Thrifty Thursday- Blue Plates & Bling! Bling!

Our ward had a really great adult dinner party last weekend, and several people volunteered to be table hosts, which means they could set the table any way they chose for their assigned guests. I was inspired by all of the creativity that went into these tables and thought you might be too!

This one was a "Clue" theme, complete with placecards like "Colonel Mustard", etc. and even costumes for the characters to wear! Thanks for the idea Courtney, I'm thinking this is going to be our company's Christmas Party theme next year! LOVE it.

Here's just a few of the tables, and in the interest of blog space, I will just tell you there was also a medieval table, an Elvis one, a wedding one, a pirate one, and a spring one. Such great ideas!

Mine was this one with a crystal tree centerpiece with birds perched and crystals hanging, and my favorite blue plate collection.

This activity got me thinking about my lovely blue plates. This is a collection of mine that is 13 years in the making. It started when I worked at a jewelry/bridal registry store that sold fine china. They had miscellaneous 5 pc. place settings that were probably 50 years old, and the store owner wanted to sell them on their sidewalk sale for pennies. They were Noritake and Royal Copenhagen, and just too pretty for me to let go. They didn't match, but that didn't bother me, and so began my collection of blue flower dishes. It has been a much more fun way to get china, and I have added to it whenever I find something. Most are from thrift stores, garage sales, and the blue glasses are from our trip to Cabo.

The amount I paid for each piece is minimal, but the value of all of the pieces collectively is priceless to me. There's a story behind each piece, and that is my most favorite way to decorate. Sure it's easy to just go to the store and BUY something, but where's the fun in that? I think a home that is a result of years of selecting pieces that speak to you is so much more interesting.

On to my next train of thought......

I like to call this idea "Bling! Bling! for the Ring! Ring! This was a fun trash to treasure project that Bailey came up with. We had this old cell phone lying around that she liked to play with and pretend it's hers. Do you have one of these?

Bailey thought maybe we could fix it up and make it even better, and I thought that sounded like a fine idea. So out came the spray paint........

Then Bailey added some self-adhesive rhinestones to bedazzle it up. Now she's got a sparkly phone like the one Miley Cirus had in her new movie we just saw.

She loves her cool new phone. I must say, it makes a mom proud to see her daughter's creativity blooming. She loves to hang out in my craft room with me and sew clothes for her Webkinz from my scraps, or make flower arrangements for her room. She's becoming quite the decorator by nature, or nurture, who knows? The other night she asked if she could look at some Pottery Barn magazines in bed so she could get some ideas for her bedroom, and my heart skipped a beat! Oh, the fun we will have together!!!