A Happy Halloween Tablescape

A few years ago I saw a tablescape on Pinterest with a buffalo print tablecloth that I really wanted to adapt and then I found this tablecloth on Amazon that I knew would be perfect. Because the tablecloth is busy, the rest of the table elements are more simple.

I found the jack o’ lantern salad plates at Pottery Barn several years ago. I had been looking for a simple jack o’ lantern plate for a couple of years and was so happy to find this one. The orange place mats came from Pier 1 several years ago.

The black dinner plate was made by Waechtersbach and is called Fun Factory. A black dinner plate was one of the first plates I bought when I started tablescaping and I use it often. It probably came from HomeGoods several years ago.

This orange glass charger was made by Bormioli Rocco and I think the pattern was called Inca. It is good quality and a heavy glass. I have bought it in a few other colors as well over the years. I found them on Amazon several years ago.

This black flatware is Ginkgo International LePrix. I have had it for years but it is still for sale. Not sure where I bought it.

I bought these black goblets on Ebay and they were one of the first sets that I bought several years ago. They are Lenox Midnight Mood black glass water goblets and they were made between 1974 and 1982. They are 7 1/4 inches tall. When I started buying goblets I didn’t pay attention to the height but now I like to buy goblets that are at least about 8 inches tall because my table is large and I think they show better. I think I bought the orange goblets at Ross or T.J. Maxx. They were some of the first goblets I bought several years ago.

I found the metal jack-o’-lantern napkin rings at Overstock.com and the napkins came from Target several years ago.

I love these little pumpkin place card holders. I have had them for a while. They came from Crate and Barrel several years ago.

Can’t remember where I found the tea light candles and salt and pepper sets but you can find similar sets online.

I have had the centerpiece jack o’ lantern for many many years. No idea where he came from. He is sitting on a stand that I bought online at Grandin Road.

I love the black and white and orange color combination. I added a few Halloween elements to the fireplace too.

Can’t remember where I bought the black witches stands and small jack o’ lantern candles. Everything else came from Grandin Road online.

I love smiling jack o’ lanterns!

I love Halloween tablescapes! Here are a couple others that I have done.

Skulls on a Halloween Tablescape https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/blog/2021/10/2/skulls-on-a-halloween-tablescape

Spiders on the Table, https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/blog/2019/10/22/spiders-on-the-table

A Witchy Book of Spells, https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/blog/2019/10/23/a-witchy-book-of-spells-table

To see over 260 different tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my new Tablescape and Table Settings Ideas Facebook group for lots of tablescaping inspiration! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape and Table Settings Ideas or click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2553689988183392

For lots of other Tablescaping DIY tips and tricks click here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapehowto

If you live in Southern California join our Facebook tablescaping group Southern California Tablescapers BTS Group, click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/440356398581157 We are planning a gathering for tablescapers in January in the Los Angeles area..

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

This blog post was featured at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, https://www.mizhelenscountrycottage.com/ , Funky Junk Interiors, https://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/ and The Cottage Market, https://thecottagemarket.com/ Please visit these blogs, you will enjoy them!

A Happy Meowloween Tablescape for Halloween

Cats on the table! I did this tablescape several years ago for Halloween and decided to set it again. You can see some duplication from the Halloween Skull Tablescape that I did. I used some of the same elements. The tablecloth came from Amazon and I bought the place mats at Pier 1 before our store closed.

I am a cat lover so I was thinking about a cat themed table for a while. I found this set of Halloween themed appetizer plates a few years ago on Ebay and a cat was included in the set so that plate determined the color scheme.

These appetizer plates were made by 222 Fifth and the pattern is called Wiccan Lace. The set came with a cat, a witch, a skull, and a haunted house. You can still find them for sale online. I love all the small details you can see in the design when you look at it closely.

The salad plate comes from the same maker, 222 Fifth, and is also part of the Wiccan Lace set. Love the all over detailed design!

The black dinner plate was made by Waechtersbach and is called Fun Factory. A black dinner plate was one of the first plates I bought when I started tablescaping and I use it often.

The black glass Starburst charger is called Charge It and was made by Jay. I bought them several years ago on Amazon. They are heavy glass and work well with many different color schemes.

The black flatware is Ginkgo International LePrix. I have had it for years but it is still for sale. Not sure where I bought it.

I bought these black goblets on the right on Ebay and they were one of the first sets that I bought several years ago. They are Lenox Midnight Mood black glass water goblets and they were made between 1974 and 1982. They are 7 1/4 inches tall. When I started buying goblets I didn’t pay attention to the height but now I like to buy goblets that are at least about 8 inches tall because my table is large and I think they show better. The clear fluted goblet with the black stem on the left is called Octime and and the manufacturer was Luminarc Arcoroc. They were made in the 1980’s. I bought them on Ebay also.

I had someone on Etsy make the black cat napkins and I found the metal black cat napkin rings there as well.

I really liked the cat napkin rings so when I needed witch napkin rings I had that seller make me a set of them as well that I used on my Best Witches tablescape.

The black cat place card holders are magnetic and I found them on Etsy too.

I found the three black cats in the centerpiece at HomeGoods on different trips there. I love this shiny one, it was the perfect size for the table.

Can’t remember where I found the small pumpkins.

I found the magnetic cat salt and pepper set on Amazon.

I found the large black and white pumpkins online at Grandin Road. The Beware sign in the background came from Grandin Road also.

The only problem with this centerpiece design, it all takes up a lot of storage space!

I’m done with black and white, next week’s table will have more color!

To see 260+ other tablescapes that I have created including 16 other Halloween tablescapes, 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!

Grandpa's Keepsakes and Their Stories

If we are lucky, we inherit bits and pieces of possessions from our ancestors and they can provide wonderful insights into their lives that we might not have known about otherwise. They become, not just family heirlooms, but something that can give us a closer understanding about those who came before us. Family possessions and paper ephemera we inherit provide all kinds of clues for us. My husband’s maternal grandfather, Perry Frederick Zwisler, was a fascinating man and the keepsakes we have inherited from him, with some research as to their history, provide interesting clues as to who he was and how he lived his life. The photo above was taken in the 20’s probably. He was born in 1896 and he died in 1987 at the age of 91.

Grandpa Zwisler came from German ancestry. His mother and her parents were born in Germany and his father’s parents were both born in Germany. This Anchor Puzzle probably belonged to Grandpa and it was made by F. AD. Richter & Co. in Rudolstadt, Germany. They had an American office in New York City and the puzzle was made between 1900 and 1920.

The puzzle has individual clay pieces that can be rearranged into many different patterns and designs. Grandpa had the kind of mind that would have enjoyed manipulating these puzzle pieces. Before he died, Grandpa Zwisler filled out a Grandparent’s Book for me that provides wonderful details, in his words, about his life. By the time Perry got to high school, his interest in how things worked and engineering had developed. He said his favorite subject was Mathematics and he liked running the machines and making things. In Shop he made a dandelion digger, a screw driver, a chain and chain hook, and a hexagonal bolt. During high school he also made a cannon and candle pins for bowling in Wood Shop.

Perry’s father started working at the Hampden Glazed Paper Company in 1882 and Perry worked there as well during the summers while he was in high school. Perry was named after one of the owners of the company, Ralph Perry Fowler. In the summer of 1912, when he was 16, Perry’s foot got caught in a company freight elevator and he lost all the toes on that foot. His doctor told him he was one of the first industrial patients to be taken care of by the mill, under the new Workman’s Compensation Law.

After high school Perry wanted to go to an engineering college. He entered the Co-Operative School of Engineering of Northeastern College (later Northeastern University) in Boston in 1913 and graduated in 1917 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. During that time he was editor of the Co-op, a monthly news magazine and editor of the 1917 Cauldron, the annual year book. A page from the 1917 Annual summarizes Perry’s college activities.

Perry’s first job in 1917 was at the Fisk Rubber Company in Chicopee Falls in the Engineering Department designing tire treads . He said that he only worked there a few months. This post card shows the building about that time period.

Perry started working at the Springfield Armory in 1918 in the Engineering Department designing, building and testing the first 35mm cannon to be used on an airplane and he worked there until 1920 when he was laid off due to lack of work.

In 1918 Perry made these brass candlesticks by hand and put his initials and the date on the bottom.

Once he was laid off in 1920, Perry built a garage for his mother to house the family car and that was the start of his Building Contractor business.

Perry is on the left in this photo with his 1921 Nash and the new garage. He had a successful Building Contractor business and built many homes in the Holyoke, Massachusetts area until the mid 1940’s.

The family home that Perry built in Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1926.

About 1940 Perry started working at the Citizen’s Coal Company and by 1946 he had stopped all his Building Contractor work and was working there full time.

These possessions of Perry’s tell us about his life and we cherish them and the stories that they tell.

A Definite Skullduggery Tablescape for Halloween

Another Halloween themed table, this one I did several years ago. During Halloween season it is easy to find lots of skulls in all shapes, sizes, and materials. I just scattered some skulls along the center of the table and wound a couple of my scarves through them for some added detail.

I found the skull plates on Ebay several years ago. They were made by the 222 Fifth Company and there are four different designs in the set.

I bought the black glass plates somewhere while we were on vacation several years ago but I can’t remember where. They are made by Luminarc France. They were really cheap so I bought white ones as well.

I bought this square glass plate with a black lace design online somewhere several years ago but I can’t remember where.

This large square white plate was made by 10 Strawberry Street. A large square plate like this is a great starter plate if you want to begin to do tablescaping. You can use it as a charger or a dinner plate. I have large square plates in black and brown also and I use them often. The black and brown ones are actually some kind of plastic material. I am amazed at all the great quality plastic plates that are available now.

The black flatware is Ginkgo LePrix, it’s one of the cheaper sets available. I bought the white tablecloth on Amazon and the black and white plastic tweed place mats came from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The black napkins came from Pier 1 probably. I bought the black and white napkins online but I can’t remember where, it might have been Crate and Barrel. I am surprised at how often I use them, they seem to go well with lots of different table designs. The black napkin rings came from Pier 1.

I bought the tall black and white goblets on sale at Z Gallerie several years ago. They are the tallest goblets I have in my goblet collection. I found the small silver skull salt and pepper set at HomeGoods.

The skull place card holder came from Grandin Road online several years ago. Their Halloween catalog and collections are amazing every year!

I bought the tall black pillar candle holders online at Grandin Road a few years ago. The skull candle came from Etsy.

This is probably my favorite skull on the whole table. It is a candle (but I would never light it!). I bought it at Z Gallerie online a few years ago.

Hmm, maybe we should have Ribs for dinner!

To see260+ other tablescapes that I have created including 16 other Halloween tablescapes, 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!