Blue Mosaic Monday

Happy Monday everyone!

Remember to go and check out two of our favorite bloggers, Sally at "Smiling Sally" for Blue Monday and Mary at "Little Red House" for Mosaic Monday and see all the beautiful blues and mosaics being shown today!

This is one of my finds from awhile ago. It was at a thrift store and was brand new. The tag is still in the bottom of the tureen. This soup tureen is a great everyday use tureen. It holds 6 quarts. I couldn't pass this treasure up at $4.00. It was made and sold by "Princess House". Remember that company? I didn't even realize they were still in business until I looked for a site to link for this post. They have some really pretty products!



"Reflection" Mosaic







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Thrifty Valentine Candy Cane Hearts

Do you remember making these in elementary school or maybe Girl Scouts? I always have a ton of leftover candy canes. They are still just fine but, they end up sitting in a jar or glass somewhere ignored. Then while I was brainstorming some Valentine Decorations made from what I have ideas, a light bulb clicked....Candy cane hearts.

So, I grabbed what ribbon I had, the hot glue gun and the candy canes. Now, I will tell you, if I would have had plain pink or red ribbon, I would have liked to have used that. But, I didn't, so I used what I had Which was some heart ribbon and some Christmas wired ribbon. I got the wired ribbon after Christmas for .50 cents a roll at The Christmas Tree Shop.



Oop, sorry. I use this old plastic covered place mat as a project mat when I am hot gluing. It really is distracting isn't it. LOL

When I first started making these, I hot glued several candy candes together thinking it would be easier to then wrap them in ribbon. It's not! Wrap the candy canes first. Just start at the bottom, add a dab of hot glue to the ribbon then wrap up and finish with another dab of hot glue.

Here is a pic of both hot glued first then wrapped (heart on the left). And then wrapping first then hot gluing (right heart).



Much neater wrapped then glued. See, I like to show off my mistakes! LOL I just figure it will save you a lot of time and isn't that what sharing ideas is all about?



Once the glue was set, I just tied off a piece of ribbon on the bottom to sort of hide where they connect. I then added a ribbon to hang them with.






Then I tied them on a couple of candlesticks.




I also made one wrapped in the wired ribbon. That one was a bit more of a pain to do.




You could also just glue the candy canes together and add a ribbon not wrapped.









**A Thrifty Crafting Tip**

Since I am really trying to reuse or re purpose things instead of buying new, I use all kinds of odds and ends. For a recent project I wanted some colored paper hearts. I found a few paint sample cards that we had gotten when we did a mystery shop at a local paint store awhile back. The work great for paper projects.






Now you all know that Monday is a big "crafting" party day! So, check out all these fun blogs to get more fun ideas!

Shades of Pink

Skip to my Lou





The Persimmon Perch

Make Your Monday

Sunday Favorites

Hi everyone and Happy Sunday to you! Today is where we step back a little in time nd revisit a past post. Our sweet hostess for this weekly party is Chari at "Happy to Design". So, join me for my Sunday Favorite.

I originally posted this on 7/24/09. It is titled:
C.O.R.N. = A Fun appetizer Night

How do you deal with your leftovers? You know, all those small little servings of different meals from the week past. Not enough to turn into a full meal. We have C.O.R.N. = Clean Out Refrigerator Night.

But, I really try to "reinvent" the leftovers, not just serve them as is. And one of our favorite ways to do that and have no leftovers leftover is to turn them into little finger foods.

Here is a typical list of what our leftovers may look like in a week:

* about a cup of spaghetti

* small baggie of turkey breast

* half of a corn beef sandwich from a restaurant

* 1/2 cup of corn

* 2 dinner rolls

* 1/3 cup turkey gravy

* 1/3 cup of mashed potatoes

Okay, none of that is enough to feed our family a meal however, turning everything into appetizers, things will get eaten up.

So, I could take the above items and make:

* mini corn beef and corn quiches (take the corn beef off the bread, add some eggs, milk and seasonings. Cook in mini muffin pans)

* fried turkey and mashed potato patties and use gravy as a sauce

* mini spaghetti casserole bites (cut the biscuits and smashed into muffin tins, add a bit of spaghetti sauce to the spaghetti, smash on to the top of the biscuits, add shredded cheese to top and bake)

Leftovers make a great "appetizer" night. It is fun to have a dinner where all your food is finger food. You can add some other appetizers, fresh veggies or fruit with a dip to round out the meal. And don't forget any fruit that may be going bad. Turn those into smoothies for your "appetizer night"! This kind of dinner can feel special and can be a nice treat and change from the normal dinner routine. Make it a complete night by watching a special movie and having your dinner in the living room. Serve on special platters and use cloth napkins.

So, check out your fridge and get inventive! What can you turn into some fun, little appetizers?

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Silver Sunday

Today I have a couple of silverplated finds to show.

I got this set of silverplated candlesticks at the flea market a couple of weeks ago. I love the design and the height was exactly what I was looking for. I paid $2.00 for the pair.






I topped them with these cute silver mercury glass votive holders. They have a black flower design on them. I purchased them at T J Maxx for $1.00 each. They were originally $1.99 each but, were clearanced. I really like the way they look sitting on top of the candlesticks.





Here is a little silverplated candy dish. I swear, I think everyone and their Uncle Bob has this exact candy dish! LOL These pictures were taken before any cleaning. You can even see that I bought this little dish for .25 cents.




After about 10 minutes, silver polish, a rag and elbow grease, it is a sparklely little treasure! Ooooh, how I love sparkle!!And I couldn't resist putting the pretty little pink Valentine candles in them that I showed in yesterdays post.






A pretty silverplated butter dish I bought at the indoor flea market. It was $2.00 and is in wonderful condition! The details are wonderful. It has the glass insert dish.





Now head over to Gypsy Fish Journal and check out all the other beautiful silver being shown today!!




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