Bell Jars

Something that I like to do alot of is vignettes and I love how versatile bell jars are in a vignette. There is just something about being able to change the feeling in my home with a little touch of the season. So I thought I would share with you a couple of photos from last Fall. The theme is one of my favs....a bunny, surrounded by the brilliant colors of Fall. The great thing about bell jars is that you can put almost anything under them, you are only limited by your imagination and it fitting under the jar! I came across talented blogger, Mary at Little Red House http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/, she had a lovely scene under a glass bell jar, her blog is worth a leisurely visit.

Time for Tea and a snack

I love weekends because I indulge in my fondness for tea, the tea today is Honey Vanilla Chamomile. Of course I always have some kind of little snack with it, today just a simple slice of banana bread and a few slices of a Granny Smith apple. Just taking a moment to prepare this for myself makes me take a few minutes to relax between chores and other busy work. An added bonus is that I usually will open one of my decorating and design books just for a little "eye candy".

Dinner for one...please

Tonight, it is just me, but I still like setting a pretty table, it's just a little thing I do to feel special. Everyday is a celebration.

These green cabbage plates are plates that I use over and over again, they are so interchangeable with so many other dishes that I have. The green and white pattern in them evoke a feeling of Spring time and Summer, especially since it is still cold here now it lets me escape into a fantasy of blooming trees, flowers and chirping birds.

***Edit, I was told by Penny @ Lavender Hill Studio (thank you for letting me know:) that my comments were not working on this photo. I just figured out how to fix it (with many not-so-nice-words to the innocent laptop) I hit every button I could think of and got lucky, the comment button on this photo should work now) Whew... Oh yes, one more thing....I promise to be adding on your lovely blogs to a Fav's area.....once I figure that one out.... the shame, the shame, of being a non-computer-geek. Hang in there with me folks!

My blue and white tablesetting

My blue and white tablesetting, originally uploaded by jcann.

One of my favorite sets of dishes, blue and white, is just so classic. I have 2 different sets of the blue and white style, they even look pretty mixed together because of the common unifiying theme of blue and white.

Valentines table from last year

my vday table from last year, originally uploaded by jcann.

Well I guess I will add more pictures, to try to "bump" down the overly large photo of my living room, that I can't figure out how to resize or delete for that matter...the little "pen" under the photo for editing has just "disappeared". Sigh

Anyway, this was my table from last year. This year I will be doing a combo theme of red and black I think. I always like to use candlelight for special dinners, it sets the stage for a relaxing mood for everyone.

The pain of being "blogger dumb"

Hopefully below this message is a picture of my living room. I loaded it from Photobucket (which I had not yet tried before) and it is way to large, and Photobucket did not allow me to comment on the pic??? Arghhh And this is the first time I have tried the comment area of this blogger, for the other pics I had just used Flickrs link for this. I just hope this works. Sigh, it almost makes me want to just give up on this Blogger stuff....

Country French Inspired Living Room

Welcome to my little French country home "wanna-be". This is my main living area with a dining room that is attached to it. Even though the house is small, it serves my needs quite well. (Well, I have already lied...my kitchen is almost non-existant, I hate it, but I will have to just deal with it for a while). This house was built in the 1960's, so it has a few issues, (O.K, I lied again..LOTS of issues) such has horrible flooring, no interesting moldings, (let's not forget the kitchen...the washing machine is in the 10'x 7'9' kitchen, WHAT WAS THE BUILDER THINKING???).

But I plan on changing all that, a little at a time. I will be doing the crown and picture frame molding, I took a beginners wood shop class 2 years ago, and since I graduated with all of my limbs, fingers and both my eyes still intact, I figure that I stand a chance at being fairly successfull. I would love to attempt the floor tile, but I am pretty nervous about that...all that leveling, gridlines, grouting, my poor knees! Hey, I am over 50!

Oh, in case you were wondering why I don't choose hardwood floors, well, I have this adorable but stubborn Yorkie, who decides when he wants to be good about his bathroom habits, so tile seems to be my only hope, unless some of you brilliant bloggers out there can inspire me (or him) otherwise.

So, a good portion of this blog is to inspire me to get off my butt and just do the improvements, you know what they say about being held accountable. And hopefully there will be some entertaining photos of me accomplishing just that very thing, it can't be all fun and games with tablesettings, and cupcakes (but you will still see plenty of those).

Spring/Easter vignette

Spring/Easter vignette, originally uploaded by jcann.

With Spring approaching (well not soon enough), I thought I would show you a little vignette of some of my favorite things...I am a bunny collector, I try to be picky about which bunnies I buy, this is one of my favorites.

The green cabbage plates are a fav with me too, I think I must have every piece that has come into the stores. Green is a "neutral" when it comes to decorating, everything always looks wonderful and refreshing with green.

I am asked about doing vignettes quite alot, here are some of my thoughts on this techinique in setting up a vignette:

...try to have color in certain places so that your eye "travels" around the vignette. In this case my color theme is green and white, simple but effective.
...also strive for a high-low arrangement, being the lamp is the tallest of a "triangle" leading your eye down to the lower area of the vignette and following back thru with the other different height and colored items.

.....have some sort of greenery in there, either real or a very good fake.

....I also like having one of my plates from my vast collections on a stand, this way my collections are not only functional but decoratively useful.
Hope that helps.

Finished Sweet 16 B-Day favor boxes

Finished Sweet 16 B-Day favor boxes, originally uploaded by jcann.

Ah, presentation. I love presents and food presented in the most lovely way possible. I have had many people say they hate to open my gifts, because then the lovely wrapping would be no more. In my presentation I try to go with a theme, keeping in mind the colors, and the personality of the person receiving the gift. Don't be afraid to look in the less obvious places for the adornments for your gifts. I will often go to the childrens area in the dollar stores for prettty hair ties and ribbons, which I will use to close up goodie bags. Really, anything is possible!

Sweet Sixteen party rose cupcakes

Sweet Sixteen party, originally uploaded by jcann.

This is one of my most requested designs; a simple rose and poured icing. I think roses are universally loved, they are such a delicate symbol expressing beauty and love.

Spring Pink and White tablesetting

Spring Pink and White tablesetting, originally uploaded by jcann.

Even though Valentines Day is just around the corner, I am so looking forward to Spring, it's such a refreshing season. I have alot of table designs that revolve around that time of year, and of course as you see again the color pink plays a large part of the fun for me.

Christmas red and black theme

Christmas table set tartan close up, originally uploaded by jcann.

Here is my tablesetting from 2006 when I had up my red themed Christmas tree. I love to mix dish styles together, the fancy with the inexpensive, mixing the plaid with the crystal and silver, makes the presentation not so "girly", even the men liked this table.
The dishes I had purchased at Target a few years ago, and the silver chargers I have had for quite a few years. The place mats are from one of my fav stores for accessories, Marshalls. Plaid napkin from Kmart, and one of my favorite accessories; the glass candle lamp was from Walmart...there are real treasures there, you just have to look.

I was very pleased when I was contacted by HGTV to use this photo on their site.

Christmas pink table setting

Christmas 2006 pink table setting, originally uploaded by jcann.

Another strong passion of mine is tablesettings. I have more dishes and accessories than the "normal" person. I enjoy the creativity that I am able to express doing tablesettings and vignettes. It is especially fun to have my friends enjoy what I do, the meal (hopefully) is delicious, and the fun atmosphere from the "theater" of the table makes it a fun night for everyone.
I especially love to come across other bloggers who enjoy this too. I have run across a few talented ladies, but I unfortunately do not know how to insert their blog address properly..at least from here where I am uploading from on Flickr. If anyone would like to help me out with instructions I would appreciate it.

My red, gold and crystal Christmas tree 2006

xmas pic 2006, originally uploaded by jcann.

This is my red Christmas tree that I mentioned in an earlier post. The crystals again come in handy with any color scheme, I think they are a really good decorating investment.

Pink and crystal Christmas tree close-up.

xmas 2007, originally uploaded by jcann.

Just to give you a better idea of the items on the tree, I use, silk flowers, crystals, and lots and lots of glass balls.

Pink and Crystal, a perfect combination

xmas 2007, originally uploaded by jcann.

I love pink and I love crystal. Putting them together adds a girly glamour to a room. The wonderful thing about crystal is that it will go with any color scheme, I have used it with my red and gold tree, and my all cream tree.

Are there any pink and crystal lovers out there?

Still struggling with how to edit my postings

Anyone dropping by by accident, please forgive my major computer dumbness in setting up this blog..eventually I will figure this out!

Sweet Pink Christmas Tree

xmas 2007, originally uploaded by jcann.

This year I decided to go with a pink, crystal themed tree. I usually do different designed trees each year.