Lavender Luncheon

I've set the table for a luncheon with lavender.

My previous post "Lavandula" was about our visit to a local lavender farm and of course I had to pick up some things at their little store.  The dried lavender smells divine and I even found some shortbread cookies with lavender too!

 My sister gave me the little Fleur de-lis spoons for Christmas and I decided they'd make a good stirring spoon for the espresso coffee we're going to try.

I know I'll need a lot of sugar and cream to like it!

The linen table topper I bought has embroidered lavender in each corner.  I'm going to give it a spot on the formal dining table  after this.

I know it's not a gorgeous floral arrangement but the dried lavender is so very fragile there isn't much you can do with it.  I carefully coaxed it to fill the pitcher the best I could.   Many little pieces of lavender fell which I collected into a bag but then decided to sprinkle them around the base like potpourri.

I dressed up the setting with these frosted white candle votives.

I layered two napkins together and used my PB antique silver napkin rings.  The fleur de-lis (Sur La Table) and heavily embossed (Ralph Lauren Sophia- TJMaxx) floral plates embrace this lavender luncheon.

The three tier tray was a find at Hobby Lobby this past spring

Lavender Luncheon on a beautiful summer day!

 I'll be joining:

Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch

and

Rattlebridge Farm- Foodie Friday and Everything Else

Welcoming spring!

This tablecloth with it's bright green seemed like a great way to brighten up my kitchen and to welcome spring in!  

The sun was beaming in and I rushed to capture some pictures.  I had already put my terrarium on the table just to be different and then I decided to set up a couple of place settings for breakfast.  While Dan was getting ready for the day I scurried about to put this together!  I didn't elaborate too much!

I used the Bordallo Pinheiro dishes again because I like their garden colors.  

My pink Fleur-de-Lis glassware seemed like a good pairing and the ivory flatware was an easy fit with this arrangement. I kept it simple with a basic white napkin.

These white dishes have a grape vine pattern and the cabbage leaf plates look so good on top! The coffee cup has a textured vine pattern built along the handle with raspberries decorating the center of the cup. I thought these all made for a nice garden theme and a good mix with my terrarium

"Cathe" the name I've given to my garden angel is sleeping again and this bunny is up to no good!  He's after the flowers! 
Wake up Cathe!

I think one way or another I will be using bunnies in my tablescapes through Easter!

One last picture before we ate.  Admittedly I'm not really this formal for breakfast but we've been so thrilled with this early warm up to spring around here that I seemed like a nice idea to welcome spring in with a garden theme!  I made a batch of french toast, some sausage links (which is Dan's favorite) scrambled eggs and hash browns.  
We had some O.J. and coffee.  
Later on Dan worked on my dish closet making me some racks for the stemware.  I'm only showing a quickie picture because I need to organize it, but I will show it again in the near future! He's going to create some coffee cup holders too so I don't have 
to stack them.

My oh my how did this grow to so much!

I'd like you all to welcome my friend Betty- She's started a blog this week...please check out her link and welcome her aboard!

Betty Marie's
I'm linking to Between Naps on the Porch
for Tablescape Thursdays

White grapevine dishes by Bordallo Pinheiro

Green cabbage leaf dishes by Bordallo Pinheiro

Raspberry coffee cups from One Kings Lane (no brand on them)

Flatware from Horchow called Sophia (very reasonable)

Fleur-de-lis glassware from Horchow, listed as handmade in Portugal

Faux Terrarium from Kohls (plants from various places, my design)

Bunnies from a garden center

White napkins from Wisteria (I hid the large Fleur-de-lis emblem on them because they seemed to formal with them showing)

Tablecloth by April Cornell

As always thank-you for joining me 
and I always love to hear your comments!
Liz

Swirling with Mikasa

Monday Jan. 16th I was notified by Mikasa that I had won a sweepstakes of theirs! I had entered a tablescape on their new "The Great Dinner Party" web page.  They did a random drawing and I won 8 place settings of a pattern called Swirl.  There were 5 colors to choose from so I chose 

Swirl Chocolate!

 I chose to mix them with a couple of other dishes so they could be highlighted more.  Their dark color proved to be challenging to take pictures of!

 As you can see they are a very deep chocolate color 

I staged them on a charger that has a woven design.  I used a simple white dinner plate between the first two layers

I added in a small red dish to give a punch 

of color and

 I layered their bowl on top, but it still felt like it needed more color

So I added the small square bowl and rolled a napkin thinking of the shape of an egg roll!  I felt like the unique bowl shape of the Mikasa

Swirl dish felt Asian in design so I decided to work with that theme.

This very oversized hurricane was chosen and I put river rocks in the bottom, set a tall pillar candle in the center and used some miniature sea shell covered balls to accent around it.

The white placemats also have a pearly swirl design on them and my white flatware came into play again!

These glasses are unique in their slightly swirled design and I was lucky that their green color worked well with everything else!

I have to admit I started out with a whole different idea, but once I started rummaging through my linens, dishes and flatware my direction took a new course!

It was fun working with these dishes and I want to thank Mikasa/Lifetime Brands for

their generous gift!

Evening is falling...

 We are having a homemade coleslaw, rice, shredded pork and egg rolls for dinner!

After dinner we're having  

Butter Pecan Ice Cream!

Thank-you for joining me!

Liz

Sources:

Mikasa Swirl Chocolate dishes

White dishes by Palm/Restaurant from Home Goods

Red dishes by 222 Fifth called Belize

Chargers by Chris Madden from JCPenney

Flatware from Horchow/Neiman Marcus called Sophia

Green stemware by Impulse called Roma from 

One King's Lane

Placemats from Pier 1 Imports

I'm joining
Between Naps on the Porch
for
Tablescape Thursday

Felize Navidad and Poinsettias

Felize Navidad
which means

Happy Christmas
or as we say 
Merry Christmas!

Since the Poinsettia was the focal point of my tablescape I got to wondering how the Poinsettia became attached to the Christmas holiday.  This is what I learned-

"The holiday's connection to the poinsettia originated with a Mexican legend. With nothing to give to the Christ Child, a youngster picked a bouquet of weeds as an offering. As the gift was presented, the weeds transformed into brilliant red blooms. Since then, the plant is known in Mexico as Flores de Noche Buena (Flowers of the Holy Night), or just nochebuena for short. The poinsettia's red "flowers" aren't actual flowers. They're bracts (modified leaves), and the little yellow centers are the flowers."

I'm featuring my poinsettias both in a 

live plant and in my dishes.

While I was preparing this table my radio was playing 

"I'll Be Home For Christmas"

which I thought was

 quite poignant since I will be

 doing just that

(heading to my Mom's) 

and I was feeling sentimental about wishing my kids were going to be home for Christmas.

I've added music to the blog with the song today so you can 
listen and share my feelings as I was preparing this table. 

(just click the large button to pause if you don't want to listen or mute your own sound)

This Santa boots are for candles but they ended up being salt and pepper shaker holders!  After I stared at them a while I realized the shape of the S & P Shakers

remind me of an old fashioned Christmas bulb!

 These poinsettia plates had to be a

part of this table setting. 

I wrapped the napkin and fork with a piece of wired ribbon- a little flair but easy to remove too!

I loved the sparkles on these napkins and had to have them!

 I love sparkly things and red! (Can you tell?)

Chirp wanted to be included too! 

I added a few ornaments to the basket to jazz it up a bit!

 We do have some snow out there, 

not much, but enough to make it feel like Christmas.

I loved those red spiral glasses the minute 

I saw them- I got the wine glasses too!

Thank-you for joining me. 

I hope your tables will be full of food 
and lots of love to go around- Cheers!

Wishing you all a very

Merry Christmas!

Sentimentally yours,

Liz

Featured items on the table:

Poinsettia dishes by Maxcera called  Honey Poinsettia (Home Goods)

Striped dishes from Pier 1 Imports

Red striped glasses from Younkers (Bon Ton )

Red coffee cups are from Dillards by Noble Excellence, called Candy Apple Red

Flatware from Neiman Marcus or Horchow called Sophia

Napkins from Pier 1 Imports

White Boots from Pier 1 Imports

Glitter candle holders from a gift shop

Red and white votive candles from Pier 1 Imports- Called Peppermint Creme 

Plum Chicken

My inspiration for this tablescape was this plum colored tablecloth and my new chicken statue.

I was inspired by the colors in this tablecloth-the deep plum background, the olive green which works well in my home, a pinch of clay white, turquoise, golds and rusts!  It had all the right fall ingredients!

I found these new clay white dishes at Cracker Barrel on clearance.  I was lucky enough to get 6 dinner plates. 

I used my Pier 1 Import salad plates to layer with and the ivory handled flatware is from Horchow called Sophia.

And my gold colored napkins seemed to be the best pick to unify the look!

 These are the only two bread and butter plates they had left- I just loved the designs on these.

I found the candle votives at Pottery Barn and since they were done with the chicken wire I had to have them!  Last year I purchased a few pieces from the Pottery Barn Chicken Wire group, so I knew these were mine the minute I saw them!

I took apart a silk sunflower and used them to line the bottom of the glass votive inside the chicken wire.  The green color of the votive seemed to be disappearing on the dark tablecloth so I decided they needed something to make them pop!

This chicken is from One King's Lane.  I thought it was unique and reasonably priced.  If you've never heard of them go to their web site (you have to create an online user account to view their products- but there is no fee involved) 

(If you use my E-mail as a referral I will be given a one time credit from them for a future purchase-and you can do the same for yourself with anyone else that uses you as a referral)

*See my e-mail at the bottom of this post.

Early evening is settling in and I have lit the candles.

The green pressed glass dessert pieces were something I found on line at Dillards.  They reminded me of glassware from the early 70's and I liked the swirly vine design they have.

The chicken was elevated on a square woven basket and I added a little embellishment with some silk sunflowers.

I was intrigued with the textural design on the plates and the chicken wire and how well they worked together! 

My birds eye view of the table

To further this theme I've chosen a recipe at Epicurious

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/CHICKEN-IN-PLUM-SAUCE-50120688

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the elements of my tablescape!

I will be joining Susan at  

Between Naps on the Porch-Tablescape Thursdays 160th

Please check out all the other tablescapes that are a part of this linky party!

* My E-mail for referral DizLiz57@aol.com 

@ One King's Lane

Also check out this creative project over at
Haverford House