Gotta love a table set with soap dishes, transferware, curtains & gift tags!

Only a few hours left to sign up for my GIVEAWAY from Sweet Cheeks bakery.  

Last weekend Shawn was making another our family's favorite meals (have you all noticed we have a LOT of favorite meals around here?) Well, I don't know why but I had it in my mind (this is pitiful) that what he was preparing would look better on a certain set of green Spode transferware plates I got in a couple of months  ago than our everyday brown transferware plates we use. I drove 8 miles out to our shop to get them, brought them home, washed them and well-ahh!

Grilled Chipotle Steak with Mango Salsa 

Delectable, delicioso, food frenzy, give me a fork...these thoughts cross my mind when I think of this meal he makes for us.  Why am I writing this post before dinner...on a night we're having Kraft macaroni and cheese? hmmm

You will have to come back tomorrow for the how to prepare this dish and recipe...you don't want to miss it because I talked Shawn into doing the post.  Forget about the hostess with the mostess...I'm giving you all the hoster with the moster!  You'll love his wit and charm and you'll love his cooking...I am confident.

Back to my story...I got the dishes home and then started playing around with some items Eileen at Simply Abundant sent me.  I mentioned this great online store just yesterday in my tea table post HERE and I'll say it again...the term abundant is by no means an understatement.  This shop carries somewhere in the neighborhood of 3500  items...table linens, napkins, lace, decorative items, LeCrueset, and the list goes on and on.  

I love playing dishes and wound up using these adorable little nest shaped soap dishes  as salsa bowls.  Yes, they really are soap dishes and there is a whole line of coordinating items for the bath...BUT... they are perfectly suited for food as they are clearly marked microwave and dishwasher safe on the back...and this line, called Serenity, has some other serving pieces to match.  It's such a pretty line of items in soft greens, subtle browns and Robins egg blue.    Maybe I should call it Soap Dish Salsa.  Maybe not.  Definitely not.

You have to admit, this looks good...and pretty.

As I mentioned, this tablescape began with playing around. I laid a single sagey-light olive jacquard window panel across the table leaving some of the wood showing on each side.  I then scrunched up a window sheer of blue with soft, whispy stripes of taupe, tan and beige across the panel.  I love scrunching up fabrics...scarves, curtains, dresses...you name it.  If you follow my blog you know I'm a layering type of gal when it comes to dressing a table. 

For my centerpiece I put a pretty blue and green chintz cake plate atop a clear glass compote and then added a soft green ivy intertwined around it and spreading out across either side of the table.  On top of the cake plate I displayed this Songbird pillar candle holder.  It's got a clear cracked glass jar which fits inside, and comes with the shabby, iron holder.  I added some white silk roses to one side and mesh wired songbird tea light holders below.  Both of these came from Simply Abundant.

At either side of the centerpiece I placed two good sized, ivy topiaries in chippy white planters with white roses around the base.

The napkin rings are from Simply Abundants Songbird line and match the pillar holder perfectly.

If you like these bird themed items check out the Songbird line because there is a really adorable matching lamp and an irrestible wine caddy.   

 

My green transferware Spode plates are available HERE.  They are vintage with a Copeland Spode mark and have such a pretty, Jacobean floral toile.  I really was tempted to keep these...I say that a lot too...but I mean it when I say it.  Wait, I did keep one...just for display.  These are lovely and would be beautiful with so many other colors.

This next thing I did is one of my favorite favorites!  I got these ever so precious, Frenchy gift tags at Craft Zany, an Etsy shop that sells hand made paper goods at unbelievable prices and quality.  These little gift tags have three dimensional, itsy bitsy teensy tiny bird nests filled with eggs.  I chose to use them here as wine glass charms.  You can write a name on them or personalize any way you want.  Aren't they the cutest thing ever?  I'm getting tons of them to use as price tags in my shop on some of the furnishings.  Jenn makes and sells the little egg filled bird nests by the dozen (without the tags) so you can use them in lots of other craft projects.

I can't forget to show you all this...this is the bird nest dip bowl and spreader in the Serenity series at Simply Abundant.  I almost forgot to show it to you...I used it as a butter dish for the bread....the bread I meant to serve and, oopsie daisy,  forgot all about.  Oh well, it was some pretty butter and the rest of the meal was wonderful.

Hope you all enjoyed this and get some good ideas.  Think outside the box when it comes to decorating and  setting your tables...I've got soap dishes, curtains and gift tags on this table.  Happy table~scaping!

For more tablescaping ideas see my other posts and these lovely ladies with whom I link up to.  Join in the fun!

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch

Marty at A Stroll Through Life
Vintage Alphabet Party at Etsy Cottage Style

Hodge Podge Friday at It's a Hodge Podge Life

Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingies Thursday

Favorite Things Friday 

and to Smiling Sally for Blue Monday

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night.

~Edgar Allen Poe~