Beer Caps and Bottle Tops—A Sunday Favorite

I have a confession to make.  I have an ulterior motive in what I am reposting for this week’s Sunday Favorites, hosted by Chari at Happy to Design.

It is one of my favorite posts, and got 30 legitimate comments when I first ran it on March 3, 2009.  But it is also the post that is most often hit on by spammers promoting everything from Viagra to male enhancement drugs.

A few months ago, I started moderating my blog so that I could reject their nastiness before it got posted.  But I’m so afraid I’ll accidentally hit “publish” instead of “reject” that I’m trying a different approach.  By republishing it here, under a new title, and deleting the original (which I’ve never done before), I can hopefully preserve the post and foil the spammers.

Besides, any dad would love one of these for Father’s Day!

Several people have asked me to "show and tell" about my magnetic memo board, so today seemed like a good day. First, the idea idea was not original, but the best ideas are often the ones you "borrow."

 

I was with some friends at an inspiration home in town, sort of like a decorator showhouse but on a smaller scale. In the kitchen over the desk was this wonderful magnetic memo board that incorporated old bottle caps on the frame. Almost everything in the house was for sale, but when we looked at the price of $350 for the memo board, we decided we could make one ourselves. All we had to do was find a suitable frame, obtain some old bottle caps and purchase galvanized metal.

 

Frames for our first efforts came from Olde Time Pottery, a warehouse type store that sells everything from dishes and glassware to artificial flowers and framed "art." We didn't need the art, but we did need the frames, and finding the right kind of frame is not as easy as you might think. You need a frame that has a flat place on it that is wide enough for the bottle caps to fit.

 

EBay proved to be a great source for bottle caps. You can buy both beer and soft drink caps in all sorts of quantities, but I don't mix beer and soft drink caps on my boards, since they are not exactly the same size. I also like for each cap on the board to be different, so when I'm making a purchase on eBay, I study the picture carefully to make sure the lot contains a good variety of caps. When I'm doing a frame with soft drink caps, I always like to incorporate a Grapette cap if I have one, since Grapette was invented in my hometown.

 

The galvanized metal can be purchased from Home Depot in rolls large enough for several memo boards. Fortunately Glenda's husband is very handy with tools, so he always gets the job of removing the glass from the frames and cutting and installing the metal. Then he usually puts the glass back in the frame behind the metal to give it some support.

 

Since the backs of the bottle caps are hollow, we decided that we would need to glue something into the back of each cap before gluing it to the frame. We found the perfect thing when we discovered packages of small wooden hearts at Michael's. The heart shape wasn't important, but the size was just right. It's important to imbed the heart in plenty of hot glue (what did we use before glue guns) so that it doesn't turn loose from the bottle cap. Once that's done, you then glue the caps to the frame.

 

You can use any kind of magnet, but I always like to make magnets out of bottle caps by gluing a small round magnet into the back. You can also purchase these at Michael's or any craft store. Michael's also sells a frame that looks like old weathered wood. It's perfect for the memo boards as you can see on this one that I made for my sister-in-law Susie.

 

The Change of Life

LBeau went to the license office today to renew his driver’s license.  After taking his photo and typing in all of the vital information—address, weight, hair and eye color—the lady gave him a copy to look over to make sure all of the information was correct.

“You’ve got my hair color as white,” LBeau exclaimed.  “My old license had it as brown.”

“It pretty much looks white to me,” she replied.

I’m just glad she recognized that he still has some hair.

Anyway, it reminded me of my trip to the license office last October to renew my own license.  I decided that it was about time to correct the hair color on my license.  For four years, my license said I had brown hair, and I’ve always thought of myself as a blonde.

So when the lady handed me my information to check for errors, I politely  said, “Don’t you think we need to fix my hair color?  It’s not really brown.”

Looking at me, she agreed.  So she changed it—to gray!!

Sometimes it’s best to leave well enough alone.

LBeau and Lucy (it doesn’t look white to me)

The Mimosa Tree

Every year about this time in ditches along roadways all over the South, the mimosa tree dons its fuzzy pink dress to put on quite a show.

A native of China, the mimosa tree is considered by some to be a pest.  It seems to reproduce quite readily, and when the flowers begin to fade and drop, they can create a real mess.  However, I have a soft spot in my heart for the mimosa tree, a fondness which dates back to childhood.

My grandparents, Grancy and Poosie, had a large mimosa tree in their front yard, right in the corner between the driveway and the sidewalk.  When it became large enough for us kids to climb on, it also became a gathering place for important family events.

Each summer my Kisamore cousins would drive to Arkansas from Baltimore for a lengthy visit.  As the time drew near for their arrival, the Arkansas cousins would gather in the mimosa tree, craning our necks and concentrating on Highway 24 to see who could be the first to spot their car.  This was long before the first cell phone, so the wait was often several hours.

On other occasions, we watched impatiently for Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe to return from the state adoption agency in Little Rock with the newest cousin that would be added to our family.  Aunt Mary now lives in Grancy's and Poosie's house, but the mimosa tree is long gone.  I'm not sure whether it died or simply got too large and was cut down, but nevertheless each year when the mimosas begin their show of pink, I think back to those childhood days, and I smile.

Please join Beverly at How Sweet the Sound, as once again we celebrate Pink Saturday.

Digital Scrapping—An App for That

If you're hooked on digital scrapbooking or just want a way to "fancy up" your iPhone photos, you'll be happy to know that eScrap has an app for that. With build in templates and packaged themes, eScrap is available for $1.99 at the App Store.

I downloaded it about a week ago. Although I haven't a chance to play around with the different papers, embellishments and other tools, I have created a few pages with the built in templates. Since it's Pink Saturday around here, naturally I was drawn to pictures of my two favorite Pink Ladies.

Lauren

Lucy

Once you've created your page, you can share it on Facebook or Twitter, save it to your photo library where you can use is as your iPhone background, or email it to anyone you'd like.

Happy scrapbooking, and Happy Birthday, especially to Beverly, who celebrates the second birthday of Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.

Consider the Lilies—Part II

Thanks once again to Cheri for hosting Sunday Favorites where we get to share a favorite post from the past.  Since it's almost time for the Cahaba Lily Festival, I thought I'd repost something I did last year about this same time along with a follow up. When you're finished here, be sure to head over to Happy to Design to read other Sunday Favorites.

So many of you had questions about the pictures of the Cahaba lily that I posted for last week’s Wordless Wednesday that I decided a follow up with words is in order.

Hymenocallis coronaria is the proper name for the plant that is commonly known as the Cahaba lily. The name comes from the Cahaba River, the longest free-flowing river in Alabama.

In the Cahaba and Little Cahaba Rivers, the seeds from the Cahaba lily nestle in the crevices of the rocky shoals where they grow and bloom from mid-May to mid-June. In Georgia and South Carolina, the lilies are often referred to as the Shoal lily.

The Cahaba Lily Festival is celebrated each year in West Blocton, Alabama, on the last Saturday in May, which will be May 30th this year. My friend Becky and I dragged our husbands to the festival one year, where I took the pictures that I posted on Wordless Wednesday and that are posted here.

To get up close and personal with the lilies, we had to wade into the river. Here's Becky wading out to a stand of lilies. Be advised that the river bed is not only rocky but also covered in lots of little snails, so a good pair of water shoes or old tennis shoes is a must.

The three-inch wide white flowers have six long, narrow parts that surround the corona. They have been mistaken for the Swamp lily, which likes moist or boggy soil in a forest setting.

The flowers begin to open late in the day and then begin to wither in the heat of the following day. Although many botanist consider the lily to be endangered, it is not protected by the state or federal governments. Admirers are strongly discouraged from poaching the lily as this will further endanger it, and it will not live outside its native shoals environment.

If you’d like to read more about the Cahaba lily, please visit the website by clicking HERE.

And now for Part II.

A few weeks ago, I bought my first digital SLR camera, a Canon EOS Rebel T1i.  Wanting to learn as much as I could about all of its modes and functions and particularly how to operate it in manual mode, I signed up for a four-week photography class at Birmingham School of Photography.

This week we had our first shooting assignment, and I spent all week anticipating it.  LBeau and I would pack a picnic lunch, head down to West Blocton, and I would once again get up close and personal with the beautiful white lilies.  I awoke to blue skies on Saturday morning, and shortly afterward I received a text message from my friend Karen, whose husband owns a grocery in West Blocton.  "The lilies are blooming."

Shortly after turning off of Bibb County Highway 24 at the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge, we got our first glimpse of the river.  It was not a pretty sight.  Swollen from recent rains, the river was swift and muddy.  I wouldn't be needing that extra pair of tennis shoes and socks, because I wouldn't be getting into the river on this day.  Oh well, I'd just have to take my photos from the bank.

Arriving at the site of the first stand of lilies about a mile down the road, it was apparent that wouldn't be happening either.  See these poor lilies struggling to keep their heads above water.  This is one of about three clumps of plants we could see.  The rest were obviously under water.

I still needed some pictures from my Tuesday night class.  How about this abandoned car seat?

Or maybe this pile of trash that some inconsiderate hikers had left beside an old tree.

I did find a couple of fishermen enjoying the beautiful spring weather.  I'm not sure how well the fish were biting, however.  That blue dot floating down the river appeared to be a nice cooler that some canoeist must have lost when he/she overturned in the river.

Speaking of canoeists, these girls were working on their tans while navigating the river currents.

On the way back to the car, I climbed the side of a hill to get this picture of some moss covered boulders and oak leaf hydrangeas.  I was rewarded with a tick.

Let's just hope the weather cooperates this week and the river subsides for next weekend's Cahaba Lily Festival.  I won't be able to make it, so I guess I'll be waiting another year to get up close again with the lilies.

Pretty in Pink

Lucy went to her very first baseball game last weekend wearing this pink hat that LBeau and I bought her at the Razorback store.

Although it's still a little big, it did the trick, keeping the sun off those precious pink cheeks.

Don't tell Lauren that she's getting one too. It's a surprise!

For more Pink Saturday posts, be sure to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

The Thunder Pot

My mother gave me this beautiful old chamber pot when I visited her last week. It belonged to her grandmother, Grandmother Belin, who lived in Warren, Arkansas.

"Grandmother Belin always called it the thunder pot," Mother said.

A little research told me that "thunder pot" was a common term for a chamber pot. When a home lacked indoor plumbing, the "thunder pot" was placed under the bed and used at night as a urinal.

I love the pink roses that decorate both sides of the chamber pot.

This mark on the bottom indicates that it was made by Revere China in Akron, Ohio. Since Revere China closed in 1908, my chamber pot is more than 100 years old.

So far I haven't been able to find any more information on Revere China chamber pots, so I have no idea how much it might be worth. I am assuming these were fairly common, although I did read about some chamber pots that were used in Britain during World War II that had pictures of the Kaiser on the inside. The are said to be highly collectible.

I've found the perfect place to display it on the dresser in my "girlie" room. The pictures are of my grandparents, Grancy and Poosie. Grandmother Belin was Grancy's mother.

For more lovely things in pink, be sure to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. And while you're browsing around, take time to leave a comment. Bloggers appreciate knowing you stopped by.