Old Made New: Taper to Pillar Candlesticks

Last fall, I posted about spray painting my shiny brass candlesticks. Remember those "home decor parties" people used to have? That's how long I've had these candlesticks! I've always liked them but the shiny brass didn't fit our decor so I spray painted them oil-rubbed bronze.

I was very happy with how they turned out, but spray paint alone did not solve the problem. I also wanted to change the candlesticks to work with pillar instead of taper candles. I quickly found out, however, that this was no easy fix. I couldn't find a product that would easily pop into the tops of the candlesticks to give them a wider platform. It seems to me that something like that should exist but if it does, I sure haven't found it!

So I've been pondering how I could convert these candlesticks to something more usable. I envisioned a flat piece of metal that I could glue to the tops of the candlesticks, similar to a coaster. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but I WAS sure I would know it when I saw it!

Last week, I was checking out the treasures at my local thrift shop and happened upon three metal candle "plates", just a little bit larger than a coaster -- and for 99 cents each! They were PERFECT for my three candlesticks! I brought them home, removed the pads on the bottoms, and gave them a coat of spray paint to match the candlesticks.

You can see how nicely the plate fits the candlestick! I was practically jumping up and down with excitement!

Spouse took an interest in my project (yay!) and offered to do the gluing. He applied a very strong industrial-type glue to the top of the candlesticks and set the plates in place. After letting them dry overnight, he gave the completed candlesticks another coat of spray paint. 

The "new" candlesticks look amazing! Now I'm off to buy pillar candles so I can put them to use! :)
jp

Feline Friday: Object of Their Affection

What are these two girls staring at so intently? 

A new toy? 

The Furminator? 

A bird video?

 Nope! They were after the Waffle Cone ice cream in my bowl!

 

After practically fighting them off, the girls thoroughly enjoyed a tiny lick of the vanilla part (cats must not eat chocolate) from my empty bowl. We rarely have ice cream in the house, but this little splurge was well worth it...although I almost had to hide from the cats to eat it in peace! :)

jp

Spring Bouquets

If you've been reading my blog, you probably know that I love bouquet season.This is nothing new. I've been picking flowers my whole life. As a child, one of my jobs was setting the table for dinner, and I often picked flowers from our yard to use as a centerpiece. I even found ways to make "floral arrangements" when we were camping!

My mom enjoyed flowers but didn't often pick them herself. It was my grandma, whose yard was full of flowers, who encouraged me in my bouquet-making. I especially looked forward to gathering big bunches of lilacs to place in tall containers each spring. The scent filled our house!

If you're going to pick flowers, you need to have a good variety of containers and vases. Awhile back, I pared down my "collection" so that I'd have a nice mix of shapes, sizes, and colors. I'm sure I still have too many, but I can't bear to part with them, especially since I use them a lot!

This spring we've had regular rain and mild temperatures and as a result, my spring flowers have been especially profuse. These conditions are great for those of us who enjoy making bouquets! First came the pasqueflowers which bloomed in mid-April. They fit nicely in this tiny vase I picked up on a trip to Kansas City. 

Next came my beloved bluebells from Grandma's yard which fit perfectly in a glass spice jar, followed by Lily of the Valley, which I placed in one of my mom's old small vases. For many reasons, these two spring flowers are my favorites.

In May, a small patch of allium popped up in my garden. It must have been brought in by the birds, because I didn't plant it!  It made a very pretty bouquet in this milk glass vase that belonged to my mom.

In the front yard, I have a few woodland flowers including a lot of wild honeysuckle. I've never picked it before but found that it kept nicely for a few days along with coral bell leaves and a few other sprigs of greenery.

 

Right now, my iris are in full bloom and my lilacs are about to open. I gathered plenty this morning to make a large bouquet in a mason jar to deliver to a friend. I filled in the gaps with hosta and coral bell leaves. 

As always, I'm looking forward to creating more bouquets throughout the summer. I'll be working on my gardens for the next few weeks and hope I continue to have ample flowers for picking!

jp

Seasonal Floral Canvases

I just finished up the last of my four seasons of floral canvas  projects for Memory Bound. In the 14 or 15 years I've taught at the store, this canvas series is one of my favorites!

In addition to these four projects, I've made a Christmas canvas and plan to make more for the other holidays: Easter, Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc.

 I always prefer making seasonal projects because if something doesn't turn out exactly how you envision it, at least you don't have to display it year-round! :) Some of the ladies who've been taking my classes are framing and hanging all four seasons together, which is a fun idea I hadn't even considered.

For each canvas, I've tried to choose flowers that are somewhat true to each season as well as select a color scheme that reflects that particular time of year. Of course, I take a few liberties. You may not find all of these flowers at your local greenhouse! :)

In addition, I'm following the same basic "format" for each 5x7 canvas: A single die cut word at the bottom and a loose bouquet above it. I'm going to stay true to this format so that all the canvases have the same look and feel.

I've had fun making dimensional flowers using various dies and punches...

 

 

 ...and coming up with my own designs, such as these geraniums. My mom loved red geraniums and kept them on her porch, so of course I had to include some on my summer canvas.

 I'm looking forward to wrapping up the four seasons with my Summer Floral Canvas class in June then moving on to my next floral canvas project, a spooky bouquet for Halloween! :)

jp

Old Made New: Hobnail Milk Glass Lamp

My mother-in-law has been sorting through some items in her house, occasionally choosing a small piece or two for me to sell, such as an old tin of bath powder or a china serving bowl. But on a recent visit, Spouse brought home something I could not bear to part with: A charming old hobnail milk glass lamp!

  I've always loved hobnail milk glass but only have a few pieces. Over time, most of my mom's hobnail glass must have broken, because I found very little of it in my parents' house when preparing for their estate sale. 

When I was a little girl, we had a small drinking glass made from hobnail milk glass. I can remember running my fingers over the little bumps and my mom telling me it was hobnail milk glass, which I thought were very funny words. My mom also had a hobnail jewelry container (also called a cigarette box) on her dresser. I loved the box and brought it home with me from my parents' house, along with a couple of small vases.

I'd never mentioned my love of hobnail milk glass to my mother-in-law, so it was a nice surprise to see Spouse walk in the door with the lamp. I immediately asked her if I could keep it. I am delighted to have it and give it a new life!

The original glass shade on my mother-in-law's lamp had been replaced with a cloth one. The original shade would have looked something like this one. 

 A quick online check indicated that hobnail lamps are readily available at reasonable prices but the shades are extremely pricey. That tells me that over time, most shades have broken and are now harder to come by, driving the price up.

I'm not a super big fan of the original shade anyway and since they're cost-prohibitive, I started looking online to see if I could come up with an alternative shade to give the lamp a fresh, updated look. I was immediately drawn to this lamp project and tagged it as my inspiration piece. The brighter gold and the simple shade really draw the eye to the hobnail parts of the lamp. Even though it is a vintage piece, it now has a modern look!

 

Finding the right shade is going to take some time, since it has to fit over the glass chimney of the lamp. In the meantime, the metal parts needed freshening up. First I gave the glass parts a thorough cleaning, then I taped them off to leave only the metal parts exposed.

 The spray painting went very quickly using this paint:

It is a brighter gold than the original brass finish, but I think it gives the lamp an updated look. Of course, the purist in me paused and thought about it before painting, as one should always do before re-habbing a vintage piece. But since these lamps are readily available at thrift shops and online, I don't see the harm in giving it an update. If it were highly collectible and I hoped to sell it, I definitely would have left it in original form.

After painting and clean-up, here's the updated lamp! It really does look brand new. Now to find a simple shade that will keep the focus on the best parts of this pretty little lamp: the hobnail milk glass!

jp

Feline Friday: Outdoor Adventures

The warm weather this week made for a PURR-fect opportunity to take the girls on a walk around the yard. I only have one leash so they have to take turns. Tinsel is always on the move and Lily basically just stands around, so I don't think I could handle them both at the same time anyway!

Here is Lily waiting for her turn on the leash. In case you were wondering about the breadcrumbs, I strategically put them there to draw birds close to the doors so that the girls can experience nature -- indoor house cat style! :)

Tinsel's sole motive in going outside is to chew on tasty grass. She's such a picky eater indoors, but outside she loves to nibble on lots of plants. 

 I didn't know her mouth would open that wide! (Note: I watch her carefully and only allow her to chew on safe plants in my garden.)

This time she actually walked all around the house very nicely on her leash. I'd like to take her down the street but she's very afraid to leave the yard. Once I took her out to get the mail and it nearly scared her to death! So we'll stay in the yard, thanks very much. :)

It's interesting to watch Tinsel outside. She spends a lot of time sniffing grass and bushes where I know neighborhood animals and deer have been. We don't know Tinsel's background but she obviously has spent some time outdoors.

Lily, on the other hand, is very much a house cat. She honestly doesn't know what a tree is, and it has taken a number of years to get her comfortable walking in grass. You can tell that she still doesn't like it very much. After a certain amount of time, she makes a beeline back to the patio. Ahhhhh, cement! :)

This time, she ventured out much farther than usual. Progress! But notice the back foot...

...positioned on a tree root! Lily still doesn't like the feel of grass!

Foot still on the tree root, she sniffed the air. At one point, she even swatted at a butterfly! That is the most nature-y she's ever been!

Then, to my amazement she hovered...and actually sat down for a couple of seconds!

That didn't last long and we were soon back on the patio, where she found two small sprigs of catnip growing up through the brick steps, no doubt from the plant I grew last summer. She nibbled both off all the way to the step and went back inside for a catnip-induced nap.

Having grown up with some cats who spent all their time outdoors and others who were indoor-outdoor models, I experienced the pain of losing a kitty way too many times. So now I'm happy to have only indoor kitties who are always safe and just enjoy an occasional outdoor adventure!

 

Stuff from My Childhood: Hankies

I grew up in a time when ladies always kept a hankie in their purse or tucked in the pocket of their apron. Even my dad, who worked a blue-collar job, carried cloth handkerchiefs. I can remember many a time when one of the grown-ups in my life pulled out a hankie to dry my tears or wipe my runny nose.

When my mom taught me to iron, the first item I worked with was my dad's white handkerchief. Each time the laundry was done, she would give me a big pile for practicing. After mastering the simple handkerchief, I graduated to pillow cases.

Hankies made lovely little gifts, and I can remember giving pretty seasonal hankies to my piano teacher each Christmas. I also received them from time to time, most often from my maternal grandma. Many of the hankies she chose for me depicted nursery rhymes. At one point I had amassed so many hankies that I considered it a collection. I never used my hankies, but I loved taking them out of the box, unfolding them to look at the colorful designs, then folding them carefully back up for safe-keeping.

 

 Hankies have always been special to me, so in working through my estate situations over the past few years, I collected and saved all the hankies I found. Over time I've sorted through them and selected my favorites to keep, letting go of the rest to move on to new homes with others who appreciate their simple charm.

Some hankies evoke strong memories of my grandmas, both of whom carried hankies all of their lives. My maternal grandma loved flowers, especially purple ones, and the soft feel of her purple hankies can take me back to my childhood. Although thin and worn, these are the kinds of hankies I will keep.

My paternal grandma had very different taste in hankies. The poinsettia hankie reminds me of the many Christmas Eves my cousins and I spent at my grandparents' house, wearing our new pajamas and watching out the window for Santa's sleigh to pass overhead.

This grandma was exceedingly frugal, and some of her hankies are nearly threadbare. Of course, I'll keep this hankie, too.

For me, hankies are a tangible connection to my childhood. Although they're small, they trigger powerful memories and connect me to the people I've loved.

jp

Feline Friday: Lily Goes to the Vet and Doesn't Kill Anyone

 It was time for Lily's annual exam and vaccinations this week. Of course, we had to be sure she was looking lovely for her appointment, so I grabbed Mr. Furminator and gave her a good brushing. OH, MY!!! Can you tell it's spring? Mind you, I brush both kitties regularly, so I have to wonder where all this fur came from! Needless to say by the time I finished with her, she was looking quite spiffy!

It's never a problem to get Lily into the carrier as she -- strangely -- likes to sleep in it whenever it's out. It's only when we get into the SUV that she realizes that things aren't going her way!

 At the first stoplight, her sweet little nose was pressed out through the bars!

At home, Lily is the sweetest kitty ever but at the vet, she turns into something from a horror movie. Her chart is marked FEISTY and that can be an understatement. So as we drove along to her appointment, we had a conversation about GOOD BEHAVIOR and what that might look like:

Do not hiss or growl (excessively)!

Come out of the carrier without clinging to the lid with your claws!

Do not potty in your carrier like Rory did last week on the way to her vet visit!

Do not lash out and injure the staff with your very sharp claws!

And certainly, do not bite at any time!

Lily took these suggestions under advisement and by the time we reached the vet's office, she promised to be GOOD. :)

 And surprisingly, she WAS good! It only took two of us to remove her from the carrier with just a bit of low growling. There was no gnarling or gnashing of teeth and none of the staff had to go get the First Aid kit!

And to top it off, she was down a couple of ounces from our last visit. I'm pretty sure that was because of the massive amount of FUR I removed beforehand...but still!

With a clean bill of health, Lily was only too happy to be on the way home.

When I pulled into the garage, she was biting on the bar of her carrier, ready to go inside for a snack. :)

Although it's hard to believe, Lily is now ten years old, so I'm grateful for her continued good health...and for an uneventful vet visit!

jp