that's what i'm talking about

yep, that's what i'm talking about. this is the exact type of container collection i'm going for on the tables. milk glass, shiny bits and cut glass or clear vases. now just imagine bright red paper flowers overflowing from them and you'll get the picture. photo: creature comforts via perfect bound

cheeky monkey

i love the phrase "cheeky monkey" which i've learned since moving to oz. used to describe someone who is acting a bit sly or smarty pants. anyway, it might be used to describe my collection of milk glass and other containers for the wedding centerpieces. so, you know how i've been collecting them? well, i keep having people ask me how i'm going to get them home. that's not the cheeky part - i'm packing them all in one suitcase and having the guy carry them as one of his two luggage allowances. he might find that cheeky...

the cheeky part comes in when you consider the exchange rate. now i should preface this by saying the exchange rate from aus to us dollars NEVER works to my advantage. NEVER! particularly since now all the money that we've saved for the wedding is 66 cents to the us dollar! crap! anyway, i just thought about it the other day that i will be selling these pieces as one lot once the wedding is over. i intend to package every last one up in a large box and sell the whole lot to some bride who wishes to get a good deal on beautiful, carefully selected vintage centerpiece ware. the good part - i can sell the whole lot for the same cost i spent for them in aus dollars which gives me a mark up of 34 cents to the dollar. does that make sense? should i do the math. you should check mine, because i'm horrible at math!

vase = $2.00aus or $1.32us if i sell it in the us for $2.00us, the $2.00us exchanges at $3.00aus and i come out a dollar richer!

now, i'm not trying to be greedy and a dollar hardly makes me a serious entrepreneur. but at least i get a bone or two now and then from the exchange rate!

pic of milkglass not mine: feather in my nest read here about her collection.

plans

sometimes the best plans are those that are adaptable. i did another run to the thrift store and found some more cute things. but i've expanded my containers to include any white fun vase, any fun shiny vase and also cut or pressed glass. above are just a sampling of the beautiful little vases i bought. and i picked up some red and orange (for contrast) tissue paper to simulate the paper flowers. not my finest job but it was my first go.

i bought the orange paper to give some contrast to the red because i couldn't find a second shade of red or even pink. but i kind of like the orange with the red. what do you think? above is the red and orange and below is the all red. i do like the all red too. i cannot decide. i haven't worked out quite yet where the turquoise is going to come in. any suggestions appreciated.

here are a few more of the little vases. they are all about 2-3 inches high. not big at all. 17 pieces in all for 16 dollars. score!

"metal and milk glass" is the new "leather and lace"

okay, so if you know me, you know that the fun part of the whole wedding is on the forward end where i get to crawl through all of the local thrift shops for things i can use. the better the bargain, the happier i am! i've contemplated what i would do on the tables for centerpieces since i decided on paper flowers. what containers could i use? i wanted something that was inexpensive and reusable. since i will be throwing away or giving away the paper flowers, i wanted to reduce/reuse/recycle the containers. i've always loved milk glass and these days it is relatively inexpensive to get second-hand. the other thing that you can pick up for a good bargain is aluminum products. i've always had a thing for those aluminum juice glasses.

so the idea combo i came up with is "metal and milk glass" stuffed with paper flowers. the milk glass is a simple, understated and a blank canvas while the aluminum is shiny and will reflect light (and we all know how i feel about shiny things). so check out what i've managed to acquire so far:

5 pedestal bowls, 1 pedestal vase, 2 plates (28 dollars = av. 3.50 per piece)

11 aluminum cups (less than a dollar each!)

and an aluminum tray with roses (5 dollars).

so i brought them home and gave them a good clean and separated them into centerpieces and i got 5 centerpieces out of combining them. that is 8 dollars and 20 cents per centerpiece. if you add the paper flower supplies which will be about two dollars, you are looking at 10 dollars 20 cents a centerpiece. you would be hard pressed to find a florist willing to do a centerpiece for that!

new rule, new challenge = i will not buy another centerpiece item that is more than 3 dollars. the tray was 5 and the pedestal vase was 5 and i think that is just too much. if i want to add a few candles, i'll have to cut back on the container prices. my goal is 10 dollars a centerpiece. at 13 tables that is 130 dollars for flowers/decor.

so here is a picture of a possible centerpiece, you'll have to imagine the flowers (you know, if you put candles in these instead of flowers it would look just as great):

and now for the brilliance of all of this!!! i've achieved my reduce/reuse/recycle goal. i can keep or give away all of these items (i love these things in *real life so i would be very happy to keep them). or i can resell them on one of those wedding resale websites like Recycle Your Wedding or Bride to Bride Boutique.

*i'm not sure what i meant by "real life"