Lara's Garden

Hosted by Susan and Leigh
Another Thursday, it can only mean two things for me! A Terrific & Thrifty Tablescape! I officially declare myself a dishaholic like many of you, but to my defense, I am still quite controlled. How do you say? On my "Must Get" wish list, is the Churchill or Johnson Bros. "Blue Willow" and though Ebay sellers had cheap auctions and Marshall's had over a dozen dinner plates for only $4 each, I walked away! Why? Because it didn't feel right just yet... Don't ask me why but that's how I buy my dishes, the timing and price has to be perfectly aligned... ;-)
Ok on to this week's Thrifty Tablescape...

THEME:

"Summer Romance"

INSPIRATION:

CC (Catherine de 'the Cups) "Life" Placemats

Summer Time

American Atelier's "Lara's Garden" Salad Plates

This pair is from Goodwill a few months back. They only had two and since most of you were so ready to give your dishes a taste of the outdoors (which I still can't cuz it rained and stormed again), this design called out to me. I was lucky enough to find these two charming floral and bug design and thought...

... it would go great with the two placemats that I won from Catherine's Giveaway! The white handwriting spells out "LIFE" in different languages. See my note on there, can you find the word I was talking about? Hint: underneath the word, "have".

Can't you just see how cute these plates are against the placemats, but since they are on the pastel side, I wanted another strong dish to connect the colors better and thank goodness I have these red solid Canopy "Cranberry" plates. The back of each placemat is striped so I can do so much more with them. Happy dance being executed in my head as we type! LOL


Here's what I came up with... since our patio is still soggy...
I put together this table in less than 5 minutes, but the photoshoot took over 30! Yikes! DH had to show me how to best use the Program feature but the amateur in me still didn't like the grainy look of the photos. I wanted enough candle to float around and from different containers to simulate being outdoors and compensating for the dark. Also the different candles evoked a casual setting while the colors provided the romance. Did I tell you that I met my gorgeous hubby in summer time. Yep, late August, 1993... So this table was in honor of that.

And this is without flash, with the kitchen light on.

How is it thrifty you ask? Oh, so you doubt me now, huh? Well...

TABLETOP GOODIES:

Day Spring "Life" Placemats- CC; FREE (I won them)

Hard Rock Cafe Cocktail Stemware- Goodwill; 59 cents each

Canopy "Cranberry" Dinner Plates- Walmart; $1.96 each

"Lace" Trinket Boxes- Big Lots; $5 each

Green Hurricane Glass Vase- Freecycle; FREE

Tealights & Votives- 22 cents each

Tealight Holders- 25 cents each

American Atelier "Lara's Garden" Salad Plates- Goodwill; 59 cents each

Hamilton "Lace" Forks- 87 cents each (92 pcs for $80)

Red Napkins (2008)- 25 cents for 20pcs/pkg

MENU:

Taco Bell fare because that's where we met...

A great big thank you to our lovely hosts, Susan and Leigh and to all of you for taking a peek! Heart you all for taking time for li'l ol' me! ;-)