a trio of thanks!

i'm a huge fan of repurposing. call it being green. call it being cheap. i don't really care. i've had this conversation here. this holiday, i've challenged myself to repurpose the majority of my halloween decorations (or at least their bases) in my thanksiving decorations. it's been challenging but exciting!

do you remember these guys? corny as they were, they were one of my favorite halloween decorations. i knew i wanted to repurpose them, but i wanted to stay away from the typical things that i had been seeing on blogs...the nuts/pumpkins/pinecones all in tall vases. not that those are bad. in fact, i spent a week with some acorn type things in them. but it wasn't cutting it for me.
and then it happened.
a few weeks ago we got some snow. now, if i lived in utah (i have but don't now), that wouldn't have surprised me. but here i am. in virginia. and it's snowing before halloween. sheesh. our trees had most of their leaves on them still so this wasn't a pretty storm. tons of people around us lost huge limbs from their trees.
being the awesome neightbor that i am, i decided to go out and start collecting some branches from the downed tree in my neighbor's yard. i noticed that i had a bunch of different sizes. almost like they were meant to three different vases. hmmm...perhpas like my vases? interesting...

so.
that's what i did.
talk about cheap.
i had the vases already. the sticks were free (and i earned a few neighbor bonus points because i helped with the clean up. i'm pretty sure i'm the most awesome neighbor ever), i already had the burlap on hand. i also had the frames (michaels. on clearance, less than a dollar each). so the only thing purchased is the ribbon. on sale. 2/$5. and i still have tons left.
my favorite part of the sticks are these awesome little amber buttons. my mom let me clean out her craft space a while ago. she gave me this awesome assortment of buttons/fasteners, i could go on. amongst all of the other buttons, there they were. shiny. beautiful. perfect. so i just took a handful of them and hot glued them onto the tips of some of the branches that were screaming for love.

the best part of the whole project? lady m. loves sticks. she's never seen harry potter but she's already chosen out her favorite stick and uses it like a wand, casting spells on us. i always knew she was different...
*sigh. did i mention, i love her? she's pretty rad.