Projects | Gigi and Rosie

Well, Thanksgiving is over and I don’t know about you, but I ate way too much!

The menu was simple~turkey, dressing, and all the traditional fare. We also have ham every year, because most of us like ham better than turkey. Really, we serve turkey WITH our ham, but only because you’re supposed to have turkey. It’s not a law, just a “rule”, but we follow it anyway.

I’m content with the familiar traditions, and often reflect on the changes. We had a couple of new family members this year. My son was here with his new wife, and one of my sisters recently got married, so she and her new husband came over after their noon meal with his family. Some of my nieces and nephews were away at their in-laws. So, some changes are good and some are a little bittersweet. It’s nice to see our children grow up and have new and exciting things going on in their lives, but it still seems like they should all be with us.

I hadn’t given much thought to all the controversy about Black Friday being moved up to Thursday evening, at least not until my son and his wife left to do some shopping. Then I understood. It cut the family time short.

It’s funny, when my 75-year-old Dad calls me at 10:15 pm from Wal-Mart, with my mother along for the ride, I’m amazed that they could be at my house all day, eating, playing Ping-Pong, and staying until after 9:00 pm to help clean up, then manage to get a second wind and go shopping. How is that the younger ones couldn’t hold up as long?

Could it be that this whole Gray Thursday thing was a plot forced upon retailers by people who need exit plans?

Oh well, it was a wonderful time while it lasted and every year my sense of being blessed grows, as does my thankfulness.

The collage above is of my fireplace mantle. It’s kind of hard to decorate, because it is short and wide, but I like the way it turned out.

For my table, I used a tarnished silver tray with painted pumpkins and a candle. Well, one is a spaghetti squash, but it added a little height, so I went with it.

This was simple, but it takes a little while for Puffy-Paint (easily found at Wal-Mart or Hobby Lobby ) to dry. It’s always worth the wait, though. It gives the best 3-dimensional aspect, and is also the most effective, and least messy, way to incorporate glitter into projects.

As you may be able to tell, I always go for the simple. I don’t have anything against the overstated, I just typically don’t have time for it. So, simple, with perhaps a bit of elegance, is usually my style.

I hope your Thanksgiving Day was enjoyable and that your feelings of “Home” are ones of peace, love, and contentment.

I can’t end without mentioning the best part of my Thanksgiving Day. Daisy was here and she spent the night with me and Pawpaw! We were exhausted by the end of the day, but the happiness I feel when she sweetly tells me she loves me and that she loves being at my house, or when I see her running around and playing with her little cousins and giving hugs and kisses to everyone, is worth every bit of exhaustion. To the last drop. Or until I drop.

I’m feeling abundantly blessed.

~Gigi

So, since ROSIE is an adjective (see About Gigi), I think this project provides a good example of something that I find to be just ROSIE!

A friend told me that trays are all the rage now and I ran across this little cutie at one of my favorite hidden-treasure-hubs, The Salvation Army.

If you look closely, you can see that this one (like most of them, I think) used to have little feet that someone either cut, filed, or somehow broke off. No big deal. Just add some round pads to the bottom of the tray and it won’t scratch your surface.

I didn’t have one of these on my dresser when I was young, but I always wanted one. With just a little bit of rehab, I think it will look just Rosie in Daisy’s bedroom!

There just happened to be the right shade of pink ( Ballet Slipper ) in my spray paint collection. That, along with masking tape, a few paper towels, and some newspaper, was all it took for this project. Oh, and this handy trigger by Rust-O-leum, which is one of the best things to happen to paint since combustion.

Anyway, I covered the mirrored bottom of the tray with the paper towels and used pieces of masking tape to hold it down around the edges.

A note to the wise. Or to the patient. It would have been better to use a primer.

I know, I know,

Yes, I have spray painted in the past. Many times.

However, being more of a hare than a tortoise, I skipped that part. So, naturally, the paint kind of slid off on some parts of the tray. It only took a couple of coats with a little drying time in between to get good coverage, though. Probably about the same amount of time it would have taken to use a primer in the first place. Oh well, all is well. I’m trying to lose that perfection obsession anyway.

Quick, easy, adorable! The only thing that might make it a little cuter would be to add some bling. Perhaps some gemstones glued to the center of the flowers?

Oh, and just because these trays were originally used on dressers and bathroom vanities for perfumes, powders, etc., you could get creative and use them elsewhere.

One last reflection for today. I’m not sure our vanity tray is posh enough to fit in this space, but what little girl’s bedroom wouldn’t be adorable with this Princess Rose daybed?

I’d love to hear about some of your re-purposing projects!

~Gigi

Gigi and Rosie

Musings and Amusements of a Modern Day Grandmother

Category Archives: Projects

Thanksgiving 2013

Now THIS is ROSIE