New Life to Thrift Store Find

Some time back I was at the thrift store and found a bag of completed cross-stitch ornaments for $1.  It was a monthly series and each of the 12 months were in the bag.  I immediately tossed it into my cart.  I was so excited.

I didn’t really love them as they were.  They looked a little dated.  The satin ribbon didn’t really do with the more country look and style of them.  But…I thought I could spruce them up to make them work in my decor.

Well, an idea didn’t come to me right away.  Time to come up with an idea didn’t come my way either.  Then the other day as I was in the mood to do some finishes, I thought it was time.  It was time to tackle these ornaments.

As I was cleaning, in the basket near them was a small wooden frame.  It was only 3″ x 3″.  I wondered if it might work to make the ornaments into pieces to pop into the frame.

To test my theory, I took apart one of the ornaments.  I didn’t look what month it was, I just grabbed one.  Taking them apart wasn’t too hard.  I had to be careful though as I need every thread to stay in place if they were going to be big enough to frame.

I tried it and…it worked!  Check it out.  Kind of cute right?

I used sticky board on these.  Again I know some people poo-poo sticky board but these aren’t heirloom and I didn’t even stitch them.  You can find sticky board at Hobby Lobby near the floss.  It was a sticky side.

I cut my sticky board with an old rotary cutter blade that is dull.  It works perfectly for this.

I peeled the paper off and stuck it to the back of the stitched piece.

I flipped it over to make sure it was centered.  Sticky board is good in that I can pull it up and stick it back down if needed.

Then I took packaging tape and taped the sides down.

In the end, the backs look like this…

..and the fronts look like this.  Aren’t they cute?

I like them so much better.

I have no idea who stitched these or what pattern it was.  All I know is that they were stitched on Aida cloth and the stitching is fantastic.

The little frame is just perfect for them.

I’m in love with them and so happy I spent the $1 at the thrift store to get them.

Here is the November piece.

I’ve been telling you all that I wanted more little pretties for my dough bowl and other places.  These in the frame are just perfect.

I am so glad I bought these and so glad I finished them like this.  I put all of the extras in a ziplock bag and put them in a drawer in my Martha Washington cabinet right below this tiered tray.  These are so precious.  I’m so happy that I saved the stitches.