"Cold Weather Indicators"

Since I live in Wisconsin we have temperature extremes and I am also a gardener.  I have made an observance of a rhododendron plant in my garden. This rhododendron plant keeps it's leaves all year long. My husband and I can tell if it is really cold outside just by looking out our front window at this plant. When the weather is mild (above freezing ) the leaves on the plant are flat and spread out, but when it is very cold they curl up tightly and do not look very happy. Just thought this was interesting :)

Vintage Cheese Grater Wind Chimes

This is the before and after picture of what you can do with an old vintage cheese grater, silverware, beads (from old necklaces), buttons, bells and some wire (the copper wire was recycled from an old motor)
MAKE WIND CHIMES!!

Thrifty Solar Lamp

This summer as I was going to some rummage sales and thrifty shopping I came across these old lamps and decided to make them into a solar lamp for on my deck.  Here are some pictures of the process.

THRIFTY GARDEN DECORATING IDEAS

I gave a presentation this Saturday on implementing the four R's in your garden, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Repurpose You can make very interesting garden displays from the objects you find that are no longer wanted or may be broken and no longer serve their original purpose. Just be creative and give a new use to the things that may otherwise be discarded.

Why Be Thrifty and Recycle In Your Garden??

Well for one thing it is good for the environment and saves our natural resources. It keeps stuff out of the landfill. It saves you money. It makes for a good conversation starter. It gives you something creative to do. It is like a treasure hunt and is exciting when you come up with a new idea. It is enjoyable to look at and it is just plain fun!!

I like to use things in my garden that maybe someone was giving away or getting rid of because it was broken, or it no longer was serving its original purpose. I also like to go to rummage and estate sales and thrift or resale shops. You can get really creative if you “Think Outside the Box” and see if maybe you can use something for a different purpose than it was originally intended. There really is no right or wrong way for coming up with an idea because you can make your own rules and just have fun with it.
If you want to find out more ideas on how to use the 4 R's in your garden decorating, check out my album on my facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16768&id=100000031762726&l=138ffabf3c