Plate flowers

 

Many years ago my sister Lynn, not her first name, bought a few plate flowers at a craft bazaar. She has them by her back patio at her home in Ohio. I have always been crazy about them, and have never seen them in Texas to purchase. So, I decided to make my own. The flower above was made using some of my most expensive dishes. A large ceramic dinner plate, an ivy covered salad plate, a cabbage bowl and a flower topped ceramic salt shaker. I have this flower in a potted plant in my craft room currently.

Picture disclaimer: I have to apologize on the quality of my pictures, especially placement and background. These pictures were originally taken to send to my sisters and I had not planned on posting them. Then years and months later when I decided to blog about them, I had given the flowers away and these were the only pictures I had of them. Lesson learned: Always take a picture like you are going to publish it.

Lynn's plate flowers

Lynn sent me some pictures of the plate flowers in her yard, and pictures of the plate flower's front and back sides. I looked them over and made a list of the supplies I would need to make my own flowers.

The fronts of Lynn's flowers. 

The back of Lynn's Flowers.

 First I needed to do some antique shopping for tableware and other glass items. I put price limits on my purchases, based on the size of the item. It takes a good eye and a lot of shopping to find the items that will work well and not cost a lot of money. Items I looked for were dinner plates, salad plates, small bowls, cups and saucers, punch cups, glass coasters, candy dishes, candle holders and salt & pepper shakers, to name a few😉. 

My currant stock pile in my craft room hording closet.

My next stop was Lowes. I needed PVC pipe & caps and clear silicone caulking. Then, I went online and bought tomato plant stakes that were metal and coated with green plastic. The diameter of the pipe is determined by the diameter of the stake.  You want the pipe to fit snuggly onto the plant stake. My sister's plate flowers are hanging on a piece of rebar. I tried to find rebar that I could use, but between the rust and there being no easy way to cut them, I went the plant stake route.

The plant stakes I use for the stems of my flowers.

This is the original size of pipe and cap I used. 

This is a picture of the original pipe size on the left and the new pipe on the right. The original pipe's opening was 3/4 inch in diameter, and the new pipe's opening is 1/2 inch. 

The new size pipe with the cap.

This is one of the brands of Silicone I use for the plate flowers. 

This is what the plate looks like on the stake. The silicone is a bit messy on this one.

Over the last few years I have collected a stock pile of tableware. I have made plate flowers for friends, family and I have also sold a few, so the stockpile has been refurbished a few times. The best part of the process is picking the tableware combinations to put the flowers together. I put all the items on my dinning room table, and then I start matching colors, sizes, shapes and textures to build some pretty cool flowers. I found some plates that were shaped like sunflowers and pansies on sale and I think they are some of my favorite plates.

To put the flowers together, I start at the bottom, put a large amount of silicone on the bottom of the second plate and put in down in the middle of the bottom plate. Then you continue on until you get to the center piece. I let the plate sit for 24 to 36 hours to dry. I cut the pipe into 3 to 4 inch pieces, put the cap on it, and using a large amount of silicone on the back of the largest plate, I push the pipe and cap onto the silicone. I sit the flower on its face, pipe side up, to dry for another 24 to 36 hours. The plant stakes can be cut to what ever height you want. I use a pipe cutter and score the stake then just snap it at the score mark.

If you want to add some color in the middle of you flower you can add a broach, button, stone or mosaic glass gems in the center. Just be creative.

I do suggest, especially in Texas, that you take the flowers in during high winds, ice or hail. Oh, and maybe anyone with a weedwhacker, speaking from experience.  

Happy flower making!

Wreaths Across America

 My Father In-law was buried in the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in 2020. We had just moved into our new house a few month earlier, and when talking to one of our new neighbors, a Veteran, he told us about Wreaths Across America. He told us that we could volunteer to help lay wreaths on the graves in the National Cemetery. I was too late for 2020, but we volunteered for 2021.

Waiting during the ceremony.

My husband and I, along with our daughter and grandkids, were going to go out to the cemetery on December 18, 2021 to volunteer for the event. As with everything in our lives, it just wasn't going to be that simple. I broke my foot and was in a boot, so I was not able to attend and my granddaughter could not attend. So, my husband, daughter and grandson ventured off early on a cold, windy Texas day to volunteer.

Having never attended this special day, a lot was learned on this first visit. First, thousands of people volunteer for this event to lay 48,000 plus wreaths. Parking was crazy. My family had to park in the median of the 4 lane road outside of the cemetery and walk a few miles to just get into the property. Then there was a lot of waiting. Waiting in high cold winds without shelter several miles from the car.

The street where the car was parked and everyone walking to the entrance.

The organizers hold a ceremony first full of pomp and circumstance including a military fly over. Then boxes with the wreaths were positioned on the roads around the property for each section of this very large cemetery. The volunteers are given the wreaths and instruction. When they lay the wreath on the grave, they say the name of the Veteran on the headstone. They can also say a thank you for their service if they want. My Grandson asked his Papa if he could lay the wreath on his Great Grandfather's grave. Obviously the answer was yes, and my husband said it was very emotional and special. Our grandson laid the wreath, kneeled down in front of the headstone, and fluffed and straightened the bow. Our Grandson was very proud of his Great Grandfather's Service and even wrote about him during last years Veterans Day celebration at school.

My family continued laying wreaths, saying the names of the Veterans and thanking them for their service. Although it was a long wait to get started, and because there were so many people participating, each person only had to lay about a dozen wreaths a piece. This event left a huge impact on our family.

My Father In-law's section was complete.

The definition of a wreath is a band of intertwined flowers or leaves worn as a mark of honor or victory. As a country our leaders lay wreaths on many military tombs, and this event is no different. This is not a religious or a holiday event, it is a Patriotic event to honor the service of our Veterans. 

Our visit on January 12, 2022

My husband and I went back to the Cemetery before the wreaths were removed. Even after a month of unseasonably warm weather and no rain, the wreaths were a bit brown and worn, but still gave us such a feeling of pride. It is a wonderful way to recognize the service of these Patriots during a time of year when people are so self absorbed. What better time of the year than December, the end of the year, to thank these selfless Men and Women who risked their lives for another year of our freedom.

Easy Indoor Christmas Decorations

2020 Christmas wall.

Two small paintings I covered.

I have a wall in my dinning room full of family pictures. When I was decorating for Christmas last year I had a great idea to decorate my picture wall. Instead of replacing the current pictures with Christmas pictures, I decided to just wrap the current pictures like presents.

Pictures in 2021

I had some metal star ornaments, bows, wood snowflake ornaments, small pinecones and ice cycle ornaments to decorate the picture presents.  In 2020 I picked a color scheme of red, green, blue and silver. I had Merry Christmas, red and green cloth ribbon to use on the project. I kept all of the ribbon and ornaments after I used them in 2020 and used them again on my new color scheme in 2021. The new color scheme was red, black, silver and gold.

I made sure I bought quality wrapping paper so it would hold up to the sharp corners of the frames. I also used hot glue to hold the ornaments to the front of the picture presents. The ribbon is held in place on the back of the frame with blue painter's tape.

The pictures above were taken at an angle which made the pictures look like they were crooked, they are not. I hate crooked pictures, so I am barely stopping myself from deleting the pictures, lol.

When Christmas is over, you get to unwrap extra presents off the wall and enjoy the pictures that had been hiding behind the Christmas wrap all month.

I love the look of the decorated wall in front of my decorated table. It was very festive.

My large poinsettia is missing from this picture. They were very hard to find here last Christmas. I received one as a gift  (Thanks Lynn) and put it in the snowman hat. 

If you don't have a picture wall, you can wrap all the pictures in a room or even the whole house. It is an inexpensive and pretty way to decorate for the Holiday. It is also a great way to decorate at a business or office. Happy wrapping!

 

The Worst Candles Ever

Many years ago we started celebrating Hanukkah. We had an antique menorah that we acquired when we were younger and started a new tradition. I admit that we don't celebrate Hanukkah in a religious way, like we celebrate Christmas, but we always light a menorah each year. Hanukkah is a minor Jewish holiday, but the story is a great story of religious freedom. You don't have to be Jewish to celebrate the meaning of The Festival of Lights. There was a war, about 200 years before the birth of Christ, between Antiochus the ruler of the Greek Kingdom and the Jewish citizens. When Antiochus destroyed the Jewish Second Temple and imposed pagan beliefs for all his people, like worshiping statues of Zeus, or sacrificing pigs at the alter of that Temple, the Jews rebelled. The Jewish warriors were called Maccabees, led by a Jewish Priest named Mattathias and his 5 sons. They were the first Jews to defend their religious beliefs. When Mattathias was killed, his son Judah became the leader. After the War was won, Judah and the Maccabees restored the Second Temple. Because there must be a light burning in the Temple at all times, when they were rededicating the temple they only had enough olive oil to light the menorah for one day. By a miracle the oil burned for eight nights giving them time to find more oil. Great story no matter what religion you are.

This is what Hanukkah candles are not suppose to look like when they are burning.

Now that the history lesson is over, let's talk about candles. Each year I buy candles, and always late by like a day or two before I need them. Never a good plan because they are not easy to find. I usually buy them at Target, or a grocery store. In 2020 I think I bought them at a grocery store. 

This was after about 5 days and the unidentified box of terrible candles.

The tradition is to light one candle the first night, two the second night, and so on until you are up to eight on the eighth night. There is one extra candle each night, the middle candle called the Shamash,  that is lit first. You use the Shamash to light the rest of the candles from right to left like Hebrew is read. This is a lot of Jewish history from a Christian girl just to complain about candles, lol.

This was half way through night 6. Already a nice size pile of "wax"

 and the menorah is a mess.

So, in 2020  I lit the candles, and unlike every other Hanukkah night for the last 30 some years, they didn't melt correctly. Normally, the candles barely leave any wax residue anywhere. This was a crazy mess. I kept the drippings on the plastic place mat I had the menorah on just to see how much wax I would end up with. I was not disappointed. 

The end of day 8. The large pile of "wax" was bad enough, but trying to clean
 the menorah and removing all the drippings on the metal was a nightmare.
 I felt like it was its own miracle that I got all the 'wax" off. 

This was a long way to go to complain about terrible candles. But, if  y'all learned something about history, religious freedom, miracles, or just terrible candles, it was worth it. Shalom.

Our Junk Drawer Inheritance

My Dad passed away in 2010 and my Mom in 2015. They left behind a house full of stuff. My Mom kept everything! Luckily, I have six siblings which made the clean out a bit easier. We went through boxes and boxes of "treasures". Boxes of McDonalds Happy Meal toys, dishes, paintings, pictures, videos, tools, craft supplies, books, family history items, papers and papers and papers!! One thing my parents had plenty of was junk drawers. Not just in the kitchen either. 

On a visit to Florida to my sister Lynn's house, my sister Jean and I were there to do some family craft projects. We had already started on the wood project we were doing with planks from my Grandma's old house. On this day Lynn brought out boxes of our parent's junk drawer's contents. Included in the boxes were a hodgepodge of costume jewelry. There were hair curlers with picks, thimbles, stamps, pictures, pearls, keys, old credit cards from a store that had long been closed, broaches, buttons, earrings, pictures of old relatives and school pictures of cousins, coins, bowling award pins, plastic watches, board game pieces, cufflinks ...............

A few of the pieces in my inheritance jar.

We bought large mason jars, one for each sibling. We lined them up and picked one of each item for each jar. There were some items that were one, or two of a kind, that went to the sibling that it would have meant the most to. My oldest siblings got the roller skate keys, or a thimble may have gone to a sibling that sewed. All the junk that may have brought back such fond memories of their youth, or just memories of our parents. 

My decorated jar

My sisters Lynn and Jean (not their first names) and I had the best time making those jars. We laughed at the items our parents kept. We told stories about the items we remembered and tried to guess who the small pictures were of. We found old broaches or pins that my Mom left and we all wore one that afternoon when we had a day of shopping. It was so fun to see these cheap gold pins on each other as we walked through the stores. I am sure people thought we were dorks, but to us it was a fun family bonding experience. 

This was the pin I wore shopping. Not even sure what

letter it is, an L or an S.

When I got home with my treasures I decided to decorate my jar and write a poem to attach to it. I picked a fun piece of cloth and cut it into a circle with pinking shears. I put the cloth on the lid and attached a copy of the poem with ribbon. The jar is displayed in my craft room and it brings a huge smile to my face every time I look at it.

This was such a great project for our family. Who would have though that the junk my Mom and Dad saved all those years would turn into such a special inheritance?

Grandma's Little Pink House

My Grandma lived in a small town in Ohio when I was growing up. It was a two story farm house in the town center. She lived there most of my life. This house was the center meeting place for my Mom's very large family. Aunts, Uncles and scores of cousins. The house was pink and like my grandma, bigger than life. My grandma passed in the late 90s and moved  out of the pink house more than10 years before that. The house was sold and painted white and maybe gray, can't remember. Then the house went into complete disrepair.

One day, a little over a year ago, one of my cousins posted some pictures on Social Media. It was of the dilapidated house in the first two picture.

 

First, I saw the above two pictures. Although the pictures were depressing seeing this dilapidated old house that looked nothing like the Little Pink House of my childhood. Nothing could have prepared me for the next pictures.

My Grandma's little pink house was a pile of rubble.

A few months after my cousin's social media post, my Husband and I went to Florida to visit my sisters. One day we were visiting my sister "Lynn's" house (I try not to use my families first names for privacy) and she brought out a box of pieces of wood. Lynn had called our cousin and asked her if she would be able to get seven pieces of wood from Grandma's house to give to each of our siblings. My cousin actually went dumpster diving to get the wood.

A few of the boards from Grandma's House.

 It was such a great surprise. We then saw a great craft project in the making. We cleaned up all the boards, bought supplies and threw around ideas. We didn't have time for our project during our Florida visit, but here are the finished projects.

My sister Jean's creation 

Lynn's house board creation.

This was one of the boards Lynn made for our 3 brothers and our oldest sister.

After seeing my cousin's post, I wrote this poem about My Grandma's house. At the end is a picture of my board creation.

Grandma’s Little Pink House

Dad at the wheel and Mom by his side
Kids in the back with the windows rolled down
Driving East on I70, at 13 we turn South
The scenery changes from the big city to small town
On our way to see Grandma in her Little Pink House

Dad slows as we enter the town of Somerset
His mother lives there and so we take a quick break
Back on the road and past Aunt Adele’s house
Around Somerset circle and past General Sheridan’s estate
On our way to see Grandma in her Little Pink House

As we enter New Lex and past Monument Park
Up the big hill with St Rose Church at the top
One block to School Ave with the red corner house
And Buck’s store where we shop for a cone and a pop
On our way to see Grandma in her Little Pink House

As we turn onto School Ave and look to the left
There stands our destination in a pretty pastel hue
Where cousins are waiting on the porches stone ledge
Receiving our greeting from the whole Williams crew
On our arrival to see Grandma in her Little Pink House

Out of the car, we arrive with such joy
Enter the slamming screen door to the arms of loved ones
We are greeted with excitement and smells that delight
Homemade noodles, pies and the World’s best cinnamon buns
We are finally inside Grandma’s Little Pink House

I treasure the memories from visits long ago
The holidays and parties we celebrated together
Week long stays with Aunts, Uncles and Cousins
Fair square dancing and reunions in the warm Summer weather
All on our stays at Grandma’s Little Pink House

Our Matriarch has passed in her late 90’s years ago
She was larger than life, loved cards and played poker
Her gruff coughing laugh was a sound of great joy
She was funny and loving and the worlds biggest chain smoker
I miss our visits to Grandma’s Little Pink House

The years had not been kind to that lovely old house
The color had changed from pink to white to an ugly old gray
It looked tattered and worn, barely able to stand
The fear that the structure may suddenly give way
This was the fate of Grandma’s Little Pink House

The lot on School Ave now sadly sits vacant
News had arrived from a cousin several weeks ago
Pictures of a excavator and dumpster surrounded by rubble
My heart was broken and oh how the tears did flow
How I will miss my Grandma’s Little Pink House

There are always those places that take a hold of our heart
Where the memories of your youth are filled with love
You recall all the sounds and smells that still fill your dreams
And the special people that your family is made of

Now those memories will include Grandma’s Little Pink House

This was my house board. Notice the color of the word House!