What Are Horse Brasses? {Check Out Lisa's Guest Post & Find Out!}

It's great to be hanging out with Carrie again!  We took a brief hiatus to deal with food allergies, a dead water heater, and a cranky car, it's nice to do something fun :)

Today's project centers around our collection of horse brasses.  Horse brasses, you say?  Never heard of them...

Horse brasses, as the name implies, are made of brass and were designed to adorn the tack of large-breed horses, much like the famous Budweiser Clydesdales.  Here's an example:

source

So what do you do when you're half-English and have a collection of horse brasses that you want to show off, and don't have a huge draught horse in the back-yard to put them on?

If you live in our house, you drag out a piece of left-over wood from another project and get creative.

First things first:  get your horse brasses and dust them off (because they've been sitting in the garage for a month waiting for you to put them up).  They will look bright and shiny when you're finished:

Next, lay them out on your board and figure out the spacing.  I wouldn't get all technical and pull out the yardstick and t-square.  Trust your judgement and go with what looks good to you.  Find some pretty ribbon to hang your brasses from.  Ours came from the clearance bin at Michael's for $1.

Once you're happy with your arrangement, slide the brasses off and flip the board over.  Get your staple gun (you do have a staple gun, right?) and staple the ribbon to the back of the board.  Keep a hammer handy, just in case you need to tap the staple in.

Easy peasy.

We found it easier to start at the center and work our way out.  Keep going until all of your brasses are attached, flipping over each time to check for placement and spacing.  

We hung our collection over the book-cases, attaching it with a couple of wood scraps so that it would stand out from the wall.

Ta da!  

Horse brasses can be found on eBay and in antique stores.  We can find them at some of our favorite haunts for $3 - $5 each, although some of the rare and collectible brasses can fetch considerably more.  

In case you're wondering, the brass forks are also English.  They're toasting forks, used to toast bread over the fire place.  

So there you have it - a quick lesson on English collectibles and an inexpensive decorating idea!  We're getting back into the swing of things over on our blog, so stop by and see what's happening.  Here's a hint - there's nothing like the threat of company to motivate you on a bathroom face-lift.

Thank you, Lisa for another fabulous guest post!  Now I am going be on the outlook for horse brasses when I visit thrift shops and yard sales- how about you? ;)
Make sure you visit Lisa over at her blog, Paintbrush and Screwdriver and say hello!

Let Me Pintroduce You Party #2

Good morning everyone!!  Jaime from Mom's Test Kitchen and I are so happy to have you here for our second ever Let Me Pintroduce You Party! :)
Last month we had 91 Pinterest accounts linked up!  Can we reach over 100 for the month of February??

<a href="http://www.momstestkitchen.com/p/let-me-pintroduce-you.html"> <img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIY91viXK6ANaRRK72ujM3f6hlPIUJ6mym6oKO-UwmJbmp-1PhHxP9jc1679e8bLiQNCGhGRV2YD1mv3ATrEo8plTLPEp3pl9aYxJq3iEN4MH5Iwn9t2QDty0W93Rhunv8G9a4wPfhsJ8/s1600/PINTRODUCE.png" border="0"/> </a>

Jaime and I originally brainstormed the idea for a Pinterest linky party when the two of us were emailing back and forth one day after discovering how much of our blog traffic was a direct result of some of our recipe posts being pinned and then repinned and repinned again on Pinterest.  We thought why not host a monthly Pinterest party? And thus, Let Me Pintroduce You was born! 

And I am happy to announce that starting March 1st I am offering a brand new ad spot to my sidebar that is ALL about the Pinterest love!  My brand new A Pin-t ad spot is a 250x175 ad that runs for 30 days and includes organic pins to my Pinterest boards and/or group boards I belong to with Twitter amplification.  This spot is perfect for the food blogger, the DIY blogger, the crafty blogger, not to mention small shop owners!  Pinterest has been the #1 driver of traffic to my blog for the past FOUR months.  And with over 3300 Pinterest followers and counting, you can be sure that your blog or shop is going to get tons of exposure with Frugal Foodie Mama.  Best thing about this ad spot? The price!  Just $6 for 30 days, but for the week of the Let Me Pintroduce You Party you can get it for just $5!  Just visit my Sponsor Page here, click to purchase the Pin-t ad spot, & use promo code pinning at check out to get your discount! :)  I will only be offering 6 of these spots each month, so go grab your's for March before they are all reserved! 

And now, let us pintroduce you to this month's special party co-hosts...

Say hello to Rosie from Craftbotic!  Rosie is not only crafty, but she also gives lots of awesome blogging tips on her blog.  (Psssttt... Rosie was also the winner of the first ever Spiked! Recipe Challenge with her Champagne & Blackberry Cheesecake.)

Our second co-host for this month's party is Lisa from Paintbrush & Screwdriver.  Lisa & her husband have been working on some major renovations on their home, and her blog is chock full of budget friendly remodeling ideas.  She also just may have guest posted on my blog this past week sharing her DIY Glass Tile Mosaic Tray Tutorial & giving away a $15 Starbucks gift card.  (There is still time to enter her giveaway, friends so click on over! :) )

So, how does the Let Me Pintroduce You Party work?  Easy!

• Please follow me (Frugal Foodie Mama) and Jaime (Mom's Test Kitchen), and this month's co-hosts Rosie (Rosie Quinn) and Lisa (Paintbrush & Screwdriver) on Pinterest.
• Try to follow at least two other Pinterest accounts that have linked up and maybe repin a few things that catch your eye while you are at. ;)
• Grab our button above and slap it on your sidebar or your party page on your blog.  Help us spread the word! 
• Be sure to link up your main Boards page of your Pinterest account only, not individual board pages or individual pins.
• Send out a tweet & let the Twitterverse know that we would like to Pintroduce them to everyone! (Just use that handy little Tweet button below. ;) )

Tweet

Say Hello to Paintbrush & Screwdriver! {DIY Glass Mosaic Tile Tray Tutorial & a Giveaway}

Good morning, all! I am so excited to be introducing you to my February Apple of My Eye sponsor (that would be my in-post ad, in case you are curious ;) ), Lisa from Paintbrush and Screwdriver!  By now you all know that I *try* to be crafty sometimes, but Lisa and her husband Joey have the whole crafty, DIY thing on lock.  I have been amazed with the incredible home renovation projects these two have tackled... on a budget! And today she wants to share with us all how she made this beautiful glass tile mosaic tray.  I think I just may attempt one of these for my kitchen when I finally decide on a color palette.  Oh, and don't forget to check out Lisa's giveaway below for a $15 Starbucks gift card! :)

Hi -  My name is Lisa, and I'm a DIY blogger!  My husband Joey and I have spent the last 5 years renovating our circa 1971 home.  We've pulled up ugly carpet and green vinyl flooring from the Mike & Carol Brady collection. We've painted (and re-painted) every room in our house at least once.  We've even added a wall of built-in bookcases.   It's been a never-ending parade of power tools since we bought our "forever" home, and we've enjoyed every minute of it.

The first room we tackled in our home makeover was the kitchen.  When we first viewed the house, the kitchen was in sad shape.  Dark cabinets, stained vinyl floors and sculpted shag carpet in the breakfast room (who does that?!) and sad, ugly laminate counter tops.  After painting the cabinets, we decided to use porcelain tile for the counter tops. 

I'll admit, tile can be intimidating, especially for a novice DIYer.  But at its most basic level, if you can spread butter and wipe a counter, you can use tile.  It really is that easy.  And a great way to get your feet wet is to use glass mosaic tile and dress up a tired old serving tray.

Prior to starting my project I lightly sanded my tray and primed it with Kilz primer, to cover a not-so-great attempt at painting the Union Jack.  Measure your tray and pick out your tile.  Most mosaic tile comes in 12 x 12 sheets.

No matter the size of your project, always do a quick dry-fit.  By doing so you'll ensure that you have enough tile, and in larger projects you can plan out your design before you apply adhesive instead of after (don't ask me how I know this).

Once you're happy with your design, it's time to get started.  For my tray I used a combination grout/adhesive in bright white and 1 1/4 sheets of mosaic tile.  The plastic mesh cuts easily with scissors or kitchen shears.

For flooring and counter tops I would definitely use a notched trowel to apply the adhesive, but for such a small area you can get away with a small plastic putty knife.  The fact that I couldn't find our notched trowel also influenced my decision.

Using your best butter-spreading technique, apply a thin, even layer of adhesive to the tray and carefully lay your tile sheet on top.  Press gently to secure the tiles and don't worry if some of the adhesive oozes up through the mesh.  Let the adhesive set up for 5-10 minutes, and then get a toothpick and remove any large clumps. 

Allow the adhesive to cure for several hours, or overnight if you have the patience. 

Now it's time to make a mess:  let's grout the tiles.  Spread an even layer over the tiles, paying special attention to get into the gaps between the tiles.  Again, if this were a larger project I would recommend using a float, but I did fine with my putty knife.

  

Using the putty knife, remove as much excess grout from the surface as possible.  The rest of the grout will be wiped away with a damp sponge.  A word of caution:  do NOT rinse your sponge in the sink.  Get a bucket and fill it halfway with warm water.  Rinse your sponge frequently, wringing well. Change the water a few times if needed.

This is what you don't want to leave in your drain:

  

After the excess grout has been removed, let the tray sit for an hour or so.  Then wipe down the tile with a damp sponge to remove any haze from the grout.

And...voila!  A glass mosaic tray...perfect for breakfast in bed or bringing something delicious to the table.

I'd like to thank Carrie for the opportunity to share my tray with you.  I hope you flex your DIY muscles and give this a try.  These make a lovely, practical gift, and it's a project that's easy on the budget.  Mosaic tiles generally run between $5-10 per sheet and the adhesive/grout was $9.

We invite you to stop by our blog and check out our other projects.  We always have a project in mind or in the works, and we'd love to share them with you!

Lisa & Joey

*This giveaway is open internationally.  All entries for the winner will be checked and verified, so please make sure you are doing what you are claiming in the Rafflecopter or all your entries will be voided.  No funny business, folks. ;)  Please see the Rafflecopter widget below for additional Terms & Conditions.  Good luck, all! 

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