Ferns and Roses Tablescape

 

Welcome! I'm delighted you came by. It just makes my day! 

Confession time: See those dinner plates..... Do you remember that I was cleaning and making room? They were in the Ebay/sale pile. WERE. That could change to ARE at the flip of a switch. Yessiree Bob. I was looking for something for our table Sunday evening. Those plates were sitting there, hollering at me, pick me pick me, I can make you change your mind!

So I pulled them onto the table. Added a bit of finery, oh I mean fern-ery. I think they like the north facing window in the hallway. I hope they keep liking it. A candle in a large glass urn filled with dried split peas.

See, it really looks quite cool in there. Gives me a pop of green color and a bit of texture. Personally, I just really love their color, or colors since they aren't all the same. 

 

Here's the beginning. Silver, an heirloom placemat and napkin, green glassware and a rustic nest charger from World Market. They could be one of the favorites of this summer.

 More favorites: the French hand-blown water glasses from Santa Fe and those darned Dollar Tree goblets are making another return appearance. 

 

I did go ahead and add the Bordallo cabbage salad plates. I love how the green of the plates brings out the green leaves on the dinner plates. They also allow the napkins to stand out. 

 The dinner plates came from TJMaxx, I used there HERE last October and HERE the April before. But they haven't been used much since. And I am cleaning out and making room. 

I'll let you know how that goes!!

The ferns and the glass urn with the candle inside is all the centerpiece needed to complete the table.

Old Company Plate silver, still one of my favs, really is a perfect accompaniment to the heirloom linens I found a long time ago at an estate sale. Drawn thread work, padded satin stitched flowers and a scalloped edge will loosen up the billfold every single time!

Pulled some green mercury glass votive holders to stand in for a flower pot for the ferns. The more green the merrier!

One thing about greens, as Alycia said last week when she showed us Mikasa Daylight's fabulous green leaves, it's best to meld the greens together instead of trying to match. After all, if you look in your yard, not all greens are the same and yet they go together so gloriously.

Hope the weather is good in your neck of the woods, we are due another freeze Thursday morning. So far, it's been adios tulips, then the next week adios wisteria, I'm covering everything this week!!!

The cast:

Linens - Heirlooms; Estate Sale

Silver - Old Company Plate; Estate sale and Ebay

Chargers - World Market

Dinner Plates - TJMaxx; Royal Stafford

Glasses - Santa Fe and Dollar Tree

Centerpiece urn - Home Goods

I'll be at the party over at Cuisine Kathleen's Let's Dish and at Susan's Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch. There are so many pretties on display, I hope to see you there!

So... should they stay or should they go?

Welcome Spring

I welcome Spring! With open arms. With baited breath. 

With my whole being.

Tree, Saturday Morning.

 

Tree, Saturday Afternoon.

Amazing.

If I hadn't had pictures, I couldn't prove it!

 

There are so many bad things said about elms.

But I love their color.

Their bark.

Their fluttering leaves.

 Clearing out old shrubs that had been

neglected enough to become wannabe trees!

Snow drops.

I have an affection for these.

This year they bloomed with abundance.

Work commenced on the Cantina.

Our son has done so much work around here!

What a blessing.

I can't wait till it's finished.

The last of the Narcissus.

This fall, I think I'll plant some with white and orange.

ps.. most of these pictures were taken with my cell.

Happy Spring!!!

Hello March!!! Giveaway reminder...

Can you believe that March has arrived? I hate how fast time slips by the older one gets.
It seems like just yesterday it was January 1st.

March - spring arrives on the 21st!
“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"...
"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden 

And the Wisteria arrives in spring.
"Wisteria is my favorite flowering vine.Do you know why?'
I shook my head. 'No, ma'am.'
'Because it is strong  -  just like me."
― Beth Hoffman, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

Easter is at the end of the month.

Romans 1:4-5
And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. (NLT) 

  And before you know it, the flower brick giveaway will end.
March 5th.
Please click HERE to be entered in the drawing.

Waning days of Spring Tablescape

Summer is almost upon us. Spring is not yet behind us. The temperatures are soaring. How much long can we continue to dine outside? I guess it depends on the day. I thought I'd try one more spring themed table. Won't you come along for the ride?

I picked out my beautiful Mikasa Daylight dishes. I love their simplicity and how graphic they are. Perfect to help one feel cooler I think. Green napkins. Darker bamboo handled flatware. And the cutest bird napkin rings from World Market. I picked up what they had but I need more and they aren't on their website anymore. Drats.

I will remove the begonias during the meal, but don't they look wonderful with the dishes? Their green leaves and white flowers fit perfectly with Mikasa's Daylight.

Replacing the large pot will be a cluster of 3 smaller pots of begonias. Remember to pick off the spent blooms!

I do love these birdies.. And I'm not usually into such ornamental accessories, but I love how they are perched on the plates.

Using Mikasa Parklane for water goblets.  Also used another charger plate as the underplate for the begonias. Certainly keeps more green on the table.

You cannot possibly notice that I missed putting a votive in the green holder seen here. Oops. They are the perfect color though, aren't they?

Now there is one there is one in it.. Whew!

I'm with Mary (Home is Where the Boat Is), who always shows us some of the best tables;  quilted table coverings are the best. No ironing. It's hot enough already around here.

Just wash, dry and plop on the table....

I succumbed. Are glasses dishes? I don't think so. Do you? Remember, not buying dishes this year. Well, except for the Lenox in January, the Dresden in April/May/June. (Pssst.. I missed out on some Lenox waiting on the half price day this weekend.. oh well, didn't need them)... But back to this story. I hot footed it to my local Dollar Tree one evening after work and....
and....
and...
bought a dozen of the green stems.
And...
And...
are you ready?
24 Libbey faux cut glass goblets that I've been needing wanting for outdoors. Shame on me.

I hope you enjoyed my tribute to the waning days of Spring.Summer will be upon us June 20th at 7pm (EDT). Thank you for dropping in. I hope you can stay a while and enjoy this balmy evening with me. It will be dark soon and we'll turn on the lights and enjoy a cool repast.

Cast:
Table covering - Matelasse
Dishes - Mikasa Daylight
Flatware - Faux bamboo - Horchow's
Crystal goblets - Mikasa Parklane
Green goblets - Dollar Tree
Green votive holders - Crate and Barrel, Chicago
Napkins - Fern Green, World Market
Napkin rings - World Market

I'll be joining up with Cuisine Kathleen's Let's Dish Party on Wednesday.  And since I'm quite the party girl, with Susan's Tablescape Thursday on Thursday morning. I do hope you'll drop in and join us there. It's just dishy!!!

Candle shelves and other good things

Candle shelves for the fence. Okay, this could be a fire hazard, I get it. But it's so fun. Never, ever leave your candles unattended. Ever. Don't use them on a windy day. We saw these somewhere, a movie?, I didn't 'pin' it. Magazine? Don't really remember.

Anyway, much to my surprise, Mr. CJ got out his saw, some old fence pickets, and some brackets this afternoon. This being Mother's Day Sunday. No nap for him. He's one of the really good, other things.

With the past week of lower temps and rain, the plant life is doing really well. Another good thing.

Now with all the activity going on.. Regan assumed his spot on the back of Mr. CJ's chair. Doesn't he just look like he's about to slide off?

I guess it was too light out for him! We'll keep him around, he's a good thing.

Back to the productive member of the household, he cut the aged fence pickets into about 3 inch pieces. Aged so they would match our existing fence. Attached a small metal bracket on the bottom so that the piece of fence picket makes a shelf.

While he was doing that, I punched out some white circles and attached them randomly to the fence. Around the decor that happens to be hanging or plopped up against the fence. That way I could decide to move and rearrange before we drilled the shelves to the fence...

So we waited for it to get darker and plotted our next event in the backyard. Need to replant some grass, trim some branches, repaint the patio furniture.. sooo much to do this year.

And then it got dark... pretty magical. I think I'll be keeping these around for a while.. and then purchase a slew of battery powered candles. smile!

Have a beautiful week!