Summer Serenity

Don’t grow up too quickly lest you forget how much you love the beach. –Michelle Held

In the Photo Forum at Recipezaar, I participated in the Grilling Special for July.  The recipe I chose to make was Spicy Grilled Shrimp by bratty.  Wow, this was some delicious shrimp!  If you love shrimp and spicy foods, this recipe is a must try.

Along with the grilled shrimp, I served Cheddar Bay Biscuits, fries and a garden salad.  It was a wonderful meal!  In the spirit of seafood for dinner, the table was set with a beach theme.

I love the beach…the warm breezes, the amazing colors of an ocean sunset and the soft sounds of the waves lapping at the shore.  You can almost feel your troubles floating away on the waves.  I’ve tried to bring a bit of that tranquility to my table setting. 

I started out with turquoise straw placemats layered over a white tablecloth.  The dinner plates and bread/butter plates were white rimmed with platinum.

The salad plates each feature a different sea shell/starfish and were found at a local thrift store.

I couldn’t resist buying these goblets after my daughter spotted them on a shopping trip last year.  They just jumped in my cart and begged me to bring them home!   So what’s a girl to do?  I love how the blue glass at the top fades into a green shade at the bottom. 

Butter spreaders have a little blue fish on the handles.  This was another thrift store find that I couldn’t resist.  The napkins were recently found at Old Time Pottery and the napkin rings are clear acrylic with seashells on the top. 

I love how the turquoise blue in the placemats shines through the clear handles on the flatware.

The bowl I used in my centerpiece is an antique store purchase from many years ago.  It’s depression glass, but I don’t know if it has a pattern name.  The bowl is filled with sand and seashells.

Place cards were held by seashells and feature a tranquil beach scene.

The candles have little seashells embedded in them.  Can you spot the tiny starfish in the candle?

Seashells surround the bowl and are scattered around the table.

For the finishing touch to a delicious meal, dessert was Lemon Gold Cake.  This is an old recipe from an issue of “The Progressive Farmer”.  My grandmother had cut out the recipe and saved it with some papers in her chifferobe.

 

Thank you for visiting and I hope you’ll come back soon.

I’m joining Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for another fantabulous Tablescape Thursday.  Don’t you want to join in too?

DG

 

 

Pink Mimosa and Blue Birds

When I see Mimosa trees in bloom, it always takes me back to when I was a little girl staying with my grandmother.  She had this huge Mimosa tree in her back yard and I would lay in the shade of the tree for hours either reading, playing or just daydreaming. 

From under the tree, I could see through the kitchen window and Grandmother always seemed to be baking something wonderful.  Sometimes, she would bring out a plate of tea cakes and a pitcher of lemonade and we would have a picnic under the Mimosa.

Those summer days seemed to last forever…wish we had time travel just so I could go back and picnic with her again under that Mimosa tree.

We have a Mimosa tree down at our barn and it’s in full bloom now.   I can look out my kitchen window and see those wispy little pink blooms blowing gently in the breeze.

I had originally thought to use cherry blossoms in my centerpiece, but the Mimosa blooms just called to my heart.

I layered a white tablecloth, blue table scarf, and white lace topper on the table. 

The dinnerware has bluebirds sitting on cherry blossom branches and I placed a depression glass sherbet dish on top for dessert.

A cobalt blue salad plate and white butter dish was added.  The iced tea glasses belonged to my grandmother and they have a pretty design etched on them.

The silver salt and pepper shakers were a recent antique store find.

I used a pink damask napkin wrapped with a white one and held together with silver napkin rings.  Silver beaded placemats were used under the place settings.

Mikasa cruets were used on the table to hold salad dressings.

View of the table by candlelight. 

The next you drop by, I’ll be sure to have some tea cakes and lemonade ready.  We’ll picnic under the Mimosa.  Oh and for anyone interested, you can find the recipe for my Grandmother’s tea cakes here

I’m joining in another Tablescape Thursday with Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch. 

DG

My Super Cheap Thrift/Dollar/Flea Market Table Setting

It’s that time again…another Tablescape Thursday with Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch.

I’ve heard many people say “Oh I don’t have the money to buy all that stuff to go on the table”.  Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret in case you didn’t know it…you can find all sorts of things for table settings and find them cheaply too.   Almost every single item I used on the table below either came from a thrift store, dollar store or flea market…or best of all, it was FREE!  If it didn’t come from one of those store, I bought it at Wal-Mart when it was on sale. 

 

I’m a sucker for curly ribbon…I love it.  There’s just something cute and playful about those little springy curls.  When I found this blue and white ribbon at Dollar General one day, I decided they would be perfect on some napkin rings…so began my super cheap thrift/dollar/flea market table setting, better known as my blue and white table.

Since then, I have been on the lookout for anything blue and white that I could use in a setting.  The whole table finally came together yesterday when I found this blue and white runner at the thrift store.  $.69 and it was in perfect condition!

The blue glasses were from Wal-Mart a couple of years ago and they were marked down to $.50 for each one.  You can’t ask for much cheaper on glassware!

The oil and vinegar cruet set, found at a thrift store, is “Diamond Fire” by Mikasa.  The set still had the stickers on it and I paid a whopping $.99 for it.  The silver was just the slightest bit tarnished when I bought it, but about 2 minutes with some Simichrome and it was sparkling again.  Since my family doesn’t care much for “oil and vinegar”, I’m planning to use the set for salad dressings.

This relish tray with attached slots for salt and pepper shakers was found at the flea market.   I paid less than $1.00 for it and it was intact with all the pieces.  I think I found a bargain!   Since we’re having pulled pork for dinner tonight, the glass insert will be used to hold barbecue sauce instead of relish.

This is my most favorite thrift store find that I used on the table and was also the most expensive item.  It’s a silver plate domed butter dish and has a glass insert under the dome to hold the butter.  Underneath the glass insert is space to put crushed ice so your butter stays chilled.  Hey, for $3.00 I couldn’t leave it behind! 

For the FREE items that I mentioned above, I borrowed a blue and white vase from my aunt to use in my centerpiece.  A trip out to the fence yielded wild honeysuckle for the vase.  I also used another tiny white flower that I found growing at the edge of the woods, but I’m not sure what it is.  Regardless, it was all free!

When my daughter was a little girl, she thought if you had candles burning on the table, you were having a “fancy dinner”.  Didn’t matter if it was hot dogs and chips, if those candles were lit, it was a fancy dinner.  She is almost a teenager now, but still loves to eat by candlelight.  For dinner tonight, we’re having Mean Chef’s Pulled Pork, baked beans, a garden salad, some type of potatoes, rolls and Peach Cobbler.  Nothing sophisticated, just good down home cooking…but it will be a “fancy dinner”. 

The placemats, votive cups and candles were found at Dollar Tree.  The dinner and salad plates were bought at Wal-Mart during one of their after-Christmas sales for 75% off.

It is possible to accessorize your settings with pretty items without spending a fortune!  You’ve just got to keep your eyes and imagination open to the possibilities.  

 

The recipe for Mean Chef’s Pulled Pork can be found at Recipezaar . If you like barbecued pork, I highly recommend trying the recipe.  It is delish!  By the way, while you’re there, please stop by the Table Settings and Decorating Ideas Forum and say “Hi”.  We’d love to have you join us!

DG

Breakfast at Wisteria Hollow

It was such a gorgeous sunrise this morning so I thought I would have breakfast outside under the wisteria.  I very quickly realized this is no ordinary wisteria.  Hidden among the blossoms and in a hollow in the trunk was a whole enchanted world that I never knew existed.

As I was about to sit at the table, imagine my surprise when guests flew in to join me…

and came bearing a gift for me…my very own pair of fairy shoes!  Of course, it might be a slightly tight squeeze getting my feet into them. 

Breena brought a teapot of flower nectar for me to drink.  Yum…tastes like ambrosia.  After filling my goblet, she joined Faylinn on the fairy swing.

Liliana was very shy and quickly fluttered up into the wisteria blossoms to hide. 

From high above the fairy swing, Rhoslyn peeked out from among the blooms to say good morning to me.

Shaylee is the keeper of all fairy legends and she entertained me with magical stories of elves and dragons.

Tania and Nissa listened in fascination as Shaylee recounted a wondrous tale of adventure.

I so admired Carling’s wreath of roses that Dulcina gave her to wear.  Before flitting away, Dulcina also presented me with a wreath for my hair. 

Come, if you will, and join me tomorrow morning under the wisteria. 

I’ll set the table for two…or twenty.

Oh and in Wisteria Hollow…shoes are optional. 

I hope all your days are wonderfully enchanting!  I’m joining Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.  Be sure to stop in and see all the beautiful tables!

 

DG

Easter Table Setting

I’m a little late, but am joining Susan for another Tablescape Thursday (in my case, Tablescape Saturday) at Between Naps on the Porch.  Please stop by and see all the beautiful tables!

I've been playing around with my Easter table setting this week and think it's just about done.  I might do a bit more tweaking, but this is basically it.  We won't be home for lunch on Sunday, so I'm planning a candlelight Easter dinner for tonight. 

I started with a pink damask tablecloth.  Over it, I layered a pretty pastel runner that I found at a thrift store.  Lots of little bunnies are scattered around the table.

I found these vintage cabbage leaf salad plates at an antique store.  They're signed on the bottom and are from the 1960's.  I also found the porcelain eggs in the same antique store and decided to use them as napkin rings.

There was a matching lidded cabbage bowl with the plates.  It's being used to hold the centerpiece.  Since I used wisteria in the arrangement, I had to lift the bowl up on a crystal candleholder.  I'll probably move the arrangement to a side table when we sit down to eat.

I normally use silk flowers, but I couldn’t pass up these roses when I saw them.  I have learned a valuable lesson...when working with fresh flowers, if you're not putting them in a vase, always buy floral foam for them! :shock:   See how they just want to flop over on the sides of the bowl???  So...guess what I'm off to the store this afternoon to buy??? 

I was tickled pink to use these glasses that my sweet DH gave me for Valentine's Day.  I spotted them in my favorite antique shop and he surprised me with them.  He's such a sweetie.

After taking the photos, I added pastel curling ribbon at the top of the eggs for just a bit of added color.

One last photo...the table by candlelight.