Tablescape - Hawaiian theme

My goodness - it's time for a new post - a tablescape! I've been so busy lately, I've just completely ignored you all!

My oldest daughter (and her friend) are getting ready to take a missions trip to Brazil. To help fund their trip, I have been baking my fingers off! We have hosted 6 bake sales in the last 6 weeks! Finally they have raised enough for their tickets. Now we just have to trust God that He will provide what they need to live on while they are there. They have a little (very little) but God knows and I believe HE is IN this thing. This Saturday was our last sale ~*sigh*~ time to take a break from baking! In a few short weeks our Sunday family dinners will be missing 1 person! I'm having a hard time with the thought of her leaving. She is the sweetest, most precious 27 yr old lady you would ever want to meet (and one of my dearest friends.) She LOVES her mama!

Yesterday it was a WARM 87 degrees - time to break out the Summery tablescapes. To surprise everyone (especially Sarah, who LOVES table decor as much as I do!) I decorated the table in a Hawaiian theme.

When my little 4 yr old grandson saw the table, he said, "Wow! Somebody really did a lot of work on this!" haha He was enamored with the little paper umbrellas I stuck in our cups. He even had one stuck in the hole of his sippy cup!

We have 2 college age girls who attend our church (we actually have many college age kids) but these two (Rebekah and Jamie) are some of our faithful servants in our bus ministry and just all around good helpers. To encourage them a bit, I invited them over to share Sunday dinner with us. I think they enjoyed themselves! Praise the Lord for willing workers to help share the load.
Rebekah insisted on an "eating" pose. I wish I would have snapped a nice pic too, but everyone was getting down to the business of eating!

I served Beef AND pork roast. Mashed potatoes and gravy, mashed yams, corn, and broccoli. My daughter-in-law is the queen of making hot yeast rolls, so we enjoyed those too! She also made a delicious berry compote and served it warm, over a small slice of marbled pound cake. Then she whipped up a batch of homemade whipped cream with orange zest to top it with. Mmm! DEElicious!

I cannot believe this place setting has UNmatched silverware! I'm so ashamed! haha I have 2 of these cute fish plates - and the grandbabies had fun eating on them.

I love FUN, theme related dishes. I find most of them at places like Rite Aid, Walgreens, the Dollar Store, etc... I like to keep just enough to decorate a Sunday dinner table.

The pretty floral table runner, is actually a piece of one of those cheap plastic tablecloths. I cut it lengthwise into 4 runners. I used them for a dinner at our church.

I think I've posted about these napkin rings before, but I really love them. Our "adopted" daughter, Amy bought them for me when she was in FL on vacation. They are made from real shells and are so pretty. I have 4 of them, so don't get to use them a lot, since I'm usually hosting larger groups. But I DO love them.

TABLESCAPE THURSDAY - APPLES!

Time for those pretty Fall tablescapes, huh? I picked up 2 1/2 yards of this pretty butterscotch colored linen at Walmart for under $3 / yd. Then I found a cute apple print fabric that matched perfectly with it! I purchased enough for a runner, but since it is so wide, I plan to sew up some matching napkins for the set also.


I have to be honest here. My tablescapes are VERY user friendly! These are actually table settings that are used by my family! This was our tablescape for last Sunday's dinner.
Sometimes when I look at all the elaborate tablescapes, as beautiful as they are, I have to wonder if people really do eat at those tables! haha So pardon me if mine seem a little 'simple.' I just try to make our Sunday dinner special for my special family ;-)


Here's a little trick you can use at your next dinner or ladies meeting. Core an apple and insert a taper candle in the hollowed out center. They fit perfectly and look so stinking cute!
I see one of mine is leaning a bit - sorry. I should have checked that before I snapped the pic. But like I said, it was Sunday dinner and my family doesn't take to kindly to photo shoots when it's time for dinner! haha No, they really are patient. They humor and encourage me in my foodie photos! Sometimes it's with a roll of the eyes and a grin, but still.... haha


I love this little galvanized steel bucket full of apple candles. They look so real!


Thanks for stopping by! Take time to look through the recipes and see if there is something you can use!

TABLESCAPE THURSDAY - Hubby's BD Dinner

Special thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Tablescape Thursday, each and every week. It's so much fun to visit all the blogs and see such creative tablescapes!

I'm coming in a bit late today. I had to wait until I got home from work to post. Last week we celebrated my Honey's 49th birthday. I made all his favorite things. Smothered Chicken, Mashed potatoes & gravy, Corn, Crescent rolls, and for dessert - Rice Krispie Ice Cream Dessert. He LOVED it! I figured since it was his special day, that I would set a "manly" table. I don't have a lot of "specialty" type dishes, plates, things like that. I don't really collect dishes. I tend to accent more with table linens, napkin rings, and other table decor or theme related items. I just do my best with what the Lord has given me.

I love anything in Adirondack style. That would be moose, pine trees, canoes, ducks, etc... We decorated our family room, master bedroom and master bath, all in that style. I find it a very peaceful, relaxing and cozy decor. Most of the items I used for the table, were taken from those 3 rooms. We have a local store called Northern Reflections, and it is dangerous for me to go in there! haha I am just a sucker for Adirondack decor. For Christmas one year, my Honey bought me a log bed - I LOVE it!

This pic turned out a bit blurry, but I think you get the idea. I just love this little canoe and set of oars.

TABLESCAPE THURSDAY

This is my first post on Tablescape Thursday. I've been doing them on my own, all along. Terrie told me the other day, about a group of women who get together and post pics of their tablescapes. So I jumped right in to join them! If this is something that you enjoy doing, you can head over to "Between naps on the porch" site and join in the fun!

My Honey is Irish, so St. Patrick's Day is ALWAYS celebrated in our house. We do everything green (that's probably not all Irish, but it's fun anyway!)

Here is my St Patricks Day table. I did a practice run, so I would know how I want to set it up, next week. I went with gold accents because of the Leprechaun's pot o' gold!



It wouldn't be a special day at PawPaw and MooMoo's house without a special treat for the grandbabies! So the little mesh bags in the forefront are filled w/ goodies just for them!
The "centerpiece" is just a cake stand with metallic green paper shreds. Then a wide mouth vase filled with Kelly green Christmas bulbs. I tied a wire accent around the outside of it, that has clovers entwined on it.

I made the runner for the table. I stopped at Walmart to see if they had any St Pat's material and they only ONE bolt left, and this was it. It's a sheer stiff fabric with glittery appliques on it. Wouldn't have been my first choice, if they would have had others, but it still turned out cute. Was a pain to press though! I had to cover it w/ a tea towel. I just hope nobody spills on it over dinner! haha


The little metallic wire "trees" w/ clover leaves, I picked up at Dollar Tree.


I just tied a ribbon around the napkins. I found this for less than a dollar at Walmart.


I also made little Leprchaun placecards for our guests. On the day of our dinner, I'll write each person's name on the hat.


I found these cute little plastic tumblers at Walmart - 4 for $1. I bought enough for each person to take one home, as a reminder of their visit with us that day. We plan to celebrate on the 15th (Sunday). We'll have a busy weekend. I am catering a banquet on Saturday for our church family, and several college students (friends of our daughters) will be coming in for the banquet, and staying the weekend with us. I thought it would be fun to have this dinner with them on Sunday. They probably don't get to do this kind of thing much. So we'll spoil them and love on them a little, while they are guests here.

THANKS for visiting! Erin Go Bragh!

TABLESCAPES - GREEN AND GOLD

I'm SO ready for Spring!! I just had to do a green table today, to remind me that the "official" start of Spring is only 20 days away! Yippee! But MI is known for it's snow and ice storms in late March and even April! Still, I had to hold myself back from digging out my Gerber daisy napkin rings! I thought purple and yellow flowers were rushing it just a tad. This is a simple tablescape, but hey, I'm a simple kind of woman! I think it looks clean and neat and I like things matching or at least blending. I'm not into all the mismatched shapes and designs (just yet anyway!)

If you have the extra cupboard space, and you ever find a "funky" colored set of goblets for sale somewhere (like Goodwill or a garage sale) you should totally get them! If you like doing tablescapes at all, you will love having colored goblets to pop out on the table, just for something different. I have a deep purple set and this green set and we use them quite often.
In a couple of weeks, we'll have fun doing a St Patrick's day table. I'll probably use this same linen set, but we'll jazz it up quite a bit with clovers and "green" food!

TABLESCAPES - VALENTINES DAY

I almost forgot to add our Valentine tablescape! Nothing extremely fancy. I used my pillar candles, along with some strands of red beads and red ribbon, red flower petals and some red cut out hearts. The little red votive holders have the letters K-I-S-S on them and I picked them up on the clearance rack last year after Valentine's day! This red tablecloth & napkin set holds a lot of sentimental value to me. The first year we were at our old church - 1987 (as youth pastor) the church bought us a brand new dining room set. That same year, we did Secret Sisters at our church. My secret sister that year was VERY good to me. Right after the church gave us the dining room set, she gave me the table linens for Christmas! I've used it every year on Christmas morning since then. It still looks like new, as I take very good care of it. I can't use it without thinking fondly of Bea. She's in Heaven now, but every time I use this set I think of her, and her kindness to me and my family, while we were there.

We had dinner guests that day - Bob & Sue McWilliams. Very sweet people. Getting very involved in the church and it's exciting to see their growth in the Lord!

TABLESCAPES - Snow and Ice

Today we woke up to our little town being covered in ice! We had to cancel morning services, because nobody could drive safely on the roads. So I decided to decorate our Sunday dinner table with the weather in mind - snow and ice. It's a simple table, but blue is my favorite color, so this is one of my favorite tablescapes. I've had this linen set forever, it seems. But it has held up so well over the years. I have a red set just like it, and the same thing holds true about it. If you ever find a "satin stripe" linen set, you should invest in it, they keep REALLY well. I've had both sets for probably 20 years now. We use linens every Sunday, so they get a LOT of use, but you would never know it with these. I do take pretty good care of them. I never wash them with any other laundry - only by themselves. I also keep them hung on individual hangers in the linen closet, with the napkins, pressed and hanging over the tops of the tablecloths.

I love the icy garland that my daughter found on clearance a couple years ago. And I found the white ceramic snowflakes on clearance, after the Winter season was over. The silver pillar candle holders, I bought brand new at a garage sale this past Summer. I think she only charged me $2 for them. Normally when I do this table, I'll sprinkle fake snow around the centerpiece too, but just didn't do that today for some reason. I had it, just didn't do it.

The china was passed down to me, when hubby's mother passed away back in 1985. It's very special to me, and goes so well with the Winter theme.
I'm always on the lookout for table decorations - but I never buy anything very expensive. I stick to the clearance racks, after season sell-outs, garage sales, etc... You can find some really pretty or cute things if you just keep your eyes open specifically for that sort of thing.

TABLESCAPES - Burgundy & Gold

Here is a pretty "Burgundy & Gold" table. My sweet daughters bought me this whole outfit one year for Christmas. Including the gold rimmed plates and the gold flatware. The gold chargers were purchased later, on a clearance rack.
For the centerpiece, Sarah used a clear cake stand, with a rim, and placed a pillar candle in the middle, some gold ornaments and then a strand of gold beads. She took a strand of gold ribbon that she found in a drawer and laid that on the table around the candles. Your centerpiece can be made up of most anything you have sitting around your home.

Here is a better close up of the centerpiece. I had to giggle when my daughter in law said she was bringing place cards for the table. She had Toddler church this morning, and this was the craft that the little ones made. haha She is such a nut!

If you notice, one of the places on the end, doesn't have a charger or goblet. This was my grandson's first time to sit at the "big" table. Little sister has moved on to big people food and has commandeered the high chair for family meals! Little D didn't mind though. I think he loved the idea of sitting with the grown ups.

This is why there was no goblet at his place! haha He loves his special "Cars" cup from his Grpa and Grma Rader in NY.

Here's Katie in the high chair. She just finished a plate of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and a roll. I think the Tryptophan is hitting her early! haha

TABLESCAPES - FALL

YEP - I'm getting a hankering for Fall! It's this change in the weather, I think. It's time to break out the sweaters and big comfy sweatshirts that have been in storage all Summer. It's time for baking pumpkin pie, fresh cookies and banana bread. It's almost time for apple picking and cider and fresh donuts.... no wait.... didn't I just say in the previous post that I'm trying to drop a few pounds? Oh! But those donuts at the orchard! OH MY SOUL are they ever stinking good! Especially with a glass of cold, fresh cider. Oh what am I doing to myself? haha I was talking about Fall. And this post isn't even about food, it's about tablescapes for crying out loud!
We didn't have guests today - we will have next week. But I wanted to do a Fall table for our Sunday dinner today. I love this brown tablecloth. I got it on clearance after the season, for less than half price. The little placemat in the middle is just a remnant of a piece of Fall fabric I had. The little pumpkin centerpiece was a total impulse buy on my part. I stopped at the store to buy one thing and ended up grabbing this as I jogged by on my way to the checkout! I love it though. The candle holders, again, clearance items from Walmart. I think they were $2 each.Same thing with the napkin rings - clearance! What can I say? I'm cheap. haha This shot looks really different without the flash on the camera. The goblets have a blue hue, but they are really clear.
~*sigh*~ I love my Fall table.

TABLESCAPES - Seaside table

We don't normally do a tablescape for a weeknight dinner. But my daughter, Hannah set the table for dinner and surprised me with this pretty, sort of seaside combo. She said it was appropriate, since we were having fish and hush puppies for dinner! I thought it was cute, so snapped a pic to share with you on here. I love that set of napkin rings too! They are cut from real shells and are so pretty and shiny. My one regret is that I only have 4 of them, or else I would use them a LOT more. I'm not a big fan of paper napkins. I don't like to waste money on things like that. Now paper towels, that's another story! I CANNOT be without those! LOL We use cloth napkins every night. I have quite a few plain, every day type, cloth napkins. But usually I will put down place mats on the table, rather than a tablecloth.

Anyway, it was a nice surprise to sit down to dinner, on a Monday night, with such a pretty table. THANKS Hannah! You're a real peach and I LOVE YOU! XO

TABLESCAPES - Green table

This was our table yesterday. We went simple with the greenery and flowered napkin rings. When I got home from my bus route, my girls had dinner mostly done. So I went in the dining room and finished up the table.


I collect napkin rings. This is one of my favorite sets. I got this set on clearance at a local department store. They are large Gerber daisies, 4 yellow and 4 lavender. I just love them!

We only had 1 guest yesterday. This is Kylie (on the right) with our daughter, Hannah - she is leaving for Bible college in a couple weeks, and we wanted to have her over before she left.
Pray for Kylie, when you see this picture. She lost her Daddy just 6 months ago, but is going on to finish what she started. And that's just one of the reasons why her Daddy was so proud of her. We love you Kylie!

TABLESCAPES - Blue table

This was our tablescape for todays Sunday dinner. My daughter, Sarah had been out shopping and stopped at a linen store that was going out of business and she picked this set up for around $15 or so. It's a nice lightweight linen tablecloth and matching napkins. We only had 8 blue, so we added in a few white here and there. I love this flower arrangement. It's funky and different! Plus it's tall enough to stay on the table during the meal and not block anyone's view of others seated at the table.


This is the napkin fold we did today. It is the rose. The napkins weren't stiff enough to do the water lily. If you're short on time, you can always just fluff the napkin inside the empty water goblets. That makes for a pretty look to the table as well. I'm also a big fan of napkin rings and have several sets in my collection. My favorite ones are big gerber daisies. I have 4 yellow and 4 purple. They make my Spring table just BEEautiful!
If you'd like to try a few napkin folds yourself, for Sunday dinner, you can learn 27 different napkin folding designs here: Napkin folding.

These aren't the greatest pics. I was just beginning to snap pics today and my batteries died! Figures! Do you know how nerve racking it is to cook for a chef? This is the family we had over for dinner today. David and Carmen Iseminger. He is our local church evangelist, but he's also a chef! He offered to make dessert for today and you know what? I LET HIM! LOL He made Caramel pecan apple pie (to die for!) and Chocolate truffle pie. Here we are getting ready to serve up dessert. He and his wife Carmen, are doing the honors and everyone is fixated on the pies before us! They really were super good. The rest of the gang waiting their turn for dessert. You can see his daughter Lena, in the background (in the pink shirt), after her first taste of the Chocolate truffle pie! That was the first time he had made either one, but you sure couldn't tell!