Our Wedding China

Hi everyone!  I have been absent from blogging for about a week and a half.  Not only have I not posted, but I haven't had time to visit anyone else's blog either.  I always feel like I'm out of the loop when that happens.  We've had family things going on and the puppy is still keeping us very busy.

This week I'm participating in Cuisine Kathleen's "Let's Dish" party.  Her challenge this month is for us to set a table with wedding china.  It can be our wedding china, or the wedding china of a mother or grandmother, etc.  I just realized that the challenge was actually to use formal wedding china in an informal arrangement so, Oops, I guess I didn't get that memo.  The story of my life these days.  :)  Anyway, I was glad for the opportunity to set a table with our wedding dishes.  Those of you who are regular readers of my blog have seen this china before, but here it is again.

February Note Card Party

I don't want to miss Vee's monthly Note Card Party like I did last month, so I've published two posts today.  If you want to participate, just choose four images which you've used in previous posts that you think would make pretty note cards.  Then pop those picture note cards into a post and join us at A Haven For Vee, February Note Card Party.  It's easy and fun, and you'll meet some really nice bloggers.

You don't have to do a theme with your note cards, either, but I usually do 'cause that's just how I roll.  :)  This month I've chosen Valentine's images for my note cards.

I Heart Valentines

I haven't done my Valentine Tablescape yet for this year.  Instead, I wanted to show some Valentine images that I captured throughout the house -- just some heart-shaped objects here and there, touches of pink and red, and romantic roses.

 

Potpourri made with petals from our David Austin roses

 

Heart-shaped potpourri bowl

 

Heart napkin fold. (Tutorial HERE)

 

Royal Doulton "Juliet" bowl holds heart candies

 

Valentine wreath

Conversation Hearts :)

 

David Austin roses

 

2011 Valentine Tablescape

 "Old Britain Castles" heart plate

 "Old Country Roses" and Laura Ashley

This snow lady's red, painted heart is almost hidden by her scarf...

An Austrian cow bell and wheat ornament with simple heart designs

An early Valentine card

Wedgwood Jasperware sweetheart plate was a wedding gift

Our David Austin roses...

I'm joining Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for Valentine Pink Saturday , Laurie at Bargain Hunting and Chatting With Laurie for her Valentines Party, The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays, Marty at A Stroll Through Life for Tabletop Tuesdays, Kathy at A Delightsome Life for Home and Garden Thursdays, and Shannon at Cozy Home Scenes for Your Cozy Home Party. Thanks to all of these ladies for hosting and thank you for your visit!

Denise

Happy Anniversary

This week I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday, Beverly at How Sweet The Sound for Pink Saturdays, and The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays. It's the merry old month of May, and in addition to celebrating Mother's Day, Mr. Forest Manor and I also celebrate our wedding anniversary.  This Monday, May 23rd, marked our 24th anniversary. I've spent almost half of my life with my "Better Half".  That sounds like the name of a country music song :-)

I set the table for just the two of us this week.  And since we're celebrating the date we got married, we're using our wedding china.  I'll be just like Hyacinth Bucket (or Boo-Kay) and pull out my Royal Doulton china, sans the hand-painted periwinkles.  My pattern is "Juliet" and I really love these dishes!

While we were on vacation a few weeks ago, we were browsing around in some antique shops, and I found these vintage etched sherbets.  I've been looking for some for quite a while now, but could not find any for a price I was willing to pay.  I thought these were a bargain.  I bought six, and the owner threw in the seventh for free.  I haven't been able to find the maker on these yet, so maybe that's why they were a bargain;)  But they seem very well made, and they are very pretty -- just what I've been looking for.

Last weekend we received an unexpected gift, a silver anniversary gift a year early :-)  My husband's mother gave us half of her sterling flatware.  I was so surprised and excited!!!  The other half will go to my husband's brother and his wife.  What a generous gift to the four of us!

A treasured cake cutter/server given to us by my bridesmaids for our wedding gift.  Our initial is monogrammed on the front, with the date of the wedding on the back.

We got some extra place settings of our dishes, so we exchanged those for the bud vase...

and the sugar bowl.

I love the look of the pattern on the coffee cups.

We've had a really busy couple of weeks, and I was so tired last night, I couldn't finish this post. So with no further witty repartee from me, I'll just leave you to enjoy the rest of the pictures.  Hope you all have a great weekend!

Denise 

On The Table:

China -- Royal Doulton "Juliet"

Vintage Sherbets -- Antique store find

Crystal Stemware -- Gorham "French Cathedral"

Sterling flatware -- International Sterling "Grande Regency"

Cake Plate -- Depression Glass "Cherry Blossom"

Cake Cutter/Server -- Wedding Gift

Crystal Salt and Pepper -- Wedding Gift

Place Mats and Napkins -- Gift from my mother-in-law

Shakespeare and Royal Doulton China

Hello everyone.  Today I'm linking to Tablescape Thursdays hosted by Susan at Between Naps On The Porch.  Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day.  For my post this week, I'm using the pictures from a tablescape I did last year for Valentine's Day.  The pictures were taken with our first digital camera, but they still turned out pretty good.  So...what do Shakespeare, a play about star-crossed lovers and Royal Doulton china have in common?  Just one word -- Juliet.  "Juliet" is the name of the Royal Doulton pattern that I chose for our wedding china over 24 years ago.