Too Little Color?

Seriously?  That's what I was thinking too!  Recently I was called out for having too little color in one of my displays.  Unfortunately I guess "they" failed to realize that was the look I was going for.  Let me just say in my defense most of the objects I was using were also of the neutral family so I went with it.  Hey, I know many of you would have done the same.  I guess the neutral look just has not reached many main steam retail stores as of yet.  And, while I am not a big fan of it in my house there are areas where I love it!  In fact I loved one of the items I was creating my neutral display with at work so much that I decided it was just going to have to come home with me to be fully appreciated.

Welcome home my new very LARGE lantern!  I have found just the perfect spot for you!

I have even decided to keep a neutral vignette going inside of you (for a bit) in honor of your well deserved escape from retail land.  Don't you think this lantern just screams neutral decor?  

Especially with it's grey tin roof...

...And pale greyish whitewashed wood.  Well, I certainly do!  But you ladies know I am not one to stay very neutral for long so enjoy it while it lasts okay?

I've set a little vignette here that speaks volumes about where my heart is right now.  I can hardly wait!  It won't be long now!

I am sure this little corner of the den is going to see lots of change with my newest addition.  It's going to be so fun changing this lantern out.  The Mr. said that is no lantern dear it is a BIG glass box.  LOL!  Oh well, if you haven't seen these this size then hop on over to your nearest Stein Mart.  We have lanterns in all shapes and sizes right now at some really great prices too.

I am joining Marty today over for her vignette linky party for

Tablescape Tuesday. 

Please follow the link to see more beautiful decor.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Have a great day!

Sharing Irish Blessings

Good Morning!  It's a beautiful sunshiny day, and things are greening up quickly around here!  Well, sorta, kinda....uh,okay,okay, not really, but inside it's pretty green!  And Yesums, I do mean pretty!

In honor of St. Patricks Day and Cuisine Kathleen's party I would like to share an Irish Blessing with you in addition to setting a fun and pretty (if I do say so myself) tablescape.

Sorry ladies, but your going to have to get all the way to the end of the post to receive your blessing okay?  Now don't cheat and jump ahead or ya might miss a few extra blessings along the way.

Blessings like enjoying a few pretty pictures or ideas that may inspire you just a bit.

If it sounds like I am being a bit conceited to you, I assure you I am not.  That's not my style!  I am sharing this because it's so much fun to create these tablescapes.  Really, it is!   I enjoy it so much and believe some of you just might enjoy it too.   I never knew how much fun and how much the simple act of creating these tablescapes would fill that creative void I had until I started blogging.

So if you ever see anything here that inspires you to try it out yourself then I am well pleased.  If I hadn't seen for myself so many other beautiful tablescapes, I would never have gotten into it as much as I do now.  It is a wonderful feeling to know you also share a kindred passion for something with so many others.  So that's what it's all about ladies....sharing,sharing,sharing!

Like I said, the sun is shining here, so I hope you will overlook my poor photography skills once again.   I have to admit though, that sun is not shining nearly as brightly as my smile is this morning!

Why?  Because of these placemats.  They were instant love when I saw them at Marshalls.  They were not expensive either but, (and there's always a but isn't it) there were only three.  So, because I did not want to have an odd number I only bought two.  Oh, but if I ever see two more!  I just adore the embroidery on these and the lovely white boarder with clovers.  So cute!

I just couldn't help myself again, the Ivy dishes just had to come back out.  This week I decided to use the Ivy dinner plate....

...paired with my everyday white salad dishes.

Then I added more Ivy by stacking the bread and butter dishes on top.

For my final piece to the stack I added one of these larger foam clover cutouts I picked up from the DT. Wouldn't these be perfect to use for a party with people names on them for place setting markers?

Surely there must be fields of Ivy mixed in with all those clovers over there in Ireland!

 Out came my lighter green goblets again because I think they really work best here.

Are you ready for another big smile?  I hope so because if you can't smile about these adorable napkins, I just don't know.  Look what I also found at Marshalls!  They were sold in a four pack and my heart literally did a flip flop when I saw them.

Just look at those sweet little clover cut outs.  Oh my goodness!

So precious! I tried to add these gummy stick ons that I saved from last years tablescape to my napkin rings but apparently they don't wanna stick this year.  LOL!

The centerpiece was especially easy this year because I already had a few elements saved from last year and only added a few new things.

Do you remember these little guys from last year?

The green Hydrangeas are from last year too.  

Isn't this little guy just so cute sitting there in a pot of gold?  Okay, so you have to use your imagination a little bit.  Come on, you can do it, there's a wee bit of gold in there!

The addition of the candle was an afterthought.  I just recently purchased this scent from work.  Yes ladies, we sell Yankee Candles at Stein Mart and they are quite a bargain too, I might add.  I just love the smell of this one.  It even smells great unlit with just the lid off.  I can't wait for an afternoon at home when I can light it and enjoy it.

The little scarf was probably what I would deem the deal of the century.  Would you believe I found this adorable scarf at the DT?  I know right!  It's made of a gauzy type of cotton material.  It was the only one and I actually found myself doing a little Irish jig after I picked it up.  Haha!  Seriously!

Finally I sprinkled a few more foam clovers around.  These glittery ones and the lime green ones all came in the same pack, what a bargain.

So what do you think?

 Pretty cute huh?

Maybe not nearly as cute as these....

But all in all pretty cute!  I hope you also enjoyed this setting, let me know if you did, okay?   It was so much fun creating this one for you!

As promised, here's an Irish blessing for you as well.  This is hanging on my oldest sons bedroom wall.  Even though he doesn't live here anymore I wanted to keep it in there.  I know he see's it when he comes home and so will any guests that stay in there too.  

Wonderful words to take to heart.  I do wish this for each of you!

Thank you so much for visiting!

I am joining the following parties with this post;

Tablescape Thursday at BNOTP

and

The 4th Annual St. Patty's Day Blog Crawl

at Cuisine Kathleens

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a little work to do, for a coin or two.

Have a great day everyone!

Many Blessings!

Tablescaping with Chefs

Do you do Italian night at your house?  We sure do!  In fact we have Italian dishes quite regularly here at our house.  Spaghetti is one of my most all time favorite dishes to eat and to make so I cook it  quite regularly.  One evening about a month ago, I was setting the table once again for one of our regular spaghetti dinners and thought to myself I sure would love to do an Italian night tablescape.  Not only, was I thinking about how I would put it all together, I was thinking about the perfect dishes to use as well.   Of course, I was thinking about those specific dishes because I have been staring at them at them everyday at work ever since last October and had grown quite fond of them.

  But....the last thing in the world I needed around here was more dishes.  Do you think I let that stop me? Oh Noooooo!!!!  Especially when I figured out how I could buy them without getting my Mr. all upset.

I'll be honest with you.  This was what started it all, and this was for all intentional purposes as far as it was going to go when I first purchased these little guys.

They are part of a collection of fashion ceramics we sell at Stein Mart that is labeled International Chefs that are designed by artist Jennifer Garant.  They are salt and pepper shakers, aren't they just so cute? The Mr. said the great thing about these is you can always know that the chef in the black pants is the pepper and the chef in the white pants is salt.  LOL!

Well, that's part of the conversation we had with my own chef about these this weekend when he came to town for a visit.  Little did he know I had just a few more surprises to share with him.

I was so excited that the time had finally arrived when I was able to bring out the new dishes.  Of course, I wanted to serve Spaghetti on them that night as well.  I almost hit a snag when I asked my son and his girlfriend if they would join us for dinner at home and he hesitated saying they had already eaten Spaghetti only a few nights earlier.  I was literally holding my breath!

Then, when they agreed Spaghetti would be fine, I pulled out the new dishes and rapidly went to work setting the table.

I even pulled out my forever unopened bottle of red wine for a great prop.  LOL!  Don't worry, my son decided to supply his on bottle of red wine instead, so off to the store they went.

I started our setting with my white dinner plates from Lenox.

I then decided to use my amber colored goblets because I liked the way they coordinated with the new dishes.

The black and white checked napkins were a must but the bamboo flatware was a stretch I know.  I used them anyway because they were black and the only black flatware I own.

Now are you ready to see the new dishes yet?  Okay, here they are!

They are chef plates!   All of these are also designed by Jennifer Garant.  They are also part of the International chefs collection but I think these are all actually French chefs though.  Oops!

Oh well!  I still think they were perfect for an Italian night dinner.  Honestly, the more I looked at these in the store the more I kept thinking how great they would look with Spaghetti.

So when the right opportunity finally arrived I cooked up a big pot of Spaghetti sauce...

 ...and pasta.

Chopped up a little salad....

....and baked a loaf of Garlic bread.

This is what my son picked up from the grocery store.  No particular reason for the brand other then he wanted to try it out.

So, with the table all set and dinner made it was time to dish it out.

Yummo!

How cute is that?

My oldest, the chef and his girlfriend certainly thought so.

Especially when they realized that the dishes and the salt and pepper shakers were theirs to keep and were going home with them!

See, didn't I tell you I figured out a way to buy these dishes without getting the Mr. upset?

LOL!

I love it!  I just couldn't resist buying these chef dishes for my very own chef.

Could you?

I am so happy to finally be able to share this post with you at

Tablescape Thursday.

I've really been waiting on this one!

Hope you enjoyed your visit here, I'm glad you took a look.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a great weekend Everybody!