Halloween Tablescape

Hi friends, 

I told you that I had a Halloween tablescape for you. We don't do a lot for Halloween.
I was taking pictures of my little Halloween tree and suddenly I was setting the table with black cats to match. 

Our black kitty is 14 so we could say that this was a birthday party tablescape for him. 

I've heard of people having parties for their pets.
Ringo, our cat was having none of it. To show his disdain he ate too much and threw up in the kitchen. 

I started with our black and white striped placemats. 

I stitched these up in a hurry last Christmas. They aren't perfect but I love them.
Black plastic chargers from Hobby Lobby were the next element. These were only $1.99 each.
Thrifted White Empress plates by Adams China were layered on next.
 I love having white plates because they go with everything. 

 We got some square black glass plates from Bill's mom. I know nothing about them and hadn't ever seen any like them before.
We have a collection of black and white mugs. I bought these for one of my boys for Christmas one year. When they ended up in my garage, I gained custody of them.

Orange twinkle lights became a table runner. A thrifted candelabra with orange tapers, primitive style black cats, orange striped pumpkins finish it off.

The ornament on the chandelier came from Hobby Lobby.
I repainted his face to make him a little cuter and augmented the ribbons to look more custom.

I found the jack o lantern candy dish years ago at the thrift store. He is one of my favorite Halloween decor items. He is filled with candy which is unfortunate for my  non existent waist line. 

The Dept. 56 Halloween house came from our Goodwill a few years ago. 

I makes noises in addition to lighting up.
There you have it.
Have a great day.
Katie

Share Your Cup

Keeping Busy and Thrifty Finds

Hi, Friends.

I tell people all the time about my blogging friends. I know that I haven't met most of you in person but I count you all as friends. I know that if we were to meet, we would have the best time. 

Thank you for your kind wishes concerning my shoulder. 

It helps to keep busy because it distracts me from the pain. 

I might have been distracted this morning even though I'm having a good day concerning pain. 

My navy and apricot shoes don't really go with my black, white, and brown. 

Oh well. 

The dry cleaners and the thrift store are across the highway from each other. 

A quick zip under the bridge and I'm checking out my favorite thrift after I pick up Bill's cleaning. 

We have a cousin in law that owns a dry cleaners. It was a happy day when he told Bill that there was no way I was strong enough to iron Bill's shirts as crisp as he needed them for his job in banking. 

We've been letting the cleaners do his shirts ever since. 

Joy! 

Make A Wish 2017

Anyway. There are times when it feels like the days of good thrifted finds are over. 

Well, not today! 

When Dave and I went thrifting a few weeks ago, they had a little brass teapot. I kept telling myself that we didn't need it. Today, I planned to get it if they still had it and they did. 

This little embroidered table runner also got left behind last time. It kept calling to me as well. 

It's interesting that the thrift store price of $5.00 was more than the antique or garage sale price. 

On the Halloween and fall decor shelf there was a darling appliqué/embroidery, a cat for my fall tree, and a wonderful turkey. 

The vintage turkey was a good deal at $5.00.

But! 

I've been on the look out for some composition German or Japanese rabbit candy containers for several years. 

They were always more than I was willing to pay. 

The small one is German and it was only $3.00. The pink one is probably an early Japanese reproduction from the 40s. It was $2.00. 

The small one still had the antique store tag on it with a price of $29.00, which is about the going rate in antique store.  I have seen them in the fifty dollar range though. Ebay has some of these now.  

These will be darling in my spring display in the garden room. 

I almost told them I would pay more but I've given them a lot of good stuff. 

Really. 

I believe that what goes around comes around. Some call it Karma. I think we reap what we sow - for the positive or the negative.  Do they still teach this I wonder? 

As I made my way to the front of the store, I spied two things in a cart. 

I dug them out and handed them to the wonderful lady that works there. 

I asked her to price them for me which she did. 

She priced a precious pair of green scissors for $3.00. 

This green is everything. 

She priced a gravy boat in my pattern for $3.00.  

It was filthy. It literally looked like it still had gravy on it from the last time it was used. 

I scrubbed it off with some cleanser and it is perfect. 

It's nice to have the gravy boat to our china after only 35 years. 

Haha. 

It goes to show that good, thrifted deals are still out there. 

Everything was 25% off which is even better. 

Have a great day. 

Katie 

You might like these posts. Just click on the picture. They are early blogging so be kind. 

Thrifty Week In Review

Mystery Item For The Kitchen

Twinkle Light Season/ A Tomato Cage Tree

It's October! 

It's twinkle light season. 

I love twinkle lights. 

This project has been all over the internet this season but I pulled some stuff together to make my own fall tree. 

I went out to the front yard and grabbed our tomato cage topiary. 

This is real life, folks. Not to worry. The peace lily has been watered and has already perked back up. 

I wrapped the topiary with a three dollar garland that I got at the thrift store. 

Two berry garlands from my stash were added next. 

Orange twinkle lights and two pumpkin picks were added to the tomato cage. 

I plugged it in - instant festive sparkle. 

I spent $3.00. I love that. 

I don't have massive amounts of Halloween decor but we do have a few favorite things. 

I love, love, love this cat ornament. I got it years ago from a sweet student. 

Our owl lantern was also a thrift store find. 

It is really one of my favorite fall decor items. 

It's vintage and I think I only paid two dollars for it. 

The sweet little black candy container with the vintage graphic is also a favorite. 

Something happened to the original graphic. It fell off and somehow got lost or thrown away. 

I was able to find the graphic on the internet and reprint it. 

I love graphics with black cats. We've had a few black cats over the years. 

They have the best personalities. Supposedly they have Siamese in their lineage and that makes them quirky.

Ours have been quirky but fun. 

You will notice a few black cats in the yard of my Dept. 56 Halloween house. 

This was a splurge the year my brother had his terrible stroke. 

I craved nostalgia, I think. 

It is still one of my favorite things to set up in October. 

That's it for Halloween decor. 

I'll be back with another post about France. My next post will be about Giverny. 

It was one of my favorite days so I want to take my time writing about it. 

I also have some thoughts on retirement now that we are back from vacation. 

I'm going to share some thoughts about blogging now that I have been at this almost 6 years. 

It may sound complainerish so be prepared.  (Not a word but it works.) 

Thanks for stopping in to have a look. I appreciate each and every one of you. 

Happy Twinkle Season! 

Katie 

Halloween Decor 2016

"Knock, knock."

"Who's there?"

"Orange." 

"Orange who?"

"Orange you glad it's almost time to put away the orange?" 

Yup. 

I have very little self control when it comes to seasonal decorating. 

I can't wait so I'll start pulling stuff out a teensy bit early but then it so tempting to put it all away before Halloween. 

I'm so over the orange. 

Orange is a hard accent colors for me to live with. 

I wanted to show you a few Halloween vignettes before it is time to pack them all away until I can't control myself next year.

I adore my Department 56 Halloween house.

I've enjoyed my owl collection this year. 

The decor is ready.
The candy is all set to go.
Are you all ready for Halloween?
Have a wonderful weekend.
See you here Sunday for Monday Social.

Katie