Hey friends! I can’t believe that May is almost over, although I seem to be saying that almost every month lately. Time seems to fly the older I get. Today I’m going to share my Memorial Day Table with you. However, before I get to that, I want to do a little housekeeping first.

Memorial Day has always been a favorite holiday for me.

As a child it signaled the end of the school year.

As an adult, it means many things to me.

The weather is getting warmer, the day’s are getting longer and summer is just beginning.

More importantly, it’s a time to think about and honor those heroes that have fought for our freedom.

Also, to remember those who have died to preserve it.

My grandfather was one of those who fought for our country and I couldn’t be prouder.

So Thank you to all of the men and women who have served!

Normally, Memorial Day would find us in our backyard.

The Hubs would be grilling while the rest of us would be visiting or playing games.

However, this is how our backyard looks right now.

A big empty, almost finished pool, a whole lot of concrete and a ton of work to be done.

Hopefully it will be finished in time to celebrate, but just in case it isn’t I’ve come up with a simple, fun and colorful Memorial Day Table for indoors.

Of course, the color scheme is red, white and blue.

When setting a table, I generally work from the center out.

I laid out a white table runner, followed by a red, white and blue berry candle ring placed in the center of the table.

I put one of my favorite white lanterns on top of the berries.

On each side of my lantern, I placed mason jars filled with red geraniums to complete my centerpiece.

Now for my place settings.

I went for a fun, eclectic style for my table.

Full of color and  a lot of mix and match patterns.

The key to making so many patterns work without it seeming like the busiest Jackson Pollock painting on steroids,  is to make sure the all of the patterns are different in size.

In my place setting the buffalo plaid is the largest, then the bandana salad plate, the charger is next and the smallest is the red and white polk-a-dot plate.

Had I put this many same sized patterns together it would have had you seeing crossed eyed into next week.

Also, be sure to add some solids into the mix, as they allow a place for the eyes to stay “grounded”. 

 A plain navy placemat starts off my place setting, followed by a navy and white bamboo charger.

The blue buffalo check napkin is nestled under the red and white polka-dot plate.

 A blue bandana salad plate finishes off the place setting.

The navy placemat was actually a natural color when I bought it years ago.

I simply spray painted it!

The red silverware is a new addition this year.

I love how it adds the perfect pop of color to an almost all blue setting.

If you look closely you can see the prettiest blue glassware.

Also a new purchase this year.

These pretty little glasses make my heart sing every time I look at them.

Not only are they pretty, but they are the perfect size for a glass of tea!

For a little added sparkle, I hung a red, white and blue star garland on my white hutch.

I love that this table is simple, yet filled with fun and color.

It screams summer for me.

But the best part?

With the exception of the centerpiece and the glasses it’s all plastic!

So, if we do get the patio ready in time for the holiday, it’s a simple task to move this table setting outside to our new patio dining table.

It really is the perfect Memorial Day table!

I’ve tried to link the items from my table, in some cases these items were out of stock so I chose some that are similar for you!

Navy straw Placemats / Blue Glassware /  Red and White Polk-a-dot Plate / Navy Bandana Plate /

Star Garland / White Lantern

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I have a confession to make. I always have, and always will, want to sit at the children’s table. Especially the Children’s Easter table! Why? Well, it’s way more fun! There’s giggles and laughs. Juvenile jokes. Silliness abounds! And the children’s table is always more colorful and has lots of surprises. In our family, on The Hubs side, there are 11 littles. Ages 16 all the way down to 2. So we always have one, or more, children’s table. Not only do I love sitting at them, I love decorating them!
I always start with my centerpiece. The centerpiece doesn’t have to be big or elaborate. I find that, for the most part, the simpler the better. This year’s centerpiece started with an adorable white bunny and some fresh flowers! For filler I added some felt flowers and some colorfully wrapped candy.

Next up, the place settings. When I do place settings I always use plastic or things that don’t break. Fabric that can be easily washed. In the past few years I’ve leaned toward plastic plates over paper plates. You would be surprised at how far plastic disposable tableware has come in the past few years! There are some really great looking products out there.
I started with some really cute white with light blue polka dotted square placemats. They had me at rick rack! Those sweet placemats have co-ordinating napkins that were perfect for the sweet wooden bunny head napkin rings I found on sale last year.

Next I added a pink straw placemat for color.
Followed by some glitter purple chargers. I think my favorite part of this placesetting is the dishes. Yes, they are plastic! I love the shape, color and the detail on each plate. And don’t get me started on the pink silverware. And the best part? They cost me about $4.00 per 8 plates. I have a few extras of these and since I love them so much they may find their way into the Little’s play area. Wouldn’t they be cute for a pretend tea party?

This year each place setting has a chocolate bunny, a carrot and a mini cupcake for dessert. Who cares if they eat dessert first? Being at Aunt T’s is like being at Grandmas! Seriously though, I will probably wait to put out the cupcakes until after dinner. The chocolate, however, is fair game!
If you have children, or parents, who aren’t a big fan of candy, this would be the perfect place for a cute, small goodie easter bag or basket. Maybe a small coloring book with crayons to keep them entertained? Or even a small game or puzzle! The possibilities are endless.

To designate seating, I made these easter egg place card holders. If you missed it, you can see how I made them here. I simply added each child’s first initial to each egg.

“A” is for Adriana!What little doesn’t like seeing their name, or initial, on anything? Plus, it eliminates arguing on who’s going to sit where.

I may or may not remember a year when there was a wrestling match over a specific chair! 

Overall I’m pretty happy with this years table. It’s bright, happy, colorful and fun. The Children’s Easter table is complete.Let the wild rumpus begin! Until next time….

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I can’t believe that it’s already time for Easter! Which means that it’s time to set my Easter table. This year my theme is a Woodland Easter table. Which is really like nothing I have ever done for Easter. Ever. 

My Easter table is usually full of bright pastels, however a few months ago I saw a table setting that really stuck with me. 

They had used a ton of ferns, sticks and greenery along with bold turquoises and golds. 

It was beautiful! 

So when it came time to decide a theme for this years table, all I could think about were those rich, warm tones.

I started with my centerpiece. For years I have used this white bunny as the star of the table. He’s the perfect size and I can use any color I want to with him, he’s so versatile.

Next to him I placed a twig basket filled with flowers and easter eggs in golds and turquoises. I wanted the easter eggs to have not only color, but texture. As you can see, eggs were painted both turquoise and gold. On a few eggs I added a little gold leaf. And a few eggs I cut out the tiniest little flowers and glued them all over the eggs for a fun textured look.

For filler around the bunny and basket used greenery, flowers, moss and garland. Then sprinkled a few more easter eggs here and there and my centerpiece was finished. Now for the the place settings!

The place settings started with a natural woven placemat. Of course a gold charger was a must to tie in with the gold easter eggs. I used white hob nail plates that I picked up at Home Goods years ago. The Bordallo Pinnero lettuce salad plates were a Tuesday Morning find years ago. These salad plates usually make an appearance somewhere in my home at Easter as they remming me of Peter Rabbit eating out of farmer McGregor’s garden!

For a place card, I thought that birds nest filled with turquoise eggs would be perfect! I simply wrote each guests name on the eggs with a gold sharpie. The flatware is silver with gold beading. I also used my favorite turquoise glasses.

My woodland Easter table is probably one of my favorites that I have ever done. It makes me feel as if my bunny hopped right out of the forest and brought all the beauty of it with him.

Bring on Easter dinner!
Until next time…..

With all of the extra time on my hands lately I’ve been doing a lot of things I don’t normally have time to do. I’ve been cleaning, sorting, crafting, reading, and finishing a lot of unfinished projects. All are a good thing. I picked up a few things from the Dollar Tree awhile back with the intent of giving them a little makeover. Today I’m sharing a super easy Dollar Tree Easter Bunny Centerpiece!

I saw this really cute bunny door sign and thought it was so cute, except for one thing.

The paper spring banner.

While not ugly, I just felt like I could take it to another level.

So, I decided to make my own Easter banner! I’m not sure if you know it, but Dollar Tree has a lot of really great craft supplies. Like this burlap ribbon.

Step 1:

Remove the Spring paper banner and add jute string in its place. I glued the jute string on with hot glue.

Step 2:

Make a new banner.

I took the old Spring banner and traced one of the triangles on it. Using that as a pattern, I cut out 6 burlap triangles and 6 hot pink triangles. The hot pink came from some scrap material that I already had. Once I had my triangles cut out, I added glitter self stick letters to each one. Instead of my banner reading Spring, my new one will say Easter. Once your triangles are finished, hot glue them onto the jute string to make your banner.

Step 3:

Now, this cute bunny was made to hang. Initially my intent was to make a centerpiece with this bunny, however as I was putting him together I thought he might also look good hanging out in my entryway. One small tiny problem. How to put him in an arrangement? I took a BBQ skewer and glued it to the back. This worked great, but the back looked awful! So I traced the bunny shape onto some cute paper and glued it to the back, hiding the BBQ skewer..

Step 4:

The bunny had a hole in each ear with jute string attached that made it easy to hang. Since I was putting it in a centerpiece, I didn’t need the string and the holes needed to be covered. These paper flowers were the perfect size to cover those holes.

Step 5:

I had this cute metal container that I’ve been waiting to put something in. I added a brick of styrofoam, a glass vase and lots of pretty blue Easter grass. This is the base for the centerpiece.

Step 6:

Putting the centerpiece together. I stuck the BBQ stick with the bunny on it into the styrofoam. Then added some pink Easter grass on top of the blue. The blue grass was a little too bright blue for this arrangement, but it was perfect for filler.

Step7:

Embellish! Now, every Easter Bunny needs some Easter eggs. Maybe a few carrots? Add in a cute, bright bow and my Easter centerpiece is finished! All it needs is some pretty spring flowers to fill the vase.

I found the softest pink tulips at my local Market Street that were the perfect addition to my Dollar Tree Easter Bunny centerpiece. Even better – I don’t have to worry about changing flowers weekly or watering.

I recently found these cute felt flowers and thought that they needed to be a part of the arrangement. The bow found another home and the felt flowers finished the centerpiece.

Such a super easy and fun craft.

Now, if you will excuse me, I’m off to read, or clean, or paint, or…..

Until next time….

I don’t know about you, but we don’t spend a lot of time or money on Valentine’s Day. It’s not that I don’t like Valentine’s Day. I mean, what’s not to like? Cards, candy, hearts from your loved ones. That’s a good day to me. I think that the biggest reason we don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day in a big way is that we are just coming off Christmas and in January we celebrate 8 birthdays of family and friends. It’s a lot! However, while I don’t go all out for Valentine’s Day, I do want to give it a nod even if I don’t always have a ton of time. Today I’m sharing how to set a Valentine’s Table in 15 minutes or less!

Okay, set your timer and let’s go! First, start with a clean table. If you are like me and you don’t have a red table cloth or table runner a cute alternative is wrapping paper. The great thing about wrapping paper is that when you are done, you can simply throw it away or if your family is way neater than mine, you can use it to wrap a gift at a later date!

Next, I perused my placemats and found these red ones that I used at Christmas. I love their texture against the smooth wrapping paper.

After the placemat, it was charger time. I admit to a ten second debate with myself to use either the bright red one you see here, or a gold one. As you can see, the red won.

Since I had a lot of red going on, I used white hob nail dinner and salad plates. I use these a lot because they are so versatile. In this case I used two different patterns to give my place setting a little interest.

Next up, napkins. I chose to use a white linen napkin that has the cutest teeny tiny pom pom trim. Instead of a traditional napkin ring, I used red ribbon with tiny white poms on it. Just tie it in a bow and you are all set. I had a few sticky backed felt hearts left over from another project and knew that they would be a perfect embellishment for the ribbon napkin rings.

A red water glass and silverware complete the place settings for my Valentine’s table.

We are not done yet! I still have about 6 minutes left.
Every table needs a cute centerpiece. Don’t have time to go buy fresh flowers? I used a white stoneware pitcher and filled it with red napkins. Popped it onto a wooden tray and filled in the open spots with greenery and red hearts. The centerpiece was finished! Simple, fast and easy.

My Valentine’s table is finished with plenty of time to spare. And it was done in under 15 minutes. I love that it’s cute, but more importantly I love that everything that I used, I already had.

Now if you wanted to, you could always add a few extra touches to glam it up a bit more. Wouldn’t vintage valentines be cute to lay around the table?Or if you have extra chocolate candy pieces, it would be super cute to put a piece at each place setting for dessert. Maybe some conversation hearts? Although at our house there are no extra pieces of candy laying around, trust me!

What better way to show your loved ones that you love them than making dinner just a little extra special. And the best part is that you used what you had on hand and that it took very little time to put it all together!

I hope that you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day celebration.

Until next time…

Have you ever had a party right after you moved? And if you had that party and realized that you couldn’t find half of you Christmas dining decor what would you do? Normally I would have an over the top, drop dead gorgeous centerpiece before a party. But that was not to be. So, I did what any resourceful woman would do, I threw together a five minute centerpiece. And you know what? I loved it!

I started with a clean, shiny table and added my favorite furry white table runner.

Once that was done, I did some digging in the leftover Christmas boxes. I found these 4 evergreen picks, pinecones, an old truck with a felt Santa driving it, and a few red candle holders.Game on! I took the greenery picks and laid them out on the table like this.

Once my greenery was placed, I rounded up a small string of fairy lights.I wrapped them carefully in the greenery picks, being care to keep the stings as hidden as possible.

I took the old truck that I found and placed it in the middle of the greenery.

There were a few “holes” on the sides of the truck .To hide those I added a couple of pinecone picks on each side of the truck.

To complete my centerpiece, I added two red mercury glass candle holders on either side of the truck. My centerpiece was done. Time? 4 minutes 57 seconds.

Once my centerpiece was done, I set my table. And you know what? I didn’t miss the big, elaborate, time consuming centerpiece that I normally do! Not being able to find my Christmas decor and dishes turned out to to be one happy accident that taught me a valuable lesson!

Until next time….

A few weeks ago i participated in the Tablescape Inspiration DIY Challenge. I made these placemats to go on my Thanksgiving table. I promised that I would share my table with you at a later date. Well, today is that day!

Each pacesetting started with a light turquoise quilted placemat, followed by an orange charger. My hobnail white plates were a natural choice for me, as my napkins and salad plates both had white backgrounds.

The napkins are from the Pioneer Woman line. I bought them a few years ago and added a different colorful trim to each one of them.

If you look closely you will also see that I used two different pumpkin themed salad plates! I love a complimentary mis-matched table!

My turquoise goblets were a fun find a year ago in the clearance isle at Hobby Lobby! At a few dollars each they were a steal!

One of my new purchases this year was the eucalyptus greenery. Half of my family is allergic to eucalyptus, so finding a good looking faux stem or vine has been on my list for awhile.

This wooden pumpkin has been around for quite a few years, however I’m still in love with it and use it a lot during the fall season.
I dug out my brass candlesticks and added these light turquoise and gold candles.

As you can see, my Thanksgiving table is a little more simple than in years past.
While it has a ton of neutrals, it also has it’s fair share of color! Which is right up my alley!

Until next time….

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Now that spring is here it’s time to add a some new decor to the castle. I don’t know why, but I always seem to start doing a little tweaking and rearranging for each new season or holiday in my kitchen. It’s almost always with my table or hutch. This time I went with a Spring tablescape as my first project.

I’ve had these bunny plates for several years now, but haven’t used them as much as I would have liked.

For some reason, I was determined to use them this year.

Normally, I would start with a place mat and then add a charger.

However, this time I used two placemats instead of a charger.

I love how the navy “string” placemat adds some much needed texture to the place setting.

Next, I added my white hob nail plates, followed by the blue and white bunny plates.

Everything you see here, with the exception of the bunny, silverware, and glassware all came from Home Goods over the past few years.

The silverware is from Southern Living at Home and the glassware is from The Pioneer Woman collection at Walmart.

I had several different napkin rings in mind, but in the end went with a simple blue and white check ribbon.

I used simple white bunnies that I found at Walmart and drew on the name with a sharpie for my place card.

This is super easy to do!

If you mess up, no worries.

I may have shared this tip before, but it is worth a repeat share again.

Simply take a paper towel and some nail polish remover and wipe off the sharpie.

Super easy and doesn’t harm the ceramic finish on the rabbit.

Note: you may want to test this on the underside of your ceramic piece just to make sure your piece is safe to write on and is safe to use the remover!

My centerpiece has been pretty much the same the past few years.

Mainly, because I love this bunny so much. He’s my favorite!

I think that this is one of my most favorite Spring tablescapes ever.

Mainly, because everything I used I had on hand.

Which is really rare for me!

I was determined that this year I would be a little more thrifty and be a lot more responsible in my purchases.

Sometimes, adulting is so hard!

Until next time…..

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Happy September y’all! I hope that you had a fun Labor Day weekend. We had a fun weekend, however you know I fit in a little time to decorate for early fall in the dining room.

Well, lets be honest. I found time to sprinkle a little early fall here and there all over the castle! Even though it’s hot here in Texas, September definitely signals fall leaves, pumpkins, mums and hopefully cooler temperatures.

If you’ve followed along with me recently, you know I’m really holding myself back on pulling out the fall pumpkins. However, next week is September. Which for me means busting out the fall decor. So today I want to show you how easy setting an early fall table is.

But before the sharing begins, I want to tell you a quick story. One of the best things about blogging is “meeting” new friends. I’ve truly made some of the best of friends, even if I’ve never met them in person.  I love reading their post, comments and the great ideas that I receive from them. One of those peeps for me is Rita at Panoply.

There is nothing quite like setting a pretty table. Pretty napkin rings. Fun Dishes. Colorful glasses and white plates. Beautiful flowers.

Yes, please. I’ll take all of those.  However, pretty napkin rings and napkins may be my favorite part of the table setting.

I am always so excited when it’s time to decorate my St. Patrick’s Day table. Due to the weather the past few weeks, I haven’t gotten much painting done, so I’ve been looking for fun indoor projects to do. This was the perfect project for me.

My centerpiece is always an Oxalis plant, which has the sweetest leaves that remind me of four leaf clovers. You can’t see them now, but this plant has the tiniest white blooms on it. So sweet. Whenever I see an oxalis plant, I know that Spring is on it’s way!

My Easter table reveal is here! I love Easter, don’t you? All of the beautiful spring colors, plants, easter clothes, egg hunts and family time. It just puts me in my happy place.

One of my favorite parts of family time is Easter dinner. It’s probably why I spend so much time thinking about my Easter table decor. Recently, I polled all of you dear readers and asked for your help deciding which place setting to use on my Easter table. Today I’m sharing the results of that poll!

St. Patrick’s Day 2017 is just around the corner!  I don’t go all out decorating for ST. Patrick’s day, but I do like to spread a little green around the house before I get my Easter decor out.

I love St. Patrick’s day, mainly because it reminds me of spring. Four leaf clovers, pots of gold, kissing of the blarney stone, and wearing of the green or you get a pinch. What’s not to love? Since it’s a quick little holiday, I like to keep things super easy , simple, and low cost!

This year, for some reason, I really got into decorating with red, white and blue for the summer months.

 Which is really strange.  I don’t usually choose those colors.  My red, white and blue table is a good example of this.

Who says that you can’t use paper plates to have a really cute Pokeno decor theme for your table?

I have been on over load lately. I admit that I really dropped the ball. Trying to get the house and yard company ready with all the rain has been challenging. Add two trips to Oklahoma and one trip to Austin in a week, plus a day off to go to the Ranger game and I will admit to not having a whole lot of  time to put a girls Pokeno night together..

Ok…Somehow I posted my DIY Christmas Friday #6 before #5. How does that happen? It couldn’t be that I’m losing my mind??? Anyway, just pretend that #6 was #5 and we will be good to go!  I shared my Christmas Dining room with you and I promised you I’d show you how to make these Christmas chargers. Since it is DIY Christmas Friday #5 it is the perfect time to show you how to make a Christmas charger!

A quick visit to the local Dollar Tree to purchase these gold chargers.

Then a quick couple of coats of flat black spray paint. Yes, the irony is not lost on me here. Normally, I would be spray painting chargers gold – I am addicted in love with Krylon’s Gold Metallic spray paint!

Although they are a bit shiny here, when dry they will be flat and have the appearance of a chalkboard.

Next  I printed off my design about one and one half to two inches tall. Instead of trying to figure out the “curve” I needed I just printed it out normally , then cut the letters apart and placed them as I went. I had white transfer paper from  Michael’s that I used to transfer  the design to the charger as you see here.

tip: start at the top placing your lettering. Once done tracing the lettering, find the center. Lay a ruler vertically from the center of the top lettering down to the bottom of the charger. Lightly mark. This should be the center of your lettering on the lower edge.  To trace your lettering on the bottom of charger, start in the middle and work your way out.

Once you have transferred the outline of your lettering, color in the letters with white paint pens. I also found these at Michael’s for about $3.00 each.

I wanted a little more detail on my charger, so I colored the very top of the raised dots that are on the edge. Again coloring with my paint pen.

Your lettering may be a little streaky, but that’s okay. It’s suppose to look as if you colored it in with chalk. If this really bugs you, give your design another coat of paint.

There you have it. I painted Merry Christmas on all eight of my chargers, but really it would be fun to put a different sentiment on every charger too!

I think I spent a total of $1.50 on each charger as I already had the transfer paper and left over spay paint.  Not too bad for a custom look on your table!

Until next time….

                         Tammy

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Stone gable The Scoop #202

I can’t believe it, but it’s time to get your jingle on! Especially if you are going to make some of your Christmas gifts, crafts or decor. In keeping with the spirit, Fridays here at the castle, from now until Christmas, will be DIY Christmas Friday. The Queen has decreed it so!

I’m starting with a craft that is so simple to do I’m almost embarrassed. At the same time it’s so dang cute I can’t help but share it with you! It’s a Christmas tree place card holder! Or you could just use it as a sweet decoration like I have it here.

Here’s what you are going to need:

Christmas trees

Christmas tree decorations – teeny tiny ones

Hot glue gun and glue

White felt

Printer and printer paper

Extreme glitter paint

Silver ink pad

Wire

It all started when I found this sweet tree at Wally World ( Wal Mart). It comes complete with a cool star and bling.

I hot glued some tiny jingle bell ornaments and tinsel onto the tree.

Then I attached about eight inches of wire to the top of the star.  I curled the wire several times on the end so that it could hold a place card.

Using my computer I found a font I liked then printed out the word ” Believe”.  Although you could use any word that means something to you!

Using a silver ink pad I added ink to the edges to give it some color and dimension.

Y’all know that I can’t do anything without a little sparkle. In this case Extreme Glitter is your friend, trust me on this. It gives you just enough sparkle without taking over!

The tree already had a cool base. I just wanted to give it a little more weight. So I cut out a piece of white felt about the same circumference as the base of the tree. Then with card stock, I cut out another circle with zig zag edge scissors about 1/4 inch larger than the felt circle. Glue the felt circle to the paper circle.

I gave the paper circle the same treatment as I did the “believe” sign.

Glue the base to your tree. That’s it. So dang easy!

Cute, right?  I can just see a table with one at each place setting, or in a winter vignette with different sized trees.  These would also be cute with green trees and tons of bling.

I hope that you love these as much as I do. Give it a try – you will be amazed at how easy these are!

Don’t forget to come back every Friday from now until Christmas to get your jingle on cause it’s DIY Christmas Friday!!

Until next time….

                      Tammy

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I can’t believe it. I finally found a way to do it – use my blue dining room colors in my Thanksgiving decor. I have a blue and brown Thanksgiving table!

I know! It’s not your traditional Thanksgiving table decor. It’s not even your popular decor. But it works in my dining room. Which is HUGE for me. I always loved my Thanksgiving table, but I hated that it looked like I just plopped fall colors in the middle of all of my blue.

I’m not sure when it hit me that I could just incorporate the browns, golds and a touch of orange with my blues and it would work. I’ve been trying for years to figure this out. Lightbulb moment people!!! And my Momma didn’t even drop me on my head when I was little, so I have no idea what took me so long.

Other than the leaves on the table, I added a few tiny pumpkins  around the room. See a tiny bit of fall color…

I wanted to add a “mink” coat to this crazy lady but I restrained myself!  It was really, really hard not to.

I did get in a little bling with these gold leaves… you can’t see it, but it has killer awesome sparkles on them!

AND I got to use my grandmothers china!

While I’ve had some really pretty tables in the past, I have to admit that I love the natural look with a little bling that this table has.

My grandma’s china, my blue decor and glassware, a little fall color and some gold bling – I do believe I am ready for Thanksgiving!. It’s on like donkey kong!

Until next time….

                        Tammy

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My fall table is probably one of my favorites that I have decorated of all time. Really. Well, maybe I say that every year, but I really mean it this time! It has everything that I love.  A little color, a little whimsy, fresh flowers or plants and most importantly, it makes me happy.

In the past few months I’ve been drawn more and more to go more natural with less fuss. For you minimalists  out there you are looking at this table thinking: “That’s minimal?” Well, it is for me. Hey! You can see the table top can’t you? Instead of fresh flowers I used kale, or as my Granny used to call them – cabbage. I made a small floral arrangement for each place setting. These were so easy. Just grab a bowl, plop in your plant and add some “fluff” to fill up the bowl. (Fluff is all of the surrounding elements like spanish moss, leaves, berries and acorns.) Nobody wants to see ugly holes!

I think these are so pretty and when it comes time to eat, they can become part of your centerpiece. These would also be great as gifts for guests to take home too!

If you follow me at all, you know that I like to make some of my decor and this fall table was no exception. You can see how to make your own napkin rings here and if you look closely you will see my latest project. Painted silverware.

I know that you probably have the same look on your face as my hubs did right now and YES I am crazy, but I wanted more color than regular silverware gave me. I found these inexpensive ones at Walmart for a whopping 62 cents each.  So these are almost disposable! Would I use them at a fancy get together? NO. But for fun? Why not?

Again this is a super easy project. Just tape off the silver and spray paint them the color you want. It doesn’t get any easier than that!

My centerpiece is an old soup tureen that I have had forever. More “fluff” is sprinkled around the bottom edges for some fun and color.

This table makes me so happy every time I look at it. It was certainly a lesson to me – you can have the natural elements with your everyday decor! It just takes a little creative thinking.

Until next time….

               Tammy

You Can find me having fun at these fabulous Link parties!

Stone Gable The Scoop #191

It’s time to decorate the kitchen table for fall. I’ve been putting it off because I had such a hard time with the formal dining room.

Or maybe I am just waiting till it’s time to decorate for Halloween.

It couldn’t possibly be because I am lazy. Right?

I know..such a third world problem! I think that I am on overload with “stuff”. I am ready to simplify, but let’s face it that word isn’t usually in my vocabulary.

I wanted something different from what I have used in the past, I just couldn’t find it. So I decided to make the things I couldn’t find that I wanted to change. One of those things was the napkin rings. Once I show you how easy it is, I know you are gonna want to make your own napkin rings too!Since my kitchen is black and off white with hints of turquoise thrown in I went looking for napkin rings in those colors that I could use all of the time.

I found some awesome MacKenzie Childs black tie napkin rings that I totally loved.  However, at$18.00 a piece they were way out of my napkin ring budget.

Then I saw these unfinished ones at Hob Lob for $3.99, less my 40% off coupon. They were very similar in style. In fact, they were almost perfect.

Like my paint booth? Yep, I am a classy girl! I spray painted the rings black.

Once black, I got out the white and gold craft paint.

I started on the outside edges and painted some white stripes.

As you can see, they aren’t perfect, but that’s okay. I don’t really mind that they aren’t perfect, I wanted them to look hand painted, not machine made.

Using the end of a paintbrush, I dipped the end into the gold paint and made gold dots in the middle of the napkin ring.

I love Martha Stewart’s gold metallic. It is the perfect gold color and usually you only need one coat of paint. For a metallic paint that is almost unheard of!

These napkin rings rock!

Here’s the napkin ring with my old standby. Black with white polka dots. It’s really a $1.00 bandana from WalMart, but I swear the size is perfect and the more you wash it the softer it gets.

I think the napkin rings even look great with the crown napkins I made here.

These napkin rings were super easy and really cheap. Each napkin ring cost me less than 50 cents each. Paint included. You just can’t beat that. Is it as perfect as MacKenzie Childs? No, but I am pretty happy with the results.

Until next time….

                    Tammy

You can find me at these wonderful blog parties….

Savvy Southern Style – Wow Us Wednesdays

Northern Nesting – Share Your Style #33

Surroundings by Debi – Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

AKA Design – Weekend Retreat Link Party #139

A few weeks ago I shared with you some of my fall decor, all except my dining room table. I gave you hints, but the dining room had so many pictures that I felt like it needed it’s own post to do it justice. Funny thing though, the longer I lived with it the more I took things off of the table. It just felt wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I decided to start over! I finally came up with a fall table that I could live with!

This is the table before. Parts of it were to fussy. Parts were to plain. I just didn’t like it. At all.

The only thing I did like was the pumpkins. Especially the large wooden white one. I recently bought it at HomeGoods and I totally love it. I decided to clear the table and start over.

This is what I came up with. A lot of natural elements, along with some bling.

I decided to scrap all of the colorful fall leaves for a more natural table. I mean, we really don’t have the bright orange and yellow leaves here at this time of the year, darn it!  We DO have flowers in their last stages, acorns, pinecones and pumpkins. So why not go with a more subtle decor?

If I went out into my yard to gather things to decorate with, rather than buy it, these are the things I would find right now. Well, other than the bling. Y’all knew I couldn’t go totally natural. The Queen needs some BLING!

Even the table deserves a little “joory”! I did leave in the really subtle oranges, blues, greens, browns and yellows. But they are just hints of color.

You may have noticed that the table isn’t set. I usually have the chargers, plates, glasses, napkins…the whole nine yards on the table. Not this time. Believe it or not, once I got to this point in my fall table, I was really OK with just the centerpiece. The rest just felt like clutter.

Will it stay this way? Probably not. I know me well enough to know that, just like everything else in my house, this fall table is a work in progress. I promise to share the new changes with you as they occur!

Until next time….

                      Tammy

You can find me at these really cool blog parties:

Redhead Can Decorate

Okay… I admit that I have been dragging my feet on getting all of the fall decor out. I live in Texas. It is still hot. For the most part we don’t even have a true fall season. We just jump right on into winter.   I have started my fall decorating – but I keep changing my mind! I am about to start calling it my “un-fall” decorating. So not me. I like a plan. I like having it all mapped out in my mind, leaving room for little tweaks. Just. Not. Happening.

I started my chairs decor with this….ummm no! It reminded me of those babies that have those ginormous bows strapped to their heads who look like bobblehead dolls with their neck ready to snap! Plus, those colors clashed with all of the blue decor in the dining room. I was ready to make drop cloth slip covers for all eight chairs. No, that’s not crazy at all!

I am thinking of going more in this direction. Go with what you’ve got, right!

I think that I do have the beginnings of the table centerpiece going in the right direction…just not there yet.

I started on the hutch in the kitchen.. more color? less color?

I have always loved this pumpkin tureen but this arrangement just needs some serious work!

Then there is the coffee table. I really, really want to add a turquoise velvet pumpkin…but I should be working here and not shopping!

As you can see I have nothing totally finished. So… “un-fall” decorating. Right? Which drives me crazy!

So here it is. I am telling you right here, right now- you are all my witnesses – that all will be done by the next post.  As Scarlet said: “As God as my witness I WILL have my decorating done soon!”

Until next time…..

                      Tammy

I will be joining these fabulous parties and Blogs –

I love Home Goods and HomeGoods ought to LOVE me.  ( No! They are not paying me for this post!) I personally buy enough there to keep their doors open forever.  I know – it’s a sickness, I’ll own it. Today I went to HomeGoods to buy napkins. Just napkins.  Not the only thing this girl bought. Shocking, I know! By the time I left, with multiple purchases in hand, I had already planned on how I was going to transform plain napkins into crown napkins!

So I saw this table runner. Had to buy it for multiple reasons. One – it was darn cute. Two – IT HAS A CROWN ON IT!  Three – it  was only $7.98!!! and finally – Four – IT HAS A CROWN ON IT People! You know I love me some crowns.

I found it when I was picking out my napkins. It was like a flashing neon sign was over it blinking “buy me, buy me”!

As I was walking away a woman saw it and asked me if there was another one?  I kid you not! Guess I am not the only one to love crowns. I turned to leave and ran right into an end cap with black and white dishes on it. DANG it! They were toile… and they had birds on it… to match my table runner that has birds and CROWNS on it! See how this happens?

I had this crown stamp – and a ton of others – in my stash of stuff and knew that it was perfect!

First thing is first… wash, dry and iron your napkin.

What you need to make your own crown napkins: a clean, ironed napkin, a pigment ink intended for multiple surfaces, and a stamp of your choice.

I tried my stamp out on a paper towel to make sure it worked before I stamped my napkin.. better safe than sorry.

Once you have tested your stamp and have laid your fabric out – be sure that you have something under your napkin to protect your table, then stamp away!

Here is my first crown napkin…I  love it. It has great detail and at the same time looks a little faded in a vintage sort of way…perfect! Once the napkin is dry, use an iron to heat set the the design. Your napkin is ready to use.

I decided to set my table using my new crown napkins, but couldn’t decide which of my table decor items to use with them. I could go with my standard go to black and white polka dots, crown and birds nest …

Or bring in a new black and white pattern with a floral arrangement.

Both options would look great in the kitchen eating area.

I have to admit that at first I wasn’t too thrilled with the red and yellow on the runner. I would much rather have had just the black and white. However, the yellow lets me add another layer of color and texture to the mix. Still great in the kitchen….

But what if I want to use this in the formal dining room where I have a mixture of blues? This blue napkin with yellow and white accents would be perfect to tie it all together.

As you can see I really need to make up my mind before I can set the table. When I decide I promise to share it with you.

Until next time….

                   Tammy

Check out  Flaunt it Friday #267 at Chic n a Shoestring, Stonegable The Scoop #183, and Northern Nesting.