Tablescape Thursday - Fall, Fall, Fall!

It's Tablescape Thursday sponsored by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH!



I finally have my house all falled up! Since it is Tablescape Thursday, I will start with the Dining Room and those not interested won't have to follow the rest of the tour!

If you saw my post last week, you will recognize the china (Spode Woodland Turkey), but this year I am using a gold tablecloth (After Christmas clearance at Target), the paper runner with the Chinese lantern design, and burnt orange napkins(clearance at Tuesday Morning) with red napkin rings. (I know that red and orange are supposed to clash, but they look good together as fall leaves and in my turkeys, so why not?) My goblets were from Ross Simons years ago and the sterling was my grandmother's wedding silver, Betsy Patterson Engraved. The copper chargers are new and from Target.



Same turkey as a centerpiece.



Here is my Dining Room mantle. The silk Chinese lantern stems were from Michael's. As you can see I have quite a turkey collection. The copper pumpkins are new from Target.











Now on with the tour - Here is the Foyer



Closeup of the epergne



Now the Parlor mantle



And you thought I had a lot of turkeys!!!

Same shot without flash


The the table in the parlor bay window



Now on to the Billiards Room



On the mantle is a white pumpkin with a Harvest Moon face. I got the idea from Country Living magazine.





We have a lot of pheasants on the bar in the Billiards Room and my stained glass turkey is one of my very favorites.



In our Sunroom, we have a tea set with an Indian corn teapot and a pumpkin painting by my younger daughter.





Last on the tour is my husband's study. As you may remember, he is a reenactor, so there is a military history theme to his study.




Ignore the dust on the Library Ladder - it's not good to overclean antiques. Ha Ha!!!!



Well that's what I have pictures of - believe it or not I have more decorations! And when October gets here the Halloween has to be added!!!!

Happy Tablescape Thursday to all! :D Jewel

Tablescape Thursday - Early Fall!

It's Tablescape Thursday sponsored by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH!



I have to admit that my table is not yet set for fall, but I have some pictures from last year to share. I like to start out with a light tablecloth and get darker as fall progresses.

Here is my table with a light ivory cloth and a transparent paper runner with Chinese lantern plants on it. My china is Spode Woodland Turkey with a gold charger and Waterford Lismore crystal. My silver plate looks a lot like Grand Baroque, but it's a Ross Simons knock off.

My turkey centerpiece is surrounded by some blown glass acorns and two vases with small pumpkin candles surrounded by fall colored acrylic jewels (of course!).

Just the first of many fall tables, many featuring my Spode plates.










Happy Early Fall, Y'all! :D Jewel

Outdoor Wednesday - MD and WV trip

It's time for Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. Be sure and visit her to see all the wonderful posts!


Over Labor Day weekend, DH & I went to Antietam Battleground in MD and Harper's Ferry, WV. It was so beautiful. I want to share a few photographs with you from our trip.

Here is Burnsides Bridge at Antietam.



The state flower of Maryland is the Black-eyed Susan and they were blooming all around the battlefield.







Here is a view of Harper's Ferry, West Virginia where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers come together.



Here is a butterfly I captured on a butterfly bush:







Happy Outdoor Wednesday! :D Jewel

3-D Pumpkin Bundt Cake

For Foodie Friday:
Thank you Gollum for hosting Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

For my first Fall food I decided to make a 3-D Pumpkin Bundt Cake. I bought the 3-D Pumpkin Bundt pans from Target, but instead of following the directions on the back I just used a French Vanilla Cake mix with 1/2 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon and a grating of fresh nutmeg added to the batter.

I did follow the directions for their glaze though:

2 cups confectioners sugar
2-4 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla
red & yellow food coloring

Mix together well. It will be thick.

I used half to cement the two mini bundt layers together and the other half to glaze the top. I did have to saw the bump off of each layer so that it matched up level in the middle before I added the glaze to hold them together.

I took green marzipan and rolled two snakes for vines. Then I rolled out some green marzipan and used a mini fall leaf cookie cutter to make the pumpkin leaves.

Here is the finished cake!





I'm not sure it looks more like a pumpkin than a regular Bundt cake, but I had fun and it tasted good! :D Jewel

Outdoor Wednesday - Smoky Mtn Camping

It's time for Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. Be sure and visit her to see all the wonderful posts!


I didn't make any of my pictures smaller, so they will all probably be cut off on the right. Please click the picture if you want the full view!!!

After we dropped our younger daughter off at college, DH & I headed for the NC mountains. We thought it would be a nice buffer before coming home to our newly empty nest.

We stayed at Deep Creek Campground in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park outside of Bryson City, NC. It was beautiful and the weather was great!!!

Here was the view from our campsite right on Deep Creek.





Chimneys picnic area is right on the Pigeon River in the National Park.









On the way to Balsam Mountain, we saw this herd of elk!









Then on the way to Clingman's Dome, we saw this bear. (We were in our car or it would have been scary instead of exciting!)



And of course there were fruits and flowers.







This trip was my husband's idea and I will say it was an excellent one!!!!

Now visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. :D Jewel

Tablescape Thursday - Summer Tables

It's Tablescape Thursday sponsored by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH!



I have been getting my two girls ready for college and haven't had much blogging time! As of Saturday, I will be an empty-nester. DH & I are going to the mountains for a vacation after we drop our younger daughter off, so I won't have much blogging time next week either.

But here are some of my summer tables-

This one is based on pink crepe myrtles and watermelons (see the watermelon napkin rings?). You may think that the green table cloth needs ironing, but I was really going for that casual summer look, really!!! HAHA!



Here are some pictures (that I have shared before) of my mother's birthday dinner in 2008. I used fruits for these tables.







I am beginning to get the "Fall Feeling" even though (or maybe because) it is hot and humid as can be, I keep thinking about pumpkins and turkeys. So keep an eye out for my fall tables coming soon!

Be sure to visit Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH!
:D Jewel

Tablescape Thursday - Feeling Crabby!

It's Tablescape Thursday sponsored by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH!



One of our favorite vacations in year's past has been to the Chesapeake Bay on the Maryland Eastern Shore. Alas, this year we have not been able to go, so I decided to do a table in honor of Chesapeake Bay crabs and corn. The campground where we usually stay always has plenty of crabs to catch and is right by a cornfield with a honors system payment box. There is not much better than fresh caught crabs and fresh picked corn, unless they are together in a chowder!

Here my table is covered with brown paper and the silver platter has a tea towel ready for the crabs and corn. I looked everywhere for our mallets to crack the crabs, but they were in our camper. The silver tray, the melamine shell plates, the flat crab plates and the butter knife/spreader on the right are all from Target several years ago. The cute crab bowls, the little salt and pepper shakers and the butter knife/spreader on the left are all from Le Gourmet Chef several years ago. The tea towel is from a boutique several years ago.















Now if I could just get the same wonderful crab and corn experience at home! Hope you enjoyed this table now make sure you visit BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH! for more wonderful tables! :D Jewel