Sunday, December 14, 2014

I saw something like this online a couple of weeks ago and saved the image because I thought I could make it for our back door. I dug out some very tarnished silver from my closet as a starting point. The silver plate wasn’t as round or as large as it should have been but I thought it would work; I had a silver cup I could use although the photo I saw used two cups. The cup I was using had some sort of inscription on it but it was too tarnished to read.

I started by trying to clean the silver using a DIY method. I know at some point in my life I had silver polish but a quick look without any success led me to believe it might not have made the move with me. I honestly don’t remember the last time I polished any silver. The baking soda paste I made took a bit of the tarnish off, but it was far from shiny. Before I could go any further I had to go to Walmart to get the real stuff. I think the two pieces may be beyond being completely clean but at least they are a bit shiny now.

Next problem were the boughs. We don’t have any pine trees in the yard or even in our neighbour’s yards. Fortunately the last couple of wind storms blew some branches in from somewhere and there was a large branch resting on our boulevard. I only needed a small part of the branch but I’ve kept the rest; I’ve got another decorating idea that I might need it for. I tied everything together with some Christmas ribbon. Although it isn’t exactly as in the photo, I’m pleased with it.

If you look closely you can see the inscription on the cup (even though there is a spelling error)!