Cardinal Love

Cardinals have always been one of my favorites birds.  I didn't realize that everybody in the US didn't get to see them and when I discovered that, I felt so lucky that we have them in our backyard year round.  I wanted to celebrate our cardinals on my latest table and try to bring a little color to January.  

I found the center candle holder on clearance at Home Goods and thought it would look great with my white candelabras I picked up on a recent shopping trip to the Classy Flea in Marietta, GA.   I added the frosted votive holders. 

I zipped into the back yard and cut a few dogwood branches to use as "perches" for my birds.  I find dogwood to be great for the table because of the short multiple branches.  The red glass berries are from the old Smith and Hawken store.   Each berry has a tiny flexible wire that I wrap around the branch.  I straighten out the wire with my jewelry pliers after each use.  I saw this year, that Target had these again in the Smith and Hawken section, but they only had the clear.  

I found the glassware at Old Time Pottery a few months ago and they still have them and in different colors too.  

The napkins rings were on clearance at World Market.  

The players:

Placemats - Old Time Pottery - years ago

Chargers- Walmart

Dishes - Mikasa Antique White 

White Flatware - Walmart

Polka Dot Glasses - Old Time Pottery

Napkins - Old Time Pottery

Cardinals - Michaels (I added alligator clips)

Happy January  Y'all.  Come join the parties at  Tablescape Thursday and Seasonal Sundays and much thanks to the hostesses.  

Who Cooks for You?

My husband loves the outdoors.  Most of our dates before we were married included hiking, fishing, boating, caving, etc.  Even though he is a hunter, he especially loves the wild animals.  He always has one eye on the woods to spot deer, turkey, hawks, whatever he can find.  We have been known to pull over for half and hour or more just to watch a rabbit.  
Last year, I showed the photos he captured of the fox that lives in our woods HERE.  When I came home one day last week, he handed me the SD card from his camera to download and this was his latest find.

We have heard this guy for several years.  In fact, my husband often carries on a conversation with him at night, but we have never seen him in the daylight.  We have a large old, dead tree, but he won't cut it down because hubby was sure that's where the owl lived.  He was right.  

This is a Barred Owl, which are common in our area of TN.  If you would like to hear their call click on the YouTube link below.

Linking up with Seaonal Sundays

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Fourteen years ago on New Year's Eve I married my sweet husband. 

To celebrate, we host a "grown-up" dinner with several of our favorite friends.   In years past, I have tried to go with a sparkly, glitzy table design.  This year, I wanted a little more fun and glamour.  

I started with the runners instead of place mats.  I have used black satin runners on past tables which you can see HERE, but this year I found something on Christmas clearance that I wanted to try.... wrapping paper!  Target had this sophisticated black and silver paper that was exactly the right size for my table.  I figured what could I loose for $2.50 right?  I used my Martha Stewart border punch to create a decorative edge.  

I bought the penguins several years ago and have used them around the house during the holidays, but this year, they were just asking for a fancy bow tie and an invite to the party! 

After looking at everyone's New Year's Tables, it appears that many of us were on the "champagne in the bucket" wave length.  I think the guy at the liquor store thought I was crazy because I didn't care how good the champagne was, I wanted the right color bottle.

I had the shorter candle sticks and the tall ones were found at Home Goods, as were the sparkly candles.  

I used metallic place mats, bubbly ribbon, silver chargers and black dishes.  The flatware is Alvin Fashion Lane.  The silver goblets were found in a thrift store in Colorado this summer for $4 each!   

  I scattered some silver chocolate coins just in case we didn't have enough food.

 I didn't have a clear idea about the name cards until I turned the corner at Target and found these cute penguin ornaments.  I just snipped off the loop, added a bowtie and declared them NAME TAGS!  Forgive the glitter all over the plates, it was flying everywhere. 

The menu included Horseradish Crusted Beef Tenderloin, Potato Fans, Asparagus, Roasted Carrots, Caesar Salad, and Homemade Rolls with Rosemary Butter

Thom Scott from Scottage Confections in Murfreesboro, TN made the incredible Apple Dumplings served with Vanilla Ice Cream and Homemade Caramel Sauce. Delish! 
I think we rang in the new year and celebrated our anniversary in style don't you?  Linking to the following parties with great thanks for the hosts:  Seasonal Sundays and Tablescape Thursdays

Winter Wonderland

I really wanted to participate in Kathleen's White Challenge at Let's Dish, but I just had foot surgery and can't walk around so I went back in the archives and found my only white table.  Yes, it's Christmas, but it IS white!  Just pretend it's Christmas in July!

You may have seen my crystal tablescape here that I threw together while I was decorating our tree.   My plan was to change to something completely different, but the crystal turned out so well I thought I would just keep it as my Christmas table.  The day before Christmas, I remembered that the clear plates I used were only salad size and given the amount of food I was cooking, I needed a tablescape with bigger plates.  
I started with white table runners because it's impossible to find an elegant white placemat and I did not want the total white of a tablecloth.  I actualy like to see this table because for the first 50 years of it's life the table was kept covered by pads and tablecloths by my husband's MaMa.  I think it deserves to be out in the light for the next half century of it's life don't you? 
 I put my visiting sister to work on the runners while I worked on the centerpiece. 
I stumbled upon the stags at Z Gallerie's after Christmas clearance sale last year.  

I planned to use some frosty white fruit that I found at Michael's, but after trying it out, the scale was all wrong so I aborted that idea and just went with snow, ribbon, and various sized beaded snowballs.  

The candlesticks and place card holders were a clearance find at Home Goods.   

Mirrors topped by my sprayed painted white chargers.  I used my Mikasa Antique White.  The beautiful napkins were made by Marlis at Creative Journeys. I love the icy blue with all the winter white.   The matching water pitchers from Home Goods.  Water goblets are Dublin by Shannon.  The wine glasses are also Shannon, but I don't know the pattern name.  

 So happy that my 90 year old Mom could make it despite spending Christmas Eve in the ER to rule out pneumonia.  She was so happy to be there, she cried.  

My precious in-laws and my handsome son.  

My sister, I love having family around my table.  

In all the merry making, I failed to take any photos of the table in the candlelight, but did manage to catch this shot after clearing the table.  I hope you had as wonderful a time reconnecting with family as we did on this beautiful holiday. I will be linking to Seasonal Sundays and Tablescape Thursdays.