A Crab Bisque for Dinner Beach Tablescape

I saw this large cast aluminum crab online at Grandin Road earlier this year and I knew it would make a great centerpiece someday. I think it is supposed to be yard art. It had a weathered copper finish but Hubby painted it red for me. This table is a repeat of a crab table I did last year, see that one here . But I changed several of the design elements. The tablecloth was made by Tommy Bahama and I bought it at HomeGoods a few years ago.

I loved these small crab bowls the minute I saw them on Ebay a few years ago. I love the claws and the tiny face. The bottom is marked PV and Made in Czechoslovakia.

I was googling crab plates and these popped up online from Pfaltzgraff last year. They were on major sale and are microwave and dishwasher safe. The orange-red border is a fun addition to the plate design.

I bought these blue melamine plates at Crate and Barrel a couple years ago. I have them in red also.

Using my Cambria stoneware charger from Pottery Barn as a dinner plate on this table. I love this plate, I also have it in pale blue and sage green. It is the perfect size to be either a dinner plate or a charger plate. I love plates that have that kind of versatility. I use this plate several times a year on tablescapes.

Not sure where I found the blue glass chargers. I have had them for several years. They are good quality and a heavy glass. I like the design in the glass.

I bought the frosted white flatware on sale online at Wayfair a few years ago, it is made by Cambridge. It is 18/0 so the fork tines are a bit sharper than I would like but I really liked the frosted color and the simple design.

I looked all over for orange-red crab napkin rings with no luck. Found lots of metal and blue ones but nothing the right color. I had bought these small crabs on Amazon to use as table scatter but they were shiny red when they arrived. Hubby was going to spray paint them orange-red and my daughter was over and I was telling her about my bad luck finding napkin rings and she suggested that I turn these into napkin rings, genius! So Hubby bought plain wood rings and spray painted them all and glued the crab to the ring and viola, cheap napkin rings! The red napkins probably came from HomeGoods several years ago. I found the ocean print napkins on Etsy earlier this year. Etsy is a great place to find themed napkins in all kinds of different designs. I love the way the plate stack looks in this photo. The red placemats came from Pier 1 many years ago.

I love these crab place card holders, I found them at Pottery Barn last year and they were red but Hubby spray painted them for me so they would be more of an orange red tone.

I used my red Waterford Marquis Brookside goblets for this table setting. I bought them at HomeGoods several years ago. If you read my blog you have seen this goblet in many tablescapes. They are for sale on Ebay from time to time. As I have said before, if I were starting a tablescaping hobby, a set of red goblets would be one of my first purchases. They can be used several times a year. The dark blue acrylic goblets came from Pier 1 on sale a couple months ago. It’s difficult to see but they have a rope design around the top of the goblet. So sad that Pier 1 is closing.

The crab centerpiece is sitting on a small wood stand I bought online at Pier 1 last month. I covered the stand with one of the ocean design napkins to add more interest. The stand is natural wood but I think I will have Hubby paint it white for me.

I found this crab salt and pepper set on Ebay a couple years ago. I like to add a bit of whimsy to my tables sometimes. Ebay is a great place to find interesting salt and pepper sets.

Now to find a delicious crab bisque recipe!

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I add a new tablescape to my blog every Thursday so please check back!

A Let's Bee Happy Tablescape

I have been wanting to redo my Bee tablescape from last year for a while. You can see it here. I wanted to use a yellow tablecloth and I found this yellow seersucker tablecloth at Macys this month. The bright blue placemats came from Juliska online a few years ago. I wish they still had them in different colors because they are well made.

I found the bee salad plates at HomeGoods last year. They have no label except made in china. I didn’t like the brightness of the white circle so I found bee table scatter (tiny wood bees) on Amazon and scattered them on the white circle, problem solved. I love the wicker pattern and the added flowers and bee designs are just enough.

The dark blue plate is by Ballard Designs, Southern Living. I think I bought them online at Ballard Designs a few years ago. I love the ruffled edge on these plates, I love plates that have an unusual rim design.

These sunflower dinner plates are made by Fiesta and I bought them at Macys about 6 years ago when I started tablescaping. I have these plates in a few different colors because they are a good plate to use for tablescaping as a basic dinner plate in a plate stack.

This is a Color Spectrum charger by Mikasa, the color is Sun Yellow. I bought these chargers on Ebay a few at a time because I love the quality and the strong colors. I have them in several colors now.

I saw this bee flatware on another tablescaper’s blog a few years ago and I finally decided that I had to have them. They are one of the reasons why I designed this tablescape originally. They are made by Wallace, pattern Napoleon Bee, and they are 18/10, really good quality. I love the bees on the end of the handles.

The yellow and white checked napkins came from Sur la Table, they sometimes have good sales on their table linens online. I found the blue napkins on Etsy. I was looking for napkins with a bee design and as soon as I saw the tiny bee design on these, I knew they would be perfect. I found the bee napkin rings after googling bee napkin ring, sometimes that really works when I need something special. They were made by PC Fallon Co.. The colors on these napkin rings work perfectly on this table.

The cobalt blue glass goblets came from The Vermont Country Store. They are made by Mosser in the United States and the pattern is Georgia. They are really heavy glass and very good quality. I have bought a few at a time over the years. I also have them in a beautiful dark green that I often use at Christmas time and they come in red as well. The yellow glass goblet was made by Noritake, it’s called Yellow Perspective. These were made between 1970 and 1983 and I found them on Ebay. I have this goblet in a cobalt blue and sage green.

Using a cookie jar for a centerpiece is such an easy choice. I found this bee hive cookie jar at HomeGoods in February before things changed and we couldn’t go shopping. It matched the plates that I bought last year. I have a tall pitcher and some other dishes in this pattern as well.

I bought this salt and pepper set last year when I bought the plates. I have a weakness for cute salt and peppers! I have had the small glass bee for many years. I started collecting glass animals when I was a child and continued until I ran out of room. This is part of that collection.

This cream pitcher and sugar bowl jumped in my cart when I bought the plates last year. Who could resist them, not I!

I love the way the yellow and blue colors play off each other! To see another all yellow table I created click here.

To see over 50 other tablescapes that I have created, click here.

I add a new tablescape to my blog every Thursday so please check back!

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A Ready for 4th of July Tablescape

Fourth of July is just around the corner so I decided to put together another 4th of July table. If you look at the different 4th of July tables I have done, you can see a few of the same elements I used this year on those table settings but I used different colors and combinations this year.

This salad plate is enamelware and it was made by Golden Rabbit. Can’t remember where I bought it but I have had it for several years.

This is a Fiesta salad plate in the color scarlet, it is part of our every day dishes set.

I bought these plates online several years ago at Ballard Designs, I think they were called Southern Living. They are about 11 1/2” in diameter, a good size to be either a dinner plate or a charger. I love plates that will work for either! You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying dinner plates here.

These chargers came from Pier 1 several years ago. I bought them in red, white, and blue. The red, white, and blue placemats came from Pier 1 too I think.

The napkins came from Sur la Table several years ago. I love that they match the stars in the tablecloth and on the salad plates, and the red stripes match the salad plate too! The beaded pinwheel napkin rings came from Pier 1 several years ago.

I bought the frosted white flatware on sale online at Wayfair several years ago, it is made by Cambridge. It is 18/0 so the fork tines are a bit sharper than I would like but I really liked the frosted color. I use this set often. If you are going to buy colored flatware, white is a good color to start with and then I would buy red, black and green. Those seem to be the colors I use the most. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

Using my red Waterford Marquis Brookside goblets again on this table. If I were starting a tablescaping hobby, a set of red goblets would be one of my first purchases. They can be used several times a year. I bought these goblets years ago at HomeGoods. I love the fact that they are a bit taller than other goblets and the design goes with everything. I bought the cobalt blue goblets at Pier 1 several years ago. Many tablescapers buy plastic goblets like this design in many different colors at the Dollar Store. I buy tablescape items in sets of 6 or 12 and I never seem to be at Dollar Tree when they have that many in stock of any one color. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying goblets (including the colors I use the most) for your tablescaping collection here.

I finally remembered to take a photo of the tablecloth before I added everything. I love the design on this tablecloth, it is so festive and colorful! The tablecloth may have been designed by Stacy lest Hsu for Moda Fabrics. It was part of their Classic Retro American Bunt series.

I bought these patriotic place card holders online at Pier 1 several years ago.

I bought this flag stand online at Grandin Road several years ago. I really love the design, with all the flags it definitely makes a statement!

I have a weakness for small salt and pepper sets and when I saw these patriotic eagles online at Cracker Barrel several years ago I had to have them for this 4th of July table. I bought two sets and it looks like I switched them on the table and I have the two salts showing here. Lol!

Ready for 4th of July!

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A Strawberries for Dinner Summer Tablescape

This strawberry tablescape is a repeat of one I did a few years ago. I bought the green gingham tablecloth on Amazon several years ago. I have had really good luck finding tablecloths there that are great quality and inexpensive. The red placemats came from Pier 1 several years ago before our store closed.

These melamine strawberry plates came from Sur La Table online a few years ago. They often have cute plates and I wait until the end of season sales and buy them then. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying salad plates here.

I added an extra plate to the plate stack for design purposes. The next plate down is from Pottery Barn, their Cambria pattern in red. It is a smaller version of the charger plate that is on the bottom. Because of its size, it can be used as a dinner plate or a salad plate. I love these plates and I use them often.

This dinner plate is made by Fiesta and the color is Lemongrass. I think I bought them at Macy’s several years ago. I have Fiesta dinner and salad plates in a few basic colors and I plan to buy more! You can read about what you need to think about when you are buying dinner plates here.

The bottom plate in the stack is a Cambria red charger plate from Pottery Barn. I use this charger often in my tablescapes. They were one of my first purchases when I started tablescaping several years ago. I later bought this charger plate in other colors as well. To read about what you should be considering when you are buying chargers please click here.

This flatware is made by D & D Inox in Italy. I bought it at Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdales during a major sale a few years ago. There are similar patterns available online right now. This red set pops up quite a bit in my table settings. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

These strawberry napkins came from Sur la Table a couple years ago and they are a close match to these salad plates from there that I bought a few years ago. I bought the wood strawberry napkin rings on Ebay several years ago. I only have six, I wish I could find six more to match them. Ebay often has different strawberry napkin rings for sale. To read about the What, Where and How of napkin rings please click here.

Can’t remember where I found the glass jar place card holders but it may have been online at Wayfair or one of the wedding supplies sites. I filled them with tiny strawberries but I couldn’t find enough to fill all the jars, still looking for more! I printed the place cards out from free online designs. To read about the What, Where and When of place card holders, please click here.

I am using my red Waterford Marquis Brookside goblets on this table. If I were starting a tablescaping hobby, a set of red goblets would be one of my first purchases. I bought these red glass goblets years ago at HomeGoods. They are available on Ebay from time to time. The green spiral glass goblets came from Pier 1 several years ago, I use them several times a year. I like how tall they are and the simple design. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying goblets for your tablescaping collection including the colors that I use most often here.

This strawberry salt and pepper set and the strawberry cookie jar centerpiece came from HomeGoods a few years ago. They were made by Arlington Designs.

I have had this tiny plastic salt and pepper set for many years. I probably found it on Ebay. It isn’t marked. I just love their expressions!

I have had this small jam jar for a long time. It has a cute little spoon with a strawberry on it too. You can just see the tip of it. The jar is labeled MWW Market. I can’t remember where I bought it but it might have come from a wonderful gift shop near here that went out of business several years ago.

I usually don’t start planning a tablescape until I know for certain what the centerpiece will be because I struggle with that sometimes. I had been looking for a red strawberry cookie jar for a while but they were all too expensive or not the right color red. I finally found this one a few years ago at HomeGoods. I put it on one of my Pottery Barn Rhodes drink dispenser stands to give it a bit more height.

I love the bright red and lime green color combination!

Now I’m ready for some strawberry shortcake!

To see 200 other tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Tablescape Ideas group! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape Ideas. Don’t miss my Tablescaping How-To section at the top of this blog post for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week so please check back!