Some of you may recognize this post -- I submitted it for Round 2 of "One Month To Win It" and it helped move me on to Round 3 but of course I couldn't post it here until voting ended!
I have been looking for a nice little tray for serving tea, coffee, etc. and haven't found anything to my 'liking' so I created three using frames and some porcelain knobs from my local thrift store. The two smaller frames to make a 'set' for holding spoons, cream, sugar, etc. I began by taking them all apart and removing the glass. I primed and then painted them in this pretty pink color to match the decorative papers I planned to insert. (It should be noted that for some unknown reason to me, the paint 'crackled' in parts. I was going to sand and repaint but I actually thought it added to the 'aged' look of these!) Once they were painted, I distressed them a little with sandpaper.
For the main tray I added this fun quote and the vintage tea service image from The Graphics Fairy and inserted the papers into the frames.
The knobs for the 'feet' were attached also using E6000 glue. The handles are old spoons I had (also attached with E6000. . . can you tell I LOVE this glue??) but before I put one of the spoons on, I slipped an old elastic rhinestone ring over it.
This broken earring was added on using a jump ring to the existing picture hanger that for the life of me I could not remove no matter how hard I tried so . . . I decided I would work WITH it instead!
To add to the vintage charm of these, I added some more 'bling' (a.k.a. old jewelry) Hmm. . . Let's see if you can guess how I adhered the bling??. And now I'm looking forward to serving up tea and treats on these little beauties!
Yesterday was our 27th wedding anniversary. Being low on funds and low on time (my husband had to be at a wedding rehearsal as he’s performing their wedding today!) I decided to have a romantic tea for him when he came home. Earlier in the day I stopped by my local Goodwill store and found some real treasures to add to my ‘tea service’ collection!
These candelabra knocked me out at $4.99 each! I found the first one and put it in my basket and then over on a shelf with luggage and other ‘stuff’ was ANOTHER one! I was giddy! And let me tell you – these girls are HEAVY! “How heavy” you ask? They’re so heavy that ONE of them on my passenger seat was activating the seat belt light! I don’t know what they’re made of but they are staying as is – to me, they’re perfection!
These six plates were .99 each and will be a great addition to my Victorian Teas!
For our Anniversary Tea I made Blueberry Lemon Sugar Scones, Devonshire Cream, Lemon Curd and used some Strawberry Rhubarb Jam made by a good friend of mine. We then enjoyed Fruited Almond Chicken Salad and Tuna Salad Sandwiches. Finally I made some sugar cookies and dipped strawberries in chocolate. I cheated and bought the adorable little éclairs at Aldi! We enjoyed all of this with Provence Rooibos tea and Billy Holiday playing in the background.
For my centerpiece I was able to use the little ‘floor protectors’ I found a few weeks ago at an antique store to hold tea lights and a stack of books I had just removed the covers from and spray painted. The old eyeglasses I’ve had for so long, I don’t remember where I got those!
It was a lovely, relaxing way to celebrate our day!' I'm submitting this and my wedding post over at Angelic Accents where Stephanie is hosting her 2nd Annual Wedding Blog Party! Check it out -- so fun to see all things 'wedding related' including great posts from ladies about THEIR weddings!
Have Iseen these people? Yes. Everyday. Although they certainly don't look like THAT anymore!
27 years ago today I married the love of my life.
After going to get my hair done, I came back home and got dressed upstairs in the attic bedroom (because it was the only room in the house with A.C.!) and I remember thinking, “This is the last time I’ll be here as a single woman”. While most of that day is a blur (except for the fact that it was 90 plus degrees and there was no air conditioning in my parents’ car – yes, no limos back then, we just drove to the church in a regular, old car) I remember telling myself to TRY to focus and TRY to remember what was going on!
The wedding took place at The Chapel in Akron, Ohio where Matt and I met while attending the college ministry there. I was so excited for Matt to see me walk down the aisle. I couldn’t wait to become his wife and begin our new life as a married couple! We all put on the ‘finishing touches’ in the “bridal room” at the church (probably just an usher’s room or something!) and the girl I paid to come and apply all of our make-up, never showed so my cousin who was a very classy gal grabbed all of her make-up and set to work on us! Between all of us and our ‘make-up’ kits, we all ended up looking pretty decent! Pictures were snapped and off we went to the sanctuary.
I remember telling my dad I think I’m going to faint – he just squeezed my arm really tight, gave me a kiss and said, “Relax – it’s going to be fine – now here we go!” I remember looking at Matt and saying the vows and thinking -- this is IT! I have found the one I want to be with for the rest of my life (yes, I REALLY do remember thinking that!) The next thing I remember is kissing him and turning around to face our friends and family and hearing, "It is my privilege and joy to introduce to you Mr. & Mrs. Matt Zaubi" and heading down the aisle accompanied by applause!
After a buffet reception in the church fellowship hall we set off for the night to the Quaker Oats Hotel downtown and then drove the next morning to Vermont for our honeymoon in my parents’ car (yep, the one with no A.C.) -- hey, times were simpler back then and honestly – we had a blast!
Now don’t most of us look back at our wedding photos and have that “What was I thinking!!??” moment? That’s what I do when I look at that hat with the ‘bee-keeper’ veil! The gown still hangs in my closet (I’m quite sure neither of my daughters will want to wear it!!) and I’m thinking it’s going to make some sweet keepsakes for my daughters or maybe grandkids (gulp!) someday ‘cause I’m pretty sure it will never make another trip down the aisle of a wedding!
You truly have NO idea what marriage is about until you've lived it with all of its 'ups and downs'. If you're married you know that those 'warm, fuzzy gosh-I-can't-live-without-you' feelings are NOT always there. Love IS a choice, a decision, a commitment and without the Lord at the center -- I can't imagine how you do it! He is the "Glue" (I'm pretty sure that name is not in Scripture anywhere) and I'm grateful that he chose Matt for me!! And with that, I leave you with a few ‘vintage’ pictures from a warm, June day in 1984 in Akron, Ohio where our journey began. . .
And finally, while we're certainly not as old as this couple . . . I want to be like them when I grow up . . . still loving my husband and life and ENJOYING each other!
Years ago our neighbors gave us this old milk delivery box that they had used at one time as a mailbox. I had always INTENDED to do something with it but it ended up in a corner of the garage where it remained until just a few days ago when I looked at it and thought, “Now WHY haven’t I done something with that?”. I gingerly pulled it out of the cobwebs and other assorted ‘things’ into the yard and slowly lifted to the lid. To my amazement, there was an old milk bottle in there! Both the bottle and the delivery box said, “Modern Dairy Elgin” on them.
HAD to add a pic of my puppy Ava -- checkin' out the milk bottle :)
I cleaned the can out, hosed it, let it dry in the sun and then using wire brushes, began removing the rust and corrosion. First I primed it and then sprayed it with several coats of a beautiful turquoise spray paint which really made the words on the can stand out!
Okay, one more pic of Ava (I had to leave these out when I posted this for the contest for obvious reasons as everyone I know KNOWS how I love my Ava!)
I decided this would make a perfect little outdoor foot stool so I bought a yard of burlap, a piece of foam and some clear vinyl. I wrapped the foam in the vinyl and hand-stitched it. I did this in case the footstool gets wet, the foam won’t mildew. Using a rubber stamp, foam ‘brush’ and my acrylic paints, I stamped the flower image all over the burlap and then wrapped the foam with the burlap and hand stitched it in place. I used E6000 glue to attach the cushion to the lid of the box.
With the left over burlap, I sewed a ‘liner’ for the inside of the milk box. I cut two pieces for the front, two for the sides and one for the bottom. I stitched the four panels together and then stitched that ‘tube’ to the bottom piece. I covered a piece of cardboard with the extra vinyl and then wrapped and stitched burlap over that to serve as a ‘base’ inside the bag. I hemmed the top edge and to secure the bag to the top edges inside the box, I used E6000 glue to attach tiny, high-powered magnets to the four corners (since it’s a metal can, the magnets stick right to it!). I’m not sure what I’ll ‘store’ inside but if I decide I DO want to put anything in there, it will stay nice and clean.
And here is the finished project WITH the chair I made over (couldn't post the pic of the two of them for the contest!) Next step is to replace that awful storm door and paint our front door. Baby steps.
I was inspired by Christy over at “From Glitter to Gumdrops” by her adorable American flag book that she made! I picked up a large book at my local thrift store for $1.00 and decided to give it a try and put my spin on it.
I knew I wanted to prime the entire book before beginning to paint it but I wanted to retain the yellowed pages so I covered them with paper and painters tape before spraying the book white.
Once this was dry I used acrylic paints to add the stars and stripes. I used painter's tape to mark everything off but didn't press it down to firmly because I didn't want clean lines.
I wanted to give this a little more dimension so I went back with some of my rubber stamps and inks that were slightly different in color from the stripes and added some filigree designs.
I made sure to hold paper over the edges so I didn’t stamp on the other stripes. I used a star rubber stamp and white acrylic paint to stamp stars on the blue background.
Once all of this was dry, I decided to add the words to God Bless America using a black permanent marker.
Using a rag and some of my ink pads I rubbed beige and yellow inks over the entire piece to give it an aged look. I finished it off by making a little tag using some free clip art (just googled 'Vintage patriotic postcards') and miscellaneous ephemera. The handle was some twill tape I had that I stamped on using the same filigree stamps I used on the flag and of course since I have a billion old keys, I had to add one of those!
I wanted to get this finished for Memorial Day but now I'll have it ready for the Fourth of July! I like this idea so much, I'm thinking of other things to paint on old books and make wall art -- got any suggestions?? Total cost for this project was $1.00 -- I had everything except the book!
