Hot Dogs and Royal Doulton

I love my china pattern.  Just as much today as I did when I picked it out 25 years ago.  And I never use it.  It stays safely tucked away in a cabinet, each piece wrapped in plastic with foam in between-out of sight, out of mind.  Most of the pieces don't even have the faint scratches that would be left behind by cutlery.  The pattern is Juliet from the Royal Doulton Romance Collection.  The pattern is discontinued now and I think that's part of the reason that I keep it safely tucked away. What happens if I break a piece of it? Will it be difficult or too expensive to replace?

Recently I've been wondering what I'm saving it for.  I don't have any children so there is no one who will want to inherit it.  If I break a piece of it, does it really matter?  I have eight place settings.  I've never even used all eight place settings at one time.

So yesterday I decided to use it.  Yesterday, of all days, when I cooked hot dogs on the grill for the 4th of July.  It could be the fact that I hadn't had a hot dog in a long time...or maybe it was the china...but that hot dog was really good!

So I'm going to keep using that china along with everything else that I'm saving for a "special occasion". Those "special occasions" start today.

I also took the time yesterday to make my July tag for the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012.  I usually don't have my monthly tag done this early.  But the subject matter for the July tag begged that it be done on the 4th of July.  Here's what I came up with...

I didn't have any canned air so I used a straw.  The silver alcohol ink didn't work for me...I'm not sure why..I couldn't get it to splatter.  So I used a couple of stars from the precut Grungeboard Elements.  I painted them with the silver Adirondack Paint Dabber and then covered them with silver Stickles.  I used the Sizzix Alterations Strip Dies for the rosettes and the word Freedom.  I stacked the rosettes and added some red tinsel garland in between.  The number 4 is from Grungeboard Alphabet Soup.  It, too, was painted with the silver dabber and covered with silver Stickles.  The paper is Core'dinations.  I dyed the cotton ribbon with Distress Stain and added a piece of silver tinsel.

Attached to the ribbon is an Ideaology Trinket Pin that reads "Fragile", along with a star charm from Ideaology Adornments.

Our freedom is fragile, just like my china.  We must do whatever we can to protect it while, at the same time, taking advantage of every opportunity it affords us.

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
― Ronald Reagan

Happy Independence Day, America.