Decoupage Patio Table

This table is part of a patio set bought some time ago.  The table originally had a tile top that apparently was extremely fragile.  Yes, I broke it easily when attempting to move the table.  My goal was to get a top for the table that would be less fragile and not as heavy as that darn ceramic tile top.  Here is the poor unfortunate table without any top.  How can I rest my lemonade on this?

As I was browsing in a local A.C. Moore store, I found an easel that was just the right size.  I removed the metal clips and painted it with DecoArt Americana paint in "Mississippi Mud", a taupe color that coordinates with the patio furniture.

I cut photos of flowers for a floral decoupage and mod podged the living daylights out of it.  At first I had issues with wrinkles in the photos, but I was putting too much mod podge on each piece.  The first layer needs thin coats.  Then I used a roller to smooth out the photos and added several more coats of mod podge, allowing each coat to dry thoroughly before applying the next. 

The finished project is a nice little table which brings the look of a flower garden on to my little patio.
I'm ready to relax outside with my lemonade now!

Blue Floral Ceramic Double Strand Necklace

Here I've used large ceramic round beads that are almost a dark aqua in color with a black floral motif painted on them.  I have glass beads in blue and complimentary colors on the main strand, and then small black beads on that secondary strand, which also weaves through the focal beads.  It gives a "scalloped" look to the design.

I'm calling this a double strand necklace rather than a two strand necklace, although I'm not sure if I'm using those terms correctly, or if there is a universal understanding of those terms.

Pink Heart Earrings with Painted Flowers

I'm always interested in sampling different beads.  These are heart-shaped glass beads.  A floral pattern is painted on them.  They look to be hand painted.  I don't think I could do such a good job at painting flowers on beads.  With such a nice pattern on them, I didn't add much else to the earrings in order to keep the focus on the pretty beads.