Garden Party Tablescape... Welcome to the 36th Tablescape Thursday, Foodie Friday and Pink Saturday!

Let's have a Garden Party! I'll bring dessert!



Come on over and have a seat...so glad you're here!




Garfield says, "Life is short, eat dessert first!" I like the way he thinks! We're having Oreo Dirt Cheesecake...complete with worms!



I lit the candles in our little green house. I know it's not dark out yet, but nightfall is coming...




The greenhouse is covered in flowers for our garden party...



Garden gloves worked well for napkin rings...the napkins are just tucked up under the little band on the outside of each glove. The gloves were only $1 a pair at Dollar Tree so that's 6 napkin rings for $3. Can't beat that deal!



Since the main colors in this tablescape are green and pink, I used both green and pink gloves.



Cabbage plates are Bordallo Pinheiro and are made in Portugal....found 5 of these in HomeGoods and one on e-Bay.

Chargers come from a very exclusive, high-end china shoppe called The Home Depot. ;)  They are 12 inch terra-cotta (clay) saucers...the type that go under large clay pots. The "fancy" dessert bowls came from the same place.




We'll be dining by candlelight tonight...oh, how I love these summer evenings on the porch.  While we await darkness and the shimmering moonlight that follows, let me show you how I made our dessert.



You'll need these. (Actually, I used one more of the Jell-o Cheesecake and one less bag of Oreo cookies than shown below.)



You'll need six, new, 3 or 4-inch terra-cotta (clay) glazed flower pots, thoroughly washed. (I used 4 inch pots.) Even with glazed pots, line the inside of the pot with aluminum foil, just to be safe. Another option would be to use plastic cups inside, cutting them down to the right height.

You also need 6 flowers, either real or faux.  Gerbera daisies work really well. I opted for faux flowers and bought a big bunch for $1 at Dollar Tree. (Important: If you use real flowers, make sure they are pesticide free.)



You'll need 3 boxes of the cheesecake mix, if you use 4 inch pots. I found the Jell-O brand at Publix. Of course, you could make your cheesecake from scratch...if you like. Prepare your cheesecake, per the directions on the box.



While your cheesecake mix is mixing away, place a cookie in the bottom of each clay pot to cover the little hole, if you didn't line the pots with aluminum foil or didn't use a cup inside. I do recommend using a cup inside or lining the the pots with aluminum foil.  That's probably safer and you won't need the cookie to plug the hole.  Most recipes suggest using vanilla wafers, to plug the hole, but I used little shortbread cookies since I like those better.



Spoon your cheesecake mixture into each pot, stopping 1/2 inch from the top.




Now, the recipes I found said to use a plastic straw for this next part, but I found these cute little cereal straws and thought they would be more fun...plus, they are edible!




One cereal straw, when cut in half, was the perfect height for the pot...so it only took 3 straws for all 6 pots. Just press the straw down into the center of the cheesecake mixture. If you find one is a tad tall, just take your kitchen scissors and snip off the top a bit.

Now, for the fun part!  I bought some gummy worms at Dollar Tree.  Just take a worm and position him on your cheesecake, like he's slithering right out of the pot.



You'll probably only need one bag of Oreos for this next part; that was all I used. I broke up the Oreos before putting them into my mini-Cuisinart.




I used my little Cuisinart to crush them, instead of my big one. It took 3 batches in the mini one; if you use a full size Cuisinart, you could probably do the whole bag at once.






Ahhhhh, good rich dirt! Yum!




Sprinkle your "dirt" over the top of your pots. Then chill them in the frig until you are ready to serve.

At serving time, just poke the little flower stem down into the cereal straw and your done!  Place a worm or two on the saucer of the pot for some added fun.




How about some magical night time pics. Darkness has fallen and the color of the sky is the most amazing deep, blue! If you only click on one pic to enlarge...make it this one!  (Pssst:  Later I realized I caught the "Blue Hour" in my photo.  Have you heard of the blue hour?  You can read all about it in THIS Blue Hour post.  It's truly amazing and you may wish to try and capture it in your pics, too.)




Ahhh...dining by candlelight...



(Click to see the little bees on the La Rochere Napoleon Bee glassware)



Surrounded by flowers...






Thanks for coming to the Garden Party!



Can't wait to see all the tablescapes posted for this Tablescape Thursday!






If you are participating in Tablescape Thursday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. If you aren't sure how to obtain your permalink or have any questions about using Mr. Linky for this post, just click HERE for detailed instructions.

Please copy and paste the Tablescape Thursday logo button to your computer. Then you can upload it to your side bar and use it in your tablescape post so your visitors will know you are participating.

Please link back to the host blog, Between Naps on the Porch. This is important because it helps those who are visiting your blog, find the other wonderful tablescapes posted for this Tablescape Thursday.

Please do not add your link below, until your tablescape post is actually published to your blog.

The following blogs have lovely tablescapes awaiting your visit:

Exercise While Blogging and Working... Welcome to the 15th Metamorphosis Monday!

Metamorphosis Monday is all about Before and Afters. Today I'm sharing a Before and After that's a bit different from what I normally share...but, I think it's pretty neat! Recently when my friend, Pam, and I were "chatting" via e-mail, she mentioned that she enjoys exercising on a treadmill. Below you will see a pic of Pam's treadmill. This treadmill is about to get a stunning makeover! Are you ready? :-)



How do you like her treadmill now? Did you know you can read blogs AND exercise at the same time?!? No kidding! Pam told me she knows a blogger who has actually mastered the art of typing on her laptop while walking on her treadmill. Apparently, some treadmills come with a slot designed to hold a book and Pam's laptop fits right down in that slot. I rushed downstairs to see if my treadmill was designed that way......sadly, it was not. (Click on photo to enlarge for a better view.)


Pam said, "I also discovered that if I right and left click on the scroll arrow at the same time, I get a cool little icon that will let the page scroll all by itself! So, I get the page scrolling and I can walk away most comfortably."

A few weeks back when I visited my doctor for a check-up, he told me one of his patients uses a recumbent style exercise bike and works on his computer the whole time he's riding it! How cool is that? I love this idea...exercising and blogging; I'm all about multi-tasking! :-)

So what do you guys think? Please, if you do try this...make sure that laptop is REALLY secure. :-) Pam, thank-you so much for sharing these pics...I am totally intrigued!

Let's go check out all the other Before and Afters for this Met Monday!



If you are participating in Metamorphosis Monday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. If you aren't sure how to obtain your permalink or have any questions about using Mr. Linky for this post, just click on the Metamorphosis Monday logo in my sidebar for detailed instructions.

Don't forget to copy and paste the Met Monday logo button to your computer so you can add it to your side bar and your Met Monday post. That way visitors will know that your are participating in Metamorphosis Monday.

Please be sure to link back to the host blog, Between Naps on the Porch, so your fellow bloggers who are participating today, will get lots of visits, as well.

Please do not add your link below until your Met Monday post is actually published to your blog.

The following blogs are participating in this Metamorphosis Monday:

Brian Joseph Atmospheres... Welcome to Hooked on Fridays and the 35th Tablescape Thursday!

Julia at Hooked on Houses is hosting a fun, weekly event called Hooked On Fridays. Well, I'm totally hooked on elegant, beautiful dining rooms, especially when they contain lovely tablescapes, so I'm linking this post to Hooked On Fridays. To visit Julia's wonderful blog and to see more Hooked On Friday's posts, just click HERE.


This is a very special Tablescape Thursday here at Between Naps on the Porch! I am sooo excited to share not only a beautiful tablescape with you today, but also an amazing dining room! My good friend, Pinky, recently shared a photo of the table her son, Brian, created for their Easter dinner...it took my breath away! Brian is a talented Interior Designer and I am thrilled to offer you a peek into his gorgeous dining room.

When Brian first moved into his home, the walls/decor were done in pink and mauve. Take a look at his beautiful dining room now! The walls are painted a very pretty gray...doesn't it give a soft, romantic feel to the room? Oh, how I wish we could see more of that chandelier...you can see just enough to know that it's magnificent! Notice the wonderful china cabinet...



...now take a look at it all lit up. Wow! If this side of the room is this beautiful...I wonder how the other side must look? Would you like to see? :-)



Absolutely stunning! I love all the lamp lighting...what a delight it would be to dine in this amazing room! This makes me want to rush downstairs and start painting my walls all over again! I love everything about this room...the draperies, the art/paintings, the lighting...well, just everything!



Oh, how I wish we had a close-up of the porcelain, floral napkin rings...they are hand-painted by "Pintar" and are antique. The floral place card holders are also made of porcelain and are actually named "Floral" by Royal Adderley.



This lovely china, made by The Garden City Pottery Co., belonged to Brian's great-grandmother and is over 100 years old. I couldn't help but notice the lovely patina of the sterling flatware...a soft, elegant sheen that only comes with loving use and the passage of time...truly priceless!



Now, I know you've been dying to hear about this stunning centerpiece Brian created using this beautiful, two-tiered, porcelain vase from the Jeanne Reed Collection. Brian generously shared his source for this treasure...it is available online at Kevane and Company. You may order one for yourself by clicking HERE.

Brian filled it to overflowing with French pink tulips...breathtaking! I love the look of the lavender hyacinths paired with the pink tulips. ~~BIG SIGH~~



You just can't get more elegant than this beautiful table...did you notice the lovely silver candelabras...Brian tells me they are by Ercuis.



Would you like to see more? Brian has a great website, Brian Joseph Atmospheres, and it's filled with lots of amazing "Before and After" pics. Just click HERE to see more of Brian's wonderful transformations and talent!


Thank you, Brian, for sharing your beautiful home and Easter tablescape with us for this Tablescape Thursday...I love your style! :-)

If you are participating in Tablescape Thursday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. If you aren't sure how to obtain your permalink or have any questions about using Mr. Linky for this post, just click on the pink TT logo in my sidebar for detailed instructions.

Please copy and paste the Tablescape Thursday logo button to your computer. Then you can upload it to your side bar and use it in your tablescape post so your visitors will know you are participating.

Please link back to the host blog, Between Naps on the Porch. This is important because it helps those who are visiting your blog, find the other wonderful tablescapes posted on this Tablescape Thursday.

Please do not add your link below, until your tablescape post is actually published to your blog.

The following blogs have lovely tablescapes awaiting your visit:

Christmas Shopping in April & Three or More Tuesday!

Back in November, I blogged about this interesting photo I found in an Orvis catalog...it was part of an advertisement for knives made by a French company called Laguiole. The caption below the photo read: French knife makers created ways to lie face down and save their backs...rather than sit hunched over all day...to hone knives on their sharpening wheels. The knife makers brought their dogs to the shop to keep them company and to keep them warm. Dozorme factory...circa 1900's.

I had never heard of this particular brand of knife, but you guys had! And after reading some of your comments, I knew this was a great knife made by a great company. So, here I am, months later shopping in Marshalls and look what I found! Each of these sets of six knives was on sale for only $10! Yipee! I bought three sets, one for me and two to give as gifts this Christmas.
Each set has a different style handle...the one on the left is stainless, the second has a pearl look and the third is a beautiful wooden handle. They also had a solid black handle...but I decided I shouldn't be too greedy...I left some for the other lucky shoppers! :-) Which set should I keep? (Click on the pics to enlarge for a better view.)

And look at this! Each knife, in each of the sets, has a tiny little bumble bee on it...reminds me of the Napoleon Bee flatware from Horchow! :-)

If you aren't familiar with Laguiole, here's a bit of history from their website. I think this may have been translated from French, because it reads a little odd. :-)
From their website:
1829: Birth of Laguiole knife inspired by the "Capuchado" local fixed blade knife with beech wood handle and the Spanish Navaja switch blade.
1840: The Laguiole adds an awl, used by the regional farmers to pierce the paunch of diseased cows.
1880: The Laguiole gets a corkscrew, essential tool for the Aubracians going up to Paris to be coal or beer retailers.
1981: Creation of Laguiole Knife Association in order to promote and develop a knife industry in the Village.

Since this time, Laguiole owns a factory with a forge and several knife assembling workshops. Some of them can be visited all the year long.

At the beginning, Laguiole was a very small rescue Chapel, depending on Alcorn parish. Etymologically, Laguiole comes from the word "La Gleisola" (1182) that means the little church. Its spelling should normally need a separation in the word to make appear the original article. Laguiole village is located in Aveyron Department, in Aubrac Region which covers three departments: Aveyron, Cantal and Lozère. The junction of these three departments is named the Three Bishops Cross. In the XVI th Century, Laguiole became principal church. The pronunciation Laïole comes from our ancestor's patois. The first houses of Laguiole Village were built at the north of the fort, close to it, in the quarter named today the Batut. Till end of XVIII th century, the village was protected by a rampart and a ditch (lou Bolat) situated at the present place of Valat street. On the slopes, at the south of the fort, were built several level houses which constituted Lou Barry, named today le Faubourg. At that time, the main street of this quarter was the "Bombecul" street. This denomination may appear, still today, somewhat coarse, bu it is the perfect illustration of one's body position if you have to walk up the street from south to north. Houses of this street and of nearby alleys are the living witnesses of these old days.

Here's a fascinating video...it will give you a whole new respect for what goes in to making these wonderful knives! The music they have playing along with the video is very pretty, so you may want to scan down to the bottom of the blog and mute my Playlist.


You can visit the website for Laguiole by clicking HERE

When I find a great deal, I just have to share it with you...my sweet Bloggy friends! Get thee to a Marshalls...posthaste! Merry Christmas in April! :-)


Today is the 23rd Three or More Tuesday and I just realized this post fits right in! :-) Stop by and say hello to our gracious host, Tam, over at The Gypsy's Corner by clicking HERE ...lots more Three or More posts await your visit!

Bonus Room to Upstair Family Room... Welcome to the 14th Metamorphosis Monday!

For this Metamorphosis Monday, we're going for another ride in the time machine...back again to 1991, just before we actually purchased and moved into our house.

This time our time machine is taking us back to the upstairs family room/bonus room. I know some of you have seen this room before, since I posted about it last year, but this the first time I've posted the "before" pics.

The future "upstairs family room" prior to our moving in, was actually decorated in a "cute" way...I think it may have been a little girls room in a former life. Cute as it was, the decor just wasn't fitting into my plans for an upstairs family room/occasional guest room. Take a look at the following pictures and you'll see what I mean.

The walls down inside the dormers were covered with a blue pinstriped wall paper...


And the main walls of this large upstairs room were wallpapered with a blue wallpaper covered with little white butterflies...very cute, but not the look I wanted for an upstairs family room.


The dormers had coordinating fabric that matched the butterfly wall paper. Just so you don't feel too bad about my demolition of the butterfly wallpaper...the fabric in all three window seats was badly faded and the "white" part of the pinstriped wallpaper was looking rather dingy.


Here's another "before" pic of one of the dormer windows. Remember the orange carpeting you've seen in previous Met Mondays...yep, it was in here, too. But at least this room didn't have gold trim...so that was a plus! :-)
Those are the only before pics I have available to share. So, just try to envision blue wallpaper with white butterflies on all the walls and orange carpeting...EVERYWHERE!

Now for some "after" pics...

This room is fairly large:  16 feet wide (not counting the two dormers) by 24 feet long. The ceiling is 8 feet high down the middle, slanting down to 6'4" at the lowest point. This room is completely different from my downstairs family room.  It's very bright so I decorated it in a totally different way.

I furnished the room primarily with Swedish antique pine pieces, inspired by an article in Traditional Home magazine. Notice the clock on the front of the magazine...more on that later.



Sofa and two plaid chairs are by Highland House...carpet is a cream Karastan carpet. This is one of the three remaining rooms in my home that doesn't have hardwood floors...yet.

Wallpaper is gone and the walls are painted a soft yellow called Tea Biscuit...it's a Duron color. I really wanted to keep this room casual so I chose a heavy denim fabric for the sofa. I also used the denim on all three window seats.




The armoire is an antique...I had shelves added prior to purchasing it...it holds a t.v. and lots of books. In this pic, you can sort of see both the dormers on either side of the armoire.

The chairs are not old...they were stained to compliment the antique pieces.



This room has mostly a "beach" theme...but one day I was out antiquing and came across this adorable painted, bunny window. It didn't fit in with the beachy theme, but I thought it would look great with the blue/yellow plaid fabric of the chairs...plus, I just loved it. :-) I tend to buy what I love and don't worry too much about "messing up a theme."



The cushion in the window seat is covered in the same denim that was used for the sofa. I found more of the plaid fabric at Calico Corners and had lots of little pillows made to go on all the window seats. The window seat is filled to the top with board games and puzzles...this was one of my son's favorite places to hang out with his friends...still is...when he's home.


A close-up of Mr. Bunny...


I wanted this room to serve multiple functions...the sofa is a sofa-sleeper for over-flow from the guest bedroom. The linens and pillows are stored in the trunk for easy access.




This spatterware or spongeware pitcher is an old piece...I think that is what it's called...does anyone know?


The light house watercolors you see above the sofa, and on either side of the armoire, were done by artist, Donna Elias.

Her website is available by clicking HERE.



Plate rack is an antique...holds a collection of old Flow Blue and Blue Willow...




I found this large flow blue platter in an antique shop on a skiing trip in Bend, Oregon. Fortunately, it survived the plane trip back home. :-)


Made a sleeve for the hanging wire out of the same plaid fabric you see on the chairs...

The mirror that hangs above this antique chest is an old family piece.






Danish Bornholm clock, made in 1830...similar to the one on the cover of the Traditional Homes magazine.



Sorry the pics are a little crooked...the clock really does sit straight...despite the photos. :-)


One of the dormer windows filled with my son's old teddy bears... Wish I could shrink him little again...just for a day. :-)


The other dormer window in the bonus.


With the shutters open...that's a Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) tree...just outside the window.



A book called The Nook Book...tucked down inside this little nook. Why is it we like little nooks...those cozy little spots? We even seek them out sometimes. I think it must be a comfort thing...a feeling of being safe. :-) What do you think? Do you like cozy nooks?


hanks for stopping by for the metamorphosis of my Upstairs Family room...let's go check out all the other Before and Afters for this Met Monday!

If you are participating in Metamorphosis Monday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. If you aren't sure how to obtain your permalink or have any questions about using Mr. Linky for this post, just click on the Metamorphosis Monday logo in my sidebar for detailed instructions.

Don't forget to copy and paste the Met Monday logo button to your computer so you can add it to your side bar and your Met Monday post. That way visitors will know that your are participating in Metamorphosis Monday.

Please be sure to link back to the host blog, Between Naps on the Porch, so your fellow bloggers who are participating today, will get lots of visits, as well.

Please do not add your link below until your Met Monday post is actually published to your blog.

The following blogs are participating in this Metamorphosis Monday: