UNDER A CLOCHE

I’m just posting a few cloches, so I can join Marty’s Cloche Party.

I captured a hen and a rooster in my bird cage!

They don’t look too unhappy about being in there.

I call this one Returning to the Summer Cottage and Finding that the Caretaker Hasn’t Mowed!

The Anniversary Toast.

I had to remove the cloche, so I could show you these gorgeous wine stems I recently ordered from Vanna’s Armoire Etsy.  They are even prettier than they look in this picture.

The leader of the Memorial Day Parade.

Next in the parade line is the Fife and Drum Corps.

I always have fun trying to come up with some cloches for Marty’s cloche parties.   Thank you for checking out my cloches.  Go check out the rest of them at A Stroll Thru Life.  laurie

PLEASE JOIN ME FOR A SPOT OF TEA

I have cloches on my mind, because Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  is having her Summer Cloche Party on July 27th, so I’ve incorporated several cloches in my setting for a Summer tea party.  The tea cups under cloches and the sugar bowl were painted by my Great Aunt.












Thanks so much for having a “spot of tea” with me today.  laurie

THE WINTER BALL

I’m so excited about the Cloche Party Friday at A Stroll Thru Life, I started my party a little early. Tomorrow, I will add a few more cloches to my blog for the Cloche Party. (No, I’m not going to add more cloches to this already over-crowded table!)

Glenda at Dab of This and That plays with her atrium all of the time, and it looks like so much fun. (Actually, I’ve been a little envious of her atrium). Recently, when I found one at Hobby Lobby, I had to buy it (Glenda, I wanna be just like you when I grow up!) Of course, some of the plastic panes were broken, so I got a real deal on it.

See the young lady playing the bagpipes for the Winter Ball? Don’t forget to take your dance card from that young man. I know your card will fill up quickly. You may need to take two cards.



I’m not sure why I have two of the same figurines of a dancing couple, but I was glad that I did, since it allowed me to have a similar view into the atrium from both sides of the table. Most of the figurines were my mother's. Others are from estate and garage sales.



I used a mirror as a place mat for each setting. (Another purchase at the recent Hobby Lobby sale. These were in the candle department, where everything was 40% off that day). A glass plate is on top of my wedding china (Moonspun by Lenox). I'm using the Moonspun dinner plates sort of like a charger, so that I can leave it on the table when I remove the glass plate to serve dessert. The stemware is also Lenox Moonspun. I used nut cups (purchased at a gift store's "going-out-of-business" sale) for salt cellars, and I used my mother’s flatware.



I’m serving dessert in silver champagne goblets. Yes, I said SILVER! After seeing all of the beautiful silver on other blogs, I finally decided I would go unwrap some of mine and see how it looked. (I previously told you that all of my silver has been wrapped up for years, because I hate to would prefer to not polish silver. I took the aluminum foil off of these goblets and put them on the table. I did not polish them. Of course, you will notice that I dimmed the lights for dessert. (I really dimmed the lights in case the goblets needed polishing.) The champagne goblets were wedding gifts.


I thought that bunching up tulle for a table runner would give the idea of snow drifts. I'm afraid it gives the idea of a mess, but after I got all of that stuff on top of it, I was too lazy to take it all off and start over!


Don’t forget the cloche party tomorrow at A Stroll Thru Life, and please come back to visit me for the party, because I will be adding some more cloches for the big party day! Of course, you will find wonderful tablescapes at Between Naps on the Porch today. Thank you so much for coming to see my table FULL of a Winter Ball. laurie

BUT CAN YOU FOX TROT?

Yea! It's time for the Cloche Party hosted by Marty at A Stroll Through Life! Marty's cloche parties are always so much fun, and you won't want to miss seeing all of the decorated cloches in Blogville today.

But can you fox trot?

Christmas has come early to my house, because I have recently won some fabulous give-aways!

Look at all of these Christmas goodies from Cindy at Applestone Cottage. I even thought the gift bags were so cute! Do you see those little dancing elf's? Look at this beautiful "made by Cindy herself" Christmas tag. I have it hanging from a lamp in my family room. And isn't that the sweetest angel? I really wish you could see this snowflake ornament in person. My photo doesn't do it justice (although I tried several ways of photographing it). It's made of tiny pieces of mirror, and it sparkles beautifully! And that cute gingerbread man potholder will be decorating my kitchen this season. Even Cindy's Christmas card (a depiction of an area that is near where she lives) is beautiful. Cindy has such a charming home and lives in such a charming part of the country. If you've never visited Cindy, you definitely need to go see her blog -- Applestone Cottage

Before you go running over to Applestone Cottage, I have yet another prize to show!! Lady Luck has really been shining on me lately! I have a small (make that very small) collection of Quimper plates. I used to call it a "small" collection until I found bloggers with huge collections.

I love this pottery, so when I spotted a blog title that was "Quimper International Club", I had to go visit! I have learned so much and seen such beauty on this blog. (I probably shouldn't admit it, but the only kind of Quimper I had ever seen was the kind with the Breton people on it!) Let me tell you, there is a LOT more Quimper than that, and it is all beautiful, and a beautiful group of ladies share the postings on this blog. This is another blog you definitely will want to go see.

You can just imagine how excited I was when I won the Quimper calender tea towel, which came all of the way from France! In addition to loving Quimper, my kitchen is blue and white, so a 2010 calendar will be in my kitchen FOREVER! Oh! And look at the postcard of a French Quimper pottery painter. I just had to share the first line on the card with you. I have never received a card with the greeting "Bonjour Laurie"! How fun is that?

Be sure to visit A Stroll Through Life to link to others joining the Cloche Party. I know there will be some fabulous cloches in Blogvile today!

Reminder: I am still sending cards to Katherine and to Andrew. If you want to send a card, please see my sidebar. Thanks.

Thank you for coming to visit me. laurie

OH NO! IT'S THE CLOCHE COPYCAT!

It's Cloche Party Day! Yea! Thank you Marty for inviting all of Blogville to this fun party! That sweet blogger, Marty, at A Stroll Thru Life has the links to see a lot of decorated cloches today, and I can't wait to go check them out! You'll want to be sure to go see all of them too.






Since the first time I visited Ceekay's blog, Thinkin of Home , I have been so inspired by the cloche on her header. She has those tea cups very neatly and beautifully stacked in the cloche. When I saw that, I thought it was lovely, and I wanted to copy it. So that is what I've done. I have shamelessly copied the fabulous inspiration from Ceekay's blog! Ceekay, I hope you remember that imitation is the highest form of flattery! Thank you Ceekay. Of course, mine looks more like the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, because I didn't stack them as neatly as Ceekay's.

Are you thinking this blog has become the mosaic blog? You may be right. I've decided that anything I do looks better in snippets rather than being able to see the whole picture! Please note that I didn't use a single mosaic in yesterday's Father's Day tablescape posting. Of course, that's because there was so much pattern in the posting that it already looked like a mosaic!

I cannot believe I'm going to do this, but I'm going to show you why I ended up having to copy Ceekay's idea. I started out with a Cloche Village. Every time I looked at it, I thought "Everybody is living in a bubble - maybe they are trying to keep from getting the Swine Flu!" When my husband walked by and started laughing (I'm talkin' laughin' out loud!), I decided that I couldn't put it on my blog, but here I am doing it anyway. I guess that is an indication that I can laugh at myself, and I don't mind if you laugh along with me (or maybe even laugh at me)! Some bloggers will do anything for a laugh! So, without further ado, I welcome you to the very protected community of "Clocheville"!

You understand now, don't you Ceekay? It was a total disaster! I just kept thinking about your pretty tea cups, and I had to copy that idea. But wait until you see all of the other fabulous cloches Ceekay posted for the party! Now, go over to A Stroll Thru Life, and get the links from Marty. You won't want to miss a single one of the creative cloche ideas. Thank you for visiting me. Ya'll come back now, ya hear! laurie