It's Time for Corned Beef and Cabbage!

It's hard to believe that March 17th is almost here, and it's time to celebrate St. Patrick's Day again!  I always look forward to cooking Corned Beef and Cabbage on this day (love that one pot meal!), but this year, I'm adding a festive tablescape to the plan.  Green is absolutely my favorite color, and I was surprised to realize when I started planning this tablescape that I really didn't have green dishware in my stockpile of dishes.  As a new tablescaper, I think I was concentrating on collecting neutral colors, along with the brightly patterned dishes I have always favored.  So, without breaking the "monthly tablescaping budget", I had to get creative for this post.

Here's How It Turned Out:

Here's How It Was Created:

I started with a placemat I had gotten at Pier One on clearance.  It's reversible and I think I'll get lots of use from it as spring and summer approach.

Next came a shamrock placemat I found at Dollar Tree.

I used my Open Scrollwork chargers from Maryland China Company.
Thanks for Pat and Katie from
http://tableforonetablescapes.blogspot.com and http://thewelcomedguest.blogspot.com                         for an idea I saw on their website.  I intertwined St. Patrick's Day ribbon from Michael's through the charger border to make them a St. Patrick's Day accessory.

These tea towels are from Dollar Tree and I just love the shamrock pattern!  They make for a large dinner napkin, but at least everyone's laps will stay clean!

I did make one plate purchase at Home Goods for this table.  These green glass dishes are labeled, "Villa Collection, Made in Turkey", and were on clearance for $2.00.  I stopped my dish stack here.  I usually do a buffet on St. Patrick's Day, so we'll start with salad at the table.

The setting is completed with green glasses from Pier One and my scroll flatware from World Market. I thought this flatware would work with this setting because it reminded me of a shillelagh!! (I couldn't even look this word up in the dictionary; I had to google "Irish walking stick" to get the correct spelling!!)

The centerpiece starts with one of my white placemats from Macy's.  I had bought this white vase at Marshall's and felt it would be a good addition to my tablescaping larder.  It is marked "Farval, Made in Portugal", and is perfect for holding flowers.  The green carnations are from Dollar Tree and the "baby's breath" is from Michael's.  I added two necklaces of shamrocks from Dollar Tree, but still felt something else was missing. I looked at my hubby's "frog collection" and decided these Murano Glass frogs were the perfect color and looked like they were playing an Irish Jig! So---they became part of my St. Patrick's Day table!   The leprechaun hat was from the Dollar Tree store, too.  It was just too cute to pass up.  I wonder who will end up wearing it after dinner!?

After salad, everyone will pick up a Metaceramica dinner plate from the table and head to the kitchen to serve themselves corned beef, cabbage, and boiled potatoes and carrots.

The serving pieces on the table are for applesauce, extra vegetables and Irish Soda Bread! Yum!!! I can almost smell dinner right now!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!! I really stayed in budget for this tablescape.  It's a good thing The Dollar Tree store is close by and Home Goods is not far, either!!

  I'll be linking up to Susan's Tablescape Thursday at www.betweennapsontheporch.net  and Kathleen's St. Patrick Day's Blog Crawl at  www.cuisinekathleen.com.  Be sure to join these parties to see what others have come up with.  Thank you, Susan and Kathleen, for hosting!!

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I always appreciate your comments and look forward to hearing from you!!  Rosie