Thursday, December 26, 2013

Nutcracker Tablescape for Christmas

I am just now taking a moment to catch my breath after all of the Christmas preparations for our family Christmas celebration.  I went with a nutcracker theme this year for our Christmas tablescape.  After months of looking for this and that in the local thrift stores to try and set a nutcracker theme table I resorted to Ebay for a suitable festive tablecloth plus a couple of other items (the tablecloth turned out to be a bit large for my table so I had MDF boards cut to enlarge my table surface). We used this table the night before Christmas Eve.  We  extended and reset the table (without the boards)  for Christmas dinner itself with a white tablecloth with a basic hunter green runner lined up with only my crystal nutcracker candle holders.

My son Rick had been taking pictures of the nutcrackers for me since Thanksgiving,  I was really all hyped up to create a nutcracker tablescape.  I had visions of a parade of nutcrackers displayed across our holiday table....

nutcrackers

nutcracker


nutcrackers
My Daughter in Law and I started by placing the MDF boards that the Home Depot had cut to size for me (two 24" x x72")  side by side on the dining room table to make a 48" by 72" surface.  The actual tabletop size is 38" x 66" and the tablecloth is made for a 48" x 72" table,  the boards allowed a little more room for the nut crackers and a perfect fit for the tablecloth. 
nutcracker tablescape, nutcrackers, crystal nutcrackers
The nutcracker wine glasses were a Home Goods Store find,  the price was not bad at all.  I thought they were really cute.
nutcracker wine glass
The crystal nutcracker candle holders were collected over many years. The first one was bought about fifteen years or so ago at Marc's for under two dollars.  The rest were bought at thrift stores except for one that I bought off of Ebay (and yes the shipping cost more than the candle holder).
nutcracker tablescape
The salad plates came from the World Market around Thanksgiving. I saw that they are half price now on their web site.
nutcracker plate

nutcracker tablescape
The White Holly dinner plates were bought  from the Pfaltzgraff site on Ebay.  They are a very white color with a slight grey blue tinge.  I probably would not have bought them if I had seen them first.  I really like a warmer tone to a white plate.
nutcracker tablescape
The tablecloth depicts the characters of the Nutcracker Ballet Story. It is very colorful and has clean crisp graphics.
nutcracker tablecloth

nutcracker tablecloth

nutcracker tablecloth

nutcracker tablecloth
nutcracker tablescape

I tried several gold and stainless flatware patterns before deciding to use the Yamazaki Alexandra pattern.

nutcracker tablescape

nutcrackers

nutcracker tablescape

nutcracker tablescape

nutcracker tablescape









 Have a happy and safe New Year.


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Sunday, December 22, 2013

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - A Red and White Tablescape


Three Days Til Christmas - Diary of a Christmas Countdown

December 22, 2013

The song "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie and first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in 1934 according to Wikipedia.
 Christmas red and white tablescape

You better watch out.
You better not cry.
 Christmas red and white tablescape
You better not pout .
I'm telling you why.
Santa's sleigh
Santa Clause is coming to town!
red and white snowflake Christmas plates, tablescape
He's making a list.
Checking it twice.

red and white snowflake plates, Christmas tablescape
Gonna find out who's naughty or nice.
Santa's reindeer, tablescape
 Santa Claus is coming to town!
Santa's reindeer, tablescape
He sees you when you're sleeping.
He knows when you're awake.
snowflake plates
He knows when you've been bad or good.
So be good for goodness sake.
snowflake plates
Oh!....You better watch out,
you better not cry.
snowflake plate
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why.
 Santa Clause is coming to town.
Santa, reindeer, sleigh, red and white tablescape, Christmas
The plates are from Marc's, the flatware was bought after Christmas last year at the World Market.  The milk glass was bought at a consignment shop.
Christmas tablescape

In case you are wondering what is on the back shelf..... It's Christmas carolers, did you hear them singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town right along with you...?. The carolers were bought through the years at various thrift stores and garage sales.

Chritmas carolers






Santa,  the sleigh,  the reindeer,  the sweater trees, the candle holders and candles are all from Marc's (my favorite closeout store ever)
 
 The little tree in the sleigh is from Home Depot.




 Have a wonderful Christmas!

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Saturday, December 21, 2013

Here Comes Suzy Snowflake

Four days Till Christmas - Diary of a Christmas Countdown
December 21, 2013

Here Comes Suzy Snowflake
Tap, Tap, Tapping On My Window Pane

Suzy Snowflake is a sing written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett and recorded by Rosemary Cloony in 1951.  A stop motion animation cartoon short was created in 1953.  Wikipedia was the source of my information.  Metrolyrics sites Soul Coughing as the writer of Suzy Snowflake(Soul Coughing? I don't know about that one). The little cartoon short was a source of endless wonder to me when I was a very young child.  I was fascinated by the song and the fairy like Suzy Snowflake character in the cartoon.
 Suzy Snowflake

Here comes Suzy Snowflake
Dressed in a snow white gown
Tap, tap, tapping at your window pane
To tell you she's in town
If you wanna make a snowman
I'll help you make one, one, two, three

And if you wanna take a sleigh ride
Whoop the ride's on me
Here comes Suzy Snowflake
Look at her tumbling down
Bringing joy to every girl and boy
Suzy's come to town


Blue snowflake glasses and blue snowflake plates are from Goodwill,  Lacy charger is from a garage sale, Window with tree is from goodwill, flatware is Argent from Tuesday Morning.

My Suzy snowflake was made using a tutorial (and pattern) on making a snowflake ballerina that you can find here Snowflake Ballerinas for Crafty Moms . If I had a little girl I would be making these little beauties and hanging them from the ceiling for her.

Thrift on ladies, Thrift on.

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