Summer Tablescape

I do love a good tablescape!

Always have. always will.

Haven't fully decided my plan in the future when we start actually eating dinner at the table as a family.  Any one out there have a good solution for keeping a table looking good and set, but still using it nightly? 

 

Well... while little buddy is still eating mostly "mama milk" and from a high chair, and hubby and I are eating mostly in front of the tv... I will continue to set the table and enjoy it :)

 

So this was our table since March.  Haven't been changing it up as often as I used to. Something about a baby taking up most of my time :)

And I was ready to change it for fall so I decided to take some pictures... (I'll share the fall one soon!)

 

 My mom and I found this awesome tablecloth in Marshall's.  Can't beat that!
Since this technically started as my EASTER table... I decided to use the birds on the table.  Still not sure why birds equaled Easter to me, since Easter usually means eggs, bunnies, or Jesus.  But I went with birds.  And I liked it :)

 And since I only have 3 birds, I did an asymmetrical centerpiece.  Totally a new experience for me. But I really liked it!

The place settings... wooden charger (Williams-Sonoma),  napkin (Crate and Barrel), Blue plate and peacock plate (World Market).

 Here's the other end of the table... I used my green Anthro glasses to tie into the green birdies.

 The "table runner" was actually two blue place mats covered in my great-grandma's handmade doilies.  And then my favorite turquoise pottery bowl as the very middle.  never put anything in it (except large bags of tortilla chips a few times).  But I don't mind the look of an empty bowl, especially this one.

So that was my Easter, end of spring, summer Tablescape! 

I am loving my new fall one!  Totally changed it up this year! 

Valentine's Day Ideas

Found these photos from Valentine's Day (of 2012!!).  They were fun ideas then and are fun ideas now. Even if it is the middle of August, 2013.  I'm still going to post, because why not?

 

For Valentine's Day 2012 I had my 7th grade Bible study girls over for a fun luncheon! I had a blast decorating in all things pink and red!

(FYI for Valentine's Day 2013, I had a 1 week old. Hubby and I left the baby with my in-laws for our first time out on our own. We went on a date to... Target! Because my coffee maker broke that morning and you can imagine that a new mom MUST have her coffee!)

 

Okay - back to fun girly pink and red decorations.

 

Silver chargers, red swirly paper plates, heart napkins, red table cloth, heart fabric as a table runner, heart cut out made with a  heart punch

I used paint chips of reds and pinks and punched hearts.  Then I hot glued them to a red thread and glued a heart on the back of each as well so it would be double sided.  Hung it from my chandelier.  I LOVED this!  It was also the first decoration hubby asked me to take down.

For the centerpiece, I used my antique candle holder with red candles, on top of a white tray full of Valentine's candies.  (this was the girls favorite part of the whole day- there was no candy left in the end.)

On the fireplace... I hand cut some small hearts and sewed them with red thread.  I thought this was super cute too.

The guests were greeted with this cute chalkboard and candle right by the front door.

(as a side note, I received these adorable measuring cups from one of the girls that day.  Haven't used them for measuring yet, but have used them to serve small items.)

This was in the kitchen, some white roses, a gorgeous Anthro plate on display (I love buying single anthro plates to put out like this), and a heart bowl.

I punched red hearts and used them to label the food. (note to self: 7th grade girls are still picky eaters.  They do not care for home made chicken salad or home made pimiento cheese.  Stick to pizza and quit wasting your time.)

After the party was over, I left this table out for a few days (until the actual Valentine's day). I changed out the paper plates for some pretty white plates. 

And now onto a fun idea from my school Valentine's party (of 2012)... one of the sweet moms who was in charge of bringing bottled waters really spiced it up! She used red duct tape to cover the water bottle label and then let her daughter add Valentine's stickers.  So festive and SO simple!  Love it!

Okay... maybe I'll post some more recent photos soon :)

Easy, Adorable Centerpieces and a Wedding Story

A few weeks ago, we traveled to Branson, MO for a sweet wedding.  My dear (and VERY creative friend), Jane, made these awesome centerpieces for the wedding!!

How cute are those??? Mason jars of various sizes, wrapped in burlap, lace, and twine.  With tea lights in the bottom.  And on a few tables, we placed our bridesmaid bouquets in one of the jars. Simple.  Gorgeous.  Oh and the tree "disk" that they were on was pretty cute too.

 So I've been saving EVERY glass jar we empty in the kitchen with the full intention of recreating these this summer.  Now I don't have a dead tree to cut up, so I'm thinking I'm going to use a variety of old (and hopefully tarnished) silver trays to hold the jars.  I have some burlap already, looking at garage sales for some old lace curtains to cut up (thought that would be cheaper than buying at Joann's), and I need to get some twine.  But I think I can make LOTS of these centerpieces for less than $10.  Sweet!

Here is a close up of the beautiful bridesmaid bouquets... all green. Love it.  I probably won't use flowers in mine... all candles. And actually, for our outdoor party, I"ll probably get some citronella candles, double duty!   But I think simple white daisies would look super cute as well.

While we're looking at the wedding centerpieces... thought I'd share a few more of the wedding pics.

This is why I miss living in Branson.  Look at that view.  Takes my breath away these days.  I took it for granted for so long.

 Me and the Mr.  Man he looks good.

 The wedding party... isn't the chapel adorable!!  The girls got ready in the small building on the left... it was a GORGEOUS day, until we were supposed to head to the chapel for the wedding.   Then for about 30 minutes, it POURED down rain! We rain to the chapel under umbrellas.  There was awesome thunder echoing off of the lake throughout the ceremony.  VERY dramatic. VERY movie-esque.

 The sweet couple!!  LOVE THEM!!  Such a testimony of  FAITH, God's TIMING, God's PROMISES and God's GOODNESS!  Oh man oh man, does it make me excited to see what He is going to do next with them!

 They probably don't love this photo, but I wanted you to see the front of the chapel. Gorgeous!  Great view of the lake from the front windows.  AND when it was raining, it was super cool looking!  Maybe not what the original plans were, but I liked it. 

And that was my fun wedding trip to Branson.  Hubby and I met in Branson working at a summer camp.  I lived there when we started dating, actually I was roommates with the bride in this wedding.  So we have a TON of memories in Branson. BUT we haven't been back since we've been married.  It was a great trip! We spent the car ride home considering how we can move back.  Don't think it's going to happen, but Branson sure has a soft spot in our hearts.

January Tablescapes

The weather may not actually be cold here in Texas yet.. (well we get random days of cold here and there). But I chose an "icy, snowy" color palette for my tablescape anyway.

I've used most of these pieces in the past... but I still love how it feels brand new each January.

Toille tablecloth from Williams Sonoma, blue placemats NEW from Homegoods, silver chargers from Michaels, white dishes from TJ Maxx, teal napkins from Crate and barrel, and clear square napkin rings (lucite maybe?) NEW gift from mom (don't know where they were purchased)

In the sun room... I tried something new... I like parts of it... not sure I'm sold on the whole thing, but I'll live with it until I can think of how to improve it.

Brass platter from my tea set, with a hand painted wooden dish (from my times in Ecuador) and my new/old black candle holder with green tapers (since I couldn't find 5 white or blue).

Placemat from Williams Sonoma, blue dinner plate from Marshalls, peacock salad plate from World Market (chose not to use a napkin because there were so many patterns going on)

So those are my January tables.  Not really feeling up to Valentine's tables... so think I'll skip that this year and head into spring next.

Friends Thanksgiving

The Saturday before Thanksgiving was the FIFTH annual Friends Thanksgiving!  We LOVE this time with friends to eat and talk and enjoy the holidays before things get really crazy!

I love that this event is a potluck and everyone brings the most amazing food!! 

This year I only made the turkey and the drinks! Which meant tons of time to do the fun stuff- like decorate the tables!! (and worry about how to find enough tables and chairs to seat 25!)

The Dining Room

I had to add the folding table to the end of the dining room table to make it all fit.

And even though we use our nice china and crystal... I borrow from my mother-in-law and so it becomes a hodge-podge of really pretty stuff!  Love that!

I went simple with the napkins this year... I saw this in a magazine and loved it!  Just folding them into a rectangle and then cinching them with a pretty ribbon.  Maybe a thicker ribbon would have made a bigger impact, but I just used what I had in fall colors :)

Some tables had orange flowers, some had pumpkins!  Again, just a hodge podge! But it works!

The Sun Room- We used our normal round table (just added a couple of chairs) and then added this folding table as well. (Had to remove a big leather chair to make room)

I think this table was my favorite this year.  Loved the colors and the rectangle centerpiece.

This table was adorned with pretty placemats and a brass tea set.  (I need to remember to purchase a round fall colored table cloth for next year!)

In the kitchen... we took out our tall bar table to make more room.  The bar table is great for morning coffee, but not so great for serving food from.  So it went to the garage, and in came this folding table.   By this point I was out of tablecloths! SO I found a clean white sheet and added an embroidered table runner (made by my great-grandma).  The turkey and ham ended up here.

This sweet vignette sat in the kitchen all season. I really enjoyed it each morning, it's nothing special, but I liked how I (finally) put it all together on a white tray and it just tied it all together! So simple- but I just figured that trick out!

Since I did NOT have to do most of the cooking... I got to spend my time on fun things like this!  The food labels! I bought these pumpkin place card holders at Pier 1 after Thanksgiving last year (which meant huge sale!)  I cut up some yellow card stock, printed these cute Thanksgiving labels (thanks Pinterest) and hand wrote the food item. I had some leftover circles of scrapbook paper from the invitations, so I threw those on for more color.

The Drink Station- I always do this on the washer and dryer now! I love that it moves some of the serving action out of the kitchen.  I made hot apple cider (YUM!), I made some sweet tea, and I set the coffee maker to start at the beginning of dinner.  Done and done.

 My favorite chalkboard!  this greeted guests at the front door.

The Turkey!  turned out quite nice this year! I only ate a few bites because I loved all the side dishes so much!

all of the food! What a feast!

Honey baked ham and turkey! 

the BEST jalapeno creamed corn you could ask for! Great sweet potatoes!  Delicious dressing! 

Mac n cheese!  Green bean casserole! Salad! Rolls!  (are you hungry yet??)

The end of the night...  It doesn't look as messy in the picture as it did in real life.  But when I walked by I thought, "now THAT is Thanksgiving!"  Empty glasses, forks, napkins, etc all strewn about the table. love it.

This  year the party ended early.  Turns out our friends are entering into parenthood and have baby sitters at home or they were pregnant and very tired. So Ty and I were able to get the house cleaned up and get to bed at a very decent hour. 

It was a blast! I love how it has evolved over the years... we had 1 couple who came to our first feast and then missed all the middle years and returned this year.  The wife said to me, "Wow.  Last time we were here we all fit at the dining room table. Now you've added 3 more tables!! People just kept coming in!"  I love that!  Hoping for many more years of feasting to come!