Holiday-inspired repurposing

Ok I am back!! Although it was hard to take a break and I still checked in on some bloggers I follow here and there, it was definitely something I needed to do. It was important to spend time with my family after the loss of my grandmother who was a truly wonderful woman. She was laid to rest on Friday and then I quick had to pack and go out of town for a friend's bachelorette weekend. It was lots of fun and a nice distraction from the emotional week I had just been through. Thanks for all the kind words and well wishes while I was gone. That being said, I give you a holiday inspired repurposing!!! Enjoy :)

A few weekends ago, while I was out at Target with my mom, she was looking for a table runner for her old sewing table in the kitchen and while we were in that aisle I saw this really cool PLACEMAT. It's the little things. But seriously, they were on sale for $3 and some change and just so cute so I bought one. Yes, one. I had no idea what I was going to do with or where I would possibly put it, but I knew I needed to add it to my Christmas, wintery deco.  You want to see it, you say?

Well, I will show you step by step what I did.

1. I think one of my photos didn't get uploaded, but you get the picture. I used a Mary Kay box to cut my sturdy portion out. Since starting my business with them, I have been hoarding boxes and this seemed like a great thing to use one for. (and a real quick Holiday plug if you visit my site www.marykay.com/jstuber and put in an order of $30 or more and recieve 20% off with code OHSCRAP.)

2. So after I had my rectangle cut to fit my placemat, I made I used this awesome and fun spray adhesive to attach it. 

3. I sprayed some of the adhesive on both surfaces to make sure it wasn't going to slide off or anything goofy like that.



4. Again, I think I lost a picture here, but FLIP the placemat over and place onto the cardboard and VOILA. Picture below is phase 1 of my trying to find the perfect placement. I used a small plate stand to keep the placemat upright, but I kept looking at it and it just felt a little blah.



5. I decided it needed a little festive funk so I found some berries in my Christmas deco stash. (by the way, did you notice the placement kind of has a glittery burlap feel/look to it??? YES!!)



6. And I still just felt that something was MISSING. I hate that feeling that it just doesn't look quite right. So I kept digging through my Christmas boxes and found some fun items from after Christmas clearance 2011.  It took a little a lot of manipulating, but with the use of some school-day style poster putty I was able to get these fun sticks to stand up tall and add some festive color to this little area.



So I ask you- have any of you taken an item and used it for something other than intended for the purpose of holiday decorating? I have seen some pretty cool ideas out there so please share :)