Drive-by Salvage + Railing Re-do + Repurposing your old Christmas Cards = Busy Week!

So you must be getting a little tired of ALL the Christmas postings lately...only a week left and I'll be redirecting my efforts to New Year, New You!  For some reason, everything I do (decorating included) is never complete/done/finito...it's always a continuous process.  We started decorating for the Holidays the weekend after Thanksgiving (which you've seen from many of my posts), but I'm never quite done.  Just this week, I've been working on some more Christmas projects to round out the week in preparation for guests this weekend!

The other day, my hubby came home with this treasure ~

Well it actually started out like this...

and became this...

To many = a piece of junk, To others (like me) = a true GEM!

Hubby actually found this on the side of the road ready for the garbage pickup.  
Kind of a funny story ~ Someone was throwing it away (what a crime), along with two other snowflakes.  One was the same size, and the other was about 3' diameter (WOW).  Seconds before he stopped, another woman stopped as well and was at the front door asking if she could take them.  The woman then said to my husband, "I'm in a festive mood, you can have one."  How SWEET!  

So on a quiet (ya, right) afternoon last week, it was transformed....

 

 ...into this ~ VOILA!

 It hangs in the front window (for all to see), 

amongst other snowflakes that I hung using fishing line (LUV finishing line!!!)

 {Make them YOURSELF}

         

 Using a template similar to these along with a jig saw, you can easily create a snowflake ornament (like mine) of any size. 

Another project that I just completed...our staircase railing.  I was back and forth on what to do (and didn't want to spend a penny), so I used what I had...

Using spruce sprigs from my yard, along with leftover Christmas ornaments and garland, 

I finally decorated the railing!

Now to just make sure the kids don't try to pull it down... 

Lastly, what do you do with last years Christmas Cards??  Use them for this year's present tags!  The mom of my best friend, Nicole, shared this idea with me years ago and I've been doing it ever since.  Every year you get LOTS of cards, and you don't want to throw them away.  SO......

Cut them up, write a message, add a ribbon, and share them with your gift recipients this year!

Just linked up to Met Monday at BNOTP