A Place for Tea

I've been watching all the talented, creative, and extremely industrious individuals who seem to paint something every week. When I was much younger, I too, would refinish a piece of furniture every now and again. But it's been years since I actually took on a painting project!

Summer before last I came across this little thrifty treasure of a child's set of a table and four chairs. You can see it was rusty and in need of being rescued. As I said, it's been years since I've taken on a project to refinish something, but I was totally charmed by the detail of the rooster and leaves and the fact that both the chairs and table fold up flat. So this little set came home with me with the intention of a make-over.

It wasn't long before Cleo and Mr. Barnaby claimed it for their own. They didn't seem to mind the rust and the fact that I hadn't actually gotten around to spiffing up this little set. You see they enjoy an afternoon tea and were happy to have their own little spot on the terrace. If you like, click here to join them.

It also didn't seem to matter when the

animals gathered for tea on a sunny morning.

But when a sweet little girl was coming to visit her Nana who is one of my dearest friends, I decided it was time to get out the wire brush, clean off the rust, and give the set a fresh coat of paint.

To prevent the rust again,

I used a gray primer as an undercoat.

Using a spray paint made it an easy project,

but it took several sweeps to get at all the angles.

Once each piece was primed . . .

I painted them with Rust-Oleum Strawflower, a soft yellow as close to the original color as I could find. My initial idea was to highlight and enhance the rooster and leaves with a bit of color, but I haven't done that.

So what do you think?

Shall I leave it as it was originally painted,

all yellow, or give the rooster and leaves a hint of color?

What would you do?

Mary Kate wants to remind you to join HFTS

for the Summer Week Long Blog Party

You can click here to join DebbieDoos Summer Paint Party June 20th .

Also Joining:

Metamorphosis Monday @ BNOTP

Mosaic Monday @ Little Red House

Masterpiece Monday @ Boogieboard Cottage

Monday Thrifty Treasures @ Southern Hospitality

Tabletop Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm

Transformation Thursdays @ Shabby Chic Cottage

Treasures on Thursday @ Blue Creek Home

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage

Vintage Thingie Thursday @ Coloradolady

A New Look for Hyacinths

Notice something new at

Hyacinths for the Soul?

That gorgeous new header above was a gift from Vicki @ Curly Willow DYI. A few weeks back, The Tablescaper was sporting a new header made by Vicki, a talented graphic designer who had offered to create new headers for a few of The Tablescaper's followers. I was one of the lucky ones selected.

Vicki contacted me with a few questions. Then she visited my blog to look around, and after a few more exchanges my header went from boring . . .

To this gorgeous new look.

It is the essence of Hyacinths for the Soul.

http://curlywillowdiy.blogspot.com/

Vicki and her long time friend, Barb, share their adventures of decorating, antiquing, and traveling at their blog Curly Willow DIY. I hope you'll stop by to visit this delightful blog. You can click here to see more new headers that Vicki created around Blogville and arrange to have a new header designed for your blog.

http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

The Tablescaper is known for her gorgeous tablescapes. You can visit her here. Each Sunday she hosts a delightful meme, Seasonal Sundays, to which I'll be linking this post. After all, hyacinths are in season, and saying "Thank You" is appropriate any season of the year.

A big THANK YOU,

to both Vicki and The Tablescaper.

Also linking to:

A Few of My Favorite Things @

Bargain Hunting & Shopping w/ Laurie

Metamorphosis Monday @ BNOTP

Masterpiece Monday @ Boogieboard Cottage

Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

TRADITION!

With Chrismas just days away I'm packing as much into one post as possible, so if you are here for Vintage Christmas Monday, the ornaments are for you. If you stopped in for Metamorphosis Monday, it's immediately after the photos of the ornaments. If it's Deck the Halls that brought you here, well then I guess all applies. LOL

These ornaments are not the glistening glass ornaments that so many associate with vintage Christmas ornaments, but the paper mache ornaments I'm sharing today are definitely vintage. The four little members of the marching band were among the very first ornaments I ever purchased for myself. It was 1970, and I had recently graduated from the University, was on my own teaching school, and I wanted a Christmas tree for my apartment.

Like many young girls at the time, I was a regular at The Pappagallo Shop. These ornaments, handmade and imported from Mexico, were available there. I surmise that the signature, De Sela, is that of the artist. These paper mache ornaments and a few boxes of shiny red balls were the decorations on that first tree.

"Pa rum pa pum pum" Hear the little drummer boy?

Sweet Little Miss Sunshine

"Angels We Have Heard on High"

And Jolly Old St. Nick says:

Wishing each of you the Happiest of Holidays!

Each of you have been so kind and thoughtful to me since I began this blog in August. I've made many wonderful friends throughout Blogville and truly appreciate each of you.

With less than a week till Christmas, time is precious so I'm posting this for both Pink Saturday and Metmorphosis Monday. Beverly @ How Sweet the Sound has declared this week to be all about holiday traditions. Christmas for me is TRADITION. There are so many wonderful memories tied up in the things we repeat year after year, and the decorations are like old friends returning as we unpack them each year during this special holiday.

Last Monday I shared the tradition of "Our Own Little Forest" and some of the ornaments we've gathered through the years here. Today is the tradition of our mantel dressed for Christmas. The holidays for us are fairly simple times. We decorate the house and enjoy spending special times with family and friends, but you'll not find stacks of wrapped packages under our trees. As I said in the earlier "The Stockings Were Hung . . ." post, my husband and I continue the stocking tradition with a bit of a twist. We don't wrap gifts for each other to have under our tree. Instead we fill each other's stocking with presents. Our tradition requires a bit of creativity to find things that will fit in the stockings, but you'd be surprised at what wonderful gifts can fit into Christmas stockings.

This year our fall mantel was simply dressed with a few small antique boxes, a grouping of wooden pears, and . . .

this heart shaped wreath of faux berries and wooden leaves.

For the Christmas season the mantel has experienced a bit of a Metmorphosis. Though I always decorate the mantel, I usually do something different each year. In recent years some of our Santa figures have taken center stage on the mantel, but this year I wanted to use more natural elements.

The simple heart shaped berry wreath for fall was switched out for a wreath of red berries. I added wired ribbon bows used in previous years and an adorable Mac Kenzie-Childs inspired reindeer ornament that was a special gift from a friend last Christmas.

I started with fresh cut magnolia leaves and laced them across the top of the mantel. Then I added a few of the wooden pears back in along with an antique English tea caddy.

I liked the way the various textures and wood finishes mixed in with the leathery magnolia leaves.

The tall pear on the right is actually a music box. It was a thank you gift from Susan, the friend I recently co-chaired with on the Quimper Club International Annual Meeting. Her note said, "We make a good pair!" It's a treasure from a treasured friend!

A couple of weeks ago I shared my childhood memory of my pink Christmas stocking here. I mentioned that my husband and I carry on the stocking tradition with a bit of a twist. We began this tradition the first year we were married. I truthfully don't recall why we did it, but I think it had to do with the limitations of our budget. My Christmas stocking had always been my favorite part of Christmas.

My husband was in graduate school, and we were living on a slim budget. I knew stitching a pair of needlepoint stockings for us was out of the question, so I decided instead to purchase some fabric and simply sew us each a stocking. These large stockings of quilted patchwork trimed in eyelet and rick-rack served us well for the first twenty years of our marriage. We even had a stocking for our beloved lasho apso.

When we moved into our current home, I felt this fire place and mantel dictated a bit more sophistication. I purchased a pair of velvet stockings. The velvets are a rich red and emerald green. The green embossed with a swirl, and the red with stylized stars. They still aren't the needlepoint stockings I intended to stitch for us, but they are certainly an improvement over the folksy quilted fabric.

The little reindeer ornaments are from our first Christmas together. It's tradition to hang them on our stockings. The wooden S is a handmade ornament that my brother-in-law made and gave to us in the early years of our marriage. Since we don't have names on the stockings these wooden initials, along with the gender specific reindeer, identify whose stocking belongs to who.

Yes, the stockings have changed through the years, but the tradition of "stocking gifts" remains steadfast in our home. Thanks for stopping by today. I do hope you'll take time to leave a comment below before visiting Beverly @ How Sweet the Sound for more holiday traditons shared for Pink Saturday. Be certain to stop by to see Liz @ Life at the Gables. Liz lives in Scotland, she has shared some fun family traditions, and she is having a Christmas Eve giveaway.

On Monday, click here to visit Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch. Susan is sure to have something creative to share and here for Vintage Christmas Monday. Then head over to Joan's @ Thoughts From Over the Rainbow for Deck the Halls on Tuesday.

Fall Tableau

With the recent rain and cooler days, there is now a hint of fall in the air. That combined with all the wonderful fall nesting going on around Blogville, I've been inspired to do a bit of fall nesting myself. I do love this time of year, but there is never a real noticeable change in seasons here in central Texas like in so many other areas of our country. So one has to provide their own touch of seasonal change around their home.

I picked up these bags of pumpkins at the grocery store last week and found the faux acorns at Hobby Lobby. I wasn't certain what I'd do with them, but decided I need to start with something to get a little fall going on in our home.

I thought I'd start with something for the dining room table. I often like to arrange a tableau on a tray so it can be easily moved if I need something different for a dinner. I decided to start with a silver tray and this beautiful pashimina that a friend brought back to me from her summer trip to Egypt.

This silver dish was an eBay purchase in a box lot of silver pieces. You can see that it is very dark with little silver left, but I rather like the look. It gives it a shabby chic look,and actually I don't think shiny silver would look as appropriate for the theme. I was charmed by the squirrel detail. This was my favorite piece in the box.

Next I pulled out a silver bride's basket. It too was an eBay find. I decided to give it a good cleaning with some silver polish, but as you can see, this too is a bit shabby chic.

With these basic pieces I now had a theme in mind. The squirrel offered an obvious link to the acorns and the shawl would guide my choice of flowers.

I found these lilies at the grocery on special for the week.

In addition to the price, I also liked that they were still tight. I know from experience that lilies open slowly, unlike many flowers. I'm having some friends over on Tuesday, so they should be perfect by then.


I cut some yellow blooms from my garden. The yellow bells and golden thryallis make wonderful filler for arrangements.



I filled the silver squirrel dish with the faux acorns and started to place some of the pumpkins across the shawl. I only used the white ones. I didn't like the typical orange pumpkin color with the shawl.

I liked that the bag had a nice mix of plain white pumpkins and some with a dark green and gold in the veins. I scattered more acorns across the pumpkins and the shawl and about the large silver tray.

I mixed in a few purple asters to give a little punch of color. I think the color of the lilies compliments the shawl. I love the deep color of the center as it fades to a lighter orange.

The shawl is beautiful handwoven cotton with deep rich colors.

Mr. Squirrel is very happy with his new found bounty. I think he's set for winter!

Perhaps he'll share with all his brothers and sisters who enjoy our backyard.

I love the look of the contrast within the group of pumpkins and the acorns scattered among them.

Found this little squirrel with his own acorn at Hobby Lobby. Decided he would fit right in.

So there you have it....a simple fall tableau for our dining room table.

Hope to see you again on Tuesday for Rhondi's Welcome Fall Gathering and again on Thursday for Tablescape Thursday. By then I hope to have a fall table setting to compliment this fall tableau. In the meantime you should scurry on over to Susan's @ Between Naps on the Porch for a list of others participating in Metamorphosis Monday.