Full of Spirit & Laugh Over Dinner with an Old Friend

So Linda asked 'Ellya, when are you going to cook dinner for me ?' when we took her to P F Chang for dinner first time we met after she moved to Miami from New York then recently  moved to Boca Raton,  near by us 'Delray' Florida. I said, 'you can come tomorrow plus you have not seen our place yet !'

The next day I cooked dinner for her and us as promised. She was very kind and brought me  gifts; a silver mortar and bouquet of sage {which I forget to take picture of}. She suggested that I must use the sage to bless the house and I should also bless the home in New York to give positive energy to help selling the house. I laughed and said isn't sage is being used to clear a house from ghosts ? But I totally get what she meant and the next morning I walked around the house with a burning sage saying happy prayers for us and for the home.

We were having so much fun over dinner. Linda is becoming very spiritual, free spirit, happy, and we clearly see that she is very exciting about her new venture owning a vintage clothing boutique in an affluent down town Boca Raton, Florida. She also into living healthy and told us the reason she is loosing weight is that she does master cleanse every 6 months for 10 days. Master cleanse is a body cleanse to achieve physical health, mental clarity and to lose weight and get rid of body toxins  by only drinking lemonade. Yes, only drinking lemonade for straight 10 days. I was totally sold on what she said and I want to try it out myself. So I search in the internet and found here. So if you want to loose weight fast; and like Linda which I was impressed by her look, you can follow this diet. After all, I like the idea to cleanse my body from toxins every 6 months or so.

At some point of our conversation,  we took turn and telling each other on what we will be doing if we were a US President. And of course this is rather silly conversation as to no one was really knew what they talked about; certainly not me ! And then we talked about the Illuminati Society and so on. {Oh my, what the heck is that ! I only knew it from the movie 'Angels and Demons'} A part from having a car accident that day; Linda looked very happy. She told us that someone ran through the  front part of her car andripped the entire vendor off which later she showed us the vendor sat on her back sit car. When this happened she took a deep breathe and try not to get up set, she told us as a part of her supposedly try living with a positive mind set without getting emotional too quickly. 
So yes, it was nice to see Linda again, very up lifting and very positive toward her new venture and life.

I wish her a happy and successful endeavor in what she is doing. I really do !

As I mentioned earlier that I always look for a new project while visiting Delray. So I went to Goodwill {love kitchen stuff, picture frames in this thrift store ! Most of them are junk anyways but the most fun part is when you found things that are really beautiful and useful for projects for  very little money.} I got these lovely wine goblets for 90 cents each  that  I wanted to create a group  of dining table center  out of. I bought the votive candle  for USD 2.00 for 6 and various glass candle holders for USD 1.50 each from Target.

Do you see the sage she gave me ? I brought it back to New York and blessed our home hoping to have better energy and yes, to finally sells !

When Linda left  my husband 'Steven' immediately said,

"Thank you for delicious dinner !"

I smiled and felt  happy that I created a small lovely moment to spend  together over a nice simple meal  in our home. {Not very often, but I truly enjoyed it}

I should punish myself for not taking pictures of the entire meal course including hors d'oeuvres and desert. I can only imagine with those pictures it will enhance the collage above and the overall ambiance of our dining experience that night. Oh well, I just have to have my camera stays close next to me for next time.

Thank you so much for reading !

Pretty Vintage Tinted Blue Bottles + Gold Motifs (DIY)

We seem to can never get enough with these tinted jars. I too did an experiment  tinting a few vintage small bottles I happened to have and bought at a flea market  from my medical trip in New Hampshire (last seen here) few months a go.

I found the easiest tutorial from It's Overflowing by only using three ingredients. But I fell in love with the tinted bottles painted with intricate and delicate gold motifs on the outer side of the bottles. So I painted the motifs hands free on the two bottles only.

Since this is my first trial; I tried on a few small bottles. They  came out with different results. I noticed it would be best to try on a small clean dry on the inside of bottles/jars. Mine were dirty and I did not clean them first. So it made lots of 'streaks' {the drip of liquid that does not cover evenly} Still I think they are quite lovely !

What you need for all of these 5 small bottles;

* 3 tbsp of water

* 1/2 cup of Modge Podge

* A drop or two of you favorite food coloring mine is Gel Spectrum {Aqua, Sky Blue and Royal Blue} I was experimenting with different blue green colors. So for the first bottle I used Aqua color, then I added 2 or 3 drops Sky Blue then I poured on the second bottle. Next I added Royal Blue then poured in to the 3rd bottle and so on.

1. Microwave water for 30 second. 2. Add Modge Podge. 3. Add the food coloring. First I used Aqua. Mix real well. 3. Pour in to the bottles and cover the whole jar and turn the jar upside down and let it stand on the alumunium foil for about 5 minutes. 4. Next bake the bottle in the oven with 170 deg. C for about 20 minutes. 

 There is complete tutorial also here at It's Overflowing

How to paint motifs on the bottle.

I am using Martha Stewart Glass Paint Metalic. I am so used to paint with brush so I used small artist brush painting these motifs first then I realized that the bottle has a very narrow tip that you suppose to paint from the tip directly. That is why my motifs are not perfect. And no wonder when using brush the paint did not stay very well but when used directly from the bottle it is more subtle and opaque in color and the line more prominent. I will do more of this painting with different tinting color bottles.

My tips when painting this motifs on glass bottle are;

1. Clean the surface of the bottle very well. Used alcohol and let it dry especially vintage bottles. Vintage bottle has lots of debris stuck on the surface of bottles and on the inside as well.

2. Hold the bottle firmly and horizontally so the paint wont drip

3. When create a pattern try to combine lines, curve and do not fill the entire surface of bottles. Leave a space that are free from motifs.

Well, it is entirely up to you ! Just have fun ! You can clean off the paint if you make mistakes and start all over again.

I really love these blue green bottles ! They are fun and pretty either just for a display or as center piece for dinner party. I will definitely make more of these tinted color bottles and paint them extra careful this time !

Good luck Everyone & Thank you for stopping by !