Stars and Stripes Forever...

Happy Memorial Day, Everyone!!   The table I created today can be used for these next few holidays: today, for Memorial Day, June 14th for Flag Day and July 4th for the Fourth of July.  I enjoyed putting it together, and spent the beginning of this week checking out Tuesday Morning to see what would work for my table, without breaking the bank!

Here's the Table:

Here's How It Was Created:

I started with a red checked vinyl tablecloth that I found at Big Lots. I don't generally use vinyl cloths inside the house (usually they're for use outside on the picnic table!) but I wanted this dinner to be informal, and thought the tablecloth would reflect this.

I added a navy blue placemat for contrast and as a base for my dish stack.

I found these square paper plates at Big Lots and absolutely loved the pattern, so I decided to use them for the celebration. Memorial Day dinner fare is usually B-B-Q tri-tip, hamburgers or hot dogs, potato and fruit salad, corn-on-the-cob, baked beans and garlic toast; so a bit of informality with paper plates is appropriate.

I found these red, white and blue salad plates decorated with an anchor while at Tuesday Morning. I actually saw them one day, rejected them as not a necessity, thought about them all night, then went back the next day and was relieved to still find them there! Has that ever happened to any of you?  I figure I can use them for these summer tables and maybe even a nautical table I have been thinking about (I collect lighthouses and nautical items!) They are labeled cmg: handmade in Portugal.

My place setting is completed with red goblets from Home Goods, and plastic plaid tumblers from Ross. The flatware is from WalMart.  My red-checkered napkins have been in my linen collection for some time now.  I also added a white bread-and-butter plate that is unmarked and found as a set of four on an antiquing hunt.  The knife spreaders were a find at Tuesday Morning. I'm quite pleased with their quality and detail of decoration. There are four different patterns.

My centerpiece started with a basket platter that I found at Home Goods. It came with the red gingham ribbon, but I figure I can weave other colors of ribbon depending upon my table design. Right now, the red gingham works well!  I found the patriotic pitcher in Tuesday Morning and it is sitting in a pie plate that was gifted to me by a dear friend. I love the fact that a recipe for apple pie decorates the bottom of the plate!  Ceramic salt and pepper shakers and faux flowers from Michael's as well as weighted star-burst decorations festooned with small American flags from Michael's complete the centerpiece for my Memorial Day table.

I love the colors of red, white and blue together, and their brightness really accentuates that this table will be for a special family dinner to honor the brave men and women of our armed forces who spend their lives making sure our freedom is safe, and to remember those who have perished in the service of our country to insure the Stars and Stripes of our Flag will Forever fly over our precious land as a symbol of its strength and pride.

                                                                    Enjoy your day!
    I'll be linking up to Christine's Table It! Link Party at  www.rustic-refined.com
    and Susan's Tablescape Thursay at www.betweennapsontheporch.net
                                    Thank you, Ladies, for hosting these fun parties!


Thank you in advance for your kind comments. Your encouragement is so appreciated!

Welcome to Butterfly Meadow, CA

After Easter last year, a local department store was having a sale on the Lenox pattern, Butterfly Meadow.  I had always oohed and ahhed at these dishes.  They have scalloped edges and their white porcelain finish is accented with four different garden patterns of delicate sprigs of flowers, ladybugs, bumblebees and of course, colorful butterflies.  There are  numerous accent pieces, as well: platters, cream and sugar sets, salt and pepper shakers, vases, mugs, bread and butter plates (highlighted with spring pastel-colored borders), bowls and teapots.  I could never pass the display in the store without stopping by to admire the sets.  Few tablescapers could resist the call of these lovely dishes!  My Hubby saw me stop in my tracks as I gazed at the sale prices last year.  He was very impressed with the price on the boxed sets (4 place settings which included dinner and salad plates and mugs).   Before I knew it, three boxed sets made their way to the check-out line, and my table for this year's Easter Dinner was set!! ( Sorry, ladies, this generous man is taken!!).  Over this year I added accent pieces, as well as a tablecloth and napkins and napkin rings.  I have been eagerly anticipating Easter Dinner this year because not everyone knew they'd be greeted by a new set of Lenox plates.  The pictures that follow show how my Easter table turned out.  I don't generally like a "matchy-matchy" table, but I was happy with the outcome of this one.

Here's the table: (There were 11 adults at the main table)

Here's How It Was Created:

I started with my Butterfly Meadow tablecloth.  It is a garden tableau of flowers, dragonflies, butterflies and bumblebees.  I was so happy to find it in a Banquet size because we have to use all four table leaves when the family comes to dinner now (four daughters and four sons-in-law, plus a cousin!)

For my first layer of the dish stack I decided to use my silver chargers from Michael's.  I decided I wanted a formal look this year to highlight my new dinnerware.

The next layer of the dish stack is the dinner plate.  There are 4 different patterns to the set.  I LOVE each one.

Next comes the salad plate.  Again, each plate reflects a different view of the garden. I especially adore the tiny ladybugs that find their way onto each plate!  Can you see the one crawling on the green leaf?

I used a silver napkin sheath to surround the napkins that match the tablecloth and added the butterfly napkin rings that are designed to coordinate with the tablecloth and plates.  There are turquoise, pink, yellow and green enameled napkin rings.  And they finish my dish stack.

I completed each place setting with my Mikasa Regent Bead flatware and Mikasa water glasses.

I kept my centerpiece small because everyone in the family contributed a side dish and I knew there would be a full dinner table, so I needed the room for serving pieces!  It consisted of an Easter Bunny I found at HomeGoods many years ago, nestled in some Easter grass and sitting atop an Easter plate found on a trip to Northern CA at a favorite gift shop we always stop at while traveling up north.  I had room for a special pair of candlesticks that were a wedding gift from a precious friend.

My Fitz and Floyd salt and pepper shakers join us every Easter!

This bud vase was a Christmas gift from my daughter and son-in-law who knew I had gotten new Lenox dinnerware.

These salt and pepper shakers are a part of the Butterfly Meadow collection.

These are additional accent pieces from the Butterfly Meadow collection.

These are the salad plates with their various patterns.

These are the various dinner plate patterns in the set.



Unfortunately, the photos from the "Kid's Table" came out blurry for some reason. The 7 grandkids had their own table and I wanted to share it, so what I did do this morning is take a picture of the plates that I used for them:

All in all, it was a wonderful Easter this year.  I hope all of you had a blessed Easter surrounded by family and friends!

I'll be linking up to  www.betweennapsontheporch.net for Susan's Tablescape Thursday.
Thank you, Susan, for hosting!!

I love to read your comments. They are always an encouragement and appreciated.

If you'd like to follow my blog, please go to the top where it says, "Follow by Email".  Put in your email address and hit "Submit"!

Remember Seafoam Green and Peach?

The 60's had its burnt orange, avocado green and harvest gold for color choices. Flashforward to the 80's and early 90's when seafoam green and peach took over the color wheel!  When my husband and I were married in 1988, we hadn't registered for gifts and did not choose a wedding china pattern.  It was in the early 90's when we went on a road trip through Arizona (seeking out the Winslow Meteor Crater) that we happened upon a Mikasa Outlet store and I finally picked out the china that would become my "Wedding China" and be used for holidays and special occasions.  I'd like to share it with you today.

Here's The Table:

Here's How The Tablescape was Created:


I have used my china with many different tablecloths over the years. It coordinates with cream colored cloths, floral design tablecloths and peach or pink tablecloths.  But I decided to use the first tablecloth I purchased to go with my new china at the time.  It photographs as turquoise, but it really is a seafoam green that was so popular at the time it was purchased.

I decided to add a cream colored lace tablecloth today since I am celebrating my Wedding China, and felt the lace added a romantic layer to the setting.

I didn't have chargers back in 1991, but today I used my silver chargers from Michael's to accent the silver trim on the plates.

The first layer of my dish stack highlights the dinner plate from my set.  These dishes are Mikasa's Ceremony.   Unfortunately, the pattern was discontinued the very year I bought it, but I have found extra pieces on Replacements.Com over the years.  I love the cream color of the plates and find the pattern that encircles the plate's edge to be delicate and reminiscent of a celebratory floral swag.  The flowers are seafoam green and peach, and reflect the era in which they were designed.  Note that they are edged in silver.

My next layer is the salad plate from the set.  I also have soup bowls, but opted not to feature them today.

I remember purchasing these napkin rings from The Broadway (an old department store, long gone now).  I was so excited when I found them because they matched the colors on my china so perfectly!  Originally I used peachy pink napkins, but in later years, switched over to these floral napkins.

The place setting is completed with Mikasa Regent Bead flatware.  I love that the bottom of the flatware mirrors the fan detail underneath the floral swag on the plate edge.  The lead crystal stemware, also a wedding gift, is etched with a pattern that also mirrors this same fan detail. That was just a happy coincidence!  The stemware was made by Bohemia and the pattern is Cascade.

The centerpiece consists of a miniature rose plant I received from my stepdaughter this Mother's Day (very timely, since the flowers go so well with my china and the container actually matches my reticulated chargers for this tablescape!). I placed the plant on one of my salad plates, added crystal candlesticks (another wedding gift!) and then added the sugar bowl and creamer in the Ceremony pattern).

Some additional views of the table:

Setting this table brought back so many memories of those early years of being married.  Thinking back now, I realize purchasing this china was my first venture into the idea of dressing up a table into a coordinated presentation of china, linen, crystal and flatware.  I had no idea then that I was a budding tablescaper!

I'll be linking up with Christine for her Table It! Link Party at www.rustic-refined.com,
 Kathleen at www.cuisinekathleen.com for her Wedding China challenge and
 Susan at www.betweennapsontheporch.net for Tablescape Thursday.                                                   Many thanks, ladies, for hosting these fun parties.


If you have time, your comments are always appreciated!! To become a follower, just go to the top of my blog, fill in your email address and hit "Submit"!  Many Thanks!!