Tea Anyone???

 Happy Monday!  Today is the first day of February and even though its still technically winter I'm so ready to freshen up the décor from Winter to something more Springy.  What about you? It's too soon I know!  Luckily. we have Valentines just around the corner so we can get away with bringing in a few flowers, right?

I hadn't intended to post again today, but I just couldn't help myself after getting a little inspiration from some recent home décor books I purchased.  I was going through them this morning oouing and ahhing, and wishing once again that I had a small table for my kitchen sitting area.  I love having my black cabinet in the kitchen and really want to keep it there.  However, I feel like even with the two chairs it needs just a bit more something. I do have a smaller round dining table but it is 40 inches and just too large to have in here along with the cabinet.  I have been dreaming about getting a smaller 30 inch round tall bar table so I can pull out my beautiful French barstools that are in the attic.  I wanted to use those instead of the chairs I have.  I almost purchased a bar table online this Christmas.  Well anyway, as I was thinking about all this again I remembered I had this little round table in the attic.  This was an inherited table that I have had a love, hate relationship with from day one.  I am not a fan of the laminate top but love the bottom with the wicker.  The size works sometimes and sometimes not.  I had it on the screen porch but finally moved it to the attic after worrying it was getting to weather worn outside.   

I brought it out thinking it's probably not going to work, but WOW! What a surprise it actually fits the space very well.  

It is 27 inches around, which makes me wonder if a 30" tall table will work.  Maybe, maybe not.  Anyway, I am really loving this so much right now.  I need to give it a little touch up paint on the legs and I am thinking if I can find a glass round to sit over the laminate it might look a whole lot better.  We will see.  I was standing there looking at trying to decide what to put on it when I looked over at the cabinet and saw the Pioneer Woman cream and sugar bowls I already had out.  So, I moved them over and started playing.

I first added several other knick knacks, trays and faux plants.  I was almost settled on one arrangement when I remembered I already had this sweet little rose tea pot that I've used for Valentines décor for many, many years.  I always forget about it because I don't keep it with all the other Valentines décor I keep it with my floral arrangements in the attic.  Soooo, glad I remembered it!  

I finally settled for now on this little melamine tray that I had after playing with multiple other platters, plates and baskets.   I like the size of this tray the best for this table.  I have to confess I am now dreaming of finding the perfect sized wooden tray for this table.  I'm thinking it's going to be so fun rotating my other cream and sugar bowls here with the seasons.  

I still see more tweaking I can do in here, but for now I'm lovin it!  

I especially love when you already have what you been looking for right under your own roof, don't you?  How awesome is that?  

Well, thanks for popping by y'all.  Hope you have a wonderful Monday too!

Take care!

Mary

Will you be my Gnomie for Valentines?

 Hi friends!  I can't believe I'm doing this again, but here I am!  After last year life has shown me not to neglect doing the things that I love.  I am absolutely sure 2020 has shown many of us that life is so short but more importantly so precious.  I am blessed to have many hobbies which helped ease the transition of social distancing.  I don't know what I'd have done if I didn't have hobbies to keep me occupied.  Blogging is one those hobbies I have missed, so here I am, once again.

Last year I found myself combing through many blogs I used to follow.  With everything going on in our world I wanted to find things that were pleasing to look at as well as inspirational.  I realized I am very fortunate that I am able to daily create a beautiful environment for myself, my family, and my friends to enjoy.  So it was with that focus that I decided to share my home, my embroidery, my tablescapes, my seasonal decor, crafts, gardening and all the enjoyable things in my world with others once again.   I don't have an endless budget, or a designer home but I do have a desire to create something enjoyable to see.  So with that said, I hope you will enjoy coming here again if you are an old follower or consider following along if your new to my blog. 

 Welcome everyone, to The Decorative Dreamer!

I love seasonal decorating!  Do you?  If you do, will you be my Gnomie?  LOL!  

I made this little dishtowel last year.  I am especially proud of this design as it is one of my very own.  I personally digitized the gnome design with the heart balloons, ect.  Every bit of that is design is my own work, with the exception of the font. The lettering is a purchased font I own.  Digitizing is another one of my favorite passions now as it has allowed me to be creative in a whole new way. 

Have you noticed a trend with decorating with Gnomes for Valentines?  I sure have! 

I got on board with the gnome trend last year when I found the kissing gnomes applique design and knew it would be perfect for a sweet little pillow.  I added the wording to make it even more fun.  This year, I added to my gnomes after finding this design for a stuffed gnome. She was fun to make but not so fun to stuff with those skinny legs.

She is sitting here on the shelves in my kitchen.  I have pretty much limited my Valentines decor to the kitchen.  Its one of those holidays I tend to do more groupings with either one location, or only a few items here and there.  This year I focused on the kitchen sitting area.  It's so fun to see this every morning and brings a smile to my heart. 

When I first set up my shelves I just had the hearts hanging there without anything on them.  One morning I looked at the shelves and thought now wouldn't that be cute to have mine and my husbands initials on them with arrows pointing at each other.  Sooo, I made some decals with my silhouette machine and put them on there.  Isn't that so sweet?  I think so!

 

Can you tell how much I love personalized decorating?  I made sure they were placed centerstage to the rest of the valentines decor on my shelves.   Also centerstage are the cute little Pioneer Woman salt and pepper shakers that remind me of my dogs.  Even though these are meant to be labs they really, really, look like my two Cavachons to me.

Speaking of Pioneer Woman products.  I decided to pull out the first pattern of dishware that I bought of hers and the matching accessories pieces.  I thought they had enough red on them to to work well for Valentines decor.  

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my kitchen sitting are all decked out for Valentines.  I'm so glad to be back sharing and recording the pretties in my life.  If you enjoyed your visit please feel free to drop me a comment if you wish.  I'd love to hear about what you are doing for Valentines as well. Otherwise, thank you for stopping by, please drop in again sometime.  

Have a beautiful day!

Mary

I am joining these fun and beautiful beautiful blog parties;

Sundays on Silverado

Decorating with Measuring Spoons

Hi Again!  I love when you finally make the time to tweak those little things you've been meaning to get done, don't you?  If your like me you sometimes put them off thinking, "oh, that's just a small thing that won't take long so I'll do it later.  And I'm sure I don't have to tell you those little things can add up pretty quick.  So, I've been on a bit of mission to focus on getting the little things done.  I call it tweaking!

I had this wonderful, Family Prayers sign my son gave me for Christmas.  As much as I loved it, and I really do, I just wasn't sure where I wanted to put it until I started tweaking the kitchen.  After I started making a few changes I decided this was the perfect spot for it but there was only one problem.

As wonderful as the sign is, it didn't come that way.  It came with the clips shown above.  Sorry, I am a slacker and didn't take a before picture of the sign with these clips but trust me they were on there.  I think it was most likely the clips that were throwing me for a loop. You see, I had no clue what to do with a sign with clips.  I tried, I really did try to think of how it would fit in somewhere.  But it just didn't.

After deciding I wanted the sign here in the kitchen I sat down determined to remove the clips and just put the screws back in the predrilled holes.  As I removed the clips I remembered I had a box of these small hooks in my kitchen drawer.  I have these hooks on several places of my cabinets to hang coffee mugs and always keep extras on hand.  I was quite thrilled to find my hooks fit the screw holes perfectly and just like that my new sign had hooks.  It didn't take me long after that to figure out what I wanted to hang on those hooks either.  I am missing my regular measuring spoons in this picture because, well, they were in the dishwasher at the time.  I know shame on me for not setting up my props better.  LOL!

Once the sign was hung and designated a holder for measuring spoons I decided I needed a few more decorative ones.  I already had the heart shaped set but wanted something a little more fancier too.  Would you believe after all those years working in retail that I have never bought myself any of those pretty metal measuring spoon sets that come in all sorts of patterns?  I've restocked them more times then I care to remember but never bought any for myself.  I guess I just never wanted to spend the money on them, even with my discounts.  Anyway, I really did want something a little more decorative here now.  Thanks to Pioneer Woman, I found just what I wanted at Walmart.  Aren't these just wonderful?  The metal is really nice and thick too y'all.  These are very sturdy and so pretty.  I love them!  I still have room for one more decorative set.  I've decided I will just wait to see what I find "someday" for that set.  I know one thing, it will be definitely be a set that has to hit me just right and will be fun to be on the lookout for.

Before you go, I have one more final tweak to share.   Do you remember my last post when I shared the sideboard in the den and all the tweaks I did with it?  Well, if you don't remember just jump back or keep scrolling when your done reading this post and you'll see.  

Anyway, I had shared where it was staying and the few tweaks I did and how I wanted to also find a new runner.  Guess what?  Yes mams, I did!  I found just the runner I was looking for.  Its so pretty so see a beautiful pop of color now on this sideboard in my den and it was a perfect match to the rest of the teal in this room.  Love when an idea becomes a vision, don't you?

That's all I got for today, but I'm still tweaking away here.  So come back again another day and check out the latest if you like.  Have a great week dreamer friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Sending waves,

Mary

   

Halloween Tablescape 2016

Hallo Everyone!  It's that time of year when strange things begin to lurk around!   It's a little bit spooky, but a little bit fun here at The Decorative Dreamers house.  Once again I find myself under the spell of a very adorable and decorative tablescape.

How about you?  Do you enjoy decorating for Halloween?  I used to do a lot more then I do now.  With my sons being older and out of the house and no trick or treaters anymore, I find myself still wanting to join in on the fun.  So instead of focusing on outside decor I focused on creating an indoor treat for us instead.

This years tablescape began with my napkins.  I've had these checked fringe napkins for quite awhile now and since I have a boatload of them I figured I could spare a few.  I decided they would be the perfect background to showcase my carved pumpkin initial applique.  Isn't this just the cutest thing? After these turned out so well I wanted to keep stitching.  I love doing appliques and I especially love when I can make items for my own decor to showcase my work.

Next came the new addition of my table runner.  I found the orange and black buffalo check runner on sale at Ross.  I was thrilled to see that not only was it marked down but that is was a blank canvas that I could customize myself.

I started with adding this Witch hat initial font to each end of the runner.  This was a freebie font from one my sources.  I love how it looks though I do wish the hat was up a little higher.  Our last name begins with a "K" and this looks like an "R" to me.  Oh well!  It is what it is, right, and it was free so I'm good!  Happy, happy!

I then decided to center this Boo applique in the middle of the runner.  I love this one! Looks adorable next to my witch boot salt and peppers doesn't it?

 

After adding designs to the ends and the center of my runner I then decided to add two more Jack o lantern appliques in between at an angle.  I also flipped these two designs so this runner would be a great look from all angles of the table.   It was a little more challenging centering and angling both of them equally the same but I got it.  Whoohoo!

After I finished the tablerunner it was time to set the table.  I chose to keep my setting a little more simple to keep the focus on my beautiful runner and napkins.  I decided to use only orange chargers and black plates with the napkins.  The chargers I picked up a few years ago, can't remember where, but the black plates are new this year from the dollar tree.  I was pretty happy to see them because I've wanted some black plates for awhile now.

My hand blown purple goblets were just the right color for this setting and kept with the color theme.  One thing I was very focused on when I made the table runner was keeping all the appliques coordinating with each other.  I can't tell you how many times I looked at other pieces of fabric I had and thought, Oh this would be so cute with that.  Especially on  the candy jack o lantern or the hair bow on the other jack.  I resisted the urge to mix it all up with multiple fabric choices though, and chose to use only four colors; orange, black, purple and green.  I stayed true to keeping it coordinated and now I'm so glad I did!

The little ghosties were a fun and whimsical choice for my candle holders, though I did manage to add a few votives for a nice glow.  The orangish colored votives were a summer clearance from the $1.00 bins at Michaels.  I love those bargains bins, don't you?

After I finished my tablescape I couldn't help but notice how my shelves on the side table that were decorated for Fall just didn't quite match.  So even though I wasn't planning on doing any last minute Halloween decorating I just couldn't stop myself.

I'm so glad I pulled out my Halloween box.  It's always so enjoyable when you see some of your decor you have forgotten you had.  I knew I wanted to use my witch, aka Miss Abigail, I bought one year while working at SteinMart.  She was a must. I had totally forgotten all about the wreath I made too. I was so excited to see it and even more pleased that it was a smaller size.  I made this wreath smaller one year to sit inside of a simple larger fall wreath of berries so you could easily pull it out when Halloween was over.  That was a great idea, even if the berry wreath didn't last.  LOL!

 Doesn't Miss Abigail look so cute next to the broom parking sign, bad blood and poison wine mixes?  The witches sign and more ceramic ghosts I've also had for awhile now .  I just love how this side table turned out. So fun!  I had a straw broom propped up here, but had to move it because it was freaking the dog out.  LOL!  Ooops!

Funny, I just noticed I have a rooster sitting here that didn't get moved.  It must have blended in and i didn't see it until the picture.  Oh Lord, I must be loosing my touch!

Well, that's it y'all!  I hope you enjoyed your visit and I hope you have a whimsically wonderful and fun holiday celebration.

Happy Halloween!

Hugs and Waves,

Mary

 

Are We Green Yet?

No, not yet?  Well, I have a little something that can take care of that for ya! It's an Irish Country setting you will fall in love with!  Sounds dreamy right?   Fair warning though, this post is heavy laden with pictures and is only one of many that are likely to bring out the Irish desire in you.

Follow me later today as I join;

  Cuisine Kathleen for her 8th annual St. Patricks Day Blog Crawl and

 Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

It's bright and sunny here in the countryside and we are full of all kinds of greenery bursting out everywhere.  Inside, I've set the table for St. Patricks day using a mix of dishes that I hoped would compliment a few new items I made especially for this year. 

I have to say personally that I think this is one of the prettiest settings I have done so far.  I was amazed when looking back that I have only done two St. Patricks day settings, one here in 2012  and here in 2011 .  My how time flys when you are not blogging.  LOL!

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year to do tablescapes.   I really don't mean to sound so vain but I think the colors and choices I chose for this setting are "so me".  I am so in love with it!

 It all came together so fast after being inspired by the beautiful embroidered napkins that I made.  But before I let you look at them, let me take you through the setting I chose first.

 I decided to use woven oval placemats to give more texture to my country setting.  I think they are so pretty behind my Lenox Butlers Pantry dinner plate.

For the salad plate I chose this melamine floral dish in a lime green.  Who says St. Patricks day has to be all emerald green anyway?  I like the way the shape and color and patterns compliment each other.

Then I decided to top off my stack with these pretty china bowls I inherited from my grandmother.  I chose them because of their color and the florals to give that country feel.

My silverware is stainless Louisiana by Oneida.

I pulled out the tall green hand blown goblets I purchased one year from an antique store that also sells resale items.  I decided to use the foam shamrock thingys from the dollar tree as coasters.  Cute! Cute!

Speaking of foam shamrock thingys, did you see what I did with the sparkly glittery ones?  So easy!  Oh wait, am I teasing you a bit too much?  Oh okay, I'll share the napkins now.  (big grin!)

Here they are!  So sorry for the tease. Haha!  I just can't help but enjoy a little shanigans for St. Pattys day yall.  I did want you to see how I decided to layer another napkin underneath the white Shamrock cutout napkins.  I'll get back to why on that in a bit.  For now let me show you the pretty clover designs that I embroidered myself with my machine.  These four are from a set of 8 different designs.  I just love this designer.  I love how each clover is different from the other.  The color combinations I chose were so cheery and fun.  I  actually enjoyed watching each one stitch out as it was on the machine.  

I think this one might be my most favorite though!

Yes, the shades of green on my napkins are every bit as vibrant as what you see here.   I think they are just so cool!  So now you can also see why I chose some of the dishes I did and the rest of the setting can't you?  I wanted colors that would pop right along side of the napkins.

I chose the checked green napkins to sit behind the white napkins to add a bit more layers of color and texture because of the fringe they had.

I thought the fringed napkins complimented the fringe on my table runner.....

.....which I discovered is from Scotland when I flipped it over while setting the table.  Sweet!

The stars of my centerpiece are the floral arrangement, hurricane candles and few little mischievous leprechauns.

I even spread a bit more greenery around the rest of the kitchen, well just a touch here and there.

All I need to do now is hop on over to the Blog Crawl and pick up a recipe or two for dinner and I'm all set.  I'm sure there will be a few goodies to choose from.  I can hardly wait!

Thank you so much for stopping by today to check out my St. Patricks day tablescape.  I hope you enjoyed the peek.  If you did, I would love to hear from you if you have a moment.  

My tablescape isn't the only green around here.  Outside the weather is warming already and the tree have buds and amongst the yellow pollen there is green poking up everywhere.  I love spring and cannot wait to share some of our yard with you soon.

I hope you all have a great week and a wonderfully 

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Hugs and Waves!