One Man's Trash: Vintage 1970s Soup Recipe Mugs

Today I'm sharing with you a little upcycling project that I've been meaning to post for you since springtime! 

The original idea is not mine, but one that I originally saw on Sadie Seasongoods (who is ALWAYS upcycling awesome vintage and retro finds into useful projects for today's home - so make sure to check her out on her blog and on Facebook and give her a follow too).

In early March, I had stopped into our local Goodwill and found two of these vintage 1970s soup mugs with the colorful recipe graphics on them - the tomato soup and the onion soup. I scored them for a whopping $1 a piece:

And then not even two weeks later, I came across matching vintage mushroom soup and chicken soup mugs at our local Megathrift for $0.50 each. (For what it's worth, they had a set of four there, but the other two were onion, which I had just bought and oxtail, which made me squeamish, so I left those for another treasure hunter.)

Here's an up close look at the graphics on the tomato soup mug - so pretty! And I knew exactly what I was going to do with these as soon as the weather got a little warmer.

I used them as pots to plant a windowsill herb garden! 

Each mug has an herb that you might use in the soup featured. In some instances, the herb is actually listed in the recipe on the side of the mug and in some instances, it is just a complementary herb. I've planted:

• the tomato soup mug with basil
• the onion soup mug with green onions
• the mushroom soup mug with chives
• the chicken soup mug with thyme

Here's a look at them with their herbs:

This is a really cute upcycling project and a fun way to grow fresh herbs in your kitchen. If you'd like to try your hand at growing herbs, be on the lookout for these vintage mugs to add a little retro flair to your own kitchen windowsill. 

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