Upcycle and Recycle Your Easter

Spring has taken forever to arrive this year. Thankfully Easter is just around the corner! Hooray!!! It’s possible that Easter just might be my new favourite Holiday. Step aside skulls and pumpkins and frosty window pains, and make way for flowers and eggs and pastels!!!

As I touched on in my earlier post, I’m not the best person around for following exact instructions or for making anything look ‘Martha’ (you know who I’m talking about). My cookies are usually blobs and my messy bun hair is way too fuzzy. My birthday parties are a little off kilter and don’t EVER ask to see a photo of any cupcake I’ve ever made…ever! Our beds are almost never all made, and my dishwasher is broken (just imagine) but I have found that it brings me a lot of satisfaction to make pretty things out of odds and ends and what I have stashed away in my closets and what I can find for a few bucks at the thrift store!

And I have a secret super power. I call it the ‘Grandma Gene’. Because much like my own grandma, I can look at an empty toilet paper roll or a bag of ribbon and see a world of possibilities! I hate to waste anything. Odd sock? Don’t get rid of it! Make a rice bag!

*My ‘super power’ combined with my ‘creative ways’ makes me a prime candidate for Hoarders, but I digress…

My kids and I put together a few projects to get you thinking. You can easily use your friends, Google and Pinterest to look up tutorials and more examples if you need further inspiration (check out Martha if you must, but don’t let her get into your head…you know she has paid staff, right?!)

Here are a few tips to get you started for Easter, or anytime you want to change up your decor.

Use what you have! I know this sounds simple enough, but I often forget that I have colourful bowls, or vases, fabric, and old clothes. Keep pretty ribbon. Rotate your photographs or artwork.  Incorporate your kids toys. Use sheets or baskets or dinnerware you already own. You don’t have to use them for their original purposes. Turn it upside down, glue it to something else, cut it up, sew it together (or staple it), put flowers in it, use hot glue and then take it apart for your next idea. Use it again and again!

Keep things to use each season. Again, sounds simple enough right? Like those crazy plastic eggs that you can buy everywhere. My kids think they are great fun to play with but then I end up picking them up all over the house. Now I bag them back up and put them away to re-use again. Same with easter grass. It’s not expensive, but I don’t need to keep buying the same stuff over and over.

Use things from nature. Or your fridge! We painted rocks to look like chicks and eggs. I didn’t even have to leave my house to find rocks to paint! Use sticks and branches. Flowers and even real eggs add texture and shape and beauty without having to spend much. Use dirt from your backyard and plant seeds or wheat grass for spring decor. A beautiful bunch of carrots with the long green stems would be a great table topper. Or a row of cauliflower heads with greenery. Think spring bunnies and veggies!

Rotate the old with the new. Drop off your old boring decorations or bowls or fabric at a thrift store and pick up something fun while you’re there! It can be like a treasure hunt. Often thrift stores will have new or barely used items on hand. I don’t feel bad letting my kids pick out kitschy ceramic bunnies or funny ‘art’ items that I would never pay ‘good money’ for. Let them spend a few dollars and then you can donate it back when you are tired of it.

And have fun with it! Rather than feeling discouraged over all the things I’m not so good at, or wishing I had a bigger budget or the time and talents of a professional, I enjoy putting a little time and imagination and seeing what I can come up with. I have to admit I get quite a kick out of seeing what I can put together, for as little as possible. I also find that I often start feeling very creative as my brain gets thinking in that direction.

Happy Decorating and Happy Easter!