French Rustic Fleur-de-Lis

I was given very short notice of a mini business dinner meeting my husband sprung on me today.   I needed to do a quick clean up around the house, but before that I wanted to get the table ready so I could focus on what I needed to do.

I just finished a craft project which is the burlap wrapped vase shown in the center here.  I rambled through some of my candlesticks and decided on these.

 I used my new mirrored tray to add a little glam and reflection.  I chose a mix of mercury glass and the rustic finish on the candle holders to go with the burlap wrapped vase that I topped with a boxwood ball.

Not too much fuss here, but the Fleur-de-lis Coffee mugs worked beautifully with these scroll designed dishes.  The olive green napkins pulled on the centerpiece colors and the hint of green that's in the dish pattern.  I kept the neutral tones going with the off white flatware.

These people love their coffee so I will be serving plenty of that and if they want some wine the stemware will come into play or I will simply use them for water!

After Some quick menu planning, I've decided on a Chopped Salad, 

Baked Zitti and Ciabtta Bread.  

I do believe I'm ready.... now off to finish my prepping!

Dishes by Noble Excellence called Sugar Plum (Dillards)

Flatware called Sophia (Neiman Marcus/Horchow)

Stemware from T.J. Maxx

Fleur-de-lis coffee mugs made by Evergreen, pattern name simply says "B" -from One Kings Lane

Candle holders from One Kings Lane

 

I'm joining 

Between Naps on the Porch for

Tablescape Thursday

and

Cuisine Kathleen for

Let's Dish 

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 

Rosy endings....

I had some roses still blooming so I decided I had to cut some and enjoy this last bit of summers offerings.

Since they are pink it was a little tricky working them into a fall arrangement.

I still have hydrangeas so I cut a few of them and some stems with leaves for bulk and color.

I cut some leaves of the cordyline spike plants that I have in some containers outside hoping to add a little drama to the arrangement.





I tried to help create more fall tones by using my sunflower vase and my amber stemware.

I did not visualize these little bowls as ever going with my April Cornell placemats. I found the placemats on mark down last spring and the bowls late last winter.  I also was pleased because it helped carry the floral theme from the arrangement.

The table cloth is a ivory colored burlap piece I picked up at Pottery Barn.  I liked the texture for this setting and the napkins I recently acquired had a nice woven texture to them too!

I decided to keep the napkin fold simple and it repeats the straight lines of the bowl and the placemat.  The Mikasa Italian Countryside dishes came in handy again and the new ivory flatware did too!

Since it's a table for two and informal I kept it simple.

My daughter gave me this little Waterford votive

and it makes a nice accent.  I strung the

plastic beads around to add a little color and give it a touch of glam!

 I made a quick little cake
 (some people call them a dump cakes)

It has cherries on the bottom, cake mix, chopped pecans
 and butter.

 I know my husband will be going back for seconds!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the visit.

I'm joining Susan at Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch

for her weekly tabletop party!