Mosaic Monday – New Banner

It was a wonderful  long weekend filled with the blessings of being with family and much to eat. It was also filled with the blessing of having some extra time with my immediate family to start decorating.
I like to decorate early (but not before Thanksgiving!) to be able to enjoy all of the beauty and efforts. Let’s be serious. It’s a lot of work, so we might as well enjoy it for as long as possible. My Mosaic Monday contribution is the mosaic for my new banner. Even my blog got decorated!
Here it is without the title:

Be sure to stop over at the Little Red House to see many more mosaics, which I’m sure will put you in the mood!
- The Tablescaper

A Visit to Nancy’s Home: Post house tour

Last week was the Christmas benefit house tour I’ve been so busy preparing for. My dear friend Kim and I joined forces and went to work on 5+ rooms in one of the homes featured on the tour. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Since it was a Christmas theme, I’m saving those photos for next week – and thereafter (there are a lot of photographs).
A wonderful group of my friends (Debbie, Fran, Nancy, Kim, and Barbara) and I enjoyed the entire tour. My dear friend Nancy graciously offered to entertain us after the tour at her gorgeous home. We got to relax (after all, touring five homes can be exhausting – tee hee), celebrate and discuss every home on the tour in great detail, while being entertained by our divine hostess Nancy.
Today I’m sharing Nancy’s lovely table that she so graciously prepared for us to enjoy after the tour.

Nancy’s entry way always has some fabulous seasonal display ready to excite your senses. Believe it or not, those are the flameless candles. She has two huge dogs and two Maine Coon cats all with large fluffy tails. There was a prior candle and tail incident, which is not to be repeated!

And onto the dining room… alive with color!

Nancy is a huge French Country fan and has quite the Pierre Deux collection of their lovely items. Featured here are some of their beautiful plates and table linens.




When I got to Nancy’s I noticed the flatware and it looked remarkably familiar. She said that it should look familiar, she saw it on one of my posts, googled the manufacturer and ordered it! Did I mention that Nancy is an online shopping junkie (don’t worry, even if Kevin looks at the post, he’ll never read the whole thing)? She loves the ability to shop at any hour! Who doesn’t?

The beautiful hurricanes with the mercury glass bass are from The Source Perrier. Unfortunately they are no longer in existence but have a new web site.

These exquisite glasses were Nancy’s grandmother’s. Unfortunately we don’t know for sure who the manufacturer is but they may be vintage Lenox (I’ll bet Bill over at Affordable Accoutrements has something like them). They have to be one of the most exceptional examples from that “wheat pattern” era.
 
The glorious soup tureen and candle stick holders that make up the center piece are Provence Portuguese Pottery from William Sonoma.

 
We dined on a lovely salad of mixed greens and homemade stuffed shells. Dessert was an incredible arrays of cakes. Lots of fun. Lots of memories. Thank you Nancy for sharing your lovely home with us.
While relaxing after your Thanksgiving feast, be sure to stop over at Between the Naps for more tablescapes.

May all of you have a blessed Thanksgiving. Hope that you are surrounded by your loved ones.
- The Tablescaper

Barbie Extravaganza

This past weekend was an extremely busy, but wonderful, weekend in our home. It was our youngest daughter’s birthday and we planned TWO amazing parties to help celebrate. Both were Barbie Extravaganzas!

The first party was on Saturday afternoon for thirteen little girls – close friends and the girls from her class.

And yes, even The Tablescaper occasionally uses paper.

Each girl received a Barbie as their party favor.

Only the finest of delicacies were served to these little girls: White Castle sliders, chicken nuggets, and French fries.


My oldest daughter and I devised a plan to use all of our many years of accumulated Barbie things. We considered it organized Barbie play. We divided down all of the Barbie toys into 15 small businesses. Each guest was randomly assigned a small business.

After the guest arrived, each was presented with a letter than described what was going to happen at the party and described their assigned business. A sample of one of the letters is as follows (there were 15 different ones!):


We removed the small furniture from our living room and set up Barbieville!

The black poster board was Main Street. Each guest had a rectangle on which to set up their business.

The toys were sorted out and placed in large plastic bags and tied with a bow. The “store front” was tied to the bag.

It couldn’t be a birthday party without balloons.

Each guest set up their business on their space and the fun began!

After much fun and play – a wonderful cake designed and baked by Aunt A.

Just in case there weren’t enough sweets, a little treat as they departed.

A bit of time to clean up, recuperate and get ready for Party number TWO!

Since I was pulling off two parties in a row (while getting ready for that Benefit Christmas House Tour) I had to be organized. Before the extravaganzas began I had pulled together all of the dishes for party number two. I took this shot of the dishes for the next party laying in wait.

The next party was Brunch on Sunday morning for family and close family friends (there were 20 of us).

We had a self serve beverage station.

It included Bloody Marys and the makings for Mimosas!

Brunch was served buffet style.

On day number two those candles are looking a bit low.

Brunch consisted of Fruit Salad, cinnamon buns, Overnight French Toast, breakfast sausage, chicken sausage, thickly sliced bacon…

Two versions of an egg casserole: one a little spicy and one not.


All of the accoutrements for the French Toast.

Coffee and tea.

And of course there was another wonderful cake from dear Aunt A.

OK, I’m Barbie –ed out! But it was fun!!!
Stop over at Susan’s for more tablescapes and check back on Friday for Foodie Friday for the recipes for the Overnight French Toast and Egg Casseroles.
- The Tablescaper

Mosaic Monday – Morning Frost

I took these photos of the morning frost when I recently went to my college reunnion in Central Pennslyvannia. Click her to join in Mosaic Monday.

Benefit Harvest House Tour – Part II

Last week  we got to see the kitchen table of the Benefit Harvest House Tour that we decorated for. This week, let’s walk out the back door of the kitchen and take a look  at the outside at the patio.

We can sneak one more outdoor dinner in before the weather totally changes.

Enjoy those harvest tones of brown and gold.

A bit of a  reflection in the amber tumbler.

The many shade of wood.

Hard to believe that window is in the garage.


A falling leaf, turned glass.


The outdoor kitchen adorned for some hot apple cider and a treat as you depart the tour.

A tower of donuts.

OK, a pretty table outside, but let’s see the rest of the yard!

A gorgeous pool.

With an automated opener, of course.

Shall we take seat and chat?

Or would you rather lounge for a bit?
Oh yes, back to the tablescape.
Hope you enjoyed our Benefit Harvest House tour. It was great fun being a part of it!
And, in the meantime… we’ve been working on another benefit house tour. This one a Christmas tour!  The Tablescaper and her wonderful friend Kim are working on 5 different rooms at a beautiful old home. It’s sure keeping us busy (dramatic understatement). We’re excited to share our creative endeavors so stay posted!
Stop over at Susan’s to enjoy some more tablescapes.