Shower Centerpieces from thrift store treasures!

We had a wonderful wedding this year in our family.

As mother of the groom, I joyfully volunteered to 

provide centerpieces for the Bridal Shower.

This was a fun opportunity for use pieces found in local

resale and consignment shops, 

up-cycle them in the colors and theme of the shower.

They were then used as gifts for the guests.

I wish these pictures were better

 but they were taken the day of the shower.

Things were pretty busy and I was happy to get pics at all.

The finished centerpiece started out as a lowly worn brown pedestal vase.

I painted a base coast of a light celery green, let dry and top coated with a wicker white.  

In order to add age to the piece, I sanded it with fine sad paper at points where

it would receive normal wear and tear.. 

Then a half globe of floral styro-foam.

Green moss was glued to that as a base for the lovely flowers that were 

arranged in an eye appealing way.

Here are some more of the arrangements that I made for that happy day.  All were made from resale shop

items to which new flowers etc  were added.

.

All of these base items were purchase for pennies, although the topiary was $5.00.

The cost did add up a bit for the flowers but it was a wedding and we still did it on a shoe string.

Plus they were a big hit and the winners of the games were happy to take them home.

More centerpieces next week!

Too many tomatoes? Definitely not!

End of the season canning.......

But there are still tomatoes galore.  It helps that we covered them on the nights that we have had a frost.  They are mostly small and because of that, I decided to can them as tomato sauce.

 As you can see they are beautiful. It is so helpful to have a Food Strainer for this project.    I purchased mine several years ago and it has been a valuable tool in my kitchen.  You can purchase optional screens for pumpkins, berries and even one for salsa.  Yes, I now have those also.

Following canning directions.  Tomatoes are a high acid food (you must add lemon juice) and one of the easier foods to can.  The fruits are vulnerable only to heat sensitive  organisms.  They can be processed in a water bath canner.  

I recommend that beginning canners buy a good basic instructions book.  The Ball Book of Home Preserving.  It is often available in the canning sections of hardware stores, grocery stores and super stores.  It is also available on Amazon.com 

So far from these left over odds and ends we have added 24 pints of tomato sauce to our food pantry.