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Sunday, March 23, 2014

Bridal Shower



Spring is lovely in Arizona, gardens are in full bloom and the air is scented with sweet orange blossoms. Love is in the air too and one of my good friends has a daughter getting married soon. I hosted a bridal shower for her yesterday so here are a few photos of the event.

Mina wants the "burlap and vintage lace" look for the wedding. She also likes all of the fun chalkboard art that is popular. Our bride is also a very accomplished violinist so I wanted to incorporate some music themes into the decor. Roll that all together and here is what I came up with!

My co-hostess Lisa found these darling invitations online from Wedding Paper Divas. 
It was exactly the look we were going for.


For the last bridal shower I hosted, I made this rosette banner that said "A Love Story". It was easy to change it to "A Love Song" for Mina. I made a chalkboard that says "Mina and Chris, 
Making beautiful music Together"

I cut paper hearts out of old sheet music and hung them from my chandelier. I ran layers of hearts through my sewing machine then  folded them open.

I wrote about my doily table runner HERE. I had a good time finding vintage doilies for the table setting. 

 I usually pull out my trusty ironstone plates and platters but I didn't want to cover up all of the lovely laciness  of the doilies, so instead I went with all crystal and glass on the table. 
 So fun to see the lace showing through.






I do love to use  vintage silverplate for a party. You can find old pieces like this at almost antique store for very reasonable prices. Then mix and match your favorites.!
(I don't know anyone who likes using a plastic fork.)


Now for the menu. I laid out fresh berries, Greek yogurt and homemade granola for breakfast parfaits,




 two kinds of quiche - cheddar broccoli or bacon and onion
 sweet orange rolls

 cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting,
 and a green salad of tender spring lettuces, mandarin oranges, craisins and jicima with an orange vinaigrette. Almost everything was done ahead of time to make the morning of the shower easy.

The bride received many necessary items for 
starting her off right!



 I found this cute printable chalkboard label on Pinterest. Here is a link so you can download it for yourself 
Matchbox label. I added a scented votive and handed them out as favors for our guests.


It was a lovely morning with good friends and a darling bride!
I like to party with




Thursday, March 6, 2014

Doily Table Runner

I have a friend with a darling daughter who is engaged to be married later this spring and I offered to host a bridal shower for her. The bride wants to use vintage linens, lace and burlap - a popular theme these days. So I've created a table runner, of sorts, for my tablescape.


 I started with a square of burlap, about 60"x 60" and turned it on the diagonal. Then I layered random vintage doilies down the center of the table. Some of these I already had, and I purchased a few more at a favorite thrift store. You can find these at most antique stores for as little as 5 or 6 dollars apiece.

 I love the slight variation in whites, creams and ivories. Some of the crocheted pieces are extremely intricate! I'm sure they took hours upon hours to make.
They remind me of snowflakes. 



Next I lined up mason jars and some French bottles filled with flowers and herbs from my garden ,

scabiosa, yarrow, chamomile and baby's breath. 



This was a super easy table to pull together. I'll share more about the shower in another post!
I like to join these parties

                  Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Mikasa Countryside





 I couldn't help myself. 


As I gather things to take up to our new vacation home I swore I wouldn't buy any more dishes. I own at least 10 sets, but I've been struggling with which ones to take to the new place. Since we plan on allowing vacation renters I need to supply something nice but practical. As  I was at a thrift store this week looking for vintage silver I came across these dishes by Mikasa . Mikasa, a Japanese company has been around for decades and is known especially for their lovely casual dinnerware. In the 1980's they came out with several patterns that are all white on white (meaning they have white embossed patterns). 

 English Countryside 

Italian Countryside

and French Countryside



There on the thrift store  shelf were stacks of 
Mikasa dishes, 11 English Countryside dinners, and 4 fruit bowls. Plus 3 Italian Countryside dinners and 8 salad plates. I ask you, what would you have done? 


So here is my collection of white dinnerware. But now I have to decide which go to the vacation house and which stay home. As you can see, there were only 3 Italian Countryside dinner plates. This is the pattern my daughter chose when she got married a couple of years ago, so I 'll save those for her. she says she has enough salad plates.

These are the every day white ironstone plates that I got for my wedding, Johnson Brothers Heritage. I have 16 plates, bowls, bread and butter plates and a few mugs.



I'm kind of liking the way the English Countryside dinners layer with the Italian Countryside salads, then topped with English Countryside fruit bowls.

But I also need to supply soup/cereal bowls so I've added in the Heritage bowls. 

It's quite a bit of mixing and matching, what do you think? 

 I am such a fan of white dishes, I never tire of them.
Oh, and all of these plates cost less than $40. Yippee!

I like to join

                        Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper