Valentine's Tablescape! Welcome to the 25th Tablescape Thursday!

I'm sharing a fun little Valentine's Tablescape today...hope it gives you a little chuckle and makes you smile! :-)

If you are participating in Tablescape Thursday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. If you aren't sure how to obtain your permalink or have any questions about using Mr. Linky for this post, just click on the pink TT logo in my sidebar for detailed instructions.

Please copy and paste the Tablescape Thursday logo button to your computer. Then you can upload it to your side bar and use it in your tablescape post so your visitors will know you are participating.

Please link back to the host blog, Between Naps on the Porch. This is important because it helps those who are visiting your blog, find the other wonderful tablescapes posted on this Tablescape Thursday.

Please do not add your link below, until your tablescape post is actually published to your blog.

The following blogs have beautiful tablescapes awaiting your visit:



Last week I posted a Valentine's tablescape that was fairly traditional...with lots of that bold color, RED. You can view that post by clicking HERE. This week's table is all about the color, PINK, and I'm going for silly and whimsical. I pulled my inspiration from this little dish I found on sale right after Valentine's Day last year at Kohls.



Do you see the pink feather boa around the centerpiece? :-) (Click on pics to enlarge)



Apothecary jar came from Marshalls several months ago...



Found these cute, pink "heart" dishes at Michaels this year for only $1 each...



Salad plate is Homer Laughlin...not sure of the pattern since the name isn't shown on the back. I found six, 5-pc place settings on eBay for around $35...including shipping.



Bet you recognize this china...it's the one used on our TT button. It's made by International and the pattern is Glenwood. Found it while out antiquing one day...got twenty+ pieces for around $14 and then bought some fill in pieces off eBay. Lace chargers are from Horchow online, a couple of years ago.



I joined a Red Hat group when I was only 48 years old. If you are a member in a Red Hat Club and you aren't yet 50, you can't wear the true Red Hat Society colors, red and purple. Instead, you are supposed to wear what they call the "watered down" colors, pink and lavender. I like the colors pink and lavender much better anyway...so I was quite happy about that! As you know, Red Hats really dress up when they get together. This cute little fluffy thing was part of a set of wrist thingies...not sure what they are called.



I thought they looked cute around the stems of the glasses in this whimsical tablescape.



Continued the "conversation hearts" theme in my centerpiece...
I used a pink feather boa left over from my Red Hat days, around the base of the jar.



A little closer view...



Around 5 years ago, I received these sweet bees wax candles as a gift from a friend. They are kind of an unusual size and I've never been able to find a use for them. I loved how they looked , surrounded by the little conversation hearts.



Candlelight, so romantic...





Speaking of conversation hearts, I was stunned when I stopped during my tablescaping to actually read some of the hearts. Guess Brach's is trying to keep up with the times...check out these messages... (Email Me, Top Chef and I.M. Me)







I couldn't resist these edible love notes...found these at Wal-mart...



The pen really works and I ate one...tasted pretty good. :-)







Thanks for stopping by! Please take time to visit each of the tablescape links posted above. I bet there will be lots of great Valentine's Day tables...can't wait! :-)

Pretty in Pink Table Setting: Welcome to the 13th Tablescape Tuesday!

I've been busy caulking and painting in my dining room so I didn't have a chance to put together a brand new tablescape for today's Tablescape Tuesday. But I thought you might not mind too much if I posted a Pink and White tablescape I put together a couple of months ago for a Pink Saturday which is hosted each week by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. :-)

One day, while shopping for china on eBay, I found a set of Homer Laughlin china with a pretty floral pattern. I bought six, 5-pc place settings and a serving bowl for around $36, including shipping...gotta love that eBay!




Several months later, while out antiquing, I came across another set of china made by International. I loved the pattern, which I discovered was called Glenwood. Glenwood was made by both International and Homer Laughlin, and has a wide pink band surrounding a pretty gardenia.

A little light bulb went off and I thought, maybe, just maybe, the two china patterns would work together in a table setting. I got a great deal that day, 27 pieces of Glenwood for $14...it was marked down, plus they were having a store wide sale...yipee! :-)

As I was checking out with the china, a bit of a frenzy started...several different groups of people in line behind me were trying to talk me out of my china! They were all upset that they hadn't seen it first and wanted to know if there was more. They went on and on the entire time it was being wrapped and packaged. I've never had that happen in a store before! :-) Once home, I checked good ole eBay and found a few more pieces of Glenwood to complete what I needed.




I've always wanted to mix two different chinas in a tablesetting. Finding these two sets at such reasonable prices, gave me the opportunity to play a little bit. In the pic below, the salad plate and bread plate are the floral Homer Laughlin...the pink banded china is the International Glenwood china.




With the soup bowl out of the way, you can see the Homer Laughlin salad plate a little better.




Here's a fun, elegant way to make sugar available for coffee or tea...a sugar scuttle.



I love how the little scoop stores right on the back of the scuttle. Doesn't this just beat a regular ole sugar bowl, any day. :-) You can almost always find these on eBay for reasonable prices.




A bunny topiary...




Here's another look, using the Glenwood pattern as the bread plate this time. I had fun seeing just how many layers I could make. I created four different layers here...they are, from the top down: Homer Laughlin fruit bowl, International Glenwood soup bowl, Homer Laughlin salad plate and Glenwood dinner plate.




The next two pics show two different looks...the only thing that changes is the bread plate. Which bread plate do you like best?




I also have the Homer Laughlin cups and saucers...so that could be another possible variation.




The four layers again, minus the napkin...




Let's peel away the layers...first we'll take away the fruit bowl...



Then the soup bowl...



And finally the salad plate...




A while back, I came across these two little swan ashtrays...I bought them to use as salt cellars.




I do like the way they look with this tablescape...what do you think?




Tea party on the porch...and you are invited!




Hope you enjoyed this tablescape! Don't miss the other wonderful tablescapes that are awaiting your visit. Just click on the links at the top of this post and you will most assuredly find yourself inspired!



Info. on items used in tablescape above: Chinas shown above are: Homer Laughlin,floral pattern name is unknown and International, pattern is Glenwood. Homer Lauglin also made the Glenwood pattern. Sterling is Towle, King Richard. Lace chargers are from Horchow online. Candle sticks came from A Classy Flea. Sugar scuttle purchased on eBay...I still see them on there all the time.



The following blogs have beautiful tablescapes awaiting your visit:

Above the Clouds

Back Porch Musings

Bargain Hunting with Laurie

Between Naps on the Porch

Creating Myself

Deanie's Space

Deb's Country Kisses

Etiquette with Miss Janice

Happy to Be

Kathleen Ellis

Lynne's Gifts from the Heart

My Insanity

Note Songs

Oak Rise Cottage

Rose Vignettes

Salmagundi

The Gypsy's Corner

Tesoro Fino-Fine Treasures

The House in the Roses

The Happy Wonderer

Thinkin'of Home

Wings of Eagles

Jenni at Rate My Space

Welcome to the 6th Tablescape Tuesday! Crocheted with Love

A few months back, I put together a tablescape using a crocheted luncheon set created by my Mom in 1956. Gollum did a wonderful posting about it on her blog, Designs by Gollum. I thought I would post it here on my blog in celebration of this week's Tablescape Tuesday. :-)

My Mom crocheted this luncheon set during the period she was awaiting my arrival. Despite many forays into antique shops over the years, I've never seen another one like it.



Here's a picture of Mom and me taken right around the time she would have been completing the luncheon set. (Sorry about the quality of the pic...the original is this way, too.)




This vintage china with the pink band and the gardenia in the center, is made by International. The pattern is called Glenwood. Homer Laughlin also made this same pattern. I found it at a local antique shop and just loved it.


It gives me the chills seeing them together...the crocheted pieces look like they were designed to coordinate with this china. Makes me wonder what china she used with these pieces...I'm guessing she had some particular china in mind when she crocheted them.


Look at the intricate detail work in these place mats...I love the pretty spring colors of pink and green.




The gardenias in the center of the table, came from a bush that grows right by the entrance to my garage; I get to enjoy them each day as I enter and leave my home. I love to bring them into the house during their long blooming season. Their fragrance is intoxicating and within just a few hours, it fills each room of my home.


Mom also crocheted pieces to go under serving pieces. You can see one of the oval shaped pieces in the pic below.


Front side of the oval serving piece...


Each piece is double-sided. Having crocheted a fair amount myself, I know how much work went into making this luncheon set. Since each piece is double sided, it's almost like crocheting it twice!

I paired the International Glenwood china with another floral Homer Laughlin china I already had. Here you can see a round crocheted serving piece under the bowl.


Close-up of front...


And of the back...


Cute little doilies or hot pads...


I love the little sleeves she created for glasses...aren't they adorable?! Can't you just see it...ladies dining out on the porch, dressed in beautiful sun dresses and big floppy hats, and drinking sweet iced-tea from glasses surrounded by delicate crocheted flowers.


My sister, Glenda, who is 10 years older than me, well remembers our Mother crocheting this luncheon set. Glenda told me she wanted the set to be perfect. As she worked on it, if she discovered 3/4 of the way through a piece that she had made a mistake, she would finish the piece and then give it away. If she was only a short distance into a piece, and noticed a mistake, she would unravel the thread and began again. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist...I think I may have come by it honest!


I love the story behind this picture of my Mom. I've been told that the reason it looks so worn and creased is because my Dad carried this picture with him everywhere he was stationed during WWII.




Hope you enjoyed this journey back to a time when dining was met with great anticipation and was celebrated in the most enchanting ways.

Please take time to visit the blogs shown below. If you would like to participate in Tablescape Tuesday next week, just click on the pink Tablescape Tuesday logo at the top of my sidebar for all the details.

The following blogs have wonderful tablescapes awaiting your visit:

A Beach Cottage http://www.abeachcottage.typepad.com/

A Santamaker’s Journey http://santamakersjourney.blogspot.com/

Angelic Accents http://angelicaccents.blogspot.com/

Between Naps on the Porch http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Blinks ‘N Winks from Brown-eyes http://blinksnwinksfrombrown-eyes.blogspot.com/

Love From MN http://lovefrommn.blogspot.com/

More Than Heirlooms http://more-than-heirlooms.blogspot.com/

Ribbonwood Cottage http://ribbonwoodcottage.blogspot.com/

Sweet Nothings http://sweetnothingsbj.blogspot.com/

There is Always Thyme for... http://thereisalwaysthymefor.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Southern Lagniappe http://southernlagniappe.blogspot.com/