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 ˙pǝʇɐʌɐɹbbɐ ǝq oʇ puǝʇǝɹd oʇ ǝʞıן ʎǝɥʇ ɥbnoɥʇןɐ 'ʇı ǝʌoן ʎǝɥʇ ˙ʇxǝʇ dıןɟ buısn sʇuǝpnʇs ʎɯ oʇ buıɥʇǝɯos ʇuǝsǝɹd ı ɹɐǝʎ ʎɹǝʌǝ ˙ʎɐp sןooɟ ןıɹdɐ ʎddɐɥ

Don't worry. I won''t write the entire post that way. But there are fun things you can do on this April Fool's Day with text! When I was writing the questions for my students, it occurred to me that a post about my letterpress table would be a good one for today. After all, the words on it are all written backwards. 

If you have read my blog before, perhaps you have seen this table. It started out a little forlorn. I had been looking for a good table with a lip around the edge. I knew that I wanted to make a letterpress table and the lip would help keep the blocks in order. 

These are the letterpress blocks. They come in all shapes and sizes and fonts. Just like our many fonts today, there are also many sizes and fonts for letterpress blocks. The different colors on the block are from the ink that has been rolled over them. A lot of times, the red is there to stay (which is fine with me!). To clean these blocks, the printers (back in the day) had a little jug filled with gasoline. It had a mesh circle on top that would press down and a small amount of gasoline would come up through the mesh. The printer would soak his rag with the gasoline and use it on the blocks to keep them clean and gunk free. 

 My family has been in the newspaper and publishing business for almost a hundred years. (There IS a difference between newspapers and publishing by the way.) As a young girl I would see these letterpress blocks used all the time. I began collecting them at antique shows, long before Ebay. Then I collected them off Ebay. I used them for decorating fun, but I was just waiting on the perfect table. Finally, I had it and I poured out my bag(s) of letters one night and had fun. If you will notice, the letters are backwards. They are supposed to be. The word is laid out, the ink rolled on, the paper (or other) set on top and the weight rolled over the paper. Then when you pick up the print, your words are correct. Get it?  

You know the old idiom, "Mind your p's and q's"? Well now you understand what they meant. When building your words or lines, it is easy to naturally put the letter down as we know and see it. (I am the WORST at that!) Therefore the p's and q's could not be mixed!

 As you can see in the pictures, I set up names, places and things that are special to our family. I also put in special numbers. I laid them out and sat them on the table then gathered the extra letterpress blocks around them. There is TAYLOR3 (her birthday day) above. 

 Tim & Lori (above). Yes, I interchanged the fonts frequently. I had to because of the blocks I had. Plus it just makes it more fun. 

 Kelly.

 The SON from Ferguson. Sooners and Wucas. (Well I did Wucas for two reasons: 1. I was out of L's. 2. When my youngest son was little, he said his L's and W's. Therefore that made him Wuke Wucas. :)  Since I had the other letters for Lucas, I figured why not make it Wucas? 

 Yes, I even included our beloved pets. Howie. (We've got them ALL on the table!) 

I flipped the picture, so the words/letters were facing the camera. The arrows are just a sampling of the words and dates that are on there. I did not "arrow" them all. See what you can pick out! (Don't forget...dog is really God!!)

The same picture without the arrows. See how seamlessly the words and dates all blend together?  It's a great puzzle and conversation piece! 

 Notice the really big blocks, like the L and 1?  Aren't the fractions fun? 

 I also have every single type of punctuation in the big size. An ode to the English teacher in me! This could be a comma or an apostrophe, depending on how it was used. Notice I did not put all the filler letters and numbers in the same direction either. I just filled to fill! 

In this picture (in the lower left corner) and the big block in the middle, are advertising blocks. I have lots of old advertising blocks as well. Many of the advertising blocks are brass and can be shined up beautifully.

Believe it or not, I need to start another table. Since I did this one, we had two grandbabies, Leightyn and Behr. One of my sons is engaged as well, so we need to add Tiffani. I thought it would be fun to begin another table, instead of trying to redo the original. I have already begun to store up more letters, numbers and advertising. If you plan on collecting them, be aware, the letterpress blocks are on wood. There are some metal pieces as well, but those were used in linotype machines. I have a few of those as well, but they are the tiny filler pieces.  

Now you know everything you ever (or never!!) wanted to know about letterpress blocks and why the letters are always backwards. Don't you agree it was a great April Fools Day lesson? 

Here is the ugly little table that I got for $10 (along with another one).  

Here it is after I cleaned it up, painted it and made a cute little chalkboard table out of it. It would have been great to keep it just like that. 

But I had all these blocks that needed a permanent home.....

I added some very small casters. Mainly for the effect! 

And I ended up with the table where all the words are backwards! Now you know why! Have a great April Fools Day.  Or as I told my students.....¡ʎɐp sןooɟ ןıɹdɐ ʇɐǝɹb ɐ ǝʌɐɥ

Linking with:
Metamorphosis Monday
Wow Us Wednesday
The Scoop
Furniture Feature Friday

Chalking It Up...to a good time!

 You can "chalk this up" to another post of "latergrams". (Did you see where I explained that here?) But it was too cute not to post. 

 My nephew got married right before Thanksgiving. The ladies of our home town church threw a shower for him before the big day. There was all kinds of good food and lots of cute decorations. Since I did not ask the ladies if I could post their pictures, I have tried to not show their faces. I've tried to make the focus on the cute decorations and ideas the ladies carried out for the shower. The invitations looked like a chalkboard and then this folding chalkboard greeted us at the door to the church. 

 Then at every food station there were small chalkboards to tell the guests what was being served. Each chalkboard had a bejeweled burlap bow. 

 Several kinds of tea were served, with each being marked appropriately. 

 If you were a coffee drinker, there was a great coffee bar as well. 

 There was a huge abundance of food. It was easy to find something great to eat. 

 Instead of the customary shower cake, the ladies had a cheesecake bar. They served a plain cheesecake and there were many, many toppings to choose from. It was delicious! As the cheesecake emptied  on the cake platter, the ladies would replace it with a fresh cake. They had everything planned out. 

 Speaking of cheesecakes, what about this cheesecake?  It was a Mexican Cheesecake that was wonderful. Just the right amount of spicy. Come back tomorrow and I will share the recipe. This cheesecake was huge and fed a large crowd. It would be perfect for Super Bowl Sunday. 

 All the round tables (where the guests ate) were covered with a white table cloth and then topped with burlap. Each table held another chalkboard with verses from the Bible about love. Beside each chalkboard was also a jar (vase) with a single flower and a burlap and jewel wrap. 

The shower was full of great ideas that could be used in many types of entertaining. The best part is that the chalkboards and flowers can either be given out as favors, or saved and used again for another party. That's my kind of decorating! 

Linked with:

Metamorphosis Monday
Wow Us Wednesday
The Scoop

Auld Lang Syne in Silver and Gold

 Let's pretend: You want to throw a  New Years party but you spent way too much at Christmas so you have no decorations for a New Years tablescape. I've come to your rescue. Before you load up all that Christmas/holiday stuff back into the plastic bins, take a look at what you have.  

 You are bound to find a few treasures in that trove! Let's pretend again that you found a few but you need some additional help. Once again, I've come to your rescue. 

 Every single item on this (faux) glam tablescape was bought at rock-bottom prices except for the big clock platter in the middle. That was gifted to me several years ago by my oldest son and his wife. I have used it in many tablescapes and mantelscapes since receiving it. 

 Let me give you the low-down on recreating this table at a very low price so you too can throw your own dinner party. 

 I numbered some of the key elements in this tablescape and I will share with you how to recreate your own. 

Number 1 are the three tiered cake stands. My mom bought me the set of three cakestands (complete with glass domes which I took off for the tablescape) for $2 each at a garage sale one of her friends was throwing. I use them in many ways besides holding food. This is one way. I know that places like Wal Mart and Target sell these sets frequently during the holidays for a pretty good deal. If you can't find them you can recreate the idea of a glass candlestick and glass plate from the dollar store. Buy your candlesticks at different heights for added drama. (Be sure and glue them together with E6000 glue!!) 

 Once you have your glass tiers (or cakestands) fill them up with silver, gold, white or pearlized ornaments from Christmas. That's why I said you might find many treasures in your Christmas trove!!

 As you can see, I spent $1.24 on each box of ornaments. I think there were 20 ornaments in each box. They come in various finishes (glitter, shiny, matte) so when all clumped together they look great. And honestly, they don't look like $1.24 (x2).  But of course I am so proud of my bargain that I have to share. There are all kinds and colors of these ornaments left on shelves right now just waiting to be purchased!

 See how they look with candlelight? (Sigh)

 Here you can see some of the various colors and textures that are thrown together. 

 Next I used a (well used...and I should probably spring for a new one) party hat. As long as it doesn't have the year, you can use it from year to year. I just layered it on top of the giant clock plate for the center of the table. I added a few ornament balls around it as well. 

 Those hats can also be bought for a dollar (or under). It would be cute to have some of those party blow horns too, but I didn't have any, so I only went with what I had. Feel free to add those freely across the table. (Or at least at every place setting). 

 I had a Happy New Years "necklace" in silver too, so I strung it across the cakestands. I used several of these in the cakestands. 

 The fourth arrow in the pic (several above) points to the crystal wreath that the clock plate sits on. In reality it too is a Christmas wreath. Since it is faux crystal, I thought it lent it self well to the table. After I put it in the middle of the table, I put a glass cakestand in the middle of the wreath for the clock plate to sit evenly on. If you look closely you can see that. Again,  you can improvise here. If you don't happen to have a crystal wreath, you could take a green wreath left over from Christmas and spray paint it whatever color you want. Or you could use fake snow on it and make it all white. Or one of those wreaths made from the ornaments would work out great too. (Buy more ornaments and make a centerpiece wreath!) 

 This wreath tends to shed "crystals" so I there have been many Christmases I never even get it out. It works out great for the tablescape though! You always have to be thinking outside of the norm!!!

 The fifth arrows point to a curly-cue clipped to the head of every plate. I bought these in the Christmas tree ornament section at Wal-Mart after Christmas for 25 cents each. I thought they would be cute as napkin rings. In this case I put my napkins in the glasses, so I just clipped these on to the top of the chargers for extra sparkle and pizazz. I could have actually used them for name tags for the place settings.

 Go out now and look for those after Christmas ornament bargains! When I saw the little clip on these I knew they could be used for many tablescapes! I have these stored with my napkin rings by the way. They have never seen a tree branch!!

 The napkins I picked up for cents (again after Christmas) when I lived in Kansas, so I have had these for a while. I thought the silver circles went well with the whole tablescape theme of the circular clock, the round cakestands, the round ornaments, the round votive holders, plates, etc. I doubt anyone else picks up on the idea, but it makes me happy to think of this concentric table. I know there is that cute burlap with gold circles fabric that would be cute in this tablescape to recreate. 

 The chargers were under 50 cents at Wal Mart. Also after Christmas. 

 I used various white plates throughout the tablescape as well. Some had a silver rim and some were just old ironstone. It all works. 

 In the arrow picture, I put an arrow on the votive candle, but I forgot to number it. I picked up these white votives at Tuesday morning several years ago. They have a gold glittery inside, so that when they are lit, they shine a bright gold. Again, something that could be replicated easily. (Be safe if you are using real candles.) 

 In addition to all the above hoopla, I added all sizes and kinds of crystal and very faux crystal candle holders. I sat some on the cakestands and the others around the table. I used silver, gold and white candles in the candlesticks. The tablecloth I used was a creamy colored one with silver threads that run through it. You guessed it, bought at an after Christmas sale at Target. 

 I chose to put the napkins in the glasses for added height at the table. They could easily be tucked under the silverware or on the plate as well. To each her own! 

 I hope I have inspired you to either look through the things you have and/or to hit those after-Christmas sales! 

 I took pictures both at night and during the day and the table looked equally as pretty in both settings. That is just what I was looking for! 

Here's to a brand new year, 2014, however you choose to celebrate it!

Linking with: 

Tablescape Thursday
Metamorphosis Monday
Wow Us Wednesday