Lidless Tea Pot Vase

Charming teapot flower vase gift from a neighbor. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Lidless Tea Pot Vases

If you like to go antiquing, you’ve probably seen interesting lidless tea pots and passed them right by. I, on the other hand, have collected them over the years and used them as flower vases for personalized gifts. They are charming vessels for flowers, can add a bit of whimsy to the gift and can be personalized to the person getting the flowers.

So it was with great surprise and delight that I received a charming lidless tea pot with flowers from a neighbor last week.

Did you see the bees on the side?

Hand painted bees keep the flowers company. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

The flowers happened to be some of my favorites. Ox-eye Daisies and Fleabane add the white flowers. Bellflowers are the lovely purple flowers, these a gift from the neighbor’s friend’s garden.

Bellflowers add a lovely purple accent. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

It’s a good thing I’ve given away a number of lidless tea pots as flower vases over the years. Now I have room to add this one to my favorites!

Charlotte

Glass Basket Gifts

Glass baskets make pretty and versatile personalized gifts. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Glass Basket Gifts

Two friends who visited me earlier this year said they have been inspired to give glass baskets for Christmas this year.

Baskets have been a popular holiday gift for years, from fruit baskets to specialty hobby baskets. They’ve also been featured as a handmade quilt pattern like this vintage patchwork baskets quilt but glass baskets are different. They are not only small and pretty but quite versatile. Here are some ideas on how to make glass baskets into personalized gifts.

Besides looking at thrift and antique stores, several online retailers offer a range of glass baskets averaging $15-$25 each.

Collectible glass baskets may cost a little more depending on the manufacturer. You may find glass baskets for less at thrift stores like this footed glass basket I found for $4.

Basic glass baskets can be found at thrift stores and online suppliers. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once you have the glass baskets, consider what the gift recipient would like in it. The simplest personalized gift is to fill the glass basket with a favorite chocolate.

Add favorite chocolates to quickly personalized a glass basket. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Another personalized option is to add a treat, in this case items for making tea: tea bags, a tea infuser and a 3 oz. jar of local honey. A nice teaspoon would be a fun addition.

For coffee lovers, try coffee sample packs and a wrapped cookie for dunking.

This is a glass basket for a tea lover including tea bags, an infuser and honey. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Last but not least, these glass baskets are perfect for adding fresh flowers. You can get bouquets at most grocery stores and flower shops. It doesn’t take much to make these glass baskets look full, this is one geranium sprig from a geranium plant wintering over, and still blooming, inside.

This, by the way, is a Fenton Glass basket, which would qualify as a collectible. There are Carnival Glass baskets and other collectible manufacturers that made some of these shapes.

A sprig of homegrown red geraniums fills this collectible glass basket. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If you are giving this to someone who lives close by, include a card that says you will bring them fresh flowers to fill it next spring.

As someone who lives with baskets - my cats love them for naps and I use them for storage - I also keep these glass baskets with fresh flowers on my desk year around. I can attest to how enjoyable they are to have around!

Charlotte

Glass Glass Charms

Glass cat charms keep some of my cups easy to find again. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Glass Glass Charms

You probably have seen them at local craft shows and hobby stores; that’s where I found some of mine over the years. Charms, and in particular glass animal charms, make charming coffee cup and wine glass jewelry to help identify which one is yours. Those are also called glass charms, as in charms for a glass.

Attached to expandable rings, glass glass charms can easily be attached so that the person who first picked up the glass can get back to it later.

When several people get together to share - whether it’s coffee or a meal, it’s easy to misplace a cup or wine glass. Or better yet, confuse one’s cup for someone else’s drinking vessel.

These glass glass charms solve that by temporarily identifying the cup or glass and cutting down on reaching for a second or third.

One of my favorite little collections is this one of glass cats. The little blue cat is clearly ready to get on the job.

A blue glass cat charm is among a set of charms I use on coffee cups. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

To make your own, you can find the expandable rings at your local hobby shop in the jewelry section.. If you want to embellish them, you can add beads threaded through the rings. Nice project for little hands to work those beads through the hoops.

Some of my glass charms with beads on the expandable rings. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

This ladybug glass charm was picked up to join my glass charm collection. I am short of the rings so she’s spending her time now hanging from a flower vase keeping flowers company. As soon as I pick up more rings, she will begin her job of keeping my cup identified.

Or maybe not, I like seeing her on the bottom of the flower bouquet from flowers blooming mid-winter inside my house.

This ladybug glass charm is waiting for me to pick up more rings. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I also have a set of plastic frog glass charms someone gave me many years ago. They are handy for those visits out to the deck where a wind, or errant elbow, might knock over a glass. The plastic charms have less of a chance of breaking and still do the job of identifying who has what cup.

The collection doesn’t have to start big. Pick two favorite charms of any kind and get them on the flexible rings. As you find more charms you like, you can reuse the same flexible rings and add more charms that can be interchanged.

To make these into personalized gifts, choose charms with initials or a favorite theme. You can also personalize a gift by adding them to a set of coffee cups for a newlywed couple, or special charms on wine glasses for a personalized anniversary gift.

This is a small sized gift that will keep on giving for as long as they are not lost or forgotten.

Some of my glass charms ready for a party. Or two. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As we move away from throw away items and get back to using our real glasses and cups, this would be a charming way to make them easy to find in a crowd. It would also cut down on the number of extra glasses used. A fun win all around!

Charlotte