Jar Centerpiece

This is the new centerpiece on my kitchen table.

Do you ever just get tired of what you have, and suddenly, everything you're doing has to stop so you can attend to the centerpiece emergency?  That's kind of how this was.

My current centerpiece had changed several times since my Christmas setup, and I'd never been really happy with it.  It just didn't "work."    (And the picture is blurry, which just adds to the sadness of the whole situation.)

Totally blah, totally uninspired.

I grabbed a few jars and put them in a basket I'm not using.

But it still looked weird.

I added our "piggy bank" jars where we save for specific things that we don't want to take out of the household fund.

I liked having the basket totally full of jars, but I was still far from satisfied.

Nothing about that runner and basket were working together, so I removed the runner.

Definitely getting warmer.

I grabbed a fabric swatch that I pulled out of a (hideous) old wallpaper book....

And I tucked it neatly into the edge of the basket.

I then added some yellow silk tulips (I love fake flowers, as you can see here) and craft moss into one of the corner jars and placed a stark white doily underneath the basket.

Much, much better, don't you think?

Emergency over. 

I'm linking up to these great parties:
Fantastic Fridays
Feathered Nest Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Vintage Inspiration Friday
KISS

Homemade Jar Jewelry


I find that the more time that goes by in my life, the more I love simplicity.

I think that's why I love this project so much....it's a simple look and a very simple process!


I used the "recipe" that Jo at Smilemonster's used for her faux silver hearts (which turned out unbelievably gorgeous, by the way).

The first part of the process is quick and easy.... mix up the salt dough, which is:
one cup of flour
1/2 cup of salt
1/2 cup of water. 
*When I do this project again, I will probably half this mixture, since it made a LOT more dough than I needed.

I fashioned my "charms" by hand and used a pencil to make the holes for hanging.  I put them on aluminum foil on a cookie sheet and baked them on my oven's lowest setting, which was 170 degrees, for about twenty minutes to get them on their way to drying.  I took them out and let them dry for another 24 hours.  Waiting for them to harden is the most difficult part of the process!

The next step was sanding.  I used a fine grain to smooth over the whole charm.  Then I painted then with a bronze metallic acryllic.

The result was a charm that looks almost like an old, hammered metal!

I attached them to some sheer brown ribbon and hung them from an olive oil bottle and a spaghetti sauce jar (upcycling at its best!).

So uncomplicated.  Transparent.

Simple, cheap "style."


To see where I party, click on my Blog Parties tab!  I'm also linking up to Tutorial Tuesday and Nifty Thrifty Tuesday!

Okra and a Vintage Mason Jar

As I've said before, nothing stays put too long at my house.  I'm constantly re-decorating/moving/re-doing what's already here.  It seems that it never takes long for inspiration to strike at a slightly different angle and cause me to tweak my decore.  Over and over again. 

I wasn't loving the look of the little antique-white occassional table in the corner (of course, I forgot a  before photo).  I decided to try my luck again with searching my cabinets and drawers (and the trunk of my car....) to see what "new" decore I could come up with.

The result was this:

At the end of last season when visiting my cousin's garden in Georgia, I picked some okra that had been left growing too long.  It has a very interesting and unique look, and it's hard, making it very craft-able.

I knew that they would be useful someday!

I put them into a large vintage mason jar....

 

Added a fantastic label from the graphics fairy, and tied on a little raffia....

So simple.  So cottage!


P.S. I'm linking this to Sunday Showcase, Tutorial Tuesday, Take a Look Tuesday, KISS, Making Monday Marvelous, Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Monday, Inspire Me Mondays, Craft-O-Maniac, Polly Want a Crafter,Trash to Treasure Tuesday, Brag Monday, All Thingz Related, Creative Share Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Winter Blues Wednesday, Making it with Allie, HOH, Feathered Nest Friday, Inspiration Friday, Saturday Spotlight, Saturday Soiree, and Sunday Showcase. See their buttons on my Blog Parties tab!