Your Trash is My Treasure: A Unique Hostess Gift

Some sweet friends of ours host an annual Kentucky Derby viewing party complete with great food, auction-style bidding and, of course, mint julips. They do such a nice job hosting all of us in their home that I wanted to give them a thoughtful hostess gift. I recently saw a set of adorable antique, hard-backed placemats on *Buckhead Exchange. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them but, I was sure I could figure something out. Once I picked them up,  it became apparent that I should just use one & make it a welcome sign, of sorts. I then reached out to a lovely & talented young lady in my office to do the lettering, (my handwriting will put most doctors to shame). We came up with the best wording & sampled various paints on one of the mats that I wasn't going to use. Paint pens were the clear winner so I ordered a pack of 5 colors from Amazon.

The set of placemats

Testing various paint options

Testing various font styles

Before:

After: Take a look at the finished product. How cute is this? 

My tip for you is to always be on the lookout for a great find and, more importantly, designate a gift drawer somewhere in your house to store all of your great gifts that you aren't quite sure what to do with just yet.

P.S. My horse "I'll Have Another" won the Derby last year. Wish me luck this year!

*Buckhead Exchange: I am sure that many of your cities have a localized Craigslist, (I have seen several on Facebook). The one I belong to is called Buckhead Exchange. The beauty of these trading sites is that you know that when you purchase an item, you won't have to drive very far to pick it up. Also, someone buying from you is likely one of your neighbors since they only allow people in your neighborhood to join. For me, this mostly removes the safety concern of using something similar like Craigslist, which I never use.