Pages

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Wine Tasting



While my American friends are celebrating their Thanksgiving this week, I will be getting ready for a Christmas Wine Tasting Party we are hosting this Saturday evening.   This is a pic from one of the stations (tables) at last year's party.  I was so thrilled to find the sign at a local shop just before our party.  Will post more pics of this year's event later....if I'm not too worn out.  So much to do!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Chestnuts, Acorns & Popcorn

I'm posting a bit early in preparation for Tablescape Thursday but you know what to do! Lots of fun awaits you when you click here.  Susan, our gracious hostess will once again have supplied us addicted dish-lovers with our fix for fabulous 'scapes. 


Last week, my aunt was in town visiting my mom so I decided to  have a family get-together dinner. Since I still had all my fall decor up I went with that type of  tablescape.  This time, I resisted the urge to use my pumpkin bowls and went with an earthy natural theme.



For the centerpiece, I used two large and one smaller hurricane shade/vase. The two larger hurricanes are from Partylite a couple years ago.




A close-up of Mr. Turkey.
 (HomeSense half price at last year's sales)



Chestnuts surrounded the bases of the white pillar candles in two and in the other one, I placed popcorn kernels.  I tucked three large faux acorns in amongst the vases.  A variety of faux grass type stems were laid lengthwise.
 (Mosaic candleholders are from the Global Fusion series at Partylite)





This is the view of the centerpiece from the opposite side of the table.










My gold-rimmed white dishes and copper coloured chargers went well with the brown/gold tones of the table linens.

Dinner consisted of Russian/Mexican Chicken, Brown Rice, Green Pepper Steak, Tossed  Green Salad, Carrots, Corn and Quick Black Forest Cake with Ice Cream for Dessert.  When I am scrambling to get the food on the table, I rarely think to take a pic of it but later I always wish I would have thought of it.  I need some lessons from Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen in that regard!


As a Part Two to that tablescape....
I bought these deep purple glass dessert dishes today at a local antique store (though not antique). 


I got 10 of them for $32 which is just pennies over $3/each which I thought was a good deal.


Of course, when you have something new on hand you want to try them out so I added them to the tablescape I still had set up.
I think the dark purple tones go well with the dark browns.










Shook things up a bit more and put the individual votive holders inside the dessert dishes.






Looks pretty but a dessert would probably be better!









This is one of my favourite fall themed serving bowls.  See the detail in the bottom with the acorns and leaves.
(white marks are from the flash which I needed to capture the detail)


It was hard to get a good picture but the outside edges also have acorns, leaves and pumpkins all around. I used this bowl a lot for my Thanksgiving and fall table settings.




In my last post, I said I was going to get into the Christmas mode now but I guess I wasn't quite ready to leave the fall tablescapes yet....or is it that I'm dreading hauling out all those tubs of Christmas decorations....

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Natural Elements

We had some company over for dinner this week and here is a little peek at how the table looked.  More to follow in a later post.
Do you recognize the "natural" elements?  One guest asked me if I thought the popcorn kernels might start popping being next to the candle!



Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Another Thanksgiving Idea

You know the drill by now....be sure to pop over to check out all the fabulous tablescapes that have linked to Between Naps on the Porch hosted by Susan who I'm sure NEVER NAPS ON HER PORCH with all the magnificent tablescapes she creates!




Although Canadian Thanksgiving is over, I thought I would post some pics from my table last year (before I had a blog) as it might prove to be inspiration for my American friends who still have theirs to celebrate later this month.




My centerpiece consisted of three real pumpkins hollowed out.  I inserted a trio of glass vases with candle inserts. I placed them in a woven look tray and surrounded with fresh sunflowers and faux leaves and pears.  I gathered up a burgundy table runner around it on the table.





Sorry....Again with the PUMPKIN BOWLS! I also used a combo of these beige coloured plates as well as some sage coloured ones (close up in pics to follow) along with my brown woven chargers.











These are the sage green plates.  I bought a set of the beige and a set of the green to mix and match.  I made the placecards in Word on the computer and then placed them in wooden holders my Dad made me years ago.




My Mom brought over her delicious Butternut Squash Soup which was fun to serve in the pumpkin bowls.




I only have 8 of the pumpkin bowls but there were 10 of us so I improvised with some acorn bowls and a set of slightly different green dishes for 2 of us.  When it is all put together, I don't think it difference stands out that much.

Even though I love them, it is time for me to move beyond the pumpkin bowls and start thinking about Christmas decor.   I am hopeful that I might get to see a few more 'scapes with pumpkins as my American friends think about celebrating their Thanksgiving at the end of the month.