Autumn Bowl!

 

Serving up salads with flair created a need for artful vessels back in the 1960's ~ 80's. Salad bowl sets in a variety of shapes and themes became a staple in kitchen serving ware, including  wooden bowls in the shape of different fruits to coincide with salad ingredients and/or pu-pu platter spreads. Apples, pears, pineapples, even acorns were popular salad serving themes.

I added even more flair to these thrift-store apple shaped wooden bowls, by painting/sanding/staining them different shades of orange ~ perfect for Autumn décor !  I used the largest bowl for trick~or~treat candies, the smaller bowls for Fall potpourri mix, pumpkin flavored coffee creamers, guest soaps in the bathroom, and displaying pumpkin scented wax shapes. Next week I'll share how I updated some pineapple shaped pu-pu platter bowls! © copyright 2013 redshedvintage.com

~ Have a safe & happy Halloween ~ 

 

  

 

 

Trash Talk Thursday: Carvable Dollar Tree Prim Pumpkins

Although I'm not usually one to sing the praises of cheap Made in China merchandise, I do occasionally find myself drawn to Dollar Tree's seasonal supplies. At least they sell their stuff at about what it's really worth @ $1 or less, right?

I was excited to find $1.00 carvable styrofoam pumpkins at our local Dollar Tree recently! I've seen them in arts & crafts supply stores (costing a great deal more than 1 buck & being a little too large in size) and have been wanting to try them out to make a couple of permanent prim pumpkins.

I purchased only 2, as we're trying to downsize for the golden years (hah!) and decided to use one as an Autumn vase/vessel, the other as a whimsical jack-o-lantern. I painted the vase one with acrylic craft paint (1 coat, dark orange) and let it dry overnight. The next day, I dipped a cotton rag in oil-based walnut wood stain with sealer, and rubbed it evenly over both pumpkins ~ wiping the excess in a downward motion (be sure to use rubber gloves, unless you like having the dirty fingernail look for several weeks!)

After allowing the stain to dry for at least 24 hours, I gathered up a sharpie pen and some tools & gadgets to carve the jack-o-lantern.

I pressed a vintage pastry wheel tool to indent 2 wacky looking eyes, drawing over it with a permanent ink pen ~ then added a nose & mouth. I used a basic serrated table knife to carefully carve the face & a hole at the top, for adding a battery operated LED tea light candle. Since the styrofoam inside the nose & mouth was white, I added some color by rubbing an orange marker along the exposed insides. Pretty daggon' easy, and cheap to boot!  © copyright 2013 redshedvintage.com

Tune in next Thursday when I'll show you how I turned some plastic treat cups into paper maché  party cups...