing them as I go with some hot glue just to keep them all in place I'm sure the knots would probably hold them but I just wanted it nice and and secured on there and because these strings like they're just twisted together so they are like they do come apart from each other a little bit easier so the glue is helping keep them all in place so I believe there's eight of these ornaments all together that are going to make up my beaded garland here so this is the last one going on here and then I'm going to get that secured with another knot and then again just leave like three inches to be kind of a tassel effect on the end it's like a self-made little tassel with the nice with all those different threads in the rope you guys will have to let me know if you've seen this I felt like I was a hundred percent sure that it was Emily from Mama From Scratch that I saw make an oversized beaded garland but then when I went to link her video I can't find it so please let me know if you guys have seen this super huge beaded garland I think Pottery Barn sells them I think that was her inspiration or whoever it was that I saw make it I was just sure it was Emily but maybe not so if you've seen anyone else make this just maybe let us know in the comments so this video is part of the winter wishes collab and I'm so excited to be a part of this it was organized by Ellie my sweet friend from DIY from house to home and all of these wonderful friends will each have some winter themed crafts for you so it's going to be a wonderful playlist hopefully you'll check it out I will have a link to their channels and to the playlist in my description box so and also I'll put a link to the playlist in the comments as well so next project I am just going to use an old paperback book I stripped the cover off of it and then I'm going to play around with some circle shapes so I want to create a nice snowman shape that will fit perfectly like the height of this book so I'm just playing around with things on my desk here that are different shaped circles and I thought this might be easier like if you don't have access to a printer like you can kind of do this as well just to create that perfect shape snowman for the book that you have so I wasn't quite happy with this so I just worked on the other side of the cardboard then instead and had a better idea of what sort of size I needed and then I was a little bit happier with that shape so that's the one I went with so you only need half the snowman to create this so I'm just going to cut out that left-hand side of the cardboard these are just little scissors from Ikea I find they're really strong and work well for for cutting through on this project so so I work with about 20 pages at a time maybe 15 to 20 pages I would say so I got the shape drawn out there and I'm going to cut through about 15 to 20 pages and then after I am done cutting out those I pull those to the side and then draw another snowman shape just so I'm not depending on the shape that's already there like that it might distort as I go so I just use that stencil every time just to really keep a unified shape throughout so it's just kind of one of those fun like mindful projects where you can just kind of enjoy the process and it goes pretty quick so this will be the last little bundle of 15 to 20 pages here and then you can see that snowman starting to take shape so once I had them all cut out I found a dowel that was the right size for this thickness of book so just approximately I needed some room for the hot glue as well so this worked out really well I cut it down to be the height of the snowman started with some hot glue just right in the middle of the book and then I'm going to work my way to the edges here and then glue the back to back so just sandwiching them together with that dowel in the middle and that helps keep the rounded shape of the spine of the book and just to give it some sturdiness as well and here is our final little book snowman oh there was a couple pages that were really creased so I just threw a little bit of glue in those as well so our next project is this beautiful little baby deer that I found at the thrift store he's looking a little bit worse for wear I think somebody had him maybe outside on their porch or something he just looked a little bit rough so I'm just gonna give him some love fix him up a little bit here so I sanded down any edges that weren't given a lot of attention to begin with like just smoothing everything out and gave him a nice wipe down and then I'm going to go in with that same parchment ivory color paint and just give him one coat so that I can see what flaws are still on this deer so it got a little hard to tell once I sanded everything it was a little bit harder to see them so I find that if I get one coat of fresh paint on it I'll be able to see any of those little flaws or anything that needs a little bit of filler in it just a little bit easier so here I am I just use I have a big bucket of drywall compound or joint compound I think they call it and it's super easy to sand usually spackle or any wall hole filler will work quite easily to sand as well so I was generous with it just hitting any little spot because it sands so easily it's so easy to fix and then you just give them a quick wipe down again and another coat of that paint that paint was great because it's the primer and paint all in one that mist tint that I had found so if you see those for three dollars that's a great deal you might want to pick them up and then I'm just going to give this deer the white wax treatment as well so this is that bear brand white wax I haven't used any other brands so I don't really know how to compare them but I find this is pretty nice it's super soft it goes on really really easily and then I just let it dry for a little bit about half an hour and then I went in with a lint free rag so anything like t-shirt material is great or any of those shop rags that are lint free those are great too so I just got them all wiped down and it gave it such a soft look just a really really soft look to it with this wax and then it just sits in any of the little nooks and crannies as well so here he is all finished I really love it I think it's going to be great actually to have through the year I always use a little bit of ivory in my decor anyway as one of my neutrals so I think he'll be super cute for spring too and maybe even into the fall would be cute with some some decor so this is my last thrift flip thrift flip here is this cute little plant pot that I found that had some snowflake designs on it so same thing I just gave it that coat of that parchment color and then I went back in with a silver pen a little paint pen here and just did the snowflake detail again so just easy peasy just bringing back some of those details and then I have a super cute little paper rose vase that I'd found just before I want to say it was before Valentine's Day this year I just thought it was so pretty and the original price on it is $44.99 I'm not even kidding so I think it came from a really high-end store and I just think it's so pretty and it worked out perfectly in this little pot so here is everything all together all this nice neutral winter stuff that I can use in my decor so hopefully some of this inspires you guys to do some thrift flipping and save some of those projects some of those um undesirables at the thrift store that just need a little bit of love so just that reminder that I will have a link to this wonderful playlist in my description box as well as the comments be sure to check out all of these talented ladies they're such great friends and I would love for you to check out their channels and their videos as well if you are not part of my crafty tribe I hope you'll consider it it's free to join you just hit that subscribe button there on your screen and there's also a notification bell that YouTube will let you know when I upload a new video I don't have a regular posting schedule yet so that is a great way to keep on top of any of my new videos and once again I just want to thank you so much for watching and taking this time out of your day to craft with me and hopefully we'll talk to you soon in the next video have a great week