Welcoming Fall Outdoors

When you arrive at our home, you'll be greeted by this at the road.  Minus those wreaths, I'm afraid.  Between the time I took this picture and when I posted it, someone pilfered those wreaths on the gates.  From now on, I'm using zip ties on any decorations.

The mums are also a bit more open by now.  And I have added some orange ribbon and bows to the corn stalks.

As you come up the driveway, you'll pass the cutting garden.

If I took you through the gate you' d see a garden in dire need of tidying up!

At the front door, I've arranged a pile of pumpking, mums, and flowers. 

Don't you love these stripes?

If you turn around at the front door, you'll see this.

I just love how this Japanese maple lights up in the sunshine.

This is out the back door.  I have often wished that I had a shelf on the fireplace chimney so that I could decorate the face of the fireplace, but I've had to choose other places to "pretty up"!

We had a dinner party recently, and I put tablecloths on all three of the outdoor tables.  This the one on the main patio.

The throw pillows on the patio have morphed from turquoise and coral to these brown leaves.

This is the table on the lower terrace.

And this is the table on the upper white deck.  We had cocktails outside, as it was a perfect fall evening.

Since these pillows had orange in them, I added them for a little comfort.

I tried to make several areas of interest reflect this beautiful season.

This statue has a basket of flowers in his arms, but I added an orange ribbon and some more signs of fall.

Even the fountain had a nod to fall.  After Thanksgiving, all of these pumpkins and gourds go into the woods for the deer and squirrels.  The mums will be planted in the cutting garden in hopes that they come up in the spring.  We feel so fortunate to celebrate this season of bounty with so many decorations and such beautiful weather.  But, probably the most beautiful of all is not what I add, but the incredible carpet of leaves and acorns that Mother Nature is supplying!

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21 Rosemary Lane

Corals, Oranges and Peaches in a Pumpkin

This beauty needed a pretty table to sit on!  I used it last night for a dinner at church, and it is too fab not to use again.  It's a real white heirloom pumpkin with a selection of peach, coral, and orange flowers.

I started with a taupe straw place mat on our dark wood table.  Then I stacked a ruffled burnt orange charger, a white oak leaf dinner plate, and this pheasant embossed salad plate.

Can you see the pheasant?  These oranges are intentionally mis-matched to reflect the colors in the flowers.

 

I used these salad plates a couple of years ago the night before Thanksgiving.  It was a really pretty table you can see here.

I realized that I never took a  pic of the glassware.  Can you see it here?  It is a tortoiseshell water tumbler and a raffia covered stemless wine.

Here's the same selection of flowers that I added on the chunky gold washed candlestick.

Aren't they yummy?  I especially love the brown scabiosia pods.

Here's the secret to using the pumpkin without carving into it: this little plastic prong.  I buy them at the floral wholesaler, but if you can't find them, you can use the piece that comes in the center of a delivery pizza!!!

This, my friends, is the most wonderful product.  That's what I use to attach the prong to the pumpkin.

Then I use a soaked piece of oasis, and it STAYS ON!!!  It will also come off when the flowers fade and I still have an intact pumpkin.

Here's the candle cup and oasis that I used for the flowers in the candlestick.  I did a post on how to use it here.

These will be even prettier when the roses open up a little more.

 

So, here's the way the table came together.

This is a simple cream linen napkin held in a brushed gold napkin ring. I'm not that much of a trend follower, but I find I am certainly using more and more gold these days. The flatware is a cream handled French design.

This seemed to be a perfect day to use these bittersweet place card holders.

I was happy to depart from the bright, bright orange and yellow flowers I have been using lately.  It look much better with our dining room colors, too

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21 Rosemary Lane

Custom Poppers

 I hope you've noticed that I've been missing from the blogsphere.  I've been with my daughter playing Florence Nightingale, uber driver, maid, laundress and cook.  My poor baby broke her kneecap and couldn't do any of the above!  There were also thousand of snuggles, millions of kisses, and billions of giggles with those adorable boys of hers.  While I was there, since Cleveland is the home of Seven Barks, I was excited to be invited to drop into their printing plant (POV Print Solutions) and watch them assemble a custom order for party poppers!!!!

There was recently a beautiful wedding in California that provided these custom poppers for each guest.  They were designed with this express party in mind using the bride and groom's initials and a custom selection of gifts inside.  Each one has a small gun powder strip for that little bit of excitment when you pull the ends for the traditional surprise.

This was the huge box of custom glitter that was used inside the poppers.  

And here's one of the sweetest job managers I ever met!  Can you see how EACH PIECE is handmade?

And here's a box ready to make the trip from Ohio to California.

I can't resist showing some of their standard offerings.  Here's a photo of their Thanksgiving poppers I took at their booth at the gift show in Atlanta.

Their Easter poppers.

The red/white/blue ones.

I just had to play with one of the poppers that they gave me.  I dug through my daughter's pretties and put this look together.  She had so many lovely things to choose from, and I dusted the china cabinet's items while I was at it!  Isn't this pretty? 

I started with her Kate Spade silver and cream tablecloth.  I think I got this for her for Christmas, as a matter of fact.  I used this heavy pewter beaded charger, and her Wedgewood platinum wedding china.  Then a mother of pearl dessert plate.

Another wedding gift was this stunning sterling silver flatware.  It is Old Maryland Engraved.  I absolutely love this pattern. 

A friend of Susie's brought her a beautiful floral arrangement, so I picked a few select blooms out to style this pretty table.  The rose is gorgeous, but those blue/grey thistles really ring my chimes!

I think these bee salt and pepper shakers came from her mother-in-law.  I sure wanted to stick these in my pocket.

I went a little over the top with four etched glasses, but she had soooo many beautiful pieces of crystal, I just couldn't stop myself. 

I placed them on the railing of the deck so you could get a better look at them.

This piece is the queen of the hop!  It is William Yeoward's fern pattern.  Doesn't it make your mouth water?  This is truly exquisite.  Everything about it is perfection.  These were also wedding presents from some really generous guests.

These champagne glasses are similarly etched.

These water glasses have ferns and dots, as do the Yeoward pieces and are very similar, but not quite the same quality.  Really beautiful glasses, never the less.

And then this little juice glass is also similar.

It all came together so well and featured this great, fun little accessory sort of poached from Seven Barks.  It's no secret that I love their products.  You can see their catalog here.  If you want some custom designs, they can do that, too.  Tell them I sent you!

I'm back in Atlanta now, missing all of the action and hugs.  We're planning some fall entertaining, and then we'll soon be in the thick of holiday parties.  I promise to be a better blogger and share what we're up to!

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21 Rosemary Lane