Will Be Back (Maybe Soon)

("Easter Wonderland")

Too many home improvement projects, lifestyle changes, planned vacations and family/friends gathering to attend to this year.

I'll pop in when I can. Hope y'all don't forget me... Hugs to all!

Happy belated First Day of Spring, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, and Mother's Day to you wonderful bloggers out there!

When I come back, I'll share my latest finds, tablescapes and adventures in changing up this house we bought. See y'all when I come back!

You know, I won't leave with no useable tip, right? Right! Enjoy!

TABLESCAPING IDEAS: (Brain is exhausted from gardening, but she'll try...) Trimming bushes and scraggly tree limbs? Why not repurpose them and use them as centerpiece? Just use what shape of twigs or volume of leafy stems you want and voila! Magazines eat up the height and unique impact it makes enough to show you. As well as beautiful and sensible enough that you can imitate it effortlessly. So fertilize and "clean" those bushes and trees, they may just be what you're looking for as your next inspiration!

A Barrel of A Deal!

Hosted by

"Between Naps on the Porch"

and

"Tales from Bloggeritaville"

Though my newly returned and well rested feathered "shakers", Lily and Josh are ready to join us again for another TT, I decided to give them another day off for rewarding their choice to return back home. So today, I'd like to show you another deal that dh actually got for me!

I'm also joining in on Jan's Tea Party at Rose Haven. Hence the tablescape I chose today.

THEME:

" Spring time, Tea time"

INSPIRATION:

Cracker Barrel Tea Set

I have never been to Cracker Barrel, but from "reading" several posts about their Easter dinnerware, I found myself salivating and enjoying all of the Spring tablescapes.

Ok, on to how dh ended up getting me my own CB "Easter Treasures" collection.

Last Sunday, as I am a Nursery Assistant Leader, I had my good friend Amy join me to help feed my "cutie crew". We got to talkin' about the Easter deals the next day and next thing I knew, we were setting a date to go to Cracker Barrel! But as Mondays go, plans change, so I asked dh if we can go to CB for lunch not hoping that I'd find anything since most of you already grabbed them (you know who you all are!) ;-)

So we Googled the location and dh recognized the area right away so off we went. When we got inside, I was quite delighted with the atmosphere of the store and this sweet lady greeted us with the clearance table they had facing the door right behind her. DH saw my eyes get big over this set, go on about how this pattern was on several blogs. Then we both saw then confirmed that all are 50% off, so I when I hinted that I liked them, dh said, "just no mugs, we're not mug people." Yay!!! No more dinnerware though, but plenty of egg cups and as I've mentioned, mugs... That's ok, I have enough for Easter plus I'm holding out for a great white pattern I found...

DH didn't let me get any of the egg cups or any of the mugs since they looked way too big for the dainty tea set. But this teaset would be great to hold Jasmine or Lavender Spearmint tea, the only two flavors of herbal tea I drink. I can see myself holding a tea party with my daughter Jasmine and Ian. Hmmmm... another tablescape perhaps?

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Here's the platter... Now I know why most of you fell in love with this collection.

It has a vintage Victorian charm feel and look for its design.

It is big enough to hold various pastries to accompany any tea party.

I set my tablescape on my buffet table / sofa table.

I used three candles to triangulate the lighting and create a more romantic effect.

The napkins were used on my Easter dessert table on Sunday.

The flatware were found by dh at Target back in 2007; no brand name.

Guess what dh said when I did this tablescape?

"That is cute... I like that! Even I couldn't resist how that looks!"

Yay!!!

Leigh, everything on that table is discounted, including the table!

That whole Cracker Barrel "Easter Treasures" collection of

4-pc teaset, platter, and 4 dessert plates , I took home for 50% off!

I got the sofa table turned buffet table at a deep discount from Home Depot back in 2008.

It came with two beautiful candlestick lamps for $200, but I paid $50!

The low cabinets (the matching one's on the other side)

are originally bathroom ones from BB&B, originally $120 each,

down to $89 each plus I had a $20 off coupon per piece!

The egg wreath from Kroger is 50% off at $5

{What do you think, does this Easter treasure fit in my home?}

Leigh, Susan, a bunch of thanks to both of you for another great meme!

Apologies are in order; I need to finish my two final essays so even though I'll be participating in the memes, I won't be able to visit most of you until late or even Sunday afternoon. But do know that I will miss you and will feverishly attempt to catch up and give you back some loves for your most assuredly wonderful comments! Thank you all!

Oh yeah, the bird bath/feeding basins for Josh and Lily, they are condiment saucers that were sitting next to them at Target. They are regularly $1.99, but one time, I saw them on clearance for 86 cents and I'm still regretting not grabbing that last one... Oh well... Ok, bye for now!

Last Look At My Cabbage Patch!

Hosted by "The Gypsys's Corner"

I apologize for not visiting much of you yesterday, but though I tried, I was just too exhausted from our Easter celebration.

For today's Three or More Tuesday, I decided to give many of you an exclusive opportunity (a VIP showing if you will... LOL) of my Bordallo Pinheiro Cabbage collection pieces and other Easter goodies before they get boxed up to make room for the next set of holidays. They will be stored away in our storage far from our home, but in an accessible manner as I am always thinking of ways to incorporate all of my pieces into a tablescape. I found all of them between last February and March.

Here they are! (No tickets needed, just come and see!)

This lidded cabbage head is small enough for me to use as candy dish, which I did yesterday to hold all the whopper eggs so my children wouldn't eat them all. She has a slight chip at the top, and she ended coming home with me from Tuesay Morning with an extra 20% off though she was already 60% off!

This beautiful serving dish is deep enough to hold pastas or a mountain of mashed potatoes! I got her from Marshall's for 45% off.

I don't know why the pictures are on its end, but the top one is my three-bowl condiment or candy dish from Marshall's for also 45% off.

This platter is from Ross for 50% off. DH gave me that "What Now?" look and convinced me to get this one over the egg platter in the Bunny Bordallo collection. (In my best new Texan accent) "Y'all seen a peek at my first St. Pat's Day tablescape." Isn't she beautiful?

Here they are, all together for one great shot to bid you adieu for now or until I use them for another tablescape, lol!

Here are my three "mini bunny-in-the flower" candy bowls. I had to go to three different Ross stores for each as each Ross only had one! I also got each one for 50% off.

And of course, the greens of the bunch! I found "Mama St. Pat's /Easter Bunny" at Ross for 50% off and the mushrooms at Tuesday morning for 60% off.

TABLESCAPING IDEA: ("Brain" loves these memes, totally beefs up her idea bank!) For specialty pieces such as themed and colored Bordallo pieces or fine china that have a decided theme on it, mix and match them according to between seasons. For example, In March, we have St. Pat's, in April, we have Easter, in May, we have Mother's Day and Cinco de Mayo. Find a way to use these specialty plates according to the season, not the holiday. That way, your dishes are being used more than once and you have once again, achieved a unique tablescape.

Tam, thank you very much for hosting another great meme today. I'm off to join all of you now to see what you've got lined up for my eyes to feast on today!

An Enchanted Easter...

I know that most of the tablescapes lately were about Easter and Spring tables, but I wanted to post my Easter table today, Easter...

Let me tell you a story... an Easter story...

Once upon a time, in the deepest part of the woods where mushrooms grow and the rain waters form a lasting river, a group of four magical but mischievous fairies dwell. Even their names are magical: Zjena, Blossom, Elina and Amethyst. They love to play and play tricks on each other all day to practice their magic. But they are also very hardworking.

They live in the middle of a river, a magical river (a river to us tall humans, but a lake to them) that keeps their homes and mushroom garden float! They made houses of white mushrooms fashioned into a hut full of windows. The fairies didn't need any doors as they turn to pixie dust when they fly in and out. What a magical and peaceful lives they lead...

What the fairies didn't know was that beyond Lavender Lake was just any ordinary woods where bunnies and other animals pass by. Now that it's Springtime, bunnies are everywhere, taking orders for Easter egg deliveries. While some of the bunnies are getting ready to figure out which area they should leave eggs on, their meeting location happened to be by Lavender Lake, the very lake of the fairies who are always wondering what's beyond their world, but are too tiny to explore out of the stretch of the lake.

It was called Lavender because the fairies turned the water purplish and instead of fish, purple colored blooms float by. In the middle of the lake is a hollowed out trunk that they enchanted to produce only tulips, any color they want but their favorite, purple and white.

The fairies love being out at night, so when they discovered that some plants have waxy nectar, they started collecting them and created tall and short pillars. At the top, it magically lights up. Each one brightens up the night with sweet perfume to make night times much more magical. All four worked on all the "nectar light pillars" but the first one is their favorite and copied the varying colors of the lake.

Being very curious, they listened in on the bunnies. Talks of eggs, chicks, Easter, children laughing and chocolate prompted them to get closer and closer to the bunnies.

One of the bunnies saw them and proceeded to twitch its nose to alert the others. But the fairies were quick!

Some were turned into miniature bunnies doomed to lay eggs on a flower on top of impenetrable circles, while the others were turned into hollowed out colorful statues. Each statue was stuffed with white petals to keep them from escaping. One lady bunny, rather calmly told them to stop and she will tell the fairies what Easter truly means. She thought that maybe the fairies were as curious about Easter as much as the bunnies about them. She didn't even mind when one of the fairies gave her a green dress and hat while she carried her basket of eggs and freshly picked flowers, hiding her bunny identity to keep the other bunnies from coming over and interrupting their story.

(Can you see all the fairies?)

(Mushroom Glen on Lavender Lake)

So, she told them of one Jesus Christ who descended onto the Earth to save mankind, past, present and future from all the sins they have and will commit so that someday, when He comes back, man can be judged according to his good works and intentions. The bunny continued that Jesus Christ had to die on a cross to fulfill His mission here on earth in our behalf. He wasn't afraid because he knew that only HE can conquer death and soon be with His father in heaven again, his real home.

The fairies listened to how three days after He was buried in the tomb, he was ressurected by the power and will of Heavenly Father. She told her four captured audience that good deeds help each being come closer to Jesus Christ. They promised to turn every bunny back to normal but are still very curious as to why He had to die. You see, the bunny explained, "Jesus Christ knew that showing man how to conquer death would also mean that He had to die here on earth. It is to fulfill His mission. It is because Jesus Christ had completed the tasks he was set to do here on Earth that death had power over him no more...

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, KJV)

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THEME:
"Easter Magic"
MY INSPIRATION:
These fairies from the Dollar Tree










TABLETOP GOODIES:

Thomson "Bianca" Dinner plates & bowls - Ross; $1 ea

Bordallo Pinheiro "Hen and Rooster" Salad plates - Sur La Table; $2.49 ea

Yellow Green round placemats - Ross; $5.99 /4

Hampton "Lace" SS Flatware - Walmart; $40 / 46 pcs

Gorham "Rose Serenade" Crystal Wine Goblets - Tuesday Morning; $4 ea

Purple & White Fresh Tulips- Tom Thumb; $6 / bunch

Scented Candles- Ross; $2 & $3 ea

Mushrooms - Tuesday Morning; 60% off

Home Heritage "Lace" Trinket Boxes - Big Lots; $5 ea

Ceramic Vase - Joann's; MINE (2004)

Holiday Home "Winter Frost" Napkins - Kroger; $8.50 with tablecloth

Bunny Napkin rings - Kroger; $2 ea

Mama Bunny - Ross; $3

Bunny Flower bowls - Ross; $6 ea

Sheer Floral Lavender Fabric - Walmart; $1/yd

MENU:

Lisa's Deviled Eggs

Roasted Game Hens with Lemon Ginger Glaze

Spare Ribs braised in Barbecue Sauce

Brussel Sprouts & Green Beans

Buttermilk Biscuits

Tilapia pockets

Pasta with Shrimp

French Chocolate Silk

Coconut Cream Pie

Easter Cupcakes

Creamy Secret

Tea Cakes

Ice Water

Lemonade

I'm so glad that Easter is here... But the best part of all, the fairies learned that beyond their world, is a Savior who truly loves us. Today, the fairies learned what LOVE truly means...

HAPPY EASTER!