Pine Cone Cloche Tutorial

It seems as though every time someone sees this cloche full of pine cones, they ask me, "How did you do that".  It's pretty simple, and if you don't mind spending some time in my garage with me, I'll show you how to do it. You can see a dinner party using this as the centerpiece here.

I put up an old card table in the garage to work with greens and decorations for the holidays.  You get to see the good, the bad, and the ugly.  With warts!  So, I start with a clean glass cloche that fits into this terra cotta saucer.

This is a reproduction of an old French saucer that I got at Boxwoods in Atlanta.  I like the profile of it.

Then I grab an appropriately sized pot that will hold the glass upright when turned upside down into it.

See?

(Can you believe how much junk we have?)

Ok.  Focus, Linda.  In this photo, the cloche sort of disappears and it looks like I just have stuff in the bottom of the zinc pot, it is actually sitting in the bottom of the cloche.  (Which is the top.....get it?)

Pick it up occasionally and check to see that the outside edges are attractive and show a variety of items.

Then, when the cloche is full......

I put a piece of styofoam on top that will fit inside of the saucer.

Then I put the saucer on top......

and flip!

Next step is to put some reindeer moss around the edge, hiding the styrofoam and closing the gap.  Sometimes, I use a stick to make sure the edges under the glass are covered.

I have some little pieces of lichen that I scatter around, to make it look a little more natural.

Add some fresh greens, berries, and a bow and there you have it! 

 

I'm linking up to a giant Christmas Wonderful party that these kind bloggers are hosting:

Uncommon Designs | The Cards We Drew | Life as a Thrifter | Ginger Snap Crafts | a girl and a gluegun | A Pretty Life | Frog Prince Paperie | Commona-My House | Dimple Prints | kiki & company | Confetti Sunshine | BellaGrey Designs | Clean and Scentsible | Holy Craft | hoopla palooza | Not Just a Mommy | Giggles Galore | Simply Designing | I Dig Pinterest | Happiness is Homemade | Paisley Petal Events | Bloom Designs Online | The Scrap Shoppe | She’s Crafty Crafty | Three Little Monkeys Studio

Pinecones and Friends

Even though this table is more seasonal than Christmas, we were definitely in a Christmas mood on Saturday night as we entertained some folks who have grown very dear to us.  It was a rollicking,  laugh-filled evening and we lingered at this table with some conversation that you just had to be here to believe!  Enough said about that!

Brunswig and Fils makes some beautiful fabric, but none prettier than this pattern.  I've made it into runners and cloths, so I can be versatile with the way I want to use it.  Here, I used it in three runners.  Sometimes I use red transferware with it, but I chose to pull the image of the pinecones out of the design and feature them in this table. 

Here's the way I used the runners, since there were only six of us.  Excuse the fuzziness of this, as I didn't photograph the entire table until dark.

I used real pinecones, pinecone glass ornaments, mosses, small beaded fruit, and tiny glass balls to fill this glass cloche, and used it as the centerpiece.  Look for a tutorial on this soon.

It sits in this interesting terra cotta saucer.

Here's a close-up. 

And an overhead of the table.

I didn't get a closeup of the wooden candlesticks, but I did get this photo of  the birch covered votives that I added.

This red plastic charger is available everywhere.  It's not really as bright as it shows here.  The dinner plates are from Crate and Barrel and are embossed with acorns and oak leaves.  I use these constantly in the fall and winter.  The napkins are a rather sheer linen embroidered with this beautiful pinecone.

I don't remember where I got these bread and butter plates, but I used them with these horn-handled fruit knives which I use as butter knives.  These Christmas butter shapes are made from some rubber mint molds that my Mom gave me years ago.

The wine glasses are etched with pinecones..... 

and these salad plates from Target (last year) are embossed with them, too. 

This Royal Dalton Santa character jug is also a gift from Mom.  Well, actually, I am "storing" them for her.  You can see the place card I made here with a rubber stamp and a thin red ribbon.  It always makes people feel especially welcome when they see their name on the table, and I try to do this, even for a small group. 

These are some of the serving pieces I used.  Can you see the stags carved on two of the horn handles?  Aw, man!  I love these!

See?  (You can also see the electrical outlet......lucky you!)

This is the way I set up the coffee tray this time.  I have four dozen of these plaid cocktail napkins and I love to use them, since I'm not a fan of paper napkins.  Not that I never use paper, because I do, but I just really don't mind washing and ironing napkins, so I pull cloth ones out whenever they work.  I also have about six of these tin Christmas trays and they come in soooo handy.

And I made chocolate/peppermint spoons to serve with coffee.  Just melt milk chocolate chips, dip in your spoon, add crushed candy canes, and cool on a foil lined plate.  Even those who passed on coffee took one and ate the chocolate off of it.  These are sweet for any holiday, especially for a tea party, just change out your garnish according to the season.

The glasses set out in the bar.  You probably can't quite see the stags etched into the high-ball and low-ball glasses.  The tall ones came from World Market this year.  I think the ones I use as low-ball glasses are really votives, but who's policing that?????

Z Gallerie had these last year, and I love to use them on a buffet to identify the food, as well as as a place card holder.  Aren't they handsome?

I'm going to post a tutorial on this VERY easy appetizer.

I set out cordials and liqueurs, but we were all so full that no one bothered to indulge.

I always put out this cute little cocktail recipe book in the bar, as our last name is Peterson.  It was a thoughtful gift from a dinner guest several years ago.

And I took one more opportunity in the powder room to use the pine cones that I seem to collect.  Candles and finger towels are more subtle items for the evening.  (See?  I do use paper products!)

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

Inspiration Friday

At The Picket Fence

Feathered Nest Friday

French Country Cottage

Fridays Unfold

Stuff and Nonsense

Seasonal Sundays

The Tablescaper

Let's Dish

Cuisine Kathleen

Vintage Pinecones

Last summer, I bought these vintage pine cone dishes at a garage sale.  If you have read my blog at all, you've seen pine cones appear again and again.  My very favorite pine cone post is here.  This dinner party was much, much more casual and I put it together in a snap.  We had out of town guests and there was no time to fuss.

Here's a close up of the pattern.  It's very graphic and simple.

 

This is all it has stamped on the back.  I'm guessing that it was made in the 50's.  The serving pieces and cups, which I forgot to photograph, have that space ship feeling which was so popular then.

Here's the way the table came together.  I used a dupioni silk runner from the floral wholesaler.  This runner is so much wider than the ones you see in tabletop stores.  Then I added these quilted placemats from France.  These are actually used on the reverse side.  I'll admit that I added the placemats to protect the runner!  We were having jambalaya and I knew it had the potential to be messy.  And it was....at a certain person's place.

This huge pottery bowl of pine cones usually sits on the coffee table in our second floor tv room.  I about gave myself a hernia carrying it down here and back and then didn't use it.  More on that later.

These handsome candlesticks are back for another dinner!

As are the rattan wine coaster and faux bois s/p shakers.

And you've seen this flatware very frequently.  I never realize how often I use some of my stuff until I post about it!  But it is funny how my favs have changed through the years.

These pine cone embroidered napkins didn't photograph very true to color.  They are really a better match to the runner than they appear.

These pine cone etched wine glasses have been another frequent visitor to the table this year.  I promise that I'm about done with fall/winter tables!

I decided to use these amber glass salad plates for salad.

These pine cone plates have such great texture.  They came from Target last Christmas.  They held our Banana's Foster for dessert.  Wow!  Was this ever a big hit!  And sooooo easy.  I'm putting this recipe on the top of the dessert file, for sure.

Here's a close up.  This was taken before we ate, but I swear the plates were almost this clean after everyone finished their dessert.

Here's the centerpiece I ended up using.  I actually liked the big pottery bowl better, but I remembered that our guests gave us this for Christmas several years ago.  I thought it would reinforce how much I like it if they saw it on the table during dinner.  It usually sits on a chest in front of the sofa in our terrace level family room.  Boy, does it ever look pretty at Christmas time when I fill it half way up with fresh cranberries.  I was going to cover the bottom with some natural colored rock, but I never circled back to do so.  Oh well.....the fellowship of the dinner is the most important, as Sandy at The Reluctant Entertainer tells us so well.  And that was just great!

I'll be posting at the following blog parties:

Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

Seasonal Sunday

http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com

Tabletop Tuesday

http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com

Wow Us Wednesday

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com