Let's get right into it! Not only does grandma have collections beyond anything that Martha Stewart could hope for, but she has saved much of it 'just in case' someone might need the stuff. That would be you!

It is pretty obvious what we would do with the antique rocking chair of course. Things like that we treasure and display. But what about the odds and ends? The stuff that all your aunts are dreading having to go through some day? Now I don't know exactly what items your grandmother has chosen to keep, but I do hope to spark the imagination. My grandma keeps alot of 'stuff' and she happens to give much of it to me. This can be a curse or a blessing depending on how you see the 'stuff'. I make it a blessing...

Coffee Cans Coffee cans are one thing my grandma can't save enough of. She covers them with colored paper and decorates them with the theme to whichever play my cousin is staring in at the time. She fills them with cookies (No one makes better chocolate chip cookies than my grandma) for the cast and passes them out for gifts at dress rehearsals.

This is why I like them...They come in many sizes, they have lids, they're sturdy, and they are free! Best of all, contact paper sticks to them very well. I decorate the cans with bright colors and label them with fancy writing in permanent markers and with stickers. These become kid friendly containers for scissors, glue, crayons, markers, paints, and more. It makes clean up a snap after creating huge messes on the dining room table. Making them is as easy as rolling the can along a piece of contact paper to determine height and width you need to cut in order to cover the whole can. Stick it on and decorate!

Other uses? How about for storing batteries, garbage bag twisties, rubber bands, those box tops for education, extra keys...the list goes on.

That Plastic Jewelry Besides the obvious of just giving it to your daughter to play with, it does have some good uses. In all cases, the jewelry has been taken apart.

The prettier beads (faux pearls, etc.) can be used in all sorts of Christmas crafts. I like to hot glue them to miniature wreaths that I buy for 50¢ - $1.00. It's afordable enough to have a wreath on every cupboard door, the back of each dining chair, in baskets in the bathroom, everywhere.

Of course, as always, I come back to those rainy day crafts for kids. Although the following examples are some fun holiday crafts.

Use the jewelry (along with cut outs from the cards she saves from every holiday), some construction paper, lace, and ribbon to make fancy valentines for the grandparents and siblings. Just hand them the supplies and their imaginations take over.