It's Thursday! Let's do a thrifty tea party

It's Thursday so it's Tablescape Thursday time. This fun even is hosted weekly by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. This is the 39th edition. Wow!!! Can you imagine putting together 39 tablescapes? Well there are some who have. Not me though, this is my 14th time. I'm pretty impressed that I've done that many. And I have so many more running through my brain. I just need to get all the little things together and find the time to do it. I'm trying to use stuff I have around the house, but I can't help it if I buy a little something to use now and again.

This week I am also participating for the 1st time in Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh at Tales From Bloggeritaville. A lot of the items I used in this week's tablescape came from a thrift store. Or I got a thrifty deal.

Now I don't have any daughters (boo hoo) or any grand daughters (we can always hope). But I do have 2 nieces who I call my faux daughters. I'm lucky that my nieces only live about 15 minutes from me, so we see each other quite a bit. I decided that we would have a tea party. Only problem is, I forgot to invite them and we don't drink tea. But I love tea cups, tea pots & everything else that goes with a tea party, so I thought I'd throw a faux tea party for my faux daughters Danica & Taylor.

Since the weather has been beautiful here in SoCal aka: Southern California, we would have our little tea party out by the pool. Oh, oh, looks like someone forgot to put away the extension cord & hose as well as sweep before taking the photo. Men!!! (Did you notice that I'm not taking the blame?)


Here is the tablecloth I started with (I really took this photo when I was putting everything away, but if I hadn't brought it to your attention that the cement is now all cleaned up, you wouldn't have even noticed. Would you?) I got this tablecloth at a thrift store when I lived down in San Diego county. Don't remember how much I paid for it, but knowing me, it wasn't over $5.00. Most likely only a couple of dollars.
Then I used my Bordallo cabbage plates. I only have 3 of the dinner plate size. That is why this tea party is just for 3 of us. The plates came from Ross back in Jan or Feb. I got them on clearance for I think $3.50 each. The silverware is new!!! I got it at Ross a few weeks back. $12.00 for a service for 4. I love the dark color of the bamboo.
Next I layered on my thrift store china salad plates that I got a few weeks back. I paid $2.00 for 4 of these plates plus 2 smaller plates in a different pattern. I love the pink flowers with the green cabbage plate underneath.

Here is a close up of my new silverware.
Then on top of the salad plates I put a different tea cup at each place setting. This is for me. This is my favorite tea cup. It is by Lefton. I got if off ebay. I may have splurged & paid $10.00 for this. I loved the green color with the pink roses.
Here is the tea cup for Danica. This came from ABC Distributing catalog. The bottom says "Formalities". I paid $4.95 for this tea cup. Again, I love the pink roses.
And the tea cup for Taylor. I used a Royal Albert American Rose tea cup but put it on a completely different saucer called June Bouquet by Duchess bone china England . But I think it goes together as they both have pink roses. Both the tea cup & saucer came from the thrift store. Most likely paid less than$1.00 each. I then attached little vintage napkins along with a reproduction vintage print as a name card to each tea cup handle with a drapery ring (in this case it is more like a hook). I love the medallion that was on the ring. I think it looks vintage. I'm finding that drapery rings work great as napkin rings. And they are cheap. I got these at Ross & paid $2.99 for 7 or 10 of them. Since they are actually hooks, they will come off easily from the cup handle. The napkins were part of a lot of 40 vintage napkins that I won from ebay for $9.99. I also put a packet of flower seeds (25cents each from Dollar Tree) at each setting as a little take home gift. I have them on forks bent to make easels (forgot to take photo). Here is my place setting. I love Shasta daisies. They were my favorite flowers when I was a teenager. Now my favorite flowers are roses or hydrangeas.

Here is Danica's place.
And Taylor's. Don't you just love the basket on the napkins? For the centerpiece I started out with this wooden basket that says "Fleurs" on the side. I got this at Costco at the beginning of the year. They originally came with succulents in them, but they were dying so this was a clearance item. I got it for $6.00. I think they originally sold for $20.00 or so. Since I don't like succulents, I didn't care if they were dying as I was throwing them out anyways. I only wanted the wooden basket.

Then I added some silk peonies. I thought the color of these flowers matched the pink in the flowers on the tablecloth.
Next came a birdhouse. I got this a few years back to use in my wedding. Can't remember where I got it from though. I just love this birdhouse. I sat it on a vintage napkin inside the box.
Then I added this little birdie & bird nest. This came from Michael's last year on 50% off sale.
And then I added this iron candelabra. I got this at a trade show in Vegas a few years back. I paid $2-3.00 for this.

I love how this turned out. I guess I should have lit my candles. Oh well, just pretend they are lit.

My tea service items all came from thrift stores, ebay or were free. The pink & white pitcher was an ebay find I'm sure I paid less than $10.00 for it. The tea pot was a freebie from my niece Danica. She had bought it at a thrift store to use for a friends Mad Hatter birthday party. She gave it to me after the party. The sugar & creamer came from a thrift store.

I just love my tea pot!!! I normally collect china that has roses, but I love how this pot has little blue flowers. Something different from what I normally collect.


The goblets are my Libby glasses from Walmart. I think they were like a dollar a piece.

I love how each place setting is a little different. But they all still look good together.

One final look at the table. Did you notice that the concrete is now swept? Isn't hubby a doll for doing that for me? Thanks for joining my faux tea party. Now I guess I better invite Danica & Taylor over for a real tea party. I know they will be asking for one when they see this.

A Mother's Day Tablescape

I want to thank Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Tablescape Thursday each week. I'm having way too much fun doing tablescapes. And I know I am not alone. There are already more than 60 participants signed up for this week. So I'm sure you have already visited all the other participants by the time you reached my blog, but if not, be sure to visit Susan to see all the fabulous tablescapes.

Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday. I will be celebrating with my Mom on Saturday at her house with my extended family. We usually get together on Mother's Day but we have a special family event on Saturday so we figured we would celebrate Mother's Day then. So this will be the first Mother's Day in a long time that I will get to celebrate with just my own little family at my house. I am looking forward to it.

Since I live in a family of all men, I figured the only way I am getting a nice table is to set it myself. And if I post it on Tablescape Thursday, they will have a blueprint to go by to recreate it for Sunday. Do you think they can do it? We'll see.

We will eat dinner out in our backyard. Hopefully it won't be too hot on Sunday. Today it was 100 degrees here. Let's hope it cools down by Sunday. I'm hoping hubby will BBQ steaks, potatoes and corn on the cob (he will if I go and buy it). That is my all time favorite meal. Some salad would be great too. And strawberry shortcake for dessert. Do you hear that boys? You've got to give men lots of clues as to what you want.
Even though I live in a family of boys, the table will be very girly. Cause I am a girl!!! And it is my day!!! So they will just have to live with it. I'm sure they will insist that no photos be taken of them sitting at such a girly table. But we'll see.
I purchased the tablecloth & napkins from a website called Crossroads Cottage. Shana has lots of fabulous things on her website & even has some tablescapes. So go check her website out. She used this tablecloth & napkins in her Mother's Day tablescape last year & I fell in love with it & knew that I wanted to use it for mine. For napkin rings I used pewter curtain rings & clips. I then clipped on a silk rose.

Here is a photo of a place setting without the napkin on the plate.
The white dinner plates came from The Dollar Tree for $1.00 each. A dollar!!! I love how the edge has a basket weave. And they are white!!! Did I tell you they were a dollar?
For salad plates I used my Bordallo cabbage plates. Since it is still technically spring (even though it feels more like summer here), I thought they fit in just right. And I love that they are green. I got mine on clearance at Ross for $2.49 a plate.
My silverware really means a lot to me. My Grandma gave me this set when I graduated from High School. I used them in this setting as they have roses on them. My Grandma had a similar set and I got her set as well when she passed away. I had to search high and low to find these in all my stuff. And anyone who knows me knows that was no easy task. I have a lot of stuff. I unfortunately don't know who they are made by. I'm not good at remembering stuff like that. I'm lucky I can remember to feed myself each day. And take one look at me & you can tell that is one thing I don't forget. lol. I used my favorite thrift store goblets again. I only have a couple of sets of goblets, so you will see them all the time in my tablescapes. I'm more of a dishaholic, not a gobletaholic.


Here is my centerpiece. I used my Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic pitcher that came from Mervyn's years ago when Shabby Chic first became big. I had never heard of Rachel Ashwell when I bought the pitcher. I bought it because I collect pitchers & I love roses.

The silk roses it holds are the $1.00 flowers from Walmart. But I think back when I bought them they were actually only 88 cents for a bunch.
The wire charger underneath everything came from Target. It was in their Easter decorations. Then of course my Target birdies Harold & Maude couldn't wait to be back in a tablescape. Did you ever notice that they have roses on them? I never noticed until just now.
The candlestick holders came from a community thrift store in the city where I work. I had seen them one day & they were not marked. I asked the woman working how much & she said $4.00 for the pair. I thought that was too much so I didn't buy them. Then a few days later I went back to the thrift store & they were still there & were calling to me. I took them up to the register to ask how much (there was a different woman working). She said $2.00 for the pair. I said SOLD!!!! I was so happy that I waited on buying them. I love these as they have roses on them too.
Doesn't the pool look refreshing? It has just warmed up enough to go swimming. So we may just have to take a dip in the pool after dinner. Want to join? If so, it's bring your own towel.
Here's one final look at my table.
Well thanks for visiting my Mother's Day tablescape this week. Let's hope that my Mother's Day turns out the way I expect. But you know how that can go.
What will you be doing for Mother's Day?

Poolside Tea Party

Welcome to another Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. Be sure to visit her blog as she has a yummy tablescape this week. And after your done wanting some of her dessert, you can find the list of all the other participants for this week.

Shhh! Don't tell Kim, but we are going to take over her tablescaping for this week. And who are we? Why we are Martha & Mildred. We are two of Kim's Boyds bears. You see we were rummaging through Kim's storage area in her garage rafters & we stumbled upon the first Christmas gift her hubby gave her. I know she will be so excited to see what we have found. So what better way to surprise her than by doing a tablescape for all of you (and Kim) this week for Tablescape Thursday.

And what did we find that Kim will love? It is a doll tea set that Mike (that would be her hubby) purchased for her from an antique store. Not sure if it is very old, but she loves it. And so do we. Kim used to have a doll collection (up until her last garage sale) and she also had this little table & chair set. What was missing was a tea set for it. So her hubby found her a set & gave it to Kim for their first Christmas together. He knew she would love it (and he was right, but then he is always right, lol) as she also collects blue & white dishes.

Here we are, I'm Martha (on the left) and over there is Mildred (on the right). Say Hi Mildred. Hi!!! Aren't we cute? Now back to our story. Since Kim no longer has her dolls (we convinced Kim that she didn't need those old dolls, bears were better), Mildred & I decided we wanted to have a tea party by the pool to show off Kim's little tea set. You see Kim loves us almost as much as she loves this tea set. So she will be so happy to see us using her tea set. I know what you are thinking, "Aren't you afraid that Kim will sell you at a garage sale someday?". Well the answer is "no". Kim loves us too much to sell us or give us up. We mean more to her than her dumb dolls did (obviously as we are still here). Luckily for us, she didn't get rid of our table & chairs. She wanted to sell them on ebay, but she wanted to dress them up a bit & so far she hasn't. Isn't it great that Kim is a procrastinator?

The tea set didn't come with larger plates, only what you see here. Not sure if they originally did or not since we weren't there when they were made. And there is nothing printed on the bottom, so not sure who they are made by or where. It's a big mystery. OOh I love mysteries.


One of the tea cups has a couple of chips. Don't tell Kim, she'll think we did it.

This is Mildred. Doesn't she look like she is enjoying her tea? Pretend you see tea in the cup. Kim doesn't drink tea, so we didn't have any to stage with. She just loves tea cups, not tea.

For the table cloth we used a vintage napkin that Kim bought off ebay. She bought a lot of 40 napkins for $10.00 a month or so ago. It works great as a table cloth for this small table. I had a hard time sneaking it out of the house though.


And here I am (Martha) with my spot of invisible tea. Do you like my bow?

Mildred & I want to thank you for visiting this week. There are 2 more place settings at this table. One for Kim & one for you. Do you want to stay & have some invisible tea? The weather is perfect for sitting by the pool. This week the temps are in the 70's instead of the high 90's like last week.

Be sure to come back next week to see Kim's Mother's Day tablescape. And this week her cousin's daughter Tina also did a tablescape post. She works at Cost Plus World Market & gets to do tablescapes for her job? How lucky is she? You can find her post here. Be sure to leave comments so Kim will be happy that we posted for her.