Sunday Favorites

This was originally posted last year..I decorate my little hutch almost the exact same way each year so I thought I would share with Chari's  Sunday Favorites.  Hope everyone is enjoying the Season!

I redecorate my little informal hutch (that I also use as a small writing desk) each season just by switching out my favorite plates.  I add a few other accessories as well and it transforms the area by my kitchen into a festive little place.    





I clear out everything from my hutch and give it a complete dusting top to bottom.  This year I purchased a new lamp at Kirklands to add a little more light to this area especially at night, since my hutch is not lighted.

 My Christmas plates were purchased at Target several years ago and are Tracy Porter designs and some of my favorites.  I love using these plates for Christmas dinner.  





The salad/desert plates with the snowmen are so cute and I love the candy cane border.  I've added my red bubble goblets to the shelves as well and love using them during the holidays.  I
found them
 in a little store in
Grapevine, Texas on a shopping trip.  





I decorated the top of the hutch with a garland I purchased half price at Hobby Lobby last year.  I always add a few more embellishments..this year I saved my lime green hydrangeas from my garden and added them for a more full look and a pop of lime green.  

As you can tell, I have a thing for topiaries!  I seem to collect them without even realizing.  Whenever I shop it seems they have magnets on them that led me straight to them.  I use mine all year and especially at Christmas time. 

My family of snowmen were gifts from different friends and I grouped them together.  The larger one (mamma snowman) holds a votive candle and the smaller ones (babies) are
 salt and peppers.





Of course no vignette would be complete without a cloche.  (Especially since I'm participating in Marty's Tabletop Tuesdays)   I tucked in a sweet little bird with a nest  inside and just added a Christmas bow.

While shopping a few months ago in Tulsa with a friend, I found this Christmas mouse teapot and couldn't resist.  The teapot, cream and sugar were under $10 and too cute for me to pass up. 





I am a tea drinker and collect teapots. 





I will tweak my hutch over the next couple weeks until I get it "just right".   I'll start working on my tree next ...usually I put it up the Friday after Thanksgiving while my guys are all here.


I'm linking with Chari's 
Sunday Favorites
http://happytodesign.blogspot.com/

Fall Tea Party

We have a front moving through and our temperatures are going to fall down into the 80's overnight. We have had almost 60 days of temperatures over 100 and are rejoicing that the front will move through so we can enjoy our labor day weekend!

So in celebration of fall's soon arrival I'm getting some inspiration from last year's fall posts. I posted my fall tea table last year and can't wait to create a new fall tablescape in the weeks to come. I'm joining Chari's Sunday Favorites and The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays this week. Go by and say hi!

I know I've said it a lot lately ...but I just LOVE fall!!  The temperature has finally dropped down into the 50's at night and the sky is a beautiful blue hue that makes everything prettier! 

  One of my best friends surprised me with a package and to my delight it was a fall teapot!! 

Thanks Valerie!!

My little kitchen table is a perfect place for a  fall tea for two.  We love spiced chai tea and

it smells  so good!

I had found this pretty wire cloche for only $8 and just fell in love with the design and burgundy color!   Cloches just make me think of  Marty...the "cloche queen".  Marty is the reason I now love cloche's with all the weekly inspiration and ideas she shares!  I'm linking with her

Tabletop Tuesdays

this week.   Thanks Marty for being

such a  gracious hostess!! 

My table started with a yellow tablecloth that I purchased in a thrift store in Pacific Grove, California while on vacation.

The runner was clearance for $2 at Wal-Mart last year and I love the extra long length..I also use it on my large formal dining table as well. 

The pumpkin plates were purchased a few weeks ago at Wal-Mart for $3.00 each.   I layered them on

my favorite ivory Target plates for a fall look.

The scarecrow was on the 80% clearance aisle  at Hobby Lobby last year...I bought  several...after all ..they were almost free!!  I always buy holiday items off season..especially tablecloths..the savings are tremendous.  

The cups and saucers were purchased for 99 cents each at Goodwill.  They only had a set of two so into

my basket they went!

The small ceramic pumpkin was purchased at the Dollar Tree this year.

 I have collected lots of silk leaves and ornamental pumpkins and gourds over the years and accent with them all around my home.  I thought the windowsill needed a little something so I used a swag I made and just added some ornamentals.   

My flowers in the garden are revived with all this cool weather and are blooming again!  I love the view from my little kitchen window.  Someday (when all the kids are out of college) we plan on putting in a large bay window for an even better view of our garden ...a girl can dream but until then I enjoy my garden view.    

Enjoy your week and hope you take

 time to enjoy your favorite  cup of tea!

I'm also linking with

Katherine's Tea Time Tuesday

Linda's Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
and
Susan's Tablescape Thursdays

Go by and join in all the parties!

Sunday Favorites-Nature Inspired Table

Originally posted last year on

 Mother's Day weekend. 

  I'm joining Chari's Sunday Favorites this week.  Hope your Sunday is blessed!

 Nature Inspired Table

I love bringing the outdoors in...birds, nests, eggs, garden tools and other natural materials  I've collected from here and there just make me happy.    This weekend I gathered some of my favorite things from around my house to create a nature-inspired table for one.  

The green transferware teapot was a gift from a friend..she brought it to me from a trip to Williamsburg.  I love the bird pattern motif!

I made a simple burlap tablecloth.   All I did was purchase several yards of burlap and threw it in the washing machine.  It frayed all by itself and created this wonderful natural hem.

I found the green "runner"   at a thrift store. It's actually a Waverly valance panel and I love the fern pattern.  Old window coverings make great runners or tablecloths and are usually inexpensive at garage sales and thrift stores.  

The bird is from Goodwill for $3.00 and it still has a Stein Mart price tag of $19.99 on the bottom.  The little cloche with the robin's egg I made from odds and ends I found at a thrift store.  The dome was $1.00 and the clear candleholder was .75 cents and they fit together perfectly!

This adorable old bee hive creamer was half-price at an antique store that was having a closing sale.  Later that same day I found another honeypot on sale and thought they would look cute together.

The old vintage garden book was from a friend's mother's estate.  I love old garden books!  The art on this old cover is very sweet.

My green majolica cabbage plates and a nest are always welcome.

A little bird and garden stakes are welcome too!

My garden tea table was a treat for me on Mother's Day weekend!  Take the time a set a beautiful table just for you!

Go by and visit Chari this week!

Wishing for Spring, Gazebos and the Coast!

Originally posted last year  on 1/11/10..I was wishing for spring then too!  I'm linking with Chari's Sunday Favorites..go by and visit everyone's favs!

I know it is only mid - January but I am yearning for spring garden days.  I was browsing through my pictures and found this lovely garden shoppe I visited last year in Pacific Grove.  Hope you enjoy walking through this garden as much as I did.   

Trellis is a lovely garden shoppe  I fell in love with in Pacific Grove, California.  The owner was so gracious and allowed me to photograph her adorable shop that she designed herself .  

She designed a gazebo building and greenhouse to display her beautiful garden themed items.   She even showed me her drawings!   She has exquisite taste, just look at the crystal chandlier  that hangs  in the center of the shoppe.   

Pretty garden and home decor abounds with a mix of elegance and rustic combined.  I love this style and spent hours just combing the place  and purchased  the cutest butterfly napkin rings and garden watering cans.  This watering can fountain was a favorite.  

You are greeted by a happy red variegated geranium in a french wire basket on the open french door.  

Fragrant petunias on a gate gate. 

Outside in the courtyard area are fun garden items and beautiful plants and flowers for sale.  

I love the blue potting bench with herbs and lavender on the shelf.

The greenhouse was a design of a shed that she had the builder add  larger windows and a polycarbonate roof to bring in more light.

More views

I love this window treatment in the shoppe.

I hope you enjoyed this little garden shoppe tour  as much as I am wishing for spring days! 

If you ever visit the area, stop in for a visit at Trellis.  

An Evening at the Beach

I spent most of my childhood in Florida and Hawaii and near some of the most beautiful beaches in the world..I'm landlocked in Oklahoma now and miss the beautiful water colors of  Destin on the Gulf of Mexico as well as the deep blue waters of the Pacific.  

One of my best friends gave me this beautiful teapot  for my birthday..the colors remind of those gorgeous shades of blue at the beaches I used to

 live by.

I set a beached themed table this evening just to celebrate the last few days of summer.  Fall is just around the corner so I thought I'd enjoy an "evening at the beach" at my little kitchen table.

Deb also gave  me the matching plates and

I just love them!

I found that I already had a turquoise blue tablecloth in my mother-in-law's collection, this is my favorite color of water.  I used my round straw placemats in lime green I purchased on sale at Kohl's and started layering with my white

Pier One  plates.

My son gave me this cute little shell box for Mother's Day last year.   He attends college in Florida

It was perfect to put a variety of
teabags in.

    Deb also gave me these cute shell napkin rings and I just added my lime green napkins I bought on sale at Penney's several years ago.

Of course the accessories for this table were obvious..seashells and starfish!  I bought a small basket of shells at Dollar Tree and just added a voitive candle for a simple centerpiece.   I found the starfish in a little resale shop for a couple dollars.

I added more shells around the base of the tea warmer as well.

 I found a set of 4 "Bone white" Sheffield (made in the USA)  cups and saucers for $3.00 at Goodwill. 

I love the swirl design.  I also purchased six dinner plates that match for $2.50...but those I'm using on another table!  

I decided my new lime plates from TJ Max I used on my "hydrangea" table last week would also look wonderful layered under the beach plates.  

The tiny little seafood forks are from my mil's collection of sterling.  

A few more pictures of the completed table.

Hope you enjoyed our little "evening at the beach" and go join in all the parties!

Have a safe Labor Day!

I'm linking this week with:

Marty's Tabletop Tuesdays

Linda's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Katherine's Tea Time Tuesday

Susan's Tablescape Thursdays
Cindy's Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday
Laurie's Favortie Things 
Tablescaper's Summer Sundays
 Chari's Sunday Favorites
and
Smiling Sally's Blue Monday