We all have a little clutter around us. Teacup saucers, mugs, plastics figurines, and paint from the backyard DIY you did four years ago. For many of us, living means accumulating, and sometimes there’s just a lot of stuff that’s useful, but not exactly useful to you.
Well, what if you could make these things useful again? Welcome to the world of repurposing —taking items and giving new life as gifts, home décor, and accessories that you and your friends will love.
Utilizing things and repurposing them to be useful allows us to not contribute to unnecessary consumerism. My life changed when I broke into a mindset that secondhand items have value. I believe that things do not lose value with age, regardless of the amount of uses or owners it has had previously.
It’s a silly mentality, really, to have a subconscious shrug to the detailed winter coat or timeless dishware that you can pick up for a few bucks at your local consignment shop. Items should be cherished and respected, for things with age and quality have a fun story to tell.
In terms of home décor, I like to utilize items that I find secondhand. I always see these beautiful teacups and saucers in the dishware section of my favorite thrift shops. I already have a stack of useful dishes in my kitchen, so I thought of an alternative way I could repurpose them into a gift for a friend.
I kept my eye out for the final piece I needed for my envisioned craft: small plastic dinosaurs (What? I know, just stay with me…). It was the last piece I needed to make a totally cute DIY that I excitedly visualized in my head. I scouted children’s sections during my occasional thrift hunt and as of last weekend, I found the perfect pre-loved dino piece to top off my anticipated creation: a repurposed ring holder dish!
Make Your Own DIY Ring Holder
Follow along the four easy steps to make your own eco-inspired ring holder.
Materials
You will need a small saucer (I picked up mine at Saver’s Thrift Store), a magazine to cut up, ModPodge, a spongebrush, a paintbrush, gold paint (I used gold oro), and a small plasticfigurine.
Directions
Step1: Thumb through a magazine and pick a page with a pattern of your liking. This cutout will be used as the base of the ring holder dish.
Step2: Use the Mod Podge as an adhesive to glue to pattern circle to the center of the dish. Add additional Mod Podge to the outside of the cutout to ensure a smooth, glossy finish.
Step3: Paint your figurine. Metallic paints work great for this DIY.
Step4: Apply glue to the feet of the figure. You want to make sure that the figurine you chose has a flat bottom so it has a firm platform to secure onto the dish. Feel free to add any additional designs on the plate. I painted in segments of the circular gold design where the pattern had rubbed off with wear.
Interested in reading more about Karen’s views on ecobeauty, fashion, and repurposed DIY projects? Check out her website,Sustainable Daisyor find her onTwitterandInstagram.
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