Look What I Made

I am delighted with this new cloche/tray I recently created.

I rescued this ceiling light fixture from a free pile ages ago. Some of the glass panels were broken, so I removed all of the survivors to get this frame.

Once it was turned upside down, I saw it would be sort of a cloche.

I fiddled around with my stash of silver-plate trays until I found one that would slide in through the flat side. I drilled a whole in the middle of the tray so it would attach with the existing hardware.

This is so unlike me, but I actually made a pattern of the bottom of the tray, folded it into fourths, and made my center hole. Usually I belong to the let's-eyeball-it-school. A pilot dimple of sorts was made with a nail and hammer, and then I drilled a big center hole with my hand-held drill.

There was an opening at the top of the dome, which begged for a knob or handle of some sorts. I attached this over-the-top lamp finial with some lamp washers and a nut.

I'm thinking it will corral my fabric flower pins and corsages. But so far, I'm not ready to cover an inch of it up! -- Beth

Flower & Garden Show Sneak Peek

I am very excited and honored to be speaking at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show on Friday, Feb. 5 at 12:30 p.m. in the Hood Room.  I’ll be showing pictures and talking about Outdoor Entertaining Salvage Style.  Today I made some serving pieces for a photo shoot on our deck.  The bowl parts are ceiling fixture glass shades – perfect for this project because the center hole is already made.  And they can be found at thrift stores in some kicky patterns.

For the bases, I had these wood basket things, that I painted with a thin coat of white.  Even though I made pilot holes before drilling, one got a big crack.  Oh well.

I used extra lamp parts to connect everything together.  Lamps are the best organ donors ever for these sorts of projects!  I used a small section of threaded rod, a lamp nut and a vintage finial.

This tool box works really well for organizing all those swell lamp pieces.

Now to wait for a few hours of simultaneous daylight and no rain for some picture taking outside.   Wish me luck on that part! -- Beth

The Junk Curse

These diamonds in the rough were 75% off at St. Vinnie’s – a mere $2.25 each. Is it a gift or a curse that I can see bunches of potential in these? -- Beth

Note from Lisa: Both!