Repurposing your Pretties

When my grandchildren were little, they never bothered my decor I had sitting around because my daughter-in-law coined the phrase "Mamaw's pretties" and they new they couldn't touch them. Here I am 19 years after the first grandchild and I still love my "pretties". But over the years, I have learned that you can have your pretties and make them useful as well. Here are some I have done over the years. I had a tea for one set that I put in my floral bathroom. The top tea pot part of it held Q-tips..

But the cup underneath held cottonballs. It was really cool. 

And I almost always have a teapot in my home office with paper clips in it.

I love putting flowers in a tea pot and this cute cup was too pretty to stick in a cabinet so I filled it with scissors and hole punches.

This teapot came with flowers in it, but it matched my kitchen colors at the time so I used it to hold utensils.

Another cup I found for .25 cents at a yard sale. I put it in my beach bathroom. I had Q-tips in it but changed that out and it now holds my toothbrush and tooth paste.

So I decided to go online and see what other people are repurposing pretty things for. I love this big cup they used as an outside flower pot. 

Here is an antique find of an old silver tea/coffee pot that they added vintage keys to and now they have a very unique wind chime for their porch. 

Another pretty to hold plants.

This lady made a pin cushion for the inside of her tea pot lid and keeps some sewing essentials in the bottom.

And if she is pinning something, she simply inverts the lid to access the pins easily.

Now I love this (more Q-tips!) but I like the brushes in it. More importantly is the fact that it was a tarnished silver set that the lady scrubbed up and painted. Isn't it pretty.

How cute. An old pitcher that they have hung up in the hopes a bird would build a home. 

You could do your own herb garden with tea cups.

Or try your hand at homemade candles. This one scares me a little. I would worry that the heat might eventually crack the cup. I'd have to do more research.

A great way to display African violets.

Now this is a neat way to use mismatched china pieces. I love it. 

Not sure how they mounted these, but again cute planters.

And I love this one. They painted a sterling silver one and then added ribbons, bows and pearls. I may have to do one of these for my bedroom! It is so feminine looking.

I hope you got some good ideas about repurposing today.

Weekend wrap up

I was off work Friday and it was an amazing day. One of my friends at work gave me a couple of milk glass vases that his dad didn't need anymore. This one was a little dingy and yellowed around the edges. 

But I always have Bar Keepers Friend on  hand to use on my vintage Pyrex to keep it colorful.

A little soft scrubbing with a tooth brush and it was back to pristine white.

He also gave me the hobnail flower pot I have been looking for. I have the smaller one, but have wanted the bigger one for about four years. Now I have it.

I also went to the Corningware outlet in Pigeon Forge after work. They are going out of business and everything was 75% off. I was thrilled to get the $16.48 cake pan and lid for just $4.12. 

And the Lucky in Love bowl was only $2.24 instead of $8.99.

My son-in-law has been looking for deep pasta dish bowls. They had some for $11.00 normal price but that would be $44 for the set. So I called to see if he wanted them since they were on sale. So I picked them up for her to save her the trip. All four of them was just a little over $10 total for the whole set. 

Then Saturday night I decided to try out the cake pan and made me a French Vanilla cake. Look how perfect it baked. 

Then I put some of my home made chocolate icing on it. It turned out great. I made brownies because I was in a baking mood. I should have gotten two of the glass bowls. 

Today at church we had five people baptized. It was an amazing day. All in all, it's been a pretty good weekend.

Sunday Song

Life is what you make it. I woke up this morning thinking about how tired I am and how much I have on my to do list. I just don't feel like being an adult today. So I went looking for some "feel good" music. Now, I'm ready to face the world.....as soon as I have a big piece of white cake with chocolate icing for breakfast!

Friday Foto Friends

I love the morning skies in East Tennessee where I live. You never know what you will find when you step out on your front porch. Earlier this week, I was able to step out at the perfect time to get some good pictures. Check out the amazing clouds as the sun was starting to break through.

It comes up over that ridge of trees and when there aren't as many clouds it is breathtaking. But I happen to love clouds so I was really happy with these pictures. 

And in another direction, I have a small view of the Great Smoky Mountains. It is not grand but I can see it and that makes my heart smile.

And from the back porch, I see the city water tower. Now that is not amazing and this picture was not taking that morning, it was taking later in the day. But I took it to show you something fun.

Here is the exact view that very morning when the sun broke through the clouds and was shining directly on the water tower. Isn't it amazing how it and the tops of some of the trees turned yellow when the sun was shining on it. It was pretty awesome to watch. 

I have the day off so I'm heading out in a little bit to have some "me" time today. Hope you have a great day. Be sure and stop by Jeremiah.2911 for some more Friday Foto Friends. 

It arrived today!

If you recall, on my New Year's post I mentioned my word for the year was Dare. Well, I am also staying very organized this year. I have my new Happy Planner, a journal, a new notebook and my new pencil case. 

I wanted a bag to carry them in so I ordered one from Thirty-One's new line of statement canvas bags. All my stuff fits in it for work each day.

And I did use my favorite phrase from the motivational poster my friend Jonnie made me.....Dare to be MORE! 

I am loving it.

The beach is my happy place......

My friend and I made our beach reservation for later this year. I can't wait to go. I get beach fever so bad every January. Having 70 degree weather and wearing flip flops the other day in the middle of January didn't make my yearning any easier to handle. I am always up for a trip to the beach.

When I get in a beach mood I look at the pictures I took the year before. These are from last year. I can almost hear the waves crashing on the shore.  

I got to watch some beautiful sunrises, which is my favorite thing to do.

I will sit on the balcony from the minute it starts coming up until it breaks through above the clouds. 

And I love a good book to read on the beach. Of course, I get so mesmerized by watching the ocean and the waves that I don't get much reading done.

Plus, I have already lost 12 pounds since the first of November, just 20 more to go to reach my goal weight. Then I will have a "beach body" and get me a new bathing suit. 

I can hear the waves calling me now. 

It's been great so far.....

I am on Day 3 of my days off this week. It's been a great week so far. I started out on my last day of work by stopping at Staples. I need a new notebook and some labels and tabs for a project. I went straight to the clearance section and found what I needed for about $5 total. Original prices it would have been $13 so I did good.

Then I got to work and a good friend had brought me a Pandora Rope bracelet she didn't want. Now to get some charms. 

At church Sunday morning, another friend brought me a gift bag that had something she got at Target for me. Check out the pitcher! I am loving it. I needed something to put my daisies in so this was perfect. She also got me the little hanging towel with directions and recipe on it to make home made hot chocolate. 

So obviously I changed out my winter Pyrex to Valentine's on the main shelf of my Baker's rack.

I am so late getting all the Christmas put away and my living room back to normal. I am glad my recliner is easy to move by myself. Have my nice comfy reading area back. Time for some relaxation. I am currently reading Happy Endings by Katherine Stone, one of my favorite ever authors. 

The mailman brought me a goodie package from Georgia. I am thinking about taking a two day trip to Helen, GA this spring with a couple of the girls from work. When you open up info on Georgia and Jason Aldean is on the front of the travel guide, it makes you definitely want to go to Georgia.

I show you some salt & pepper shakers last week that Cracker Barrel has. I stopped and got a pic and a cow. They are only .99 cents each. But a friend of mine had the roosters and didn't want them. So I got her a rooster dishtowel like mine and we traded. I am so happy with my little farm. 

I went to Hobby Lobby Saturday before work and got this cute little "house" with the saying on it. I fell in love with it. I also got the charger plate that was only $1.99 and looks like milk glass only it's plastic. 

Most importantly I got a white pitcher I have been wanting for the dining room. It was $20 marked down to $9. I need to get a different color table cloth, but this was already on the table and I just wanted to see what the table was going to look like with my new centerpiece. 

I am going to order this tablecloth from Bed, Bath & Beyond. I want blue and white because my border will match it.

And last but not least, I am going to a work dinner and needed some dressy shoes. I found some wedge heels that I fell in love with. They looked so cute on my feet if I do say so myself and they were at a great sale price. So for the first time in over 20 years, I actually own a pair of dressy heels again. 

Well, I have to catch up on the rest of the house work today and do my nails for tonight. I hope you all have a blessed day.