Cozy up to the Bar

I just love the Fall season... decorating the table with berries and

pumpkins!!








I have some red and white dishes that I bought at the Charlotte Antique Mart... the vendor said that they came from a convent... it has leaves running around the perimeter. I paired it with my italian handpainted plates with fruit for an interesting mix...












Sometimes we eat on the 'breakfast bar", for a change of scenery...












This plate is "Home Sweet Home" An American Subject . Currier and Ives....

So much fun to play around with different little fall accents...







I made the napkins from dish towels and the white linnen ones with the peek-a-boo battenburg lace came from an antique store.



Have fun with your dishes and whip up some inspiring tablescapes!

You will be sorry if you don't click right "ovah" to the hostess with the mostess...our very own Miss Tablescape, Susan, at Between Naps on the Porch and check out other lovely tablescape posts!

A Floral Metamorphosis

Welcome to Floral Design class!


Our first arrangement was a one-sided design. This is my instructor, the very talented floral designer, Josh, teaching us how to set the shape and height of the design. See the geometric design on the right side of the board? Who knew we would have to do geometry?! One must always work with odd numbers and triangles when designing an arrangement. Here he is starting with leather leaf fern.


The next step is to put in the "line" flower (creates and defines the shape of the design ), which is a wonderfully scented flower called "stock".

Oooops, I guess I forgot to take pics of the next few steps, but I believe he put in the focal flowers next, which are the lime green fuji mums, and then used the daisies and alstromerias (the pink ones). These last ones are called filler flowers.

So there you go...... NOW we had to make one all by ourselves!!

Here we are, trying our best to replicate his masterpiece....

I have to say that it wasn't as easy as it looked. After I was finished, my oasis (the green foam you soak in water ) looked like swiss cheese. I had poked at it so much, changing the positions of the ferns and flowers, it was amazing that it was in one piece.

But....overall, I must say that I was quite pleased with myself !!

Here is mine....

And here is his masterpiece....

So you're probably wondering about the metamorphosis? Well, I loved my arrangement, but had promised my friend that I would bring it to our "neighborhood coffee" she was hosting the following day and she had decorated her home in fall colors.

So I plucked the pink flowers off and went over to my yellow and orange potted mum and snipped off three stems, and placed them where the pink ones were.

Then I spied the pumpkin soup toureen on my counter and substituted it for the grecian urn it was originally created in.

So that is my "first" arrangement ! I know it's not perfect... but I love it!

You know you'll want to check all of the other transformations on Susan's blog, Between Naps on the Porch, so what are ya waiting for?

(Please scroll down to the end. I don't understand why there is such a big gap from here to the comment section. I've tried to fix it.... anyone there know how?)













BIG GAP HERE................ why?!?











See you there!

My House by Candlelight

Autumn Fires

by Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!

Wishing you all a wonderfull Fall!

Yard Art

Last week I began a course in floral design. I loooove it and am so impatient to start learning how to make arrangements. We have been instructed in the basics of design , but so far just learning concepts and names of flowers.

So.... I went out in to my back yard and started looking for raw material from which to "play" floral designer.

Here you see my pitiful hydrangea bush... yep... I "scalped" her.



Next was my quest for greenery. Hmmm ... I wonder how this evergreen cedar bush would work... well a couple of snips here and there and she got herself a nice little trim.

Oh.. and you see the rosemary bush in the foreground? Well, even though I like to save it for my "not-made-from-scratch" spaghetti sauce, I decided it would add a little different texture , not to mention fragrance.





Under the anemic hydrangea bush, I had some little purple mums ... Okay! Beggars can't be choosy, so I added a couple of stems to my collection.




Sorry I'm such a slack blogger... I should have shown you all the different steps, but I was concentrating too hard on making it and moreover, I really didn't think it would be turn out to great, so I just went into my pantry, found an old aluminum ice bucket and used it as my vase.
You ready?!?



















So here's my transformation... from yard to "yard art".








Be sure to head over to Susan at Betweennapsontheporch to see more transformations.