"Fancy" Chandelier

We needed a "fancy" drippy chandelier to hang in the big backyard tree for Lily Kate's birthday party a couple weekends ago.

Sooooo- I set out to make one. I remembered an old black iron candle-lier that had been put away in the barn. So, I dug that out and
spray painted it Heritage White, a can of paint I already had in my paint stash.

Next, I hot glued 3 strands of crystally Christmas garland. This part was amazingly easy. The only hard part was making sure each "drip" was equal. I bought these garlands at Hobby Lobby 1/2 price, spending a total of $3.00.

Then, I looked at small canning jars, Dollar Tree glasses and teacups to glue on each arm and hold a candle. However, teacups would cost too much. And I couldn't stand to ruin a teacup like that anyway.

My friend Elaine came to the rescue with 5 mis-matched clear punch cups. And my daughter, Dana had 5 sweet old china saucers without any cups. Soooo

the saucers glued upside down onto the arms and the punch cups glued onto the bottom side of the saucers.

I found a box of vanilla scented tealights on sale at Target and voila !!!

Fancy, Drippy, Crystally Birthday Chandelier !!!!

And I love it so much hanging in my living room.

Saturday was a fun day for thrift store shopping. Here are just a few of my acquisitions --

I saw an ad for 50 burlap coffee bags for $15.00. We have a large coffee distributor in our hometown and they have an abundance of
burlap bags. Problem is --- they stink!!! I had all sorts of plans for these bags -- framed out in old wood. Made into cute "green" grocery totes. Pillows. Seat covers. I was thinking of tons of cute things to do with these bags. If only they didn't have that funky smell.....

So my husband hung them out on our fence. We figured some fresh air and sunshine would perk them up over time. We didn't even dream we would have rainy days to give the bags a good washing. Now -- they are smelling much better and I'm about to bring them in and start transforming them into something fun.

My grandmother had a wonderful collection of state plates, which I now have. I just never could think of anything cute to do with them and have tried more than a few times to sell them without any luck. I finally just decided to grow the collection, so I'm always on the look-out for a state I don't have yet.

I found these 3 plates - Missouri, Arkansas and California -- at a local thrift shop on Saturday at their half-price sale. I have a "rule" that I don't pay more than $7 for a plate. That makes the hunt a lot more challenging. Well, these three plates cost me a whopping 50 cents each !!! Gotta love that!

And this cute little sugar bowl was a bargain at $4. "Azucar" bowl. I couldn't pass it up.