How to Make a Repurposed New Year's Tree

Like many I'm happy to ring in the new year but sad to see all the holiday decorations come down so quickly; especially, the Christmas tree. Your Christmas tree doesn't have to be stored away just yet if you follow my lead below. This post is a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) craft project, which is based around a repurposed (recycled) item. We want to share with our population-we™readers that Earth Day should be commemorated every day of the year! For The Brown's: a recycled home project evokes something you already had around the house; were given specifically for repurposing; picked up thrifting or bought at a ReStore. To be classified as population-we™ repurposed project: one- or all- components should be recycled in the project. In this case, you'll see below we used items already on hand. Here's our post--two repurposed craft projects that will greet house guests this New Year.

Inspiration for Project:
In the past, we've hosted huge blow out New Year's Eve parties and had a lot of leftovers. So, instead of throwing away the decorations and party favors, we repurposed them to decorate our Christmas tree to celebrate the New Year. This year, I had two helpers and embarked on decorating two trees instead. First, a mini fake evergreen tree. We have two huge planters out front, which I change out for the season year-after-year, but one artificial pine tree snapped from the epic winds we get here in Elkhorn, Neb. So, instead of throwing it away we used it for this repurposed craft project. Second, we redecorated our 7-foot Christmas tree with repurposed New Year's decorations and party favors too. See how we used repurposed items to create two New Year's trees below.

Repurposed Components:

Party Favors.

Planter.

Fake Tree Without Ornaments.

  

Mini Fake Tree.

 




Mini Tree Step-by-Step Instructions:
Step 1: Pull the fake poinsettias out of the planter.
Step 2: Place the mini fake evergreen tree stem in the planter.
Step 3: Decorate with party decorations and favors.

Finished Mini New Year's Tree.

Big Tree Step-by-Step Instructions:
Step 1: Take the Christmas ornaments off the fake tree.
Step 2: Play concentration game described below.
Step 3: Decorate with party decorations and favors.

Finished 7-foot New Year's Tree.

Re-purpose Tip! 

Make it fun and enlist helpers.

You too can do this yourself. Every DIY project is better done with friends or family. In this case, I gave my two nieces, Brooke and Bridget, full reigns to decorate their very own mini New Year's Tree (see picture above). Also, I enlisted their help to take the ornaments off our 7-foot-Christmas tree. You know from our 12 days-of-ornaments post; The Brown's love Christmas ornaments. However, to make it fun and go faster--I made the project a concentration game. I'd show the girls a box and they both would walk around the tree looking for the ornament to match. Happy New Year and repurpose DIYing!

-population-we™ blog post by Becky Bohan Brown

© 2014 population-we, LLC 
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to leave a comment, 'Pin' or 'Like' it.

Pin It

How to Make a Repurposed Winter Outdoor Holiday Decoration

Since our first Christmas our holiday decorations have always been a hodgepodge of old and new. Some passed down and others bought off the clearance rack; since, Brian and I were both in college when we first got married. So, indeed we've been penny pincher's from the start. These days the torch has been passed and The Bohan Brown's household now hosts Christmas--so it's all about curb appeal.

This post is a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) craft project, which is based around a repurposed (recycled) item. We want to share with our population-we™ readers that Earth Day should be commemorated every day of the year! For The Brown's: a recycled home project evokes something you already had around the house; were given specifically for repurposing; picked up thrifting or bought at a ReStore. To be classified as population-we™repurposed project: one- or all- components should be recycled in the project. In this case, you'll see below we used items already on hand. Here's our post--a repurposed craft project that will greet a passersby and any house guests pulling up to our house on Christmas day 2013.

Inspiration for Project:
We have two huge planters out front, which I change out for the season year-after-year. For Christmas and through spring we've decorated it with fake pine trees and candy canes bought from the local dollar store. However, one artificial pine tree snapped from the epic winds we get here in Elkhorn. So, instead of going to the store to pick up a brand new tree; I decided to embark on a repurposed craft project. See how we repurposed items into an outdoor holiday decoration below.

Repurposed Components:

The planter with grass.

Pine tree branches.

Laundry bags and mini straw hay bales.

Rope and used candle decoration.

Other Things You'll Need:

Wheel barrel, clippers and saw.

Staple gun and scissors.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Pull the dead flowers but the grass out of the planter.
Step 2: Grab the wheel barrel, saw, clippers and scissors.
Step 3: Cut or saw the branches from the pine tree.
Step 4: Place branches in planter with dollar tree candy canes on each side.
Step 5: Place mini straw hay bales on waterproof laundry bag.
Step 6: Cut to size.
Step 7: Wrap like a present.
Step 8: Staple in place on each end.
Step 9:  Place twine around the present and tie into place.
Step 10:  Cut item from candle decoration and place on top as the bow.

Finished outdoor winter holiday decor. 

Re-purpose Tip! 

Ms. Pepper, the helper.

Bobby pins.

You too can do this yourself. Every DIY project is better done with a friend. In my case, our 15-year-old rescue dog, Pepper, was on-hand for this project (see the helper above). Also, use your imagination. I used a torn waterproof laundry bag as our wrapping paper. So, finding something on-hand that is waterproof is key, as well as something heavy (like a hay bale) that won't blow away with gail force winds. Lastly, I ran out of supplies for my staple gun and used bobby pins instead. Happy Holidays and repurpose DIYing!

-population-we™ blog post by Becky Bohan Brown

© 2013 population-we, LLC 
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to leave a comment, 'Pin' or 'Like' it.

Pin It

How to Make a Repurposed Thanksgiving Door Decoration

The biggest way to think we before me is to be stewards of our environment. Check! Many family and population-we™ readers already know of The Brown's commitment to be green. Brian and I have both blogged about our earth-friendly efforts since we both became bloggers. Also, every April our blog has dedicated all that month's blog posts to Earth Day, a cause near and dear to our hearts. So, we are recyclers through and through! Now we are embarking on yet another venture featuring our recycling and green lifestyle efforts and welcome our readers to join us!

Watch for articles sprinkled through our posts each month about Do-It-Yourself (DIY) household as well as arts and crafts projects based around repurposed (recycled) items. More importantly, we want to share with our population-we™ readers that Earth Day should be commemorated every day of the year! For The Brown's: a recycled home or craft project evokes something you already had around the house; were given specifically for repurposing; picked up thrifting or bought at a restore it store. To be classified as population-we™ repurposed project: one- or all- components should be recycled in the project. In this case, you'll see below we used items already on hand. Here's our very first post--a repurposed craft project that will greet our house guests entering The Brown's home this Thanksgiving.

Inspiration for Project:

Recently our 15-year-old rescue dog, Pepper, had a house guest over for a long weekend. Like any good fur-friend, Pepper shared her toys with one-and-a-half-year-old Australian Shepard, Zoey (watch Vine video above or at this link). Unfortunately, one dog toy did not make it. Enter the repurposed idea: I'd been decorating for our upcoming Thanksgiving gathering and didn't have a door decoration yet. So, instead of tossing the dog toy's rope in the trash--see how we recycled it into a Thanksgiving or Autumn Door Decoration.

Repurposed Components:

Rope from broken dog toy.

Over-sized fake leaf.

Other Things You'll Need:

Scissors and Duck Tape.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Take the scissors and cut the rope off of the dog toy.
Step 2: Rip off two small and two larger pieces of duck tape.

After Steps 3 & 4 below.

Step 3: Fasten each small piece of duck tape to the end of the frayed rope.
Step 4: Turn over leaf and fasten the rope to the back with the remaining two large pieces of duck tape.

Finished repurposed craft on the door.

Re-purpose Tip! 

You too can do this yourself. Don't have an over-sized fake leaf? If so, use a real leaf of any size from your yard. No industrial dog strength rope either? No worries Mon, just fasten it to the back with any twine or rope. Wool-ah you have a Thanksgiving Door Decoration, too. Happy Thanksgiving and repurpose DIYing!

-population-we™ blog post by Becky Bohan Brown

© 2013 population-we, LLC 
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to leave a comment, 'Pin' or 'Like' it.

Pin It