Autumn Decorating - Part 1

Hi friends!  Once again I find myself absolutely behind on blogging.  I've decided no more promises, from here on out it's whatever will be will be.  I'm tired of apologizing and feeling guilty all the time. I will be the one who blogs off and on as I pretty much always have so no more apologies okay, I am what I am.  LOL!  Now one thing I will apologize for is two of my photos have my embroidery watermark on them.  I shared these pictures earlier on my Facebook page and used my watermark app on my phone.  I have two watermarks that I use, one for the decorating page and one for the embroidery page.  I got mixed up and watermarked these with the wrong one.  Mulit-media tasking not my best thing.

Well here we are in SC about to be hit by Hurricane Matthew and I am sitting here blogging.  How's that for crazy timing?  Luckily, I don't live on the coast but have family who are making their way up and have made as many preps as we can for what may come our way where we live.  We are also praying God will protect all in the path of what looks like a very terrible storm.  Please pray for all in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina!

Last week we finally started to have a bit of a cooling streak  and I was inspired to put out some more of my fall decor.  I have put a bit here and there but never did the full fall decorating until last week.  I have also decided I really like a more simple approach to fall decorating.

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I love the warmth of Fall Colors this time of year.  However, those bold oranges, reds, browns and golds can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming to to me.

In the den I only did a small splash of fall on the mantle using what I had and reworking a few older floral designs.  I am so very pleased with the simplicity and sparkle of it this year.

The bamboo floral arrangements I've had for several years now after purchasing them from resale.  I pulled all the old cattails and leaves out and add these wispy looking grasses with feathers that I've had for a few years as well.  I think I may have actually stuck them in with the older floras that were in here one year.  Anyway, I decided to just use the grasses and feathers alone with some copper berries that I had from Christmas.  I used to use these berries on my Christmas tree in the dining room but stopped using the copper a few years back.  I hung on to them and recently put them in my fall boxes.  I'm so glad I did because I think they look perfect for fall.

  I added a little more bling with my mercury glass candlesticks and a splash of autumn color came to life with these orange electric candles. You can't see it in this photo but there are tiny crystals around the edge of the candlestick by the candles.  So glam!  I love the contrast of the orange against the backdrop of my teal plates on the wall.  So pretty!

Speaking of orange and teal.  Do you remember my orange pillows I bought last year at Kirklands?  Well their back!  Perfect next to the teal pillows don't you think?  This color is so lovely but definitely not something I like year round.  It's just too bold of a color for me to use year round but I do believe it would definitely work in here year round.

The coffee table got a little bling and orange and teal as well.  I just adore pulling out my beautiful glass pumpkins every year.  They were such a wonderful find back when glass pumpkins were all the thing.  Now, it's white and gold polka dot pumpkins, you know the Kate Spade look.  I like that look too very much.  I also really love the copper pumpkin I have too that I purchased from Stein Mart of course.  I keep toying with the idea of changing out the raffia on this vase.  I've had this way for a few years now.  I really like it but I think I'm ready for something new.  We shall see!

So there you are!  That's it for my fall decor in the den.  Not much too it but when you have a large open room like this one is, it really is quite enough, at least I think so.

Thanks so much for popping in for a peek.  Hoping to get back before Christmas to show you some more fall goodies because I really have done a splash more here and there all over the house.  It feels great!

Take care everyone!    Linking up to a few Friday Parties today if I can find them @....

Foodie Friday and Everything Else

Hugs and Waves!                                                                                                                                               Mary

Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday

Which do you prefer?  We claimed both at our home!  This year was just a little bit different at our house.   I decided to step up our celebrations a bit and attempt to cook an actual New Orleans style meal to enjoy with my tablescape. My dinner menu of choice was Jambalaya and California Dreaming King Cake. It may not sound like much for a celebration but for the two of us it was just enough.  We definitely were feeling like it was Fat Tuesday.

Our large round family table is in the den now and is where we enjoy most of our meals these days.  I decided this would be the perfect spot to set up my Mardi Gras tablescape.

This year I stayed focused on using dishes I knew we would use with the exception of a few filler plates.  It's okay to have some just for show, especially for Mardi Gras.   I wanted to try and stay close to the traditional Mardi Gras colors, though I ended up with quite a variation in the shades. I didn't have many choices in green, gold, and purple dishware.  I also didn't want to use anything I have used in my two previous Mardi Gras tablescapes.  I will reshare those again at the end of this post, or you can revisit those posts here, 2014 and here 2012.

  My charger plate (well that's what I'm calling it) is really a terracotta dinner plate that was set just for show.  I chose this to give the whole place setting a bit more depth and width.  I used the green in keeping with Mardi Gras colors and because it complimented the salad bowls I knew we would use for dinner.   Note to self: You really need some gold chargers!

 My next choice for the stack was these square melamine salad plates.  These were to be our dessert plates for later.  They  were also chosen to bring in purple, another one of the traditional colors of Mardi Gras.  I have some lovely small round deep purple salad plates I really wanted to use but they just didn't fit with the rest of the stack.  Maybe I will share them in another tablescape soon!

 This was the dish that was so important for me to keep and the very one I worked everything around. It is a terracotta salad dish that closely resembles a bowl.  I love this dish!  It is perfect for meals like the one we had tonight when you need something in between a bowl and plate.

Finally I topped the stack of dinnerware off with a yellow bowl.  This was to catch all the shrimp tails that we had to peel off ourselves.  I used frozen shrimp for this dish and I while I saw that is was indeed peeled and deveined (time saver) the tails were still on.

Of course I had to throw in a little Mardi Gras bling to spice up the setting.

 Sparkly and bubbly silver stainless flatware and a gold rimmed wine glass brought in a few more festive touches of silver and gold.

 The most exciting elements used for this table for me were the napkins that I embroidered myself just for the occassion.  I decided they looked so cute they even deserved a combination of three napkin rings for a big bling factor.

 This design was such a cute design I found online that I knew I had to try it.  I did some slight editing as it was supposed to have the word Royalty underneath Mardi Gras.  I didn't want that, nor did I want to use the colors that were recommended which brought in Royal blue and Red.  If there are any native New Orleans families out there peeking in, I do apologize for changing up the traditional royalty colors.  I really wanted to keep this design a little more simple yet still have a bit of  bling with the crowns.

For my centerpiece I used some faux flowers I already had.  I just pulled together all the different colors I needed and it was done.  I only added a few beads, again trying to keep it more simple.  I know it's quite odd to keep things more simple for Mardi Gras but that's the way I was rolling this year. 

I didn't want to go out and purchase anything for this setting.  I already had all of these on elements on hand and I really wanted to just focus on the dinner this year.

...And focus on it I did!

Let me tell you the Jambalaya I made was soooo good!!!!  It had all the right ingredients in it to make it one of my newest favorite dishes.  I used a recipe I found here at Gimme Some Oven, with just a few slight adjustments.  I am all about saving time so when I found a frozen package of celery, bell peppers, and onions I was very happy.  I also grabbed a bag of frozen Tyson chicken chunks.  I know it's processed and maybe not the best choice but I really, really, hate to cut up chicken.  It's strange but it just bothers me.  I like to cook fresh chicken, love it, just hate to "cut" fresh chicken.  I also used frozen shrimp because the local shrimp around here is just not the best this time of year.  Remember I was going for quick and easy.  I did use almost all the other suggested ingredients and let me just say it was the bomb!

 Speaking of bombs!  This was supposed to have been the California Dreaming King Cake.   Go ahead, you can laugh out loud now.  I did.   Unfortunately, I didn't grease my bundt pan well enough and it stuck and stuck and stuck.  I tried very carefully to get it out but it would not budge.  Then I finally just gave up, dug it out and preceded to dump it all in a bowl.  It was pretty good even though it looks absolutely awful!  Hey, I know, why in the world would I show you this?  Well, I'm all about keeping it real here.  You win some, you loose some!

I took this picture with such high hopes, thinking I would have a lovely cake to show you too.   You can find the recipe I used for the cake here at The Painted Apron.  This recipe called for olive oil and wine so I just had to give it a try.  I wanted to try this cake since I had some Chardonnay on hand given to me from a friend.   I'm not really a Chardonnay kinda gal.  I like White Zin so this was to be perfect time to open it and use it.  No, I didn't drown my sorrows in it later either, though the thought did cross my mind.

Thank you so much for stepping into my home today for a visit and a chat.  I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you'll come back again sometime.

Mardi Gras 2014

Mardi Gras 2012


  Tablescapes are just one more of the many things I enjoy sharing with all of you and I also plan to share this post with a few others at;

Tablescape Thursday

This is an action packed week for us.  We've got a 2 year old birthday coming up for this little one,

 and then a Valentines weekend too.  Whew, Good Times! 

Hope you had a wonderful Mardi Gras,

Hugs and Waves!

Hurry Up Spring!

Yeah, I said it.... Hurry Up Already!  Right????  This has got to have been one of THE slowest arrivals of Spring I have seen in awhile.  My poor trees and flowers are just so confused. 

Thank goodness for Michaels and faux flowers or I'd have no flowers at all this year!

Yesterday we finally had a nice normal spring like day (hope it lasts) and I set out to my favorite local greenhouses to collect a few ferns and early bedding plants for all my pots around the house.  Guess what?  Can you imagine my frustrations after getting out the car at the closed gate and reading their sign that they have closed shop and retired?  Oh man!!!

So I tootled around a nearby antique store, came on back home, took a few pics of my den and spring mantle to share with you and went sailing with the hubby.  Love when he has Mondays off too!

I finally got the entire den repainted so I thought you might like to see.

The table here is new.  I recently purchased this at the same place I have my booth.  It was in pretty good shape but I did sand down the top and give the entire table a new stain and several clear coats.  Love how it turned out!

Speaking of new, you probably don't remember the curtains because they are fairly new too.  I got them from Kirklands.  I did like the brown and black plaid and the gold and cream plaid before them but I love, love, love, the turquoise.  

The new paint color is Muslin by Sherwin Williams.  It's the same as I used in the kitchen.  I just love how neutral it is and will look great with all three different colors of curtains should I want to change back.  

Here is a picture of my den from when I had the lighter creamier custom yellow color that I'd had for years.  I loved it but was ready for something new.

And here's the den with the Lucent Yellow that I had repainted not too long ago.  It doesn't show it here in these edited pics but it had a tendancy to put off a glowing color from time to time especially more so in my kitchen.  

And finally, here it is now!  All were great colors and just a tad different from each other. This one should stay awhile since it is neutral enough for me to change out the rest of the rooms elements as I want to and it's so easy on the eyes.

Since you have been so patient now, I will finally show you my spring mantle.

I've had it decorated for awhile but have not been to keen on showing you yet because I kept thinking it needed a bit more something.  

More bunnies maybe?

More eggs maybe?

Finally, I just decided I was done with it already since like outside it will most likely be very short lived this season.  LOL!  Sometimes you just gotta roll with it and move on.  Right?

On the other hand, I do love this little look down here!

Oh how I wish these were all over my yard instead!

Come on Spring!!!!!!

We're ready!!!!!

Have a great week Y'all!

Basking in the After Glow

I admit it, I am one of those people who are slow to get on the band wagon! I usually like to wait a bit and see how something fares or something plays out so to speak before getting on board.  How about you?  Do you do the same?

Case in point today.... battery operated candles and LED lights. 

 It's not that I haven't seen these candles before or am unfamiliar with them or anything like that at all.  Heck, we sold them in all sizes and price ranges at Stein Mart when I was managing the gift dept.  I often had to create displays with them.  I was for all intensive purposes, well familiar with them.  I just hadn't ever actually seriously considered "buying" them and bringing them home. 

What changed all that?  Well I finally broke down and bought one to specifically use in the display above and below. 

I have loved this embossed and distressed wooden hurricane vase since the day I brought it home for it's simplicity and it's gentle softness in appearance.  I didn't want to put anything in it that would detract from the beauty of the vase itself.  

I finally decided that a large battery operated candle was a perfect fit for it .  I also love that I don't have to worry about blowing it out and having wax all over the inside of my vase.  It's a simple look on the table, but creates a wonderfully inviting centerpiece while dining.

In the den I decided to take things a bit further by adding another electric candle to my sailing vignette.  I think it adds such a warm look to this little corner that I just love.

I got this candle and another in a two pack that was on sale at Belks during their after Christmas sale.  I will have to remember that next year and add a few more.

My latest electric glow addition just arrived today.  I have been eyeing this little vase at Kirkland's for several weeks now.  It was on clearance with an additional 25% off so I decided it was time to bring it home.

I wasn't sure where it would end up.  For now, I have decided to put it in the dining room on my marble buffet table.  I wasn't too crazy about the fact that it was so yellow.  I was expecting white LED lights.  I guess I will have to look for those in the future!

As for now, not too bad!   I think I can live with it here!

Have you gotten into using more battery operated or LED lighting yet?  

If your a procrastinator like me you may want to revisit the idea.  They really are starting to get much more affordable and more widely available now.  

Come on, wouldn't you also like to enjoy basking in the afterglow?

I think so!