Debbie's Eggcellent Adventure

...Or How to Blow an Entire Afternoon
and two dozen eggs.

Has everyone seen the newest tomfoolery on the internet about which we now have to warn our impressionable children?

It's something called The Cinnamon Challenge. Apparently Einsteins of all ages are attempting to swallow a tablespoon full of cinnamon whilst chronicling it on the world wide web.

Knuckleheads...  

At least that's what I was muttering as I watched the reports of teens being taken to the emergency room for collapsed lungs and worse just because they had seen something on the internet and felt the need to try it themselves. 

But here's the thing:

Do you want to know what I was doing as I watched the reports of said Cinnamon Challenge? 

I was trying to decoupage an Easter egg. 

And do you know why I was trying to decoupage an Easter egg?

Because some really cool bloggers were doing it on the internet,
and I wanted to do it too. 

Knucklehead. 

Now, I don't know how many of you have tried to decoupage an entire egg, but I must warn you that it can make you very cranky. No matter how many tips you try, you still end up with hot mess that sticks to your fingers as you attempt to smooth away wrinkles that will not smooth. The decopushers won't tell you that, but it's true.  An egg, you see, is what they call egg shaped. And egg shaped items just don't want to have little wet  pieces of tissue glued to them. If they did,  they would be square.

Hot mess

If the other little bloggers jumped off a bridge, would you jump off too?

Yeah, well, maybe. 

It probably wouldn't have been so impossible had I not been determined to blow out my own Easter eggs first. Yes, I'm well aware that you can purchase ready -to-decorate eggs for about a buck a bag,  but I thought it would be thriftier to do it the old fashioned way.

Eggs are around $2.00 a dozen here.

Blonde knucklehead.

I blew, and I blew, and I blew until I was dizzier than usual and kind of grossed out to boot. Let's face it. No matter how hard you scrub an egg, you just can't remove its rite of passage.  And don't tell me to use a straw. That's how I broke the first dozen.  

So I finally had a bowl full of egg shells and tried every blog tip in the book to get rid of the wrinkled, sticky finger look. I am convinced it really can't be done. It's kind of like the Cinnamon Challenge.

The only way you can decoupage an egg is with the cut and paste method. 

Just cut out the pattern and paste it.
I used a glue stick 

before I covered over it with the Mod Podge. 

.

That's how I got this look.  

I did a grand total of five of them. 

I'm using the rest of them to make an egg bouquet for the table. 

I'm not finished yet, but I felt like posting now anyway.

I just (sponge) painted them and then used my paper punch to punch out polka dots. 

 It's not hard. I was just tired from all that blowing.

Then, I set them in some mini tulip liners
from Hobby Lobby

And stuck a painted wooden skewer through the whole thing. 

That green striped one in the back was a blog post all on its own. I don't even want to tell you how I did it, because I don't want to contribute to the delinquency of a blogger.

And that's how I spent my afternoon.

So tell me, how did you spend yours?
And does anyone have a recipe for a 24 egg omelet? 

Sharing at Inspiration Friday

ETA:
UGH! 
Is anyone else having trouble commenting today?
Driving me crrrazy. 

Tea For Tulips

Remember last week when I confessed to having some silver napkins rings in my possession that I had borrowed from the Farm Sister over a month ago?  Yeah, well, I did return them. I didn't feel quite so bad about being the borrower when I went out to the farm this weekend, though.

Her spring dining room table ought to be named Something Borrowed, but we've  named it Tea For Tulips instead.

 (Actually, I named it. I'm the only odd bird in the family who feels the need to name a table.)

The inspiration for the whole table came from these

tulip salad plates which belong to the Duchess.

She added a light green dinner plate to go under it... 

which she also borrowed from the Duchess.

And then placed them atop a white ceramic charger.

Yep. 

That belongs to the Duchess as well.

Here's the Dish of the Day:
You're never too old to borrow from Mom. 

Those egg cups?  

They belong to the Duchess. 

They're filled with tulip cupcake liners and candy.

She borrowed that idea from Pinterest, I think.

 They're filled with pastel M&Ms, but you can't see that in my picture.

Of course, not everything on that table is borrowed. 

 The linens all belong to her. She got those plaid napkins at TJ Maxx last year.

I'm planning to borrow them.

I bought the matching tablecloth. 

 They are layered with some pale yellow ones 

and shooshed in a napkin ring...

which, ahem, she borrowed from the Duchess.

The flatware is her own Dover by Oneida.

The casual stemware is hers as well. 

She got the green ones at Christmas Tree Shops.

All centerpiece accessories belong to her.
But those tulip votives  were borrowed from the Duchess.

And there you have it. The Farm Sister's springtime table. 

I really do think it's lovely.

So lovely, in fact, that now I'm off to see the Duchess

 to do some pilfering of my own.

'Cause I'm the baby sister...

For other baby sisters out there,
no further explanation is necessary.

*****

Dishing with Cuisine Kathleen this evening, on The Porch tomorrow,
 and Pink Saturday

How To Have Baby Cheeks

It's Friday afternoon folks... which can only mean one thing. 

My face is sticky. 

Since it will remain sticky for about the next thirty minutes, I have nothing better to do right now than sit down post about it.

Friday, you see, is the day I give myself the Friday Facial. 

I give myself a Friday facial because that traveling man I married comes home on Fridays, and I just think he ought to come home to something a little more pleasant than the menopausal fifty face I usually wear.

I give myself  a homemade facial because I'm a cheapskate who really doesn't like to pay for a product that might or might not work. Plus, I'm kind of an earth girl who likes to use stuff found in nature. Plus, I just don't need one more bottle or tube to clutter up my vanity...

Plus, it works.  

No, really... It does for pennies what I have yet to see another product do as well. That's why I'm yakking it abroad in blog land.  

I must warn you, though, the ingredients are very exotic. 

Here ya go:

Dissolve 3 tablespoons of white sugar 

in 3 tablespoons of very warm water.

Put one of those cheap circle face thingies into the mix 

and let it soak up the mixture.

(You could probably use cotton balls or something like that, but I like the circle thingies.)

Gently apply all over the face, even the eye lids if you're careful. 

You might want to avoid the lips if you're on a low carb diet. 

And don't forget the throat.  

There's absolutely no point in having baby cheeks 

if you're just going to stick them on top of a chicken neck, people.

Leave on about 30 minutes. Then gently remove it with warm water. 

Follow up with splashes of cold water. 

And there ya go: Baby Cheeks.

That's my beauty tip of the day.

I'm pretty sure that everybody has a favorite  beauty tip or two.

What's yours?

I need all the help I can get.
"Cause I'm 50, remember?

It's A Pink Occasion

I mentioned a week or two ago that I was going to put together a table with what we call our Pink Occasion Dishes, some faithful old luncheon plates given to my girls by an elderly neighbor. We used them whenever an occasion is dubbed Pink. 

I was so busy actually enjoying our last Pink Occasion that I never did take pictures.  

Fortunately,  we had another Pink Occasion right around the corner. 

This one didn't involve the arrival of daughters,

 but it did involve the invasion of the south's favorite belle. 

So we set this table for two right smack dab in the middle of it.

The Duchess has just about every color of azalea in her lawn

so we gathered some pale pink and white ones for the centerpiece 

and added a few dogwoods for good measure. 

If the azalea is a belle, the dogwood is her faithful beau. 

They generally arrive together. .

Even though I love those Pink Occasion plates, they are actually my second favorite plates on the table. 

My very favorites are these antique cake plates. 

They originally belonged to the Duchess's great grandmother.

There are only five remaining, and I actually own just one of them.
The rest are shared among my sisters and the Duchess.

I picked up those sherbet dishes at the antique mall earlier in the year.

I've developed a big crush on that particular style of sherbet dishes. I love the extra height they add to the table, and I use them often.

There's absolutely no point in owning dishes if you don't actually use them. 

The blossom filled shoes serve no useful purpose beyond whimsy, but I liked them anyway. Don't you think any pink occasion calls for pink shoes?

 Yeah, me too.

They were originally Christmas ornaments. 

The silver is Old English Tipt by Gorham. It's a very simple pattern. 

And finally the napkin.  I used the reversible ones that I made for my luncheon club and just twisted them so that the fan showed both sides. The silver napkin rings belong to the Farm Sister. I still had them from the luncheon club because, "a fool borroweth and returned not again."

So there you have it: 

A Pink Occasion table 

Celebrating one of the Pinkest Occasions of the year:

The south Georgia spring. 

I'm sharing this week at Cuisine Kathleen's new party Let's Dish!

and with The Porch People  and  Pink Saturday

You Can't Send That In The Mail

In case you haven't noticed, I've been in a bit of a blog slump lately and in dire need of something to jump start the old engines. Honestly, I was just about to send these wheels to the tow yard.

Then... I discovered a party.  

Don't you think mingling at a party is a great way to jump start the engine?
Yeah, me too.

And so, I'm joining Vee at A Haven for Vee this morning. She  has created a party with a bit of a challenge.  We're supposed to choose four (and only four) photos already living on our blog which could be used as note cards.

I think she probably means beautiful note cards. You know, the kind taken by gifted photographers with fancy schmancy cameras.

Unfortunately, all I have to offer is a blonde with a shiny red Kodak, but I'm party crashing anyway.

So here ya go: Random note cards on wheels,  complete with suggested captions. Maybe you can caption them better.

How about this one 

for a person recovering from knee replacement?

Maybe choosing the discount plan wasn't such a good idea after all...

*****

Here's one for college graduation. 

Shoot for the stars!

You can't pay off those student loans by aiming for the toilet.    

*****

Then, there's this one.

Good luck on your move to Georgia....

*****

And finally, just a  note of encouragement.

Really, no one is laughing at  you.

I promise....

*****

And that's all I've got this morning. 

So tell me, how would you caption the notecards from the shiny red Kodak?

The Simplest Makeover On Earth

Have you ever done a little project that you just loved for the simplicity of the thing? That's how I feel about the easy peasy project that I did over the weekend for my kitchen.

Actually, I not only love it for the simplicity, I love it because it was so cheap it was almost free and  because, well.. I just love the way it looks on the wall.

I mentioned on my last post that I am changing out my kitchen accessories from red to Granny Smith green for the spring.  I needed to replace the red and white plates that hang over my kitchen table.

lousy picture

  I have been eyeing some black and white ones in different patterns at Hobby Lobby for months now, but I'm really too cheap to pay ten bucks apiece for a decorative plate.

Instead,  I made some of my own. I used those square plates from the Dollar Tree that I had on my St.Patrick's Day table and some tissue paper that I had around the house.

I realize that Mod Podge is crafting for dummies,
 but I'll walk through the steps just in case anyone is interested.


First, spray the plate with primer. It works better on a painted surface.

Then, just spray the tissue in place with spray adhesive

(These are decorative wall plates and not for eating so they go face up 
on the front of the plate and not the back. )

Press the paper into every nook and cranny with your fingers. Nearly all wrinkles and air bubbles can be pushed smooth if you're just patient.

Crease the edges

Cut away the excess. 

Then brush on the Mod Podge with a large foam brush. 

I used the glossy Mod Podge for this one because plates are shiny. 

I push it around the edges with my fingers. 

Let it dry...

I never use scissors for decoupage because you can't get a good edge.

 However, my exacto blades are kind of dull right now. 

Some of the edges were a raggedy mess

But even they shaved away really easily with a good, sharp kitchen knife.

(Which then needed to be resharpened, of course...)

Just carefully shave away uneven edges 

with the side of the blade after it's dry but before it has set too long.

And Ta Da! 

Total cost for four plates was $4.00 for the plates

since I had every bit of that tissue paper around the house.

Here they are next to Paddy O'Pauper's table.

(Those red and white plates are the ones that were hanging there.)

I'll be changing out the table and the rest of the accessories 

to Granny Smith green this week, 

but I wanted to share the simplest makeover ever right now.

And that's how I spent my St. Patrick's Day...

Gluing old tissue paper to cheap plates. 

Kind of pathetic, isn't it?

So, what did you do over the weekend?

*****
Sharing this on Met Monday

A Frugal McTable of Paddy O'Pauper

Yes, I realize that Paddy is a man's name. I liked the lilt of it, though,  so I'm using it anyway. I've never been too proud to stoop to creative license in my blogging. I've never been too proud to stoop to it in my tablescaping either...

I wanted to do a St.Patrick's table, you see, but with all the stuff and nonsense I have around here, I still don't have any Irish  dishery. 'Tis sad but true; there isn't a wee little man to be found.

There isn't a pot o' gold to be found either so I didn't want to go out and buy any. I had no choice but to whip out the Mod Podge and craft paint put together a little dish blarney.

When you have to McCraft up a table,

 it usually ends up looking something like this.

I started with some craft fabric that I had around the house. I had purchased it to make shamrock pillows for the front porch, but when I got it home, I discovered that it didn't have shamrocks on it at all.   It had four leaf clovers.

Four leaf clovers, of course, are not shamrocks 

and miss the entire point of them. 

I decided to make place mats with it instead
because it's still green and clovery.

Dinner plates are some plain square ones that I got at the Dollar Tree. 

Salad plates are decoupaged glass ones. I didn't even have to buy the napkins to use because they were left over from last year.  We'll use these on Saturday and then wash the blarney off the china until the next holiday.

Chargers were painted Granny Smith green. I was planning to paint these anyway since I'm changing my kitchen accessories to green for the spring. (I protect my painted chargers with a low sheen varnish, by the way. )

Place card holders were crafted with painted pots and gold glittered stones. I pulled those bouncing Leprechaun hats off some deelyboppers I used to wear back when I was fun.

The napkins are supposed to look like shamrocks.

The centerpiece is a single shamrock plant, which is the only thing I purchased for this table. I actually purchased three of them, but two are already dead. Buying and killing shamrock plants is one of my St. Patrick's Day traditions.  

And I wonder why I'm Paddy O'Pauper...

Pot 'O Gold flatware

And stemware in various shades of green for overkill.

All I need are a few flying monkeys, and we're off to see the Wizard.  

And there you have it, the Crafted McTable of Paddy O'Pauper.

Nothing fancy about it, but it gives the kitchen some Irish laughter.

Plus, it lets me join  Cuisine Kathleen in her St.Patty's Day Blog Crawl which started two days ago. By the time I crawl around, the other blog toddlers will be walking, but I'm joining anyway.

Also joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.