Chickadee Home Nest

Friday, November 15, 2013

On to Thanksgiving

Don’t you wish the switch from Thanksgiving to Christmas were as easy as from Halloween to Thanksgiving? Since the color scheme can remain the same from Halloween to Thanksgiving, the transition can be quick…and I LIKE quick! Not too much to take down or bring up from the basement…put the Jack-o’-lanterns and such away, leave the pumpkins and corn and pomegranates, add a few other touches, and voilà! WE’RE READY FOR THANKSGIVING!

For our Halloween decor (really, isn’t “decor” a little highfalutin to describe Halloween?? :) ) you might remember that our buffet held terracotta Jack-o’-lanterns and black kittens hidden inside (here). Now it has a more sophisticated look:

I’ve had this cornucopia for many years, and I’ve used it many, many times. What speaks more to the bounty of Thanksgiving than a cornucopia spilling over with vegetables and flowers? To add more interest, I set it on a Wilton Armetale oval platter.

The sterling pedestal compote and its contents…tiny pumpkins and gourds, and of course BUCKEYES…remained from the Halloween vignette…

…as did the pumpkin surrounded by a bit of grapevine.

I absolutely CANNOT WAIT until some sort of BLUETOOTH technology makes all lamps cord-free, how about you? Cords ruin every picture! I’ve noticed that in most magazines the lamps don’t have cords…I too, started to “erase” this one, but it’s time consuming, so no magazine shot here! I’ve seem the fabric covers like the ones for chandeliers, but that doesn’t seem like a solution to me—it just draws even more attention to the cord! So, I’m hoping for Bluetooth :)—SOON!!

The writing desk remained pretty much the same…I added the books and bowls (a new GW find!), and the pumpkins that had been on the table on the front porch came inside. They’ve held up incredibly well!

Ahhhh…sunshine streaming in!

And the china cabinet got its full Thanksgiving look. I’d held on to the blue and white for quite a while this year, but I was actually ready…no, anxious, actually, to move to the brown transferware turkey plates.

I have never done a brown and white china cabinet display before, but something this year seemed to call for that, I think to call attention to the great Royal Stafford turkey plates I bought at Home Goods several years ago.

The turkey plates are smaller than luncheon plates…more of a dessert or salad plate, and the dinner plate behind it is another great Home Goods find. I originally thought I would set our immediate family’s Thanksgiving table (we’ll do it on the Sunday after Thanksgiving this year) with this arrangement, but that may not go over so well. See the beautiful raised border on those plates? Well, it takes up a lot of room that would otherwise be used for FOOD, so I may have a few complaints about that :). Actually, as I think about it, that might be a GOOD THING!

More turkeys—the Friendly Village turkey luncheon plates. (I just found that Johnson Brothers’ Friendly Village also has a PUMPKIN luncheon plate!! I thought I needed about 8 of them, but the Buy it now price on eBay is $39.99 for ONE! Yikes!)

I’ve researched these knives and have been able to find absolutely nothing on them (don’t remember the mark on them now), but I love them. I bought them at a community garage sale years ago; I’m pretty sure they’re pretty old. The color is lovely for fall tables—it’s more yellow than they appear in the picture. Don’t you love that little brad in the handle?

~~~~~~~

I love to see all your pictures. Sometimes I wish I could crawl right into my computer screen and see THE DETAILS, so here are a few shots for those readers who share my passion for the details.

DSCN9364

These goblets are now vintage, from the early days of Pottery Barn. Sadly, I broke one and haven’t been able to find a replacement. Is there someone out there who knows where I can find one, or TWO, or FOUR??

Here’s a full view of our Thanksgiving china cabinet~

And last but not least…our FLAG. Those of you who’ve been following me on this fun ride of home and hearth know how much I love to see our flag, swaying softly or briskly at our front porch. One day, as I looked out onto the screened porch I caught this reflection of the flag on our sliding-glass door. Couldn’t have planned it if I’d wanted to:

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ll leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I’m thrilled to know you stopped by, and I’ll always visit back and comment too. If you like what you see, I invite you to follow me (I promise to follow back), and please—Pin away and follow me on Pinterest too! Thank you!!

NOTE: Some of the items I use in my posts are in my Etsy shop, but many are not, simply because I haven’t updated my shop. If you see something you like and wonder if it’s available for sale, email me at coral5252@gmail.com and let’s talk!

Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Home Sweet Home Fridays at http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

Thrifty Things Friday at http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/

Vintage Inspiration Friday at http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/

Show and Tell Friday at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Fresh-Cut Fridays at http://rosevignettes.blogspot.com

Sunday Showcase at http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

Sunday Creative Home and Garden Hop at http://creativehomeexpressions.blogspot.com/

Sundays at The Tablescaper: http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

Mop it Up Monday at http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com

Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Masterpiece Monday at http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com

Tuesdays at Our Home at http://mariaelenasdecor.blogspot.com/

Tuesday’s Treasures http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/

Inspire Me Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Cuisine Kathleen at http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Wow Us Wednesdays at http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/

DIY by Design Party at http://diybydesign.blogspot.com/

What's It Wednesday at http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

Home and Garden Thursday at http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/

Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Open House Party Thursday at http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

Transformation Thursdays at http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

Thursdays at http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com

From my nest to yours~

Zuni

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Shabby Chic Lil Cowgirl Birthday Party

Our Baby Love turned SIX this week! And to celebrate her birthday we had a BIG cowgirl party.

The venue: The tool barn at her maternal grandparents’ farm.

The challenge: To make the most of the farm surroundings, add burlap and apple crates and marry it all with silver, pink, and lace. FUN, FUN, FUN!

When the idea of the party at the farm was born, my assignment was to help with making things pretty. Baby Love’s mamá had the vision, and I started gathering the goods. (That’s why I need a nice, big basement! LOL) This is the beginning of the transformation. You can see that at this point we’d already grabbed an awesome old ladder and old shutters (far left) and put them into play.

And we transformed it to this:

The dessert table was the main attraction. We also had a food table and a table for the drinks. The backdrop and tablecloths are pieces of a 15’x12’ drop cloth from Lowe’s that I cut. (Some day I’ll tell you the story of washing and drying and cutting a 15’x12’ piece of drop cloth :) . )

Some close ups:

Remember all those hydrangeas I’ve been drying? Some are in a big bin in the basement, and to the party they went! Our first thought was to fill the other apothecary jar with pink- and cream-colored macarons, but there were lots of guests, so we opted for wafers, which turned out to be an excellent choice, especially given the number of children in attendance.

This was Baby Love’s own cupcake and decorated marshmallow. The lollipop stick on her marshmallow includes a flower left over from her tussie mussie I made for her dance recital (you can see that post here).

I’ve seen lots of small glass bottles for children’s drinks, but being worried about safety, Mr. Chickadee and I started saving plastic chocolate-milk bottles (lovely excuse to drink chocolate milk!!). I spray painted the bright blue caps tan to fit our color scheme, and decorated them with twine and ribbons. The tags were used by parents to identify their children’s drinks.

Mamá painted real horseshoes, pink for the girls and copper for the boys, as party favors. I stumbled into these galvanized tins (already rusty, YEA!) at TJ Maxx a few months ago. They had three—one bigger than the other two—and they all came home with me!

White and semi-sweet chocolate-dipped marshmallows were a real treat for the kiddies!The lollipop sticks were decorated with various ribbons and lace to continue the color scheme.

Mamá made the darling garland that will now go in Baby Love’s room, as will the sign with her name on it.

The plates on the plate rack are the romantic Duchess pattern by Paden City (you can see them in more detail here). Their soft colors were perfect for the occasion.

The ladder ultimately filled the space between the dessert and the food tables.

“Ava’s Party…Welcome” by Baby Love, with a drawing of herself, the garland her Mamá made, and of the ladder. ;)

The pink Depression glass cups and saucers and juice glasses came along in my bins just in case, and they came in handy as fillers for the ladder, as a vase for the perfect rose (see below), and to hold the pink-and-white paper straws on the dessert table.

A perfect rose, well suited for Baby Love.

Transitioning to the food table…

We were feeding about 60 people, so the serving pieces needed to be BIG…oh, now I remember why I needed those big Longaberger baskets and crocks years ago! We briefly toyed around with the idea of china and flatware (our son, Baby Love’s Papá, is a chef who does occasional catering jobs, so he could have brought enough), but logistically it didn’t make sense.

And the drinks…

I’ve done “a year in review” with this Pottery Barn vase for each of the babies’ birthdays, but certainly never thought that she had noticed. Well…this year she asked me if I was going to do all her pictures again! Goes to show you, you never know what they’re noticing and what they like. So Yes, Baby Love, I’m doing it again!

There was even a piñata!

Everybody dig in! (And yes, the birthday girl wore a pink saucer tutu, pink-and-black cowboy boots, and a denim jacket.)

~ Confetti from the piñata in her tutu ~

And a few final (whew!) glimpses of The Lil Cowgirl Birthday Party ~

Our little three-year-old nephew, Vinny, came prepared for a cowboy day with his vest, chaps, hat and boots, (though he wouldn’t get on the horse! LOL).

And there were plenty of cowboy boots in all sizes…

This is how Grandpa Ken kept the barn warm for us.

And would you look at the size of these {tractor??} tires?! The horse blanket served to disguise them a bit. And why an empty frame?

To take a picture of Baby Love and each of her little friends on the horse! Each picture will be included in the child’s thank-you note.

It was a PERFECT day. Packing everything but the kitchen sink was well worth it. As Mr. Chickadee and I unloaded the car (just about every inch of an SUV-ful), we talked about all the sweet moments of the day. Sometimes it’s those moments after the fact, when you have time to reflect, that bring it all into full focus…when the memories start to formulate. A precious time…do you find that too?

Those of you who’ve done out-of-town weddings probably know exactly what this was like…and I bet the love and the memories made it all worthwhile, yes?

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ll leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them! And if you like what you see a lot, maybe you’d like to Google+ this post or pin it on Pinterest too! Thank you!

I invite you to follow me. If you’ll let me know that you’re following, I’ll be sure to follow you back.