Paper.... who'd a thunk!

Found a piece of furniture with great bones but in desperate need of some TLC?   Why not add a pop of pizzazz with paper.  Comic books, maps, wrapping paper, napkins, all are great for decoupage and will add a unique and personal touch to any piece of furniture in your home.  

A Refreshing Change

From hgtv.com

From Apartment Therapy

From Crazy Wonderful

From etcetorize.blogspot.com

Next time grab that package of napkins, don't pass on that adorable wrapping paper.... come on in to The Chirping Frog and find you a piece of furniture that needs some love, possibilities abound.

14 Of My Favorite Button Projects

Walk into any thrift shop or antique mall and you're bound to find more buttons than you can possibly count.  Take a peek at some of my favorite button projects from Pinterest.

Whose grandma doesn't have a tin or box full of buttons just waiting for a cool repurpose idea?

wonderfuldiy.com
Not sure how this button bowl would hold up to actual usage but isn't it cute.  Makes me wonder, how about a light fixture shade?  That would cast some great shadows.

prettydesigns.com
Wow, I really love this.

letter perfect designs on Etsy
So many great ways to monogram with buttons.

elaineschmidt.com
Adorable!

fashion ornaments
These are just too cute.  Think of the many possibilities to design a custom piece.  Cute, cute cute!

amanda davie wholesale on Etsy
Another great, easy usage.  Love the resin charms on the bottom.

dailymail.co.uk
Outstanding!  This site has quite a few really amazing mosaics with buttons.  Wow!

the princess and her cowboys
So cute!

sisters suitcase
Love these.  Making journals at the moment and these would be great additions.  I've also seen them add buttons to bobby pins as well.

just imagine
Now that's just cute, saw combinations with wine corks and bottle caps as well.  So creative.

bonkers about buttons
Just adorable.  Mom and I used to attend the quilt show in Padukah, KY and one time there was a chair, all decked out with buttons in one of the shop areas.  It was great!  What about a backsplash, tabletop, etc.  So many ideas, I need lots and lots of buttons.

sweet pennies from heaven
Cute.

rock candy
Doubt I'll ever do this but it is kind of cute.  You could also do a more traditional planter.

custom-color-bridal-button-bouquet on Etsy
Fabulous, there's examples of boutonniere's as well.  So creative.



Do you see why I love buttons yet?  Take a gander through Pinterest with a search of button crafts (or art or diy or usage or simply buttons) and you'll see many more great ways to use them.  Go ahead, get your thrift on, you'll find so many adorable jars full of buttons to start your own stash and begin the creative process.  Can't wait to see what you come up with!

15 Fabulous Shutter Re-Purpose Ideas For Your Home

I've got a couple pairs of shutters that I've been hanging onto for a while now, waiting for the perfect application.  I still don't know what I'm going to do with them but my mind-wheels are turning and inspiration is everywhere.

Take a look as some of the great re-purpose ideas I found on Pinterest:

12 Repurpose Ideas for Common Sewing Items

Go into any antique mall or thrift shop and you're bound to find a variety of sewing notions ready for repurposing.  Here's just a few quick projects to get you inspired and thinking outside the box.  

I don't have the heart to cut an old sewing machine in half but I really love this idea.  So cute!

phantasticphinds

What a great idea.  You'll find jars and jars full of spools here at #TheFrog.

sadieseasongoods.com

Thimbles are one of my favorite finds.  So many jewelry options with them.  

thechirpingfrog

Measuring tapes also have so many applications.  Cute as a bracelet, shorter lengths for charms or pendants.   

From thehappyhomester

Never would of thought to use flower frogs to store scissors.  How cute is that?  

xszemkozt

Sewing baskets always have a variety of bobbins perfect for jewelry making.

earthangelsstudios

I tend to gravitate towards jewelry applications.... obviously.  These are just adorable!

mysalvagedtreasures

Such a cute idea for a teapot... pin cushion in the lid and storage for supplies and notions in the pot.  Love it!

sadieseasongoods

People are so creative.  I never would of thought to use a butter dish for a sewing kit.  How cute is that?  Might have to make me one of these, you know, for all the sewing I do.

todolwen

Another great pin cushion idea using a jar.  What a great idea.

Found on pinterest

Great travel sewing kit from an eyeglass case.  I've got quite a few of these.  Great repurpose idea.

brightside.me/inspiration-tips-and-tricks

One more creative pincushion idea.  So many beautiful teacups that'd make gorgeous pincushions.  Recently found more Pinterest posts using jello molds and the like.  Such cute ideas.

etsy.com

Have you done anything fun with sewing items?  Would love to see your creativity.  Inspire us!

10 Mosaic Projects Using a Variety of Ordinary Everyday Items

I'm a big fan of mosaic tile work and am always on the lookout for furniture pieces that will work for my purposes.  A quick Pinterest search revealed many more applications.  Take a look at ten fabulous projects I found that use a variety of base materials.

1.  Wood furniture pieces are ideal and top my list of things to look for.  You could mosaic the top, drawer fronts or go for the gusto and cover the whole piece.  A great way to update a piece of furniture and give it new life.

countryliving.com

12 Creative Crafts that Take Broken China from Trash to Treasure

2.  I love beautiful metal trays and have bought quite a few over the years but never thought to mosaic them.  What a cute project. 

From Reclaimed Designs on Etsy

3.  Chairs make wonderful mosaic projects.  I've seen them covered in marbles, buttons, paper mosaic and the like.  All are fabulous.  

from mosaicodelsole

  Check out her site, lots of great glass mosaic project ideas.

4.  Wood is a wonderful base.  Look for trays, boxes, lengths of any kind.  Love how they added hooks to these.  

Found on Pinterst

5.  I can't help but love these.  Always plenty of tools lying around, we break a multitude of shovels with all the projects we take on... glue them babies back together and give them a mosaic treatment. 

Don't mind me, I'm just raiding the shed for broken shovels!

from Pinterest

6.  Never would of thought to do this but I love the end result.  Such a cute piece.

Adorable Mosaic Teapot found on  Pinterest

7.  This is fabulous.  Take a wood or metal box, drawer, trough... whatever and give it a mosaic treatment with teacups added for extra storage.  What a cute idea!

 From Pinterest

8.  Doors and windows make great mediums for mosaic.  You can get as creative as you'd like and personalize a piece in a variety of ways.  Just beautiful.

Gorgeous Mosaic Window by LeAnn Christian... on Flickr

9.  I bought a guitar (a couple years ago mind you... it's a sickness) for this purpose and have yet to get started.  It's on my "someday" list.  Right next to about 100 other things that I may or may not get to "someday". 

Isn't that adorable?

From ehow.com with a tutorial

10.  Lots of glass bottles and jars are just waiting to become unique works of art... what are you waiting for? 

 From Inspiration Sandwich

Mosaic is an easy project anyone can do that'll transform simple, everyday items into unique, creative art pieces for your home.  With a quick "how to" search using google or Pinterest you'll find everything you ever wanted to know, and then some, about mosaic work.

 I've got plans for a variety of projects here at the shop.... "someday"!  Here's a peek at a couple of the things I'd like to do here at #TheFrog:

ptlincolnproject

I bought a wicker couch and chair at Goodwill years ago that I would like to turn into concrete sculpture.  Big plans, now I just need the time to work on a new project.

midwestliving.com

I'm hoping to work on the landscaping out front this fall and am planning to add a little personality and funk with the yard art.   

Have you done any mosaic work?  I have dabbled a bit and love it.  Would love to see some of your work, feel free to share.

10 Unique and Frugal Ways to Decorate Your Home for Less

I don't know about you but I am completely in love with thrift shops and antique malls.  So many bargains and such amazing variety, its unbelievable.  I thought today I'd share with you some of my favorite finds and some ideas for what you should be looking for and how you can incorporate these items into your home.

14 Unique Repurposed Kitchen Item Ideas

I'm always on the lookout for interesting ways to repurpose vintage items.  Kitchenware is an excellent resource with so many fun things that can be recycled and reinvented in a variety of cute ways.... for minimal costs I might add. 

Here's just a few of my favorite examples.

Every antique mall I've ever been in has a variety of beautifully decorated serving utensils.  This is such a great repurpose idea.  Drawer pulls would work great wouldn't they?

fleachic.blogspot.com

Find yourself some wonderful teacups and make a towel rack for the kitchen.  So many possibilities....

Teacup and Saucer Cuteness

Wowser, these are fabulous!

38 kitchen item repurpose ideas

Rolling pins can be found at every shop you'll ever encounter.  I love this idea for a coat rack.  Adorable.

45+ Creative Kitchen Repurpose Ideas

I love this idea.  It'd look great as a type of "frame" to hang children's artwork too.  So cute!

sadieseasongoods.com

I'm completely in love with this silverware light fixture.  So inspiring!

dishfunctionaldesigns

What a great repurpose!

Industrial Lighting

More great silverware repurpose ideas.  So many beautiful patterns to choose from.  Don't think they're only good to eat with, so many great ways to use them in unique ways.

from mysalvagedtreasures.com

You'll find graters all over the place too.  Lots of great repurpose ideas but this has got to be the cutest one I've found.

On Hometalk

Wonderful strainer ideas....

theownerbuildernetwork

Love this idea too.... I've bought some spring pans for the purpose of decorating them up in some way for wall art (I ended up using them for concrete planters).  When walking through your local antique mall keep in mind creative, interesting ways you could use the pieces you're seeing.  So many creative uses for everyday items.

Adorable Repurpose

Not in English but a "picture is worth 1,000 words".  You'll get the idea, be inspired.

Great idea.  Rolling pins make a great middle support and circular pie pans work great too. 

45 Ways to Repurposeys to Repurpose Kitchen Stuff

Another great idea for a grater.

Repurposed Kitchen Tools @Knickoftime.net

Great idea for silverware.... What other words would be fitting for a kitchen?

Painted Fox Home

Have you done anything interesting and creative with kitchen items?  Would love to see your handiwork.