November 01, 2010

Rescue, Re-Think And Reuse

Recycled found objects make for beautiful holiday gifting.

Every recycled piece has a class of its own. Giving these teacup candles and old saucers a new place in our hearts and homes by filling them with candle wax and wicks. Breathing new life into them, while scattering kindness when gifted to a special someone. I collected 38 of them from yard sales, thrift stores and where ever I could pick up an odd one here and there. I was room Mom one Christmas for my daughter Hannah's 4th grade class many years ago, where we made them for a class Christmas gift project for there Mom's. What a great gifting idea for those mismatched sets, making for beautiful candle light moments.

When thinking about recycling for gift giving, it is important to stay far away from memories of using garish crocheted object from craft fairs as possible. Stay away from mass produced pieces, items we have all had enough of seen over and over in one home to another. Choose items that fit each ones personality with simple aged beauty like these Italian flint, and wine bottles. You can cut off the bottoms with a bottle glass cutter then sanding the edges smooth turning them into vintage hurricanes for there garden, or home dinning. These hurricanes in a set of 3 wrapped up with candles would be a gift that shows how much you gave them great thought.


They’re gathered from estate sales, vintage markets and antique stores all over and European flea market chic in style. So what if the pieces don’t match? That’s half the fun! It’s a true celebration of life in gifting beautiful thoughtful collections of mismatched silver and plated flatware. You can find these charming pieces everywhere these days. Just take and polish them up, wrapping them with a sweet holiday note to as why you felt they were the perfect gift for there cottage home entertaining. You can never have to much silver, and silver plate with the charm of the history behind the settings. When they see that you did your part in recyling they too will be charmed and will wish they had thought of it first.

These Silver, and silver plated butler tray's are the new hot item in our cottage and euoropean flea market decor. We short list a beautiful cast off, not recognizing the buy and hunt for recycling a claim on a salvage piece. A rustic Christmas holiday shopping trip to a local thrift or a great salvage junk shop is not only fun, but rewarding knowing your doing your part in recycling and sharing your love of history in these beautiful treasures. To buy for a recycled holiday can be idyllic that proves recycled is beauty for your home and earth. Despite its piece or where it came from a treasured find of any kind is one that cannot be passed up. Best of all the savings are worth the creative effort. I love using these trays on a night stand with a lamp placed on top of it with beauitfully framed photographs placed just so. The tray will beckon you in to take a closer look at your bedside vintage charm.

A real bakers gift with these vintage rolling pins. They can be found at most all thrift stores, and make for farmhouse cottage charm to any country bakers kitchen. How about these recyled rolling pins wrapped up with your favorite pastry recipe book for a holiday gift. You can taged the rolling pin with your favorite pie crust recipe card, and a beautiful pie baking dish. This gift will let a love one know you remember, and miss her beautiful tasting pies.

These vintage silver flatware forks turned into cheese markers inspire all those odd mismatched forks, turning them into art. What a great way to recycle vintage found forks! and a perfect holiday gift for anyone who loves to entertain home parties with an assortment of cheese's and wines. I just know "Rita" at http://beachhouseliving.blogspot.com will love creating these. If you have not been over to see Rita lately, please do. Check out Rita's vintage flatware on her site, along with etsy shop. Rita will amaze you with her recycled silver flatware markers, a perfect recycled holiday gift buy.
INSPIRING RECYCLED HOLIDAY'S

74 comments:

vignette design said...

What great recycling ideas. I especially like the idea of reusing teacups as candles. Did you make them yourself?

petals and vintage said...

Love all of these recycling ideas. The forks used for cheese markers is very inspiring. Love it.
Pam x

Anji Johnston said...

What fantastic ideas you have come up with. Now all I need to do is go find things to recycle! Love your post as always.
Have a wonderful week - Anji

I Love Pretty Little Things said...

Great ideas!!! I love the old teacups turned into candles. Too, too cute.

michelle said...

Great ideas! I love the use of mismatched pieces, it just adds more interest and then to make them into those beauties is even better! Love the fork labels for the cheese!

BonjourRomance said...

Bonjour,
What a fabulous collection of ideas, recycling never looed so good! Will head over now to take a look at your boutique!
Bon semaine,
Mimi

Tricia said...

These are wonderful ideas. I love the old teacup candles. That red transferware cup would be so pretty for Christmas. Best wishes :)

La Dolfina said...

Oh Dore, I love the way you write and then inspire us with such lovely ideas! You are so right about recycling treasures. I can't even bring myself to go into TJ Maxx or Marshalls anymore when the thrift store is beckoning with it's many treasures waiting to be found, reimagined and loved!!!
Thank you for this timely post when Christmas Shopping is upon us!!!
Much love to you dear friend and Thank you for highlighting Rita's amazing creations. Have you seen her Christmas pieces? Incredible!
Give my love to Hannah :)

Julie Johnson said...

Love this post...the teacup candles are beautiful, and I'm off to check out Rita's creations. So fun!

Unknown said...

How wonderfully crafty !!! I am pretty sure I have some unmatched tea cups laying around.
Laraine

Unknown said...

Great ideas...thanks!

Kelly Frances Dunn said...

Ok, the cheese forks are SO great! Love the tea cup idea too. I am such a tray hoarder...you should see the top shelf of my pantry! Estate Sale needs to go on my tombstone someday...they thrill my soul :) Fabulous post, original and just what we need to get thinking for the next round of Holiday craze! XOXO

Seawashed said...

These are beautiful and unique ideas. My favorite...the wine bottle hurricanes. And two shout outs for Rita!!! She's a gem. ox

Myszka said...

I love the tea cup candles. Great ideas!!

Beach House Living said...

Dore'
A lovely post. As you know I have great affection for old silver plate. I like the teacup candles....well everything you wrote about in fact. Thanks for the lovely mention.

Burlap Luxe said...

You are so welcome "Rita"
Now get busy creating girl!
xoxo
Doré

Anonymous said...

What wonderful gift giving ideas, Dore!! Truly inspiring! I've been wanting to learn how to make my own candles... this is inspiring me to go for it for the holidays... thanks!! Now, I hope I follow through... haha!!
So glad you're back... I've missed your fabulous posts!! :)
xoxo,
Jo

WhiteWhispers2u said...

Hello My Dear~You are so creative yourself fabulous ideas,I am always looking for recycled ideas and I am lovin the wine bottles, cheese markers and teacups of course.

I will now ask Beach House Living to make me some cheese markers........

Hope all is well with~Cheers Kim

Lara said...

Such great ideas! The teacup candles are so comforting to look at. :)
Hugs,
Lara

Rita said...

Hello Doré,
thank you for becoming a follower of my blog which has enabled me to find you and your marvelous blog.
your teacup candles are just gorgeous and the silver monogrammed flatware... oh my... I'm speechless.
thanks for sharing these wondeful gifting ideas-
have a great week
rita

Aubrey said...

So beautiful! Such treasures that would bring cheer to any receiver. I have a love for silver trays- with a whole cupboard full of them I still have trouble resisting their beauty.
Once again another beautiful post filled with sweet words.
Hugs to you and Hannah
Cheers,
Aubrey

Fabulously French said...

Love the candle in the cup idea and am hoping to give it a whirl myself soon.

Leeann x

Maria said...

wonderful details!
http://design-elements-blog.com/

Valley Art Project said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Valley Art Project said...

Great ideas! Thanks for sharing. Also, I love your music selection.

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

BONSOIR BELLE DORÉ! What great, fabulous ideas. ANd it is more meaningful and fun to receive a recycled/vintage piece put together with such care and creativity. I love every piece you have shown.

Enjoy a peaceful week my dear, Anita

Sandi~A Cottage Muse said...

Great ideas to get a jump start on the holidays! Thank you and have a wonderful week!

Marie Lost Bird Studio said...

Hello Dore,
so many wonderful ideas - love your teacup candles.Thank you so much for sharing.
You are such an inspiration!
Have a wonderful week.
Hugs,
Marie

Brenda Pruitt said...

I've always wanted to make candles with sweet little teacups. Great ideas here!
Brenda

time worn interiors said...

Love the cheese forks!
Theresa
aka:TOT

FRENCH LAUNDRY said...

It's all great, but I really love the teacup candles. How sweet! Thanks for sharing those wonderful eco friendly ideas. I'm having a giveaway at my blog, please stop by when you have a chance!

Judy

Heaven's Walk said...

So very clever of you, Dore! Love them all! :)

xoxo laurie

re:Inspire said...

Great ideas Dore for the upcoming Holiday! I love the candle tea cups! I have a few that look very similar to yours! I also love the other gift ideas like the silver ware and silver platters! Thanks for spurring on the shopping season!
Lisa

Curtains in My Tree said...

Ok I want to be on your gift list. I loved every item you showed. I have always wanted to make those candles in tea cups.
I do buy evey silver tray that is reasonable priced love your ideas about putting little family pictures on the tray I do that also.
I just sent a friend a rolling pin. I am on your wave link.
Thank you for a very interesting post.

Janice

Laura Venosa Verbena said...

Hi Dore love your silver trays..trays& stamped silverware is currently one of our favorite items we sell in the in the store. My mom would love the forks for her cheese shop. Thanks for sharing xoxo laura

VS said...

All of these are ABSOLUTELY YUMMMMMY!!! Love your ideas girl, you are sooooo creative. Thanks for sharing your secret! :)

LizlovesVintage said...

I always wanted to make candles in Vintage tea cups! The Silver just adds so much charm. Hugs, Liz

About Southern Belle said...

Oh my gosh, amazing ideas! That last photo is just to neat. So creative.
{By the way, thanks for stopping by Beautiful Nest and the sweet comment about the bat mobile.}

http://beautifulnest.blogspot.com

Rebecca said...

YOu've got some great ideas there and I'm sure the people who receive those gifts are really happy-I agree with what you said about not buying all the stuff everyone else has-I've never been into that!

Tammy said...

Wonderful recycling/gift ideas! I've collected a huge box of vintage silver plate trays, forks,spoons..etc. Love these ideas you have!
Have a great Thursday!
Tammy :-)
JUNK WILD

the gypsy chick said...

i just adore teacup candles & think that they would make such a wonderful gift.
thank you for all of the great ideas...i need a little insperation to day.
xoxox
amy

About Southern Belle said...

Just a question. How did you get the candle in the hurricane glass?

belle

Suzanne MacCrone Rogers • Italian Girl in Georgia™ said...

Great collection and wonderful photographs. I'm glad I found your blog...congratulations on your feature in Romantic HOMES. They got me in their November issue and I felt the same way you said that you did when they contacted me. It's so flattering.

Lovely blog. I will be back again.

Ciao,
Suzanne

clustres said...

This is such a great post with wonderful ideas! I love the cheese markers and I spy one of my favorite Homer Laughlin patterns in the candle cups!

Kym said...

Dore thank you for such inspirational ideas..I love the tea cups....such a beautiful gift...Take care Kym X

Tamra said...

I love those little fork cheese markers! Adorable!

~*~ saskia ~*~ said...

These candles ideas are lovely, Dore Have a great weekend! xx

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

And a big BONJOUR TO YOU DORÉ! Oh how I love this post...recycling with vintage finds is not only practical for our times, but INSPIRING AND BEAUTIFUL! Thank you for your visit my dear....you see what we are up to over here with the building? It is very exciting and it is actually going up quickly. ONly two rooms, no plumbing, and a builder that does a lot of the work himself is making this project flow and not cost double the amount we were quoted by another larger company! He is well known in the area and his work is impeccable so we are very happy. I will share pictures when we have a structure up and running!

Have a lovely and peaceful weekend dearest! Anita

Suzanne said...

What wonderful ideas. My daughter learned to make candles last year and has been begging to make teacup candles. I think I'll give her the go ahead, thanks to you!

Tamra said...

I just had to come back again and look at those adorable cheese markers!! I'm gonna have to get me some of those.

Your pictures are beautiful. This silver trays took my breath away, beautifully strewn haphazardly waiting for something pretty to hold. And your picture of the flour and rolling pins......sweet!

Courtney ~ French Country Cottage said...

Hi Dore~
Incredible ideas!! I adore the teacups and the bottles made into hurricanes!! Thank you for the inspiration!! :)

Pam Kessler said...

The teacup candles are very cute. And I adore the fork cheese markers. Thanks for the great ideas.

~*~ saskia ~*~ said...

Have the loveliest of weekends, Dore xxxx

Courtney ~ French Country Cottage said...

Hi Dore~ back over to say thank you so much for sharing this at Feathered Nest Friday!!! I know I will be back over here again and again to gather up all kinds of inspiration for gifts this year! Thank you so much for your opinion on the sideboard as well- you have fantastic taste, so I appreciate your thoughts!!! :)

Martina said...

Such fab ideas here - i love especially the cups, such a cute little present, and so easy to make! The cheesemarkers are trés chic aussi! Thanks for sharring!

High Street Cottage said...

Hi Dear, I am so flattered you chose to follow my little blog, I am a huge fan of yours. Love love the cheese forks! You can hold onto them while slicing, and they look so cool! Keep checking back as I'll be having a fun giveaway when I reach 100 follwers, Just 9 more to go, hugs tami

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Oh dearest, I am watching vigilantly that all specs are up to STANDARDS!!! You can move in around Thanksgiving...teeeeeheeeee! MY WHITE FRENCH SETTEE CAME IN TODAY! IN WHITE LINEN! Oh, I am so excited. It is not in its permanent place at the moment; it will be going into my studio after my husband's new office is built so we can move out the current desk. THEN, my settee will take the place of that desk. Oh, to wait.....I am very grateful, it is so fun.

DO HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY!!! Bises, Anita

chateaudelille said...

Love this idea of a candle teacup. I shall have to source candle making things now.Fiona

mo said...

How wonderful. You make recycling so elegant! *hugs*

Susan Nowell @ My Place to Yours said...

Wonderful ideas! So nice to have found your blog...

Debra@CommonGround said...

OOOOhhhh Dore, you have so many wonderful ideas for gift giving. I've wanted to do the candles in teacups and you're giving me the push I need to get some done. Love all your creative ideas, thanks so much for linking up with the party!
love and big hugs,
Debra

Amanda@RelovedRubbish said...

I am passionate about reusing items instead of buying new. Thank you for sharing these lovely gift ideas! I definitely want to make the teacup candles and hurricane wine bottles. I have seen someone make these little candles with old, silver cream or sugar containers.

I love your blog and I am your newest follower :)

Debbie~ said...

I'm huge into recycling whenever I can, so I looove any cute idea's to try and share, whenever possible! Thanks for sharing these with us! Debbie @ Cottage Hann~Me~Downs

ProjectHope7 said...

Not only beautiful and inspiring and "green", but your article today was truly motivational as well! Thank you so much for sharing and for the great photos. I was just in a consignment shop last week, for 1st time in a long while, and bought a couple mismatched pieces of flatware in sterling...I noticed in my area the prices have doubled since last year for old mismatched flatware, which surprised me, due to the economy. But it is still economical, a great gift idea, and "green". Am really looking forward to your next post! Thank you!
cathy b
http://palmbreezeliving.blogspot.com
pbprojecthope at yahoo dot com
@projecthope7 twitter

Petit Coterie said...

Wonderful gift ideas! The candles are just precious.

xx,
Michelle

Sara said...

Just stumbled upon your blog trying to find some ideas for using burlap ribbon for my Christmas decorating this year. Love your blog!

p.s. I sing Godspeed to my 20 month old son each night before he goes to sleep!

Candylei said...

Those are so cute. I love the last ones with the impressed words. How do people come up with such fun ideas?

Donna@Conghaile Cottage said...

I LOVED your re-usage of everything BUT my personal favorite and one I will definitely try is the "Bottle candle hurricanes". I'm thinking that they would make terrific cloches too. HOW FUN to make a cloche for cheese out of a wine bottle...Hmmmm!!! I'm off to investigate my bottles!
Thank you SO much for the inspiration,
Hugs, Donna

French Basketeer.com said...

Hello Dore~ congratulations on winning our Metis giveaway! I have just discovered your beautiful blog. I am also in SoCal, where are you?? The cross necklace will be perfect on you or your daughter; email Mimi and me with your address and I will get it sent off to you~ Andrea andrea at frenchbasketeer.com

Decor To Adore said...

Oh I am ever so happy that you are our dear Metis winner! I hope you will enjoy all that we have collected and treasure.

I for one love your idea for Christmas gifts. It is a true gift of the heart and a lovely thing for our earth.

The French Maid said...

Lovely ideas for special gift giving! I often feel a little sad for "one-sy" cups? Do they miss their twin sisters or their saucer cousins? As an only child, I thought of my tea sets as families and wondered if they cried when a piece was broken or lost. What an imagination I had! So glad you have found a way to give these precious cups new homes!
--Lee Ann

......Michele @ Portlandia Vintage said...

Love all of your unique gift ideas. It saves wonderful pieces of quality made items one could not find new today. The teacups are darling! I really appreciate the silverware suggestion - very worthwhile!

Razmataz said...

I am going to sterl your candle in a tea cup idea for sure. BRILLIANT. Hoping I can find soy wax locally.

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