Holiday

[TenderMercies]

Whenever I have a lit item that breaks (like MG glass) but the lighting component remains intact, I always try to save the lighting component to use in other products that are unlit.  Recently, I've taken this a step further by discovering that I can harvest the lighting components from seasonal items to use during other seasons.  For example, I have 2 sets of H204525 (S/3 Glass Mosaic Egg Luminaries) that I've only ever used during the Easter season.  I disovered that the lighting components are just glued into the base, and that I could coax the component out without any effort and not jeopardize the eggs at all.  I'm working on my 2 sets of ED on Air Fruit Luminaries as well.  

There are a few advantages to this practice.  First, the lights in these two products are pure white, not cool or soft white.  Most of the lit products QVC offers contain soft white lights.  In many cases, this is undesirable, because when lit, it gives a yellow effect on white products and a gold effect on silver mercury glass products.  These pure white lights maintain the original, unlit color of their hosts when inserted and lit.  Second, if you invest in buying the CR2450 batteries that run these components in bulk (on eBay), they keep the components running for at least 6 weeks while running on a 6 hour timer.  The battery life is awesome, and it's well worth the $20 investment for 100 batteries.  Third, it gives you the opportunity to bring new life to unlit products that you may already own.  I recently purchased 4 beautiful white glass pumpkins from Big Lots that had lighting components the exact size of the ones I harvested from my Egg Luminaries, but the components in the ones that were purchased had orange lights. I easily pulled out the orange components, replaced them with the ones from my Egg Luminaries (perfect fit), and now I have the most beautiful pure white, lit pumpkins for the Fall.  

Has anyone else tried this?  I'd love to hear if anyone has had any experiences with this or if you have any creative ideas how to repurpose your lights.  Sorry for the long post!

[pinky ann]

@TenderMercies  I've definitely taken lighting components out and chganged them around. It's been awhile since I don't have too much decor with lights now. But I like to repurpose things, especially if they can create a new look or improve the look within another piece.

  To add to that further, I've  also taken parts from lamps that have broken for possible future use. Other decor such as florals are also fair game as those saved pieces usually are used and rarely go to waste. pinky

[CAcableGirl2]

@TenderMerciesI do the same with those lights!  I put some of them under the shimmer trees I purchased at Jo-ann's last year that didn't come with lights.  Many times the items purchased at Kirkland's and other retailers don't come with timers and I don't want to have to turn them on and off when timers are so much more convenient.  I love to re-purpose items.  I try to reuse whatever I already have and buy in bulk to save on storage space, money and packaging waste. 

Some of the things I've been able to re-purpose are old bed pillows that I never use anymore.  I had a throw blanket (also not using) that had a dog print on it that I covered the pillows and donated to the animal shelter.   They are the perfect size for the smaller dogs and cats.

Does anyone have any other ideas of what they've been able to re-purpose?  Please share!

[SHOPR]

@TenderMercies, I bought Valerie's marble candles as is and didn't like the flicker or glow color all that much.  I loved the real marble exterior, though.  So I cut out the entire interior of the candle, which wasn't easy and required a sharp stiff knife. 

Now the candles are just empty cylinders.  I can place a Luminara tealight or tall votive in them and wow what a difference.  The light is a bit more white and less dark yellow, and the marble texturing shows more. 

I can also slip a battery operated microlight strand down into them and then have a steady glow from within. 

I saved the candle mechanisms that came in the candles.  They might look good inside a colored glass lantern, or in a pierced decor piece. They would also work nicely inside jack-o-lanterns or anything else where the candle isn't easily seen. 

[PA Mom-mom]

I am all for repurposing! We are too anxious to throw things out these days. We've got a barn door from my husband's ancestral home in our living room, and a harness hook from my grandparent's barn in our family room. They fit in and are quite useful. So far, I have not had anything from QVC break on me, but the tutorials from this thread are helpful if that ever happens.