Christmas Tea Time

 I brewed a pot of chai spice tea today since I was feeling a little under the weather and realized it had been a while since I shared a tea table. 

After enjoying my second cup I took a few photos of my newest Mud Pie pieces.  The mugs are nice and big and hold a lot of tea! 

Last week I found Christmas Mud Pie ornaments at a darling children's store and was fortunate to find more Mud Pie items on sale at the hospital gift shop where I work.  I couldn't pass them up since I get an employee

 discount too!

The colors are so festive and I love the mix of colors and patterns...polka dots, stripes and checks...oh my!

This teapot is one of my favorites and I found "her" in a antique store last year.  She's not from Mud Pie but I thought she looked right at home with my Christmas mugs. 

I like to call her Mrs. Potts!

The cake stand is from Pier One and I love the fluted edge.  I've been admiring these cake stands for awhile and they come in different sizes and look great stacked.  Hope Santa heard me...I don't have the other sizes.   Cake stands  make perfect teapot stands 

as well.

Don't you love the loaf pans?  

Merry and FaLaLa! 

The snack/cheese plate is my favorite piece from the collection.  I will be using this on my buffet table for Christmas.  The black and white check adds a touch of whimsy.

Merry Christmas!

Enjoy a Christmas tea and set a pretty tray all for yourself or better yet to share with family or friends. 

Fa La La La La!!!


I'm linking with:
Show off your Cottage Monday
Marty's Tabletop Tuesdays and 
Susan's Tablescape Thursdays

Playing with Dishes and Mud Pie

I love playing with dishes!  My mom loves beautiful dishes too so maybe I came by it honestly.  Christmas brings out the child in us all and while shopping in Cinnamon and Bears I found the cutest Mud Pie Christmas ornaments.   I thought they would be perfect on my Christmas tree and so pretty on a holiday table!

The Santa ornament is adorable!

I layered my fun little ornaments on some of my favorite dishes and put them in my three-tiered server to use as decorations in my dining room.  

Mud Pie makes some of the cutest baby clothes I ever seen and they also make these beautiful and colorful ornaments!  

The Rudolph sits atop a layer of dishes I've collected over the years.

The candy cane luncheon plates were gifts and I love their

pretty borders.

When I collect plates I look for pretty borders..or an interesting pattern.  I love how the borders look layered together and the Snowman is the finishing touch.

I had fun playing with dishes and Mud Pie..hope you are enjoying the 

Holiday Season!!

 Merry Christmas!

I'm linking with

 Marty's Tabletop Tuesday
Susan's Tablescape Thursdays
Beverly's Pink Saturday
and 
Tablescaper's  Seasonal Sundays

Silver & Christmas

Originally posted Christmas 2009:

These are some of my favorite silver pieces a I received 
from my mother-in-law.  I make an effort to use her beautiful things as often as I can...why let them sit in a drawer?  Christmas is a time I use all the pretty and special pieces I can, it reminds us of her and makes our meals together even more special! 

Thought I would share with Chari's 

Sunday Favorites this week!

Hope you are enjoying the season!

Several different silver patterns

(My favorite is the Tiffany Holly Mistletoe hors d'oeuvre 7-tined fork) 

What a fun idea for a blog party at Gypsy Fish and a great opportunity to get out my silver that usually occupies the drawers of the china cabinet almost the entire year.  I was fortunate to have been given my mother-in-law's silver collection last year.  Most of it hasn't been used in decades and I am of the opinion not to save things for "somedays" or  "special occasions" but to use and enjoy them since we never know when those "somedays"  will come.     I am determined this year to use special things a lot more often and make everyday special!

This is a wonderful chaffing dish and I need to find an insert since I plan on using it for a baby shower later this month.

She had two lovely candy dishes, one with engravings in the bottom and the other plain.  I think they are just beautiful.

"Santa"  brought me the runner for Christmas..I guess I was a good girl this year.  I love the silver contrasted against the black silk.   

This spoon is fairly large and very ornate...it has a woman in an iris design that I've never seen before.

The cake knife/server is engraved beautifully and I will definitely be using this at the baby shower.

Lastly, she also had a set of Oneida the King Cedric pattern that is so elegant.  

This was so much fun getting out silver treasures and family heirlooms.  

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Conservatory and Cloche

I love using what I already have in new ways.  When I purchase something new I try to determine if I will use it often and if it will work well with other things I own.   My little conservatory usually is put away during the winter months but this year I thought I would make a little vignette for my table and leave my conservatory out year round.

  I have been wanting to create a winter village inside but I probably won't find all the little details to complete it for this year.  I decided to use what

 I had handy.

This picture reminds me of window shopping.  I love window shopping in little downtown areas...Carmel is one of my favorites to walk along at night and look in the windows.  The lighting is soft like candlelight and the colors seem so much brighter.  

I'm not finished with all my Christmas decorations yet..and my conservatory vignette is subject to change..but thought I would share what I came up with today.

The little snowman candle was a gift as was the candy cane plate.  

I just used a simple white votive in one of my crystal glasses for more candlelight.

The little wire cloche was purchased at an antique mall for $2 and was actually in the shape of a little pot.  When I saw it ..I saw a wire cloche in the making.  I just stretched it into

 a little cloche.   

I used this sweet little bird nest

that I have out for spring/summer in my hutch.  I added a berry candle ring to give it a Christmas look and topped it with the wire cloche.  

I love the natural look ....let heaven and nature sing!

Hope you are enjoying decorating your home and finding new ways to use what you already have.   Have fun!

I'm joining Marty's Tabletop Tuesdays 
Susan's Outdoor Wednesdays
Susan's Tablescape Thursdays
Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday
Beverly's Pink Saturday 
and 
Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday

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/

Thanksgiving Tablescape

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year.  I clean, cook and decorate to make our home a welcoming place for my three sons, husband and furbabies.   I have always loved setting a pretty table and each year at Thanksgiving I use our "good" china,  but this year I thought I would break with tradition and try something new.  

I purchased a bronze orange tablecloth to coordinate with some of my favorite dishes.  I love the rich fall colors in these plates.

I purchased them several years ago at Target and display them in my plate rack in the kitchen most of the year.  

The pattern is by Tracy Porter and is from the Octavia Hill Garden collection.  I wish I would have purchased more of the coordinating pieces now.  I will be searching Ebay to complete my set.  

Since I do have three sons I wanted the table to be more natural and woodsy with less of a formal look.

The twig placemats from Pier One were the perfect beginning for layering dishes.  

Last year I found the chargers at Wal-Mart and I've seen them all over blogville.  I love that they are faux wood and the leaf pattern is perfect for any fall table.  I finished layering with a ceramic pumpkin

 from the Dollar Tree.

I love collecting elements for a tablescape.  Little wire placecard holders from Napa Style on our recent trip remind me of the beautiful valley we enjoy returning to each year.

The amber colored stemware belonged to my mother and she gifted them to me when she downsized her home.  They are heavy, not too daintly and

work perfectly for my men.

A centerpiece of pumpkins made from twigs was simple and completed a natural look on the table.

A few grocery store flowers and votive candles finishes my table.  

The table was a more casual setting and we enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal by candlelight.

Desert was a family favorite...a Ribbon cake.  It's a simple and delicious recipe.  I topped it with the last blooming flowers from my garden.

Hope your holiday season is filled with blessings of family, friends and much laughter!


I'm joining:
Beverly's Pink Saturday
Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays
Marty's Tabletop Tuesday


Go by and visit all these great parties!