Tablescape Thursday

Welcome to another Tablescape Thursday, hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch (she has an incredible porch!).
I love visiting all of the blogs that link up, but had just started looking last week when a virus warning popped up on my screen. Ugh. I spent all weekend running and re-running virus scans, restarting my computer, in safe mode, in normal mode, with system restore, without system restore. I think we finally got it cured, though, so this week I should be able to visit everyone, and maybe even catch up on what I missed last week.
Last week I put together a few different tablescapes so I could participate in this blog event more often. Sad to say, the tablescapes have not inspired Greg to sit at the table to eat more often. In fact, I think they frighten him.
Anyway, this tablescape is super simple, but I just love these floral embossed salad plates. I don't know where I got them or why I only bought two.

The centerpiece is my large apothecary jar filled with Easter eggs. We made these eggs with my mom twelve years ago, just a little over a month before she passed away. I knew I'd want to keep them, but instead of blowing out the shells, I borrowed from the Ukraine pysankas and left the eggs raw. They are carefully handled and packed away each year, and have dried up inside, so they do not smell. We used a marbling technique that was published in Family Fun magazine that year (1997) - it made for soft colors and the eggs are really pretty up close. They sit on a shredded paper nest in the jar.

They're joined by the sweet little blue bunnies from last week. These bunnies got a good workout that day, posing for each tablescape I photographed. I think they'll be a favorite Spring decoration.

So if you love dishes and tablescapes, go check out Tablescape Thursday. I promise you will be inspired.

Tablescape Thursday

Each Thursday (well, I start looking on Wednesday evenings) the inspiration for setting a beautiful table just overflows from Susan's Tablescape Thursday link-ups.

Today I puttered around when I got home from work and put together a possible Easter morning table. I pretended that both of the kids were going to be here (they're not) and we were going to enjoy a nice breakfast together. Um, and we're going to pretend that we drink wine with breakfast, too (we don't).

Besides the black chargers and my white Mikasa French Countryside stoneware dinner plates, I used four little dessert plates that I picked up last summer at Goodwill. Each plate is a different pastel color, so they're perfect for Springtime and Easter.

There are a few dozen of these ceramic eggs in my Easter decorations stash, so I used four of them as place card holders. I tied the tags on with a small piece of twine.

Full jars of candy arranged down the center of the table make for a sweet centerpiece. (yes, pun intended...)

These sweet bunnies are salt and pepper shakers and came from Cracker Barrel. They have little green chicks as friends, but I didn't get a good photo of them. They're hiding behind one of the candy jars.

The stemware came from the discount store and Goodwill, the flatware from the discount store, and I made the napkins. The lace tablecloth is about 25 years old and is showing how loved and used it's been, so I put a white one under it.
Simple and sweet, and I enjoyed imagining my little family all together for a good meal.
Thanks, Susan for hosting such a fun weekly event!

Tablescape Thursday

One of my favorite blogging days is Tablescape Thursday when bloggers around the country post photos of their tables, dishes, and incredibly creative centerpieces. I've been following the tablescaping since this event began, and often find myself putting together my own placesettings in my mind, and looking around the house for centerpiece ideas.

This afternoon I started pulling out dishes to organize a cupboard, but instead decided to play a bit and join in the Tablescaping fun

March is my least favorite month of the year. Most usually it's cold, windy, and bleak. Winter just won't go away. This week we're having a couple of Spring-like days, though, so I played around with a couple of tablesettings that, to me, said "fresh" and "Springtime".

To start, a bowl full of green apples and yellow pears, along with a little bouquet of daisies make up the centerpiece.

I've said before that I prefer a simpler table, so I stuck to just the bowl of fruit and the tiny vase of flowers. It was a sunny afternoon, perfect for a light lunch with a friend. Who would like to join me?
I cannot even tell you where I purchased the placemats, but I do know they were on clearance. (Edited: placemats from Kohl's) I used a turquoise square plate as a charger, with a green dinner plate and a white salad plate to coordinate with the colors of the mats. The white napkins have a daisy design embossed on them, but that got completely lost in the art of my amateur photography.

You can see here some of the detail on the plates. The white salad plate is Mikasa French Countryside, the green plate was a clearance purchase from a small variety store, and the turquoise square plate is from Target.

Here's another look, using the same bowl of fruit and daisies for the centerpiece. Same napkins, glassware, flatware.

I just removed the turquoise plates and used the white daisy-embossed placemats that match the napkins. I folded and fanned the napkins and tucked them into the drinking glasses. Wouldn't this be lovely for a breakfast of French toast and fruit?

If you care to spend a little time looking at a myriad of tabelscapes to inspire you, go on over to Susan's Between Naps on the Porch and check out Tablescape Thursday. It's so much fun to see so many different beautiful tables all in one place!

Tablescape Tuesday

"The dinner table is the heart of the home, a magic place where moments are treasured and memories made. Family events, anniversaries, and holidays are all celebrated at the table, a place where children are taught, business is conducted, and romance is found, a setting that greets with a silent message: 'Welcome. A place is prepared for you.' " (from The Art of Tables and Table Manners by Suzanne Von Drachenfels)
I have always loved a nicely set table, whether with a touch of formality or whimsy and fun. The past few months I've followed Susan's "Tablescape Tuesday" and been very inspired by the beautiful tablesettings posted each week.
We rarely sit at the table to eat because that's how Greg likes it, but now and again I will insist, and he'll oblige. He was grilling filet mignons for supper on New Years Day, so I set the table and threw together a quick centerpiece so we could enjoy a nice meal together, and I could participate for the first time in Tablescape Tuesday.A white tablecoth was layered with a gold runner. I'm kind of a minimalist and like to keep any centerpiece simple. Some Christmas tree balls and candles did the trick for me.

The napkin rings were picked up last summer. My dishes are Mikasa French Countryside stoneware. These are the dishes we registered for when we got married 27 1/2 years ago. Simple black chargers underneath.

The water glasses are also Mikasa French Countryside, a Christmas gift this year. I set champagne glasses since we were celebrating the New Year.

It was fun to put this table together, simple as it is. If you want to see more, visit Between Naps on the Porch every Tuesday!