Candy Buffet take 2

I attended a lovely wedding last week. They featured a candy buffet that was simply gorgeous! It was set up in a center hallway on a round table. Don't you love the lamp?

I'm planning on having a candy buffet for my daughter's wedding and did a practice run a couple of weeks ago on my sideboard. Check it out HERE. But now I'm having second thoughts. Maybe I should set it up on a round table instead? Hmm, what do you think?

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Strawberry Orange Jam

May is jam making time for me. The strawberries are plentiful and inexpensive in the markets and the last of my oranges are on the tree and super sweet. I usually make a batch of Orange Marmalade and another of Strawberry Rhubarb or perhaps Triple Berry. This year I've tried a new recipe -Strawberry Orange Jam.

Wash, hull and slice 5 cups of fresh strawberries.

Thinly slice and seed 4 oranges and 2 lemons. (My lemons are huge so I only used one!) Then coarsely chop citrus in a food processor. 

Put all of the fruit plus 1 cup water in a large pot. 

 Bring to a full boil. While the fruit was cooking I inserted my immersion blender to more finely dice the berries. Boil for 5 minutes.

Then add 1 pouch of powdered pectin that has been stirred into 6 cups of sugar. Bring back to a full boil and boil for 1 minute. Ladle into hot sterilized jars and invert for 5 minutes. Turn jars right right side up and listen for them to POP to make sure they have sealed. Alternately you can seal in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. This made 9, 8 oz. jars.

I always feel a sense of accomplishment after a jam making session, and it's so nice to pull a jam jar out of the pantry in the Winter and enjoy the flavor of Spring!

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Wedding Season

It's wedding season here in Arizona, and I suppose the rest of the country. We have been invited to 8 weddings this month! Plus my own daughter gets married in less than 3 weeks.

 I thought I'd share with you my favorite wedding gift idea. I try to keep a supply of these beautiful serving bowls on hand for gift giving. Many people think they are pewter, but they are actually a modern aluminum alloy. They are perfect to take to a pot luck as you don't have to worry about breakage and chances are good it won't get mixed up with someone else's bowl. These bowls and platters require very little care, can go from freezer to oven to table. I don't however recommend the dishwasher, it can dull the shine.

 I use them for salads and pasta but they also look lovely as a centerpiece filled with fruit (or pinecones, potpourri, seashells, etc!)

I also make the gift giving easy by tying them up simply in cellophane with a pretty ribbon.

Hopefully this is something a new bride will find versatile and use over and over again through the years.

What is YOUR favorite go-to wedding gift?
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Herb Crate

I love all of the inspiration that I get from my fellow bloggers. Debbie over at Confessions of a Plate Addict has a wonderful centerpiece that she calls her "rustic box". She dresses it up differently for each season and I love her creativity.You can check it out HERE.  So of course, I decided I wanted my very own rustic box!

I found this box at the Goodwill. I think it was supposed to hold cassettes. I took the dividers out and gave it a couple of coats of paint. I knew I wanted to apply a graphic and loved the design that the ladies over at Be Book Bound created for their herb crates.

See their herb box  HERE.

I also added a little beehive  to my box. 

I think it makes a great container for a couple of pots and some fresh herbs from my garden.

Thanks for the inspiration ladies!

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Vintage Silver Box

In my last post I showed you all of the fabulous silverware I found at my favorite thrift store. Not only did I find several sets of silver, I also found an old silverware box to keep it all in! This was in pretty bad shape when I found it, but a coat of paint, a little distressing and a vintage graphic have made it perfectly charming for silver storage.

It's lined with Pacific silver cloth to keep silver tarnish free.

 I love that it has an extra drawer for serving pieces!

I'll be taking this into my shop this week. Come check it out along with other silver treasures at 
Merchant Square Antique Mall !

Super Silver Score!

Wow, what a great time I had at the thrift store today! I'm always on the lookout for vintage silverware and today I got lucky! I found several old sets of silverplate flatware. Silverplate used to be extremely common for every day household use. In fact, as I was growing up we used silverplate  every day and sterling utensils for Sundays. 

This was a popular design often referred to as fiddle shaped. It's hard to see in the photo, but these are engraved with the initials EL. I used to shy away from monogrammed pieces, but I have come to love the history associated with them. Ooh, I still need to polish these!

 I found a full service for 8 plus a few serving pieces of Gorham's Lady Caroline. I plan on using this set for my Christmas Idea House raffle table. You can check out last year's table setting HERE. The pattern has a lovely delicate neck and flares out at the base , a classic design.

This pattern is called Grosvenor by Community. A little silver polish worked wonders.

Here's a sneak peak of what I'm working on for the Christmas House fundraiser. Yes, I start EARLY working on this! I've got the plates and now the silver. I still need glassware, linens and a centerpiece. Plenty of time!

I recently painted this old utensil caddy. Perfect for my new treasures! By the way, I paid less than $35 for over 75 pieces of silver. Quite  a bargain!

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