NY Times Crossword Breakfast

Good Morning! Ready for Breakfast?

Luckily college kids like to sleep in so I had time to take pictures, it was almost noon before we ate any of this.  It was more like lunch for my husband and I!

 Our youngest is home from college for the weekend so I thought I would use the new dishes we brought back from our trip to New York City for a nice breakfast.  I thought these NY Times Crossword Puzzle dishes were the cutest thing.

I found the plates at a store called Fishs Eddy.  It is the coolest, kind of vintage dish store with tons of character.  I would have liked to have bought a lot more - but this was about all I could carry in my luggage.  As it was I was worried that these would make it home in one piece.  If you are in NYC and you love dishes, I highly recommend a trip to this store - it is on Broadway at 19th st.  They do have a web sight @ www.fishseddy.com for the online shoppers!

I also bought the Initial Mugs on this trip.  They are from one of my favorite stores to visit in NYC, Anthropologie.  This store always has the most creative displays.  I am always in awe of their windows and vignettes about the store.  

We enjoyed our bagels and scones,

While our youngest downed just about the whole pitcher of milk and a muffin.

Tom brought home this little bouquet of flowers while he was out this morning, they were perfect for my little creamer.

A real crossword puzzle awaits. 

I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Thanks for stopping by.

Sources:

Plates and creamers - Fishs Eddy

Black Placemats - World Market

Seafoam green is just a piece of scrapbook paper

Flatware - Marshalls last year

Mugs - Anthropologie

Napkins - Joanne Fabrics - I made them

I am linking up to the following parties:

Sunday Showcase @ Under the Table and Dreaming

Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Table Top Tuesday @ A Stroll Thu Life
You're Gonna Love it Tuesday @ Kathe with an E
Let's Dish @ Cuisine Kathleen

Better Than a New Car - New Dining Room Hutch

What's better than a new car??  New furniture!!  I don't know about you, but cars to me are just a mode of transportation.  I could never tell you the newest model of a car or notice what people drive.  But ask me what their dining room furniture or sofa looks like and I got it!!  So that is why I am so excited over my new dining room hutch!

I have never had any kind of dining room buffet or hutch before and now that I have collected a number of dishes over the years, I was in need.  I found a picture of one that I liked, never finding it in a store, I went to Amish Country and had them build it.  Or at least a close copy.  The guys I worked with at Swiss Valley Furniture in Walnut Creek were great.  After many decisions as to how deep the drawers would be, what kind of doors, the finish, the knobs and so on - we placed an order.  After almost 3 months - it was delivered today!! And I am thrilled with the outcome!

I had more fun filling it up and styling the shelves.  I was like a kid a Christmas.

These were all things I had, just going with a kind of neutral pallet for starters.  Since this will now be the back drop for most of my tablescapes, it will be changing often.

So for those of you that enjoy that new car smell, I am getting the same thrill from my new dining room hutch!

Thanks for stopping by!

I will be sharing this post at the following linking parties:

Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Feather Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper

Valentine Tablescape-You've Captured My Heart

After many issues - Welcome to my Valentines Tablescape!

I had this idea to go with You've Captured My Heart, Mistake #1.  That is turned out to be a bad choice, as one family member commented it looked like my heart was in jail.  But it was too late by then, I had already struggled so much with this one- I wasn't about to change it.

I don't think I ever realized how many shades of pink there really are out there!  Every time I went to use something - it was a different shade of pink.

I really wanted to go with pink, Mistake #2.  I couldn't find a pink table cloth anywhere.  Then I couldn't find pink napkins.  I bought these beautiful light pink dessert plates that look like doilies thinking they would go with the pale pink dinner plates I already had - Mistake #3.   Not only did they not go with my dinner plates at all - they barely show up pink in the photos!!

Well, something that did go right - the table cloth was only $5.99 and is plastic!    

Not bad for a plastic crochet table cloth!

As many of you wonderful Tablescapers know, things do not always turn out the way you thought them up in your head!!  I really envisioned much more color.  You can bet my Valentine Tablescape next year will be RED!!

I will be working out of town for the next week and a half, spending Valentine's Day in New York City!  So I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day and are able to spread some love!

Sources:

White Plastic Crochet Table Cloth - Old Time Pottery

Chargers - Pottery Barn, last year

Napkins - World Market

White Dinner Plates - Pier 1, last year

Square Plate - Christmas Tree Store, last year

Grey plates, light pink dessert plates, flatware and pink hearts  - Home Goods

Rosette spheres - I made them from crepe paper

I will be linking up to the following parties:

The Sunday Night Showcase @ Under the Table and Dreaming

Table Top Tuesday @A Stroll Thru Life

Valentine's Day Mantel - Love Letters

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching!  Have you written any Love Letters lately?  I am trying to do better about sending actual hand written letters to some wonderful people in my life.  I feel in this day and age of emails, text messages, twitter and now instagram, the written letter is becoming a thing of the past.  I have heard that they are even considering not teaching cursive writing in schools anymore.  What a shame, I believe that cursive writing is a form of art and very expressive.  Well in my thoughts about all of this change, I kind of wanted to pay tribute to the Love Letter this Valentine's Day.

Using my red shutters from my Christmas Mantel and my old window that I have used many times, I made a back drop for my love letters.  I have them both in the mail box and some topiary LOVE letters!

 These topiary letter pots were a fun project, not very hard at all.  I started with clay pots and several different pieces of scrapbook papers that had a handwriting motif.  I ripped medium sized pieces of the paper off and Modge Podged them to the pots until completely covered, not worrying about matching the writing and smoothing down the wrinkles.  Constructing the letters was easier than I thought it would be.  I used a moss mat - ( I actually had some left over from my Father's Day Golf Table) I think I bought  mine a Michaels - but I am not sure.  It is quite a large piece and even after both of these projects I still have quite a bit left to do something else with it. The price on the package is $19.99 but I am sure I probably used a coupon to purchase this thing where ever I bought it!

As you can see in the picture, this moss has a brown paper backing on it, making it very easy to work with.  I purchased some white wood letters at Joann Fabrics, I liked their shape and the fact that they already had a hole in the bottom for a dowel rod.  Flip them over and trace around them backwards on the mat backing so that the moss would be on the right side of the letter. I took a black marker and colored the edges of the letters so that black would show through if I did not get the whole edge covered with the moss.  I used Modge Podge to apply the moss to the letters.

Hot gluing the dowel rods in - I realized I probably should have painted them first!  But oh well, not a real problem.  I did not have enough oasis foam down my basement - so as I was scrounging around for something to use - I came up with the idea of turning a foam coffee cup upside down and pushing the dowel rod through the bottom of the cup.  It worked great!

So after I pulled the letter out of the cup and painted the dowel rods, I topped the pots with some green excelsior.

So now I needed to spice up my mailbox!  I have always enjoyed the collage effect that many scrapbookers have brought to an art.  So I decided to try my own Altered Mailbox!

I am not the best at these so I am not going to even attempt to do a tutorial on these collages until I get better at them!  

But I thought my love letters coming in and going out needed a pretty mailbox!

I added some hearts "floating" out of the Mailbox,

and a simple ribbon garland with some glass hearts my girlfriend found at Home Goods for me!

Here is hoping your mailbox gets a love letter this Valentine's day.  

Send someone you know a Love Letter!

Your comments are like love letters to me!!

Thank you to all of you who have shown me so much love over my first year of blogging!

I am joining the following linking parties:

Thursdays are Your Days @ 52 Mantels

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage

Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Weekend Wrap Up @ Tater Tots and Jello

Strut Your Stuff Saturdays @Six Sisters Stuff

Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper

The Sunday Showcase Party @ Under the Table and Dreaming