Quick and Clever Ideas

I spent two days this weekend browsing the aisles of the Junk Bonanza in Shakopee, Minnesota. Put on by my friend Ki Nassauer, it's a selective flea market with wonderful vendors and lots of creative people. Not only did I bring back a fabulous belt, but I found inspiration too! Here are a few awesome cheap-o decorating ideas and the oh-so-clever people who let me steal them.


Arc's Value Village, which is a chain of Minneapolis-area thrift stores, challenged "thirfty mom" designer Jill Hinson to create a stylish table setting using only items from their thrift stores. The table was gorgeous, and I loved this idea of using brass drawer handles as napkin rings.


The gals at The Painted Porch store's booth displayed this charming fella. I'm not so good with a carving knife, so I'm going to use this idea for my Halloween jack-o-lanterns this year. Just nail in some junk, such as an old caster or door hinge, to make a face, and top him with an upturned pot.


Several booth's used Scrabble tiles to spell out words as decoration or inspiration. My favorite was this trendy mot: "upcycle," which means to turns something old into something better. It's a step above just recycling. Karla at Hit the Road Jack is a fabulous "upcycler." She makes these awesome belt buckles out of old book covers. This is the one I came home wearing.


Thanks for all the great ideas, and see you next year!