Pastel Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  This is a simple breakfast table that I set for the folks that have the key to my heart: my precious Mom and Mr. Pressed Pants.

Breakfast was the only meal we were eating at home today, so I set this pastel table for us.  Why pastel, you ask?

Well, these conversation hearts inspired me to pull out my LuRay china that I have collected for years.  Then these pale pink gerbera daisies jumped into my basket at Whole Foods yesterday, and I had a plan.

This is a well-known trick for "lining" vases with any material that complements your arrangement.  Just a small vase inside a slightly larger one then use almost anything in between.  Easy-peasy!

So....a pastel table was born for a breakfast of three. 

LuRay china comes in these four colors.  The heart shaped plate is not LuRay, but the pink is a perfect match.  You can see how I use this china for Easter here.  I added this pale pink flatware that I've had for ages.

These juice glasses are actually cut glass vases that I thought would be great glasses and voila!  I bought twelve.

These antique napkin have such finely detailed needlework.  They are the finest, softest linen.  I wish I could learn about some of the other meals they have seen.  Do you ever wish your antiques could talk to you?  Am I strange?

Here are some of the many serving pieces that come in this old pattern.  

I have this sweet little jam dish and spoon with foxgloves on it.  It is Carleton Ware.  I think I need more of this!

What do you think?  Not your typical red and white Valentine's Day table, but we all certainly felt surrounded by love.

I'm joining:

Tabletop Tuesday

A Stroll Through Life

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Open House Thursday

No Minimalist Here

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps On the Porch

Feathered Nest Friday

French Country Cottage

Seasonal Sundays

The Tablescaper

Let's Dish

Cuisine Kathleen

Pink Majolica Breakfast

I had been thinking about doing a post with these dishes for a while.  I especially wanted to use them during berry season.  I have been collecting pieces of this for a long time.  These are large dessert plates, or maybe small luncheon plates.  At any rate, they are just the right size for breakfast and that's how I used them here.

Whole Foods had these gerbera daisies and I thought they looked so much like the flowers on the plate.  (I bought berries that looked like the ones on the plate, too!)  I put them in this small square pot from the floral wholesaler.  I think it was about all of four dollars.  I bought a couple extra for gifts, I thought they were so cute.

Here's the way the table looked, but disregard how it clashes with the rug.  With a round table, the rug is going to show, ya know!  I started with this plain green cloth from Crate and Barrel.

Just look at the detail on this plate.  Isn't it so sweet?  It has a large "F.G." carved into the bottom and the words "Hand Painted, Portugal" in script stamped on it.  Does anyone know anything further about this?  It resembles majolica.  I've found pieces lots of different places, but nobody seems to know what it is.

I found these mugs that aren't quite the same, but they go together pretty well.  They are marked "the haldon group" on the bottom.  The inside is a beautiful, soft shell pink.  These have a blue ribbon, while the plates have pink, and the basket weave is a little larger and creamier than the plates. 

My vintage LuRay china had the perfect size little berry bowl to go with this.

And, of course, this pink flatware was my choice for utensils.  Pretty and dishwasher safe!

I love these scalloped linen napkins and I used an acrylic frosted green napkin ring.

My sweet friend, Jan, gave me these glasses years ago.  They make me smile just to see them in the cupboard, because they remind me of what a good friend I have.  There is nothing like treasures from a treasured friend!

So here's the simple table.  Just a plate for a sweet roll and a bowl for berries.  I can't believe I couldn't even remember to photograph the berries.  I guess that I lost my focus around food again!

The sweetener is in a little ceramic box that my mom gave me a while back, and I chose these jadite pieces for the cream and sugar. 

And, oh yea.....look what I found in a little shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.  A juice pitcher!  Score!!! I was really doing my happy dance, that's for sure.

Can you see the inside of the mugs?

These little guys lasted days and days.  Don't you love it when that happens?

Here's an invitation to visit these blog parties in which I'm participating this week:

Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps On the Porch

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home on Friday

http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

http://frenchcountrycottage,.blogspot.com/

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

http://myromantichome.blogspot.com/

Inspiration Friday at At The Pickret Fence

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

Fridays Unfold at Stuff and Nonsense

http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/

Seasonal Sunday at The Tablescaper

http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

Daisies On the Terrace

Ah, a lazy summer Saturday morning!  We took advantage of this for a long, unhurried breakfast together.

Last week when I pulled out my sunflower placemats to use for a dinner party, I spied these daisy placemats from Homegoods.  I got them last year, but I think they still have them.  They are even available as a runner, if I recall.

I used a white hotel linen topper from a restaurant supply house with a yellow ribbed runner from Pottery Barn.

The flowers were just a bunch of Kroger daisies plunked arranged in an apple green pottery urn.

Just for a little zip, I chose this flatware from Target and used it with yellow LuRay china stacked with our everyday white no-name dishes.  To see the other colors of LuRay, check out this post here.

These sunshine yellow napkins with rickrack edges came from Pier One and I embellished them with these sweet little daisy buttons.

This fabulous booth full of buttons was at Scott's Antique Market a few months ago.  I'm sorry that I've lost her contact info.  If you know who this is, email me and I'll edit this post.  Doesn't it look like a candy shop?  Well, that's just what I was like....a kid in a candy shop.  I bought so many buttons and findings.

These acrylic glasses are from Bobby Flay's line at Kohl's.

 Makes a fun, cheerful placesetting.

These metal daisy votives can be used for jam!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

 We considered golf, but decided it was too hot.  We went to Verizon for new phones instead.

This photo is not contrived.  I swear these petals fell this way au naturel.  It reminds me of "He loves me, he loves me not".

Well......he loves me!!!!!!  We'll be celebrating 42 years of marriage tomorrow.

I'll post on Susan's Tabletop Thursday at Between Naps On the Porch

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

also:

http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

for Home Sweet Home

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

for Feathered Nest Friday

http://myromantichome.blogspot.com/

for Show and Tell Friday

http://www.thepicketfence.com/

for Inspiration Friday

http://www.stuffandnonsense.net/

for Fridays Unfold

Retro Easter Table

This is one of my favorite tablescapes, mostly because I've been doing it each Easter for years.  If you're not a fan of the pastel look, it might sort of give you a toothache, but just for this holiday, I really love it!

Yep!  Lots of pastel!!!!

It always starts with this vintage tablecloth with these devilish looking bunnies.

Doesn't he crack you up?

There are eight matching napkins. 

This is the way I like to use them.

These white wooden rabbit napkin holders came from Pier One, years ago.

And the other vintage feature is the LuRay china, which I have collected for years.  It comes in four pastel colors, pink, blue, green, and yellow.  It is from the '40's.

I sometimes use just one color at a time for a very different look, but the mixture is the way it was sold.  As I am posting this, I see that there is some stray moss on the plate.  Here's one for the bloopers. 

Then, I used this pink flatware to really make it over the top springy!

I'm not much for hand painted glasses with leopard or "girl's night out", or some of the crazy things you can find, but I LOVE these with Easter baskets painted on them.  Needless to say, they only get used once a year!

For a little bit of class, I added Waterford wine stems.  I always debate between red or white wine glasses, as there is a difference of opinion of what goes with ham.

Even the LuRay salt and pepper set comes in two colors.

I always think this is the perfect table to use this little matching dish and spoon with foxgloves on it.  It is Carlton Ware.  I think I'm going to start keeping my eye out for more of this.  It sure is sweet.

 The centerpiece is more of a vignette than an arrangement.  I found this vintage toy fence several years ago and I decided to make a vegetable garden with it. 

Bunny McGregor tends the garden.

 I "planted" the garden with brussel sprouts for cabbages, little summer squash tops, and baby carrots with rosemary for the tops.  Then I surrounded the dish with green moss to resemble grass.

Here's last year's table.  I used pink linen napkins and added a bit more silverware.  I'll do the small bouquet of flowers in a blown out egg placed in the wooden egg cups again, but not until Sunday.  I'll also use this flower mold for butter.

Have you been noticing these fun little bunny nutcrackers?

Maybe a bit much?

Well, I couldn't resist when they came in exactly the same colors as the LuRay china.  You know, my mantra is "It's not done until it's overdone"!

Here's the coffee and tea tray.  I saw a pink LuRay pitcher at my bridge buddy's house this week and I wanted to run out with it, but I guess I can't have it all! 

What do you think?  Too much?  Well, remember that everyone is already on a sugar high from the Easter baskets, so why not send them into a total sweetness coma!

I'm linking up with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for her Thursday Tablescape party.

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/