Homemade Napkin Ring Ideas

I have many different napkin ring sets but sometimes I can’t find just what I need for a themed table setting even after an online search. I looked all over for orange-red crab napkin rings for a Crab themed tablescape that I was creating with no luck. I found lots of metal and blue ones but nothing the red color that I was looking for to match the tablecloth and other elements on the table. I had bought these small crabs on Ebay to use as table scatter but they were shiny red when they arrived. Hubby was going to spray paint them orange-red for me so I could use them as scatter on this table setting. My daughter was visiting and I was telling her about my bad luck finding napkin rings and she suggested that I turn these small crabs into napkin rings, genius! So Hubby bought plain wood rings and spray painted the crabs and the rings and we glued the crabs to the rings and suddenly, cheap napkin rings! Any small object can be glued to a wooden or metal ring to create a simple and easy napkin ring. If the color is wrong it is easy to use spray paint to create the color you need. To see more photos of this crab tablescape and a similar one, please click here and here. To see other tablescaping how-to posts please click here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapehowto and to see my 270+ tablescapes, please click here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/tablescapes

I bought these small plastic lobsters on Ebay also. For more photos of this tablescape, please click here.

I was working on a tablescape with a travel theme and I wanted napkin rings with maps or flags and I couldn’t find anything close to that. I finally found some pins with country flags on them and I just temporarily attached them to a simple black napkin ring that I had with Sticky Putty. If you go to a hardware store and wander the aisles you can find many different materials that can be turned into napkin rings, all kinds of rings, pipe, and square objects with holes are available. Small plastic items can be found on Ebay or Oriental Traders online or at any party supply store. For more photos of this tablescape, please click here.

I was working on a John Deere tractor and farming themed table setting and I couldn’t find any napkin rings that fit the tractor theme anywhere. I finally looked on Etsy for some John Deere scrapbook paper to buy and download. I found exactly what I needed and then we cut it and taped it to a simple napkin ring I already had. Using this technique the possibilites are endless! You could actually recycle the same napkin ring over and over many different times for different themes (or different colors too). To see more photos of this tablescape, please click here.

To see over 270 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

If you live in Southern California join our Facebook tablescaping group Southern California Tablescapers BTS Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/440356398581157 We had a gathering in January in the Los Angeles area and plan to have more.

Don’t miss the Tablescape How-To tab at the top of my blog for DIY tips and tricks.

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

See Shells on the Tablescape

I used these blue seashell plates on a tablescape six years ago before I started blogging but it was with red accents and a white tablecloth. I wanted to do something different this time. I tried several different blue tablecloths and a white one too before I ended up with this green gingham one. The blue in the plates is more of a purple blue and all of the blue tablecloths that I have clashed with that color. I like the contrast between the green and the blue. I bought this green gingham tablecloth on Amazon several years ago. I have used it twice in the last few months, you can see it here in my Strawberries for Dinner tablescape and here in my Keeping it Rural, John Deere tablescape. You will probably see it again one more time this summer in an upcoming Watermelon themed table setting. The placemats came from Pier 1 several years ago.

These blue seashell plates were some of the first plates that I bought when I started tablescaping and they are some of my favorite plates. I just love all the starfish and shell details in the raised design. They were made by Bordallo Pinheiro in Portugal and I bought them a few plates at a time on Ebay. I still see them there from time to time. I love the scallop shell surrounded by a rope in the center of this salad plate. Some of their salad plates have a starfish in the center of the plate.

The dinner plate has some of the same border details as the salad plate but the center is plain.

The charger plates have an additional conch shell design added to the outer rim.

The three plate stack really makes a statement! I love the way it looks!

This seashell flatware set is special. I love the shell design on the end of the handles, there is a different shell for each of the four pieces. The flatware was made by Reed and Barton and the pattern is called Williamsburg Gloucester Shell. It is 18/10 stainless and heavy, a really good quality set. Once you hold stainless that is 18/10 nothing else will come close in quality. I bought it a few place settings at a time online at Amazon but it is still for sale a few other places as well.

I have had the blue and green napkins for several years, they came from Pier 1 or HomeGoods probably. I bought the white shell napkin rings on Ebay last year, they have two different shell designs. They are labeled Knobler Taiwan.

The shell place card holders were made by Andrea by Sadek. I can’t remember where I bought them but it might have been Ebay.

The acrylic blue goblet on the left came from Pier 1 this spring. You can also see it here on my Crab Bisque for Dinner tablescape and here on my Lobster for Dinner tablescape. The blue glass goblet on the right came from Ebay, you can still find them for sale there. They were made by Libbey in the 1970’s and the pattern is called Tulip in Dusky Blue.

I love using this large shell bowl as a centerpiece. I found it at HomeGoods a few years ago. The bowl usually sits on an open shelving unit in the family room. You can also see it here in my Starfish and the Sea tablescape from May. The blue starfish plates were made in Taiwan by Primitive Artisan. I can’t remember where I found them but it may have been HomeGoods. This starfish plate may get its own tablescape next summer. I almost used it as the salad plate on this table but I wanted the original three piece plate set.

Just for fun I added my Waterford Conch shell to the table that Hubby gave me several years ago. I love cut glass!

I also added my Swarovski clam shell with a pearl that Hubby brought me back from Europe several years ago too.

Just noticed one of my goblet storage containers in this photo…oh well!

Looking at this tablescape and wishing we were up the coast somewhere right now walking along the beach looking for seashells…Someday!

To see 120+ 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 (or here) for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

Please check out the March 2022 issue of Country Sampler magazine for a photo of one of my Spring tablescapes.

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

Anchors Await on a Summer Tablescape

I have been wanting to use these anchor salad plates in a tablescapes but it has been a struggle to match them with anything. The background of these salad plates has the same color as the dinner plates but the phone camera changes all the blue and green tones so that it looks like the various pieces don’t match. I definitely need to move away from tables with turquoise, seafoam, teal, or aquamarine colors for awhile! The phone camera just doesn’t portray the colors accurately. I think I tried four different tablecloths and none of them were the correct color shade so I ended up with white. I have found several simple polyester tablecloths in various colors on Amazon including this one.

I bought these anchor plates at HomeGoods a few years ago. They are heavy melamine and they were made by Cynthia Coulter Home Designs. They appear on Ebay from time to time still. During spring and summer there are so many different cute plate designs available in melamine now.

This dinner plate is a much prettier color than this photo shows, it is a beautiful turquoise green color. I bought them at HomeGoods several years ago. They were made in Portugal.

When I saw these place mats online at Pier 1 a few years ago I immediately thought of all my beachie and ocean creature dishes and I knew these would match some of them. How I miss our Pier 1 store!

I bought this set of plastic bamboo flatware online somewhere several years ago after I saw it in a tablescaping blog. I can’t remember where I bought it but I have seen similar sets online at various sites. It’s a fun set to use on Summer table settings.

I bought these white anchor napkin rings at Bed, Bath, and Beyond online a few years ago. They were a distressed white and Hubby painted them white for me. I am not a fan of distressed paint on anything. The outside napkin came from Pier 1 a few years ago. The colors really match the colors in the place mat. I found the anchor napkins on Amazon a few years ago. The background is more green blue than this photo shows.

Can’t remember where I bought these anchor place card holders. They were originally gray and I bought two sets and Hubby painted one set white and one set black for me.

The acrylic goblet on the left came from Pier 1 a few years ago. I can’t remember where I found the one on the right but it may have been Pier 1 as well.

The larger white anchor came from HomeGoods a few years ago. I am always on the look out when I go there for larger objects that I can use as centerpieces. The next larger anchor came from Hobby Lobby online a few years ago. It was a dirty distressed beige with a tattered rope winding around it but Hubby cleaned it up and repainted it for me. The small anchor was part of a three piece tea light holder set but Hubby unscrewed it from the base for me and repainted it too. I put it on another glass tea light holder for more height. I can’t remember where I found them. When I started tablescaping, I knew I was going to be creating many beachie tablescapes so for a few years I collected various beach and ocean related items so I would have them when I needed them. The anchors are all sitting on a wood stand I bought at Pier 1 a few years ago. It was natural wood but Hubby painted it white for me. Can’t remember where I got the turquoise netting but I think it may have been Amazon because that is always the first place I look for things.

I can’t remember where I bought these small tea light holders. When I started tablescaping I bought many of them and I have a whole cupboard full. I tend to forget that I have them!

Some of the tablescapes that I create are ones that I love and some are ones that I like. This one is definitely a like one but I am already thinking about next week’s!

Anchors await a seafood dinner maybe!

To see 220+ other tablescapes that I have created including 18 other Ocean and Nautical themed tables 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.

If you live in Southern California join our Facebook tablescaping group Southern California Tablescapers BTS Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/440356398581157 We are planning a gathering for tablescapers next year in January.

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

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!

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!