Tabletop Tuesday

My Tabletop Tuesday post is about OTHER places we put vignettes, besides on tables. How about in the library, on top of the storage unit,in the living room on top of the armour,

out on the porch on top of the shelves

on top of your kitchen cabinets,

bedside,

top of your china cupboard or bookcase,

I took all of these photos last fall when I visited Mary Carol Garrity's home in Atchison, Kansas. I can't get enough of this stuff!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, I love to have visitors and your comments are precious to me. I'm linking to Tabletop Tuesday at the below address:

http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com

Tabletop Tuesday

Well, you probably are SO sick of me talking about my trip to Atchison, Kansas to Mary Carol Garrity's home last fall, but I had to show a few of the things she had in her "courtyard" area. Now here in my part of Kansas, we don't have Courtyards. We have back yards, and sometimes, PASTURES! Ha!

All kidding aside, she was preparing for her Mother's birthday party and had things spruced up quite a bit. I have a feeling, after seeing her home, that it looks good all the time - birthday party or not. Anyway! below is some of the vignettes I photographed. ENJOY!

A very simple basket full of gourds - with vines still attached.

Pumpkins elevated to new heights to show off their beauty!

She explained that these vases would be removed and the table would be used for a dessert buffet during the evening.

This is the front side of the beverage table. I know, it's Spring and we are all anxious to see GREEN, but I thought this 3' tall jug was SO awesome, with the dried leaves and vines in it.

These are the fluted glasses set out for the event.

Thanks for joining me as I join the Tabletop Tuesday event going on at at:

http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Mantel Friday-Nell Hills 2

I'm going to link up for Tuesday's Tabletop Tuesday. This is what I wrote for the Mantel Party on Friday. Check out Tabletop Tuesday at http://southernwhimsy.blogspot.com/ this week, because, I don't remember why. . . . sorry.

This week my post is about my Nell Hill's experience. This is Mary Carol Garrity's study, decorated for fall. She uses a lot of natural elements, some real, some artificial. The wall covering was grass cloth (I felt it). Considering everyone says wallpaper is SO out, I was surprised!

Using silver trays sitting on tables, or wherever she could, she put books, photos, flowers, all kinds of trinkets on them.

There also was a lot of decorative plates, and pumpkins, as well as the beautful peach roses.

Remember this was in the fall, so the fall colors were important.

Ok, stay with me here, but I would have never thought of hanging a mirror in the middle of a window. Even though there is a table in front of it.

The ladies pictured below stayed in the 3rd story room at the B&B. There is room for 12 people to stay up there! They had SO much fun, and we got a kick out of them. Look at the mantel behind them though! There are even dishes up at the very top!

I'm enjoying so much the Mantel Friday posts, hope you are too! The rest of my day will be spent checking out the other Mantel posts! They can be found below:

http://bethcrabtreehunter.blogspot.com/

Mantel Friday - Nell Hills 1

The weekend that my BFF and I spent in Atchison, Kansas this past fall was great! We attended the open house of Mary Carol Garrity, Nell Hill's Fall Openhouse. We stayed in a B&B across the street from Mary Carol, and toured many beautiful homes, including hers. This week I'm featuring the different mantels we observed. Next week I will begin to feature Mary Carola great ideas for mantels.

This as you can see, is not a mantel, but a beautiful baby grand that the owner played one afternoon to entertain us. We played "name that tune" and she played wonderfully.

This mantel is in the B&B that we stayed in, called the Tuck U Inn. I should say ONE of the mantels.

This mantel was in one of the homes that we toured.

This is the mantel in the home that Amelia Erhart was born in. She lived first part of her life in Atchison, and came back numerous times after she married.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I know you can't wait to see what Nell Hill's has to show for this winter! Join me as I return to see more Mantles at : http://bethcrabtreehunter.blogspot.com/

Tablescape Thursday and the winner of the giveaway!!!!

Far from being my last, I have another tablescape from Nell Hill's. I wish I were going to be in KC this weekend, they are having a tablescape extravaganza at Briarcliff/Nell Hills. It's a little pricey, but I'm sure it would be worth it!

This tablescape used natural branches and stems, cut from trees with fall leaves on them, as well as some artificial ones sold at Nell Hill's. They are placed in HUGE grecian pitchers, I think you can see the handles on the lower photos. Each setting was mismatched silver trays, set on top of a velvet bordered placemat in dark green.

There are large velvet leaves in the middle of the table, and the sliver of silver you see in the top right hand, is actually the tail of a silver pheasant. The square plates are offset for emphasis, and the delft blue plate thrown in for a little surprise. The cloche's were all the same height and added a lot to the feel.

I just loved this setting, although it kind of breaks several of our "rules" that we grew up with - the height of the centerpiece is DEFINITELY too tall to see anyone other than your direct neighbor to the right/left. Mismatch was the name of the game on this table, and some people are still in the matchy/matchy phase! This tablescape is actually at Garrity's NOT Nell Hill's, but it's still Nell Hill's - all the way!

I had 97 followers on October 31, 2009 - with 12 of them who got extra chances. That makes for 109 in the drawing. I had the kids chose a number between 0-110 and they chose 68! So looking at my followers list - that means Blondie at "Blondie's Journal" won the drawing! Wohoo! If I can get an address - then I'll be able to put this signed book in the mail this weekend, otherwise - I'll have to wait. Congratulations to Blondie, I wish I could have met you in Chicago when I was there! and thanks so much to all of you for your comments, kindness, and most of all - FOLLOWING me! The giveaway has been so much fun, I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have! As late as I am posting today, I'm sure you've already been to Susan's at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/, but if not - be sure and check out the other tablescapes.

Outdoor Wednesday - Atchison, Kansas Friendship Forest

We're taking a tour of the International Forest of Friendship, in Atchison, Kansas. There was a bench just waiting for me to have my pix taken! As stated on the sign, the forest was started by the "99's", a group of women pilots that Amelia Ehrhart started, and continues to this day.

The gates were closed, but there is a road, so you can drive through the forest, or a you can abandon the car and take a walk on a nice day. And, we were lucky that it was truly a beautiful weekend, weather wise and OTHER wise!

The forest has a tree from every state, as well as a number of foreign countries. It's kind of amazing to see the tree from Israel, or the one from Eqypt. They look a lot like our trees, but there's a difference. A sidewalk takes you to through the forest, and it takes about an hour. If you don't read the signs, it probably would only take 15 minutes. But, you know me! I had to know as much as I could!

The above tree is the product of a seed that was taken aboard Apollo 14, in 1971. The seed traveled to the moon, then was brought back to earth and planted. So, in essence, this tree has been to the moon AND back! This tree has the plaque under it, to let you know you've got the right one!

The above memorial is at the foot of the moon tree.

Atchison is also the home of Mary Garrity, owner of Nell Hill's. She is one of the reasons we made the trip and are glad we did. There is much to see and do there, and we tried to take it ALL in, in 3 days!

Be sure and join me as a follower to be able to take advantage of my give away. There's only a few days left! I will be putting this book in the mail to one of my lucky followers on NOVEMBER 7th! Check out my sidebar for more information. I'm going to go visit the other Outdoor Wednesday posts at the below address:http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/, be sure and come along!

Pink Saturday!

By now, word is probably all over that recently my BFF Yvonne (below) and I spent a 3 day weekend in Atchison, Kansas. We stayed in the most awesome B&B, called Tuck U Inn at the Glick Mansion. I've been blogging about it for several weeks now.

We spent two wonderful nights in the Tuck U Inn on that weekend, and the 2nd morning we decided to have breakfast on the porch. It was cool, but not cold, and we were joined by a couple who were enjoying a weekend away from their children. Yvonne is ready and waiting for breakfast, while I continue to click away!!!!

The chairs were covered with this beautiful handiwork! Almost too pretty to sit on!

What a great way to start our day. With our last day together for the weekend, looming in front of us, we begin our last breakfast together. Notice I'm wearing my PINK?

As usual, the setting at the table was perfect. Pink quilted placemats for a gorgeous fall day in Kansas! All the details were there again - knife rests, stone mugs and all.

The dessert this morning was a Blueberry Blanket. I'm not a big blueberry fan, but this totally changed my attitude, and I've eaten them every since! Fresh blueberries, mixed with cream cheese and powdered sugar inside a square of puff pastry, baked to perfection and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Rememeber, dessert is always served first at the Tuck U Inn, so this was our first course. Now the bad news is - this is where the battery in my camera finally gave out, but the good news is we were served eggs benedict with crispy hashbrowns, and fresh fruit as our next course. It was our last morning at the Inn, and the final meal was perfect. It was a Nell Hill's weekend all the way around, and one I will never forget. Don't despair, dear followers - I still have plenty of Nell Hills decorating ideas in my archives, I'm frustrated this week with the Picnik program I paid for - I can't seem to get on and want to "tweak" my pictures before putting them on.

Just a reminder - there's barely a week left before the winner of my giveaway is announced. I know you love Nell Hill's and I want to share my good fortune with you!! Those of you who are already my followers know that I have recently made a trip to the home of Mary Carol Garrity and her two businesses in Atchison, Kansas, Nell Hills and Garrity's. I also attended the introduction of her new book "O Christmas Tree". While there I had her sign a book to be given away on my blog. I've decided to have a give away this fall, during the month of October for my followers. Check out my sidebar for the details.

Thanks goes out again to Beverly for hosting a great Pink Saturday. Please find the other participants at the below address:

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Show and Tell Friday

For my first show and tell Friday, I have to show off my friend Maude! She's all dressed for Halloween! Maude is my dressmakers model that my Mom gave me. I have several of these in different areas of my home, this one is in the sunroom/kitchen area. I try to dress her up according to the season, and have fun doing it! She's not at all like my daughters were when they lived at home - she actually WEARS what I get for her! Ha!

She also doesn't mind wearing my spider pins! Thanks for stopping by my first Show and Tell Friday. Be sure and check out my give away on my sidebar. If you like Mary Carol Garrity and Nell Hill's - you will LOVE my give away!

Thanks for letting me participate in Show and Tell Friday, I'm a "Show and Tell" kinda girl! http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Tablescape Thurday - Nell Hills AGAIN!!

Yes, I do have MORE Nell Hill's tablescapes! After the girls weekend in September when we toured Mary Garrity's home and businesses in Atchison, Kansas, I have enough tablescapes to get me through SEVERAL weeks! This week I chose one that is a favorite with many people, it centered around Bee's! Look at the below photos, and EAT YOUR HEART OUT!!!! Love, love, love these dishes and accessories - the way they put it all together! One thing we noticed that day was that black and white checked ANYTHING is in style this fall. It was used everywhere in ribbons, cloths, napkins, etc. I have always been a fan, but was tickled to see it readily available more now.

I want to remind you about my giveaway - there's only a couple of weeks left. I had Mary Carol Garrity sign her newest book shown below while I was there and it can be yours, just for joining as a follower. I appreciate so much how my followers encourage and comment, and want to give the gift for them only, as my thank you. Check out my sidebar for more information!

After you do that, make sure you hop on over to Tablescape Thursday with Susan, the one who started it all for me with blogging. She and her friends can be found at: http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/. Thanks so much for stopping by! Sandi