Reader Daisy Burris wrote in with an excellent reuse question:

I have a trash bag full of mismatched pieces of porcelain tea sets. It was given to us in a truck load of hand-me-down toys and clothing for our little girl. I don't have the heart to get rid of them because I know there is something I could create. I was just wondering if you had any craft ideas for me that incorporates tiny pieces of porcelain china?

What a great question! There are a few fun crafts I've seen for reusing tea sets:

• DIY Cupcake Stand - Two Wedding Belles gets serious and turns reclaimed pieces into a super adorable cupcake stand.
• Teacup Votive Holder - fill the bottom 1/3 or 1/4 of the way with rice, lentils, or other small beans, set a soy tea light or other small candle inside, and voila! Instant votive holder!
• Teacup Wine Glass - How cute are these teacup wine glasses over at Re-Nest?
• Cupcakes in a Teacup - If you're feeling bakey, you can cook cupcakes in your teacups. Just make sure that they are oven safe!
• Decorate them as Gifts - Craft stores sell porcelain markers. You can use them to do custom art on your teacups to make them into unique gifts! You could also add a similar design to mismatched teacups to pull them together into a brand new set.

I bet that there are other ways to reuse a mismatched tea set. We'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by partycja