Tart Pans! 

Don't ask me why but I love tart pans! When I'm at an estate sale and I see a box or pile of old tart pans I just have to buy them. But what to do with them?

I've been searching Pinterest for the last six months seeking a neat way to upcycle them. I love the idea of making Christmas ornaments out of them, but I'm unsure of the success I will have selling them. Which, truth be know, I'm never really sure if something I created or recreate will sell in my antique and collectibles booths. 

But, this week I discovered the cutest little Christmas tree made out of tart tins. Here's the post from Thrity Rebel Vintage. Love it! Of course I will have to modify it because there's no way I would have enough sparkly jewelry to put on top of my tart trees for a star.   Tula from Thrifty Rebel Vintage used styrofoam balls between her tart tins. That just didn't work great for me. My first attempt was okay but not fabulous.

The foam balls melted with hot glue and wouldn't stay in place with the other glues. I couldn't get the tart pans to stay glued straight. I tried E6000, tacky glue and hot glue.  My second attempt was disastrous.Then I tried a combination of all three glues with no success. Styrofoam melts!

  

 

I switched to using a paper towel roll cut into small pieces instead of the foam balls and that worked a bit better on attempts three and four. But I still wasn't satisfied.

 I'm not one to give up easily so I thought about what I could use to go between the layers of tart pans. Then it hit me! Corks. So I sent out a call to my Facebook friend for some wine corks. Wow do my friends love wine. My sister-in-law came through first with a bag of beautiful intact corks.

So that's what I'm trying next. Check back and I'll update my progress. 

Besides my cork idea I also came up with an idea to add a drawer pull or knob (as we call them on the South) to the top. Of course a Christmas tree needs a star so I've ordered some 2 1/2 inch stars off of Facebook to add to the front of the knobs. I also added old wooden sewing spools (another find I can't resist) for a trunk. I'll post a pic of the finished tart pan trees in an update soon.

So folks the message here is again what I always say, "BUY WHAT YOU LOVE!" Keep researching and you will find a way to turn those finds into treasures.

Update: The corks work great. They are easy to cut as needed. I just sprayed them silver in case they show. The little arrived, and they are perfect. What a fun way to upcycle or repurpose tart pans.

FINISHED TREES....EXCUSE MY MESSY WORKSPACE

AREN'T THESE CUTE?