DIY RECYCLED CHRISTMAS LIGHT BULBS into SNOWMEN ORNAMENTS

A few years ago I won a long strand of these old type Christmas lights in an auction box.  The bigger bulbs that would get hot to the touch.

I used them for one season and figured I'd just take them apart for a craft.
And finally, just yesterday, I got around to painting them in a design similar to some I'd seen on Etsy for $6.75 each. I just love all the snowmen items that the shop, FlatHillGoods, makes.

So here's how I made my version of

RECYCLED CHRISTMAS LIGHT BULBS into SNOWMEN ORNAMENTS
in case you want to give them a try.

Here they are again before, after I had unscrewed them from the light strand.

First off, I just got out some of my craft paints and a variety of paint brushes and began painting on white circles for faces.

Letting them all dry, I was ready to add some eyes and mouths in a charcoal gray.
I use the end of my brush, the plastic tip for this process.

And then comes the cinnamon orange noses.

And a few more with noses....

And then after they dry, I go back with the antique white and add a little dab of snow to their noses and white dots to their eyes.

I love the finer little details like this.

Then I take a toothbrush, dip it in a mixture of half water and half off white paint, and do the speckle effect.

I love how it makes them all snowy looking.

And then after they dry, they are ready for their wire hangers.
I just used the craft, thin gauge wire. It is at the Dollar Mart, 3 rolls in a pack for $1.00.

And then after the hangers are on, I was ready to add some decorations.
I cut up pieces of the green garland and wove them into the wire hanger.

And I also cut some strips of jute twine and tied them on to a few.

Then I found some small, metal, rusty stars in my craft supplies and I slid a few of them onto the wire hanger also.

On the rusty star, I plan to write "FROSTY" in off white if I have time later.

And here they are, all coming together.

 I gave the ends of the wire hangers a twirl with the tip of a paintbrush also.

I priced these with sticky, print out tags, for $2.49 each.

And here they are all ready for the Christmas shoppers in my local co-op craft booth.

Remember, keep those ole glass Christmas bulbs. You may just want to give this a try one day!

Speaking of Christmas, I've started listing some of my hand made, custom necklaces/charms on Etsy.
Here's the latest: GOD Gave Me U if you're interested in custom gifts.

GOD GAVE ME YOU

See ya'll next time,
~Lisa

Wooden Legs Make Great Candles

Today I made a very VERY simple set of primitive wood candles. Well, their just for looks since there's no actual light or flame. But they were cheap, cheap as in FREE and very easy to make.

I started off the day by cleaning out my neice and nephews' playhouse we built for them here. Well, there was an old kitchen play setthat had the sink/stove combo that had to go.

It was old and weathered from being out in the elements for about 3 years. Didn't look anything like the pic above when we first got it. I managed to save these blue, wooden legs off them:

There were four. I didn't know exactly what to do with them, but I brought them in anyways and threw most of the rest of the kitchen play set away.

Then I started painting them black and thought, "hum, they'd make cute fake candles." So I painted them all black and added some primitive styled stars and painted the edges a bit.

I had some flame tips saved that had came off a set of flicker candles that got broke when we moved. They were just plastic pieces shaped like a flame:

I took a small flat nail and drove it in the top of the wooden leg. And used that to slip the fake flame over. It didn't hold great, so I stuck a shot of hot glue up in the flame and then stuck it back over the nail and wa~la. Tight hold.

And that's it. A cute set of primitive styled, wooden candles for free.

TIP: Ya'll keep an eye out for wooden legs off of toys or old pieces of furniture. You can make numerous amounts of crafts with them. And if you go buy them plain at Lowes or a hardware store, you'd be surprised at the cost of plain wooden legs!