Unique Cheese Markers

I love to entertain. But instead of doing a huge dinner party, I'm more of an appetizer/tapas gal. I stumbled across these fun cheese markers in Michael Chiarello's, NapaStyle catalog:

Vintage Silver Fork Cheese Markers

Of course I had to take a stab at making these. Supplies you need are:

J

Letter Stamps

Heavy Hammer/steel block

Black Sharpie

Steel Wool

Forks

Choose the words you want to stamp on your forks.  I would recommend using silver plate or sterling over stainless, it's easier to stamp. Tap the letters using a hammer on a steel block.

Use the sharpie to color in the letters, then rub off with steel wool to make the word more visible.

The 'sheep' one was my first, didn't quite hit that one hard enough.

Just need to get the hubs to cut off the handles for me (and sand 'em), then they will be ready to use :)

What a fun and different way to identify your cheese!  They would also make a unique hostess/host gift with a bottle of wine, and of course...cheese.



http://www.shabbynest.blogspot.com/

Fake Antler Craft

I'm on a roll with this faux thing... so I did a little craft involving 'antlers'. You have all probably seen the antler/taxidermy fad incorporated in a ton of decorating magazines, fake or the real deal... so I thought I'd jump on the antler-madness band wagon by making a set...
I have a few real sheds that are displayed in my bookcase... but this is my attempt on a faux pair:

I started with air dry clay. I grabbed a couple of branches from outside to mold the clay to.

In the background you can see my inspiration picture on my iPad.

I used some tin foil to wrap around the branches, to give them a little more shape..

Here is the finished product (after painting 'em) next to my real ones...

I think eventually I would like to mount them on a faux skull cap, to make it look a little more like this:

via ebay

Or maybe go a little over the top crazy like these:

via Etsy

Yes, I Went Faux

This year I deciced to go with a fake tree. Not only did I decide on a faux-tree, I went with a three foot tree!

It's a little tabletop size tree... and anytime I can add the word, 'hope' in my decor, I do. We live in a town called Hope ;)

As I stated in a previouse post, I am not much of a Holiday decorator...I wish I was, especially with all the inspiration there is out there in blogosphere.. I just add a little touch here n there.

There ya have it... And as I send this post out there... I wonder what you guys are thinking?Does Charlie Brown, the Grinch or even Ebeneezer live there?? Haha, no. Don't get me wrong I love Christmas and all the traditions that come with it, but I have never been bitten by the Hallmark bug..

Tea Table Knock Off

ebay Moroccan Tea Table $199.99

My Knock-off $4.99

I found this brass tray at a local thrift store:

Had the good ole hubs make a stand out of scrap wood we had laying around.  Painted it with left over spray paint, did a quick floral design, then sanded the snot out of it.  I didn't spend a lot of time on the design...because (a)I knew I was going to sand it ...pretty much off, and (b) I'm impatient. I wanted it to look like an old vintage piece, something you'd find along side a dirt road.

Granted it's not handcarved with a Moorish design, and the top is probably a 24" diameter as opposed to the 28" polished brass ebay model.  But...not bad for a knock off? I could have gone with the cashier at the thrift store's idea.... make a gong:)