Mother's Day Thrifty Place Settings

This year we are having a lunch for my Mother-In-Law. I really wanted to do it out on our screened-in back porch, but it sounds like it is going to be too cold! Instead, I set the dining room table in pretty colors just for Mom. Pinks, greens and yellows. I really wanted a to use my chintz plates and creamers and salt and pepper shakers, so I tried to come up with a setting for 6 out of what is really a place setting for 4. I added in a few clear glass plates and a few extra pieces of chintz and mixed and matched a bit. Here is how it turned out. I also made cupcakes today and used cute little pearlized Sixlets which I got at our cute little local candy shop called The Parson's Daughter.

I am going to put one of these little azaleas on each plate before lunch.  The silverware is my father-in-law's parents' antique flatware.  The plates are pieces I have picked up at thrift shops here and there.  I don't use them often, but they are very pretty.  To think that this entire table setting as well as the dishes on the buffet are all from thrift stores.  I love a good bargain!

 
Not loving my flower arrangement.  I think I will take the narcissus out before the lunch.  I am not loving them, but thought they might add some height.  Not loving in so much.  I made the quilted runner and the end placemats.   The pink cake plate that is under the flower arrangement was my MIL's mother's.

You can see my attempt at making the end settings go with the 4 that match.  Not perfect, but they will work and men will be sitting at those two places, so they won't even notice.

My buffet table where I will sit the food.  Lots of cupcakes!

 

Yummy!

Hope you have a great Mother's Day!

Hot Cocoa Birthday Party

My son's 9th birthday happens to fall right before Christmas, so this year we moved his party ahead and celebrated early.  Why didn't I do this before?  It gave me a lot of time to prepare and we had a blast getting ready instead of putting this on top of present wrapping and Christmas parties & dinners.

I decorate mostly in red, white and light blue for Christmas, so I decided to go with those colors for his party too.  I am sure the pictures speak for themselves.  Everyone had a good time and the cocoas (especially the Nutella cocoa) were yummy!

I found a lot of these ideas on the internet by searching for hot cocoa party!

These cups are made using those GIANT marshmallows!

The table is wrapped with wrapping paper.

Did I mention that my son has a large personality?

The cake is a Mario Power-UP mushroom.  I just baked a cake in a large metal mixing bowl, put it on top of a cake stand, covered it with chocolate icing, rolled fondant and painted eyes on the bottom of the cake stand with chocolate.

Happy birthday, to my little one!

Fa La La La La

This is, quite possibly, my last year to play a proper Santa as my, soon-to-be, 9-year-old son is starting to ask some questions of Dear Old St. Nick.  I had to share his letter with you.  It is soooo cute.

And how about this?  Every toy name has a Registration mark! I truly laughed out loud at this!  Even Christmas is registered! 

All of this cuteness has to make its way to Santa, so I pulled out the Christmas decorations specifically to find this....

Of course, it is time to start thinking about putting up the decor, so I spent all day Saturday dragging up bins and boxes and unpacking the Christmas stuff.  I think I have about 40 bins.  I know, I might be Christmas crazy.  It is a lot of work to undecorate our every day lives and redecorate with Christmas cheer.  But... it is so worth it.  Everyone gets right into the spirit of Christmas at our house.

So, the first thing we pulled out is the Letter to Santa hanger that hangs on the front door knob.  In went the list.  I hope he doesn't think of anything else.  His list is getting $$$. 

Next we found my husband's old train and the Christmas village that my son has been collecting.  We set it up under the staircase.  See it there?

 I tried to get a few motion pictures of the train going around the track.  Not exactly what I was going for, but they turned out okay.  I also added some lomo to the photos....

 My husband still has the cardboard houses and a billboard that came with the train.  Aren't they adorable?

Next I decorated my favorite part of the house... the fireplace in the formal livingroom. 

 Those little white things pn the table below are snowflake ornaments that my grandmother made.  They remind me of her, so I put them somewhere every year.

Then the railings.  I didn't do as many this year, but I did get my advent calendar up in time. It is in the kitchen by the kids' table.

I also decorated the area near the front door with a few things.  This table usually has more on it.  I have more stuff that will end up there once the trees go up.  This little vingnette is in a corner by the guest room.

This year I moved the furniture around and put this couch over in front of the window rather than the tree.  The tree will go over by the fireplace instead.  I put lights in this window and hung a wreath in front of the curtain.  The lights show through from behind the curtain and it looks really pretty at night.

The little hanging Christmas tree ornament is one of my all-time favorites and it was beaded by my aunt Gretchen.  I love it.

These are on the other side of my living room.  A collection of music boxes.  Every kid loves to play with them.

I also decorated my Hybiscus tree.  I put pears in it and a little bird who is my partridge. 

Last but not least, I did my dining room.  It is another of my favorite spots to decorate... It is almost the same as last year.  This year, however, I plan to make a table runner for the middle of the table.  I am not done with it, however. 

Now I just have to get my trees up.  With a real tree, it behoves us to put it up a week or so later than this. Otherwise it will drop a lot of needles.  I did say I was Christmas crazy, right... well, I guess this proves it... I even decorated the cat.  Poor kitty!

Next post is sure to be the trees in our bedrooms.
Have an great week and send me links in my comments to your Christmas decor so I can check it out!