By the Sea, By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea!

It's been so hot lately, I need a cool tablescape. And what is more refreshing and cooling than the sea?



I used a white tablecloth and my trusty tiffany blue tulle and added some goodies purchased from 2 recent trips to watery destinations and came up with this table.



I used my silver beaded placemats with blue ruffled placemats from TJ Maxx. Then I added a white Gibson Claremont dinner plate topped with a blue and white seersucker napkin (Target), a blue capiz shell salad plate (Target) and shell butter knife (Big Lots). I added clear plastic flatware and Fostoria Heritage glassware and put a shell place card holder at each place.



With Flash



Without Flash



My place



Around the table I added an oyster plate





And some fish salt and peppers frolicking among the tulle waves



A silver shell dish with spreaders



And a shell pitcher



To make the whole table an under the sea sensation!



And for the centerpiece I used a large clam shell from Target years ago, filled with blue and clear glass vase filler beads, like sea glass with various shells and sea creatures scattered throughout. Two turquoise mercury glass candle holders and light blue candles round out the centerpiece.







And on the mantle, I draped more tulle and a turquoise vase with bubbly, pearl and silver stems, flanked by silver mercury glass candle holders.







And even the wicker tea cart got a sea side tea towel!



Stay cool and have a wonderful Tea Time Tuesday and Tablescape Thursday!

Peach Ice Cream

I haven't posted a recipe in a while but this one was too good and easy to miss! Peach season is here and what is summer without Peach Ice Cream?



I got the recipe from a GREAT website that I follow on Facebook and Twitter - DeepSouthDish.com. Here is the link to the Peach Ice Cream Recipe CLICK HERE.

There is no cooking and yet it is super creamy and custardy like the cooked versions. The only change I made was to chopped the peaches with my chopper instead of pureeing them. (My food processor has passed on and I haven't replaced it yet.)



I hope you make this yourself - you won't be sorry!



I will be linking to Foodie Friday.

Tea for Elephants

For this week's Tea Time Tuesday and Tablescape Thursday I am sharing a table I call "Tea for Elephants."



The whole table started when I saw a white elephant tea pot on Target.com. Of course I had to order it and then the day before it arrived, a friend gave me and my husband an antique tea box. As a fan of old movies, I thought of the movie, Elephant Walk where Elizabeth Taylor leaves England to live in Ceylon on a tea plantation. So even though the box has Chinese figures, I thought it would make a great tea table with the elephants.



A taller element was needed, and after looking through my house, I found this Japanese bonsai tree made of jade.



So now I have 3 tea loving cultures mixed in the table - India/Ceylon, China and Japan!

Here are some close ups of the antique box.





Before I could post these pictures I happened to see some cute elephant salt and pepper shakers from Pier 1 and they just happened to have a matching tea pot!



The color of this tea pot actually photographed better, so here is the finished table!



I am guessing that there are lots of cute elephant things right now because of the book and movie Water for Elephants, so I named this table Tea for Elephants!

Hope you enjoyed this culturally mixed table!