Eileen Hull

I know I have been heavy into the ScoreBoards lately so thought I would put up a picture of a recycled project that I did. I am always finding these silver bread baskets in my local thrift stores.

As you may know if you have ever been in my house, I am a silver plate junkie. If I had been born in England a couple of centuries ago, I would have been a great scullery maid because I love polishing silver. These pieces can be used in so many ways. I use silver butter trays on the mantle in our bedroom (serving as a headboard right now) where I keep my often- worn jewelry. I especially love to collect items that have been engraved because I know there is a story behind every piece and it’s fun to try and imagine the story of how that particular piece wound up in my bathroom storing Q-tips!

So here’s what I did with the bread basket… you may choose to polish the piece before you work on it… or not. If you don’t, be prepared because it will tarnish at some point. I kind of like how that looks so mine is not polished. Basically I went through my ribbon scrap pile and found lengths in Christmas colors. I laid them out in an order that I liked and then also picked out a bunch of larger size beads. Starting at the top, I wove ribbon through the basket spokes. Where the ribbon ended, I put a dot of glue at the end and pressed it together with the other end. You can use a binder clip to hold both pieces together while the glue is setting.

Weave silver wire through the spines of the basket on the outside adding beads every couple of loops.

NOTE: You have probably figured out that this project should not be used to hold food due to the nature of the supplies. Cleaning would NOT be fun! So this project is recommended for decorative purposes only. I have some handblown glass ornaments that I usually display in the bowl. I find the textures and colors blend very well together. Does anyone else out there like silver like me? It’s a sickness!

I don’t pretend to be a connoisseur of wine or champagne… in fact, give me a diet Coke, anytime… but when we serve it at parties, we often have half a bottle left. Also not known for my skills at opening bottles because I manage to reduce corks to crumbs which may be seen floating at the bottom. However, luckily, I am fairly handy with an icepick and tube of E-6000! I bought a bunch of these beautiful glass drawer pulls on sale and thought it might be cool to make my own wine stoppers.

They are quick and easy. With an icepick, stick a hole in the center of a cork and scoop out the middle to accommodate the long screw that comes with the drawer pull. Screw it all the way into the glass pull. Insert into cork to test. When hole is deep enough, squeeze a dollop of E-6000 glue into the cork and push all the way down with a bamboo skewer. Reinsert drawer pull screw into cork and let sit for 24 hours. Give the bottle stopper along with a bottle of wine the next time you are a guest in someone’s home. This is sure to be a hit!

We bought some chocolates last year after Christmas in Maine at a very fun outlet store called Marden’s. We have long since eaten the candy but I hung on to the boxes which are little drawers- so cute!

In my cleaning frenzy I’ve been unearthing all kinds of fun stuff… I had one last gift card to give and amazingly, it fit perfectly in the drawer. I covered the outside with some scrapbook paper (using double sided tape to adhere paper to the box) and tied a ribbon around it and attached a Sizzix matboard heart tag that’s wired on with a pipe cleaner. Lately I have been loving working with (OK, let’s take a poll… do you call them pipe cleaners or chenille stems?)them 🙂 Nice and fuzzy, wired so they stay where placed and no fraying or finishing required! I also like working with wired ribbon for the same reasons.

And that’s all there is to it… Health and happiness in 2010! Thanks for reading.

I am in the middle of cleaning for the kids arrivals on Wednesday but had to share this project with you made from gift wrap scraps. For full instructions, visit the new blog on the Sizzix website. I will be a regular blogger every Monday and feature projects, techniques and ideas using ScoreBoards dies.

How was your Christmas? Did anything get an especially cool present or gadget? I am all ears… 🙂

Happy New Year everyone!