More Table Settings (from the County Fair)!

This post has been brewing for awhile because none of my pictures I took the day we set up for the county fair turned out very well.  So today I took my class to the fair on a field trip.  While we were there I took some new (and hopefully improved) pictures of some of the other tables.

Shall we get started?

This table was a tribute to the Los Angeles Lakers.  Really cute!  I love the menu - Kobe Burgers!  How clever!

The next table was a fiesta dinner.  I love the tablecloth.  It sure looks vintage to me.  See the cute little margarita glasses?  

This was also a family dinner.  (Same category as the Best of Show!)  I love the combination of polka dots and damask.  The honoree was someone who's initials were J.B.  Can you see the J and B at the back of the table?

This was a Christmas table.  I think Winter Wonderland was the look they were going for.  I chatted for a bit with the lady who put this together.  She told me she worked on this all year.  Last year she got Best of Show.  Wow!  Maybe if we worked on it for more than about 3-4 weeks we'd get Best of Show EVERY TIME!  (Actually I think the More Creative Bee and I work better under pressure.)

Another Christmas table with a blue and white look.  

This table had lots of wonderful elements.  It was a Halloween Masquerade dinner.  It was sort of a cross between Halloween and Mardi Gras.  There was a lot going on for those diners.  

This was a fun one.  This lady had collected Presidential china.  We chatted with her a bit during the set up and loaned her our measuring tape.  She had one set from Andrew Jackson, another set from another president and so on.  She had china from four different presidents.  Sorry, but I can't remember who ANY of the other presidents were.  (I should since my degree is in U.S. History, but I could only remember Andrew Jackson because we visited the Hermitage - his plantation - when we were in Nashville.)  Doesn't it look elegant?  I saw she got first place in her category.

And here is the last one...........

This is my personal favorite (except for ours, of course).  

Yes, it had my attention at "Christmas 1955."

See the vintage dishes?  How about the glassware?  Click on the picture if you want to better read what this entrant wrote.

I think this was my favorite part.  Those are Santa napkin rings - gotta' be vintage!  And look at the vintage hankie for a napkin!  Love this!  So stinkin' cute!  

(Not quite the wicked stinkin' cute of OUR tables, but still - definitely in my top 3!)

Did you have a chance to see our prize winning tables this year?

No?  Well please come see our tables here and here.  You can get the whole story over there.

Well with all these tablesettings, you know I've just got to link up to 

over at Between Naps on the Porch.

Hope you can stop by and see more beautifully set tables.

And thank you for coming by today.  I truly enjoy our little visits.

White Wedding Wednesday

Yes, this looks like a lovely vintage wedding gown.

Please - look at the lovely lace and beading.  Can you see the chiffon shirred sleeves?

Isn't the veil and headpiece beautiful?

I happen to know the exact vintage of this dress.  It's from 1960.

I love this dress but I'm five inches taller than my mom and I have - well let's just say my chest would never fit in that dress - you probably get the picture. 

But now this lovely dress will be Baby Bee's Halloween costume.  

What will she be you ask?

Why a ghost bride, of course!

She tried it on the other night and (for those of you who are new here - she's 9 years old and in fourth grade) she looked so grown up.  I think she even brought a little tear to her daddy's eye.  I'll be sure to take pictures.

Now for the back story......

This was Sewing Bee's dress from when she married my dad in 1960.  My parents divorced in 1979 and this dress has been in storage ever since.  My mom remarried a marvelous man who became my dad and she has wanted to get rid of this dress for quite awhile since it didn't have much sentimental value and it didn't feel right to have one of the granddaughters wear it.  (Kind of bad luck, don't you think?)  So Baby Bee and I were brainstorming costume ideas and she wanted to be a ghost.  I knew mom was thinking of getting rid of the dress so we asked and....

voila.....a ghost bride!

Thanks for stopping in today.   

What are your costume plans?  

I think I will be a mom escorting her child trick or treating.  

What do you think?

Won't you come join

White Wednesday 

over at Faded Charm?

  

ME in the Garden!

Some of my favorite Mary Engelbreit items are for the garden.

I have a couple of her stepping stones.....

I have some pot feet.....

I have a little ME pot.....

I even have a garden plaque.

But one of the more interesting things that I have is this banner.  

It was given to me by someone who knew a shopkeeper who was getting rid of her.

I've never really had a good place to put her so she's now up for sale on ebay. 
I hope this little sweetie finds a good home.

Thanks Vicki for giving us a place to share our ME treasures!

And thank you for coming by today.  I always enjoy our little visits.  

The Big County Fair #2

I just have to start this off by saying how disappointed I am in the photos I took of this table, but maybe if you squint you can get the idea.

So for our other table the More Creative Bee and I went with the category of Family Dinner....but....oh my did we take it a bit further.  We tend to do that.  Maybe someday I'll share what we did for our tablesetting after 9/11.  We knew it would either win us an award, manipulate the judges, or get us kicked out forever.  That was a tough year.  

Well, there I go, digressing again, as I am wont to do.  

So our table was called Family Scrapbooking Dinner.  As I mentioned before, my pictures are not that great, so let me paint a picture for you with my words.  Just close your eyes and listen to my voice.....UH OH.....you'll have to read it instead.

I'll start with the undercloth - we chose a white sheet and then tied it up with fabric ties that matched the pockets on the overcloth.  Now here is where the cuteness begins.  We found this great black fabric with primary colors on it.  We also used a large checked black gingham and sewed pockets onto the gingham out of the cute black fabric.  The pockets hung down on the sides and we filled them with scrapbooking supplies such as scissors, stickers, etc.  

(Did I take any pictures of the wickedly cute pockets?  No, of course not!)

Now for a tablerunner the More Creative Bee had color photocopies made of some of her scrapbook pages.  These she taped edge to edge and ran it down the middle of the table.  

We used black plates and red napkins.   The flatware functioned as a placecard because she wrote the guests' names on each piece.  She also wrote on the glassware a journal entry.  

Finally for the centerpiece, she had these tall candle cups that she put foam in and then I made shapes and letters that spelled out SCRAPBOOK.  That More Creative Bee also had these white dishes that spelled out PARTY that she filled with other scrapbook supplies.  

Our tables together were so stinkin' cute.  We must have been obnoxious to listen to as we congratulated each other on how adorable our tables were.  

And maybe that self-congratulations was deserved because..............

Our scrapbook table earned 

BEST OF SHOW!

Thanks for your visit today.  I hope you get inspired to enter your county fair or have your own scrapbooking party!

I think I'll have to link up to Tablescape Thursday over at the delightful

Between Naps on the Porch!  Twice in one week!  

Thanks Susan!

And I'll also be joining
Cindy at the lovely
My Romantic Home

for Show and Tell Friday.

The Big County Fair Table #1

Edited to add:


I won first place in my category!
We just won't mention how many were in my category.....I know for sure there was definitely one!  Me!

For about 12 years now, the More Crafty Bee and I have been entering table settings in our local county fair.  (We also enter Christmas trees too, but I'll save that for another post.)

Well today was our set-up day!  

Our fair theme this year was "The Wild, Wild Best."  For the past few years it's had a cowboyish theme and the More Crafty Bee were just a little tired of that so we took it a bit further.  Our fair theme table this year is "The Wild, Wild Best (of Show)."

So here is our interpretation....

It's 1937 and four ladies from a small farming town are gathering to plan what they will enter in this year's county fair.  They have all won Best of Show in previous fairs and they are very proud of their endeavors.  One is an excellent baker and she has brought a fresh batch of her "Best of Show" cookies.  Another is an wonderful gardener and she has brought a bouquet much like the one that earned her "Best of Show" in floral arranging.  Our third lady takes great pride in her canning skills and has brought her "Best of Show" relish to share with the ladies.  And finally, the hostess of this gathering is a marvelous needleworker and she has her "Best of Show" stitching out for the ladies to admire.

Now how did we put it all together?

For the underskirt we used a chambray sheet that we hemmed (okay I must give credit to my mom, the Sewing Bee for doing the sewing).  On top of that we had a vintage lap or baby quilt.  The quilt is on loan from the More Crafty Bee's mom.  The napkins are also sewn by the Sewing Bee from a vintage looking creamy calico.

We had a hard time figuring out what to do with our placecards.  I downloaded some vintage images of  a lady canning, a gardener, a seamstress, and a cook and then added our guests names.  Loved them, but we just couldn't figure out what to do with them.  That More Crafty Bee came up with a great idea.  She had some snippets of vintage kitchen shelf edging and we put them in a circle, cut a couple of slits and slid the placecards in.  

Our dishes are Spode's Chelsea Wicker which I started picking up this spring.  The flatware is my grandma's silverplate, Holmes & Edward's Spring Garden.  The glasses are from another grandmother and I don't know their maker.  

(Sorry, it's a wee bit blurry, but I can't go back and take another.)

The "vintage" embroidery is actually something I made when I was about 8 or 9 years old.  That More Crafty Bee made the canned goods (she is multi-talented) and she assembled the silk flowers in a vintage water pitcher.  I provided the cookies (after spraying them with a quick coat of poly) on a vintage Jane Ray jadeite plate and an old cheese dome.  

I'll share our other table soon along with the other entrants' tables.  I'll share our Christmas trees too.

Thanks for buzzin' by today!  Your visits always bring a smile to my face.

Finally I'm going to link up with Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday!

I'll also be joining

the party over at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

****Giveaway Winner****

Oh dear, I was so excited and focused on the fair I forgot to announce the winner of my first blogthday giveaway!  The little package will be headed to Lora at My Blessed Life.  Hope you can stop by and see her wonderful blog!  It's full of great ideas for home schooling and family time.  She's a sweetie!

Thank you all of you who visit Sweet Bee Cottage from time to time.  I have loved getting to know you this past year!  

Getting Ready for the Fair

So sorry dear friends, but I have been swamped with projects for school, Baby Bee's Parent Teacher Club and the last minute preparations for the county fair.  I'll be back to post the fair pics soon and announce the winner of my one year blogthday giveaway!

Thanks for buzzin' in and I hope you don't mind if I buzz around while you stay a visit for awhile.  Don't worry, I won't put you to work.....I think.

Are You Green with Envy?

I know you are going to be so jealous of my "new" china cabinet.   But please, try to control yourselves as I show you this fabulous transformation!  Good thing you don't know exactly where I live 'cause I know some of you would try to come over here and sneak it out in your purse.

Okay, enough bragging about my fabulous china cabinet.  (Notice I've used fabulous twice - well thrice - now.  That's 'cause it looks so fabulous!)  You want to see it, right?

Well, first you have to look at the before....

(Oh...you need to know that I took the before pictures very early in the morning and the lighting was not fantastic.)

This was an unfinished china cabinet my husband gave me several years ago for Christmas.  He stained and finished it himself so it's taken a long time to convince him to help me move it so I could paint it.  It was nice, but kind of boring.  (Ooooh! Hope you didn't read that Worker Bee!)

First I had to find the right green.  After searching for awhile, I found this gorgeous green from the Laura Ashley colors at Lowes.  It's called Moss 4.  We got a satin finish with the built in primer.  It seemed to work okay, but the white I bought for the inside did not provide good coverage.  I had to pull out my favorite primer/paint from Home Depot.  That paint has worked great for me every time I've used it.

After the paint had cured - for two weeks 'cause I got too busy to finish the project - I sanded some edges and corners for a distressed look.  Then I took some walnut stain (Zar brand) and rubbed it on and then rubbed it off.  It went very fast and was very easy to do.  This technique came from the delightful Miss Mustard Seed's technique on her inspiring blog.

Well, if I do say so myself, (and honeys, I DO say so myself) it looks.....................

FABULOUS!

*******************

Now I need your advice or suggestions.  When we were doing the fabulous birthday garage clean up I found these drawer fronts.  They belonged to a file cabinet that was destroyed in a very unfortunate accident that I'll have to write about another time.  (Suffice to say that I had a vertical bruise on my tailbone....I'll let you draw your own conclusions.)

So, I think they might be interesting hanging on the wall.  Worker Bee was kind enough to hold them up so I could take a couple of pictures so I could come to you for advice.  

Now Worker Bee thinks they look like they might belong in a morgue or a funeral parlor.  

Do you see that?  Did he ruin them for you?   

Let me know what you think and then you'll have to see what I do.  I'm open to other suggestions for them too.

Well, I'm so wicked proud (stinkin' and wicked are my go to adjectives of the season) of my china cabinet so I'm linking up to:

Cindy's at the fantastic Cottage Instincts

Cielo's whimsical House in the Roses

Susan's  over at the lovely Between Naps on the Porch

Joining Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Friday too since she helped inspire all of this greensation!

(Yes, I do make up words - frequently. Drives Worker Bee crazy!)

Hope you enjoyed my FABULOUS transformation.  Now, which dishes should we use for dinner tonight?  You will be joining us, right?  I'd love for you to come.

You know I can't leave you without one more pic....

Be sure to stop by here and leave a comment if you want to enter my first year blogthday giveaway!
Everybody is welcome!