A Valentine's Tablescape!... Welcome to the 75th Tablescape Thursday!

Have you ever wondered about the origin of those little candy hearts with the cute and sometimes corny messages? Last year, I had some fun putting together a tablescape using them in some creative ways. (Original post is available HERE.) Since Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching, I thought I'd share that tablescape again, along with some interesting facts about this well-loved candy.


This little bowl was the inspiration for my Valentine's tablescape...


Did you know that conversation hearts were invented in the 1860s? Originally, the hearts had printed paper notes tucked inside. Back then, the messages inside would say things like, "Please send a lock of your hair by return mail." Awwww!


Sweetheart sayings have been in circulation since the hearts were first factory-made in 1902. The classic messages included sayings like: "Kiss Me," "Sweet Talk," and "Be Mine."


Pink "heart" ramekins are from Michael's, only $1 each...


Salad plate is Homer Laughlin. There are no marking on the back, but a sweet reader of BNOTP, Caryl, emailed to say she believes the pattern may be called, Georgian. Thanks, Caryl! I found six, 5-piece place settings (plus serving pieces) on eBay for around $35...including shipping. :-)


Stumbled across this International china, pattern Glenwood, while out antiquing one day. They were marked down...20+ pieces for $14. Yipee! I filled in with a few additional pieces on eBay. See, you really don't have to spend a lot to have several sets of china for mixing and matching. Just keep your eyes out for the bargains when you are thrifting or antiquing. :-) Lace chargers are from Horchow online, a couple of years ago.


It's Valentine's Day...time for a little fun, fluff and frivolity...


NECCO, the company that manufactures this popular candy, must make over 100,000 conversation hearts a day, every day, to meet the demand that occurs during the six weeks prior to Valentine's Day. During those six weeks, over 8 billion candy hearts are sold!


Each year, NECCO creates the hearts based on a different theme...and each theme has ten special sayings that will be printed on the hearts.


In 2007, the theme was pets...with sayings that recognized the love we all have for our pets.


The ten messages were: cool cat, puppy love, take a walk, my pet, top dog, bear hug, U r a tiger, go fish, love bird, and purr-fect.


The theme for 2008 was weather and nature-inspired, with sayings like "Melt My Heart," "In A Fog," "Chill Out," and "Cloud Nine."


2009 was the year for "food-inspired phrases." They included the sayings, "Recipe 4 Love," "Table 4 Two," "Top Chef," "Honey Bun" and "Spice It Up."


For 2010, NECCO decided to discard all their previous phrases and they asked the American public to tell them how they express their love. 2010, also, saw the addition of lots of new, bolder colors and flavors, including Strawberry, Green Apple, Lemon, Grape, Orange and Blue Raspberry. Plus, they are making the candies softer, so they are easier to eat.


If you miss some of the older sayings and would like to have your own conversation heart-candy custom made with the phrases you choose, you'll have to buy a full production run, or about 1.7 million candy hearts. The good news is, they stay fresh for about five years...so you'll have plenty of time to enjoy them.


I couldn't resist these edible love notes...found these at Wal-mart...


The pen really works and I ate one...tasted pretty good. :-)


If you'd like to create your own candy conversation hearts, like the Tablescape Thursday heart at the top of this post, go HERE or HERE.


Looking forward to seeing your beautiful tablescapes!




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 beautiful tablescapes awaiting your visit: