An Easter Table Abloom in Pink and Yellow

"Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there."

~ Clarence W. Hall

With this year's celebration of Easter taking place at home, I looked forward to creating some special memories around our table. During my grocery shopping for the occasion, I was so pleased to find lush pink roses, sunny yellow tulips and snowy white hydrangeas. Arranging these pretty flowers in favorite wire birdhouses offered a subtle reminder that beauty can always bloom, even during a season of confinement due to quarantine. Enjoy these glimpses of spring loveliness!

"It is the hour to rend thy chains,

The blossom time of souls."

~ Katherine Lee Bates

A Tea Party Table Abloom

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea." ~ Henry James

Before our precious friend Mallory leaves for college, I wanted her to join us for a special celebration. We share a love of teatime, so her recent graduation gave us a wonderful opportunity to plan an afternoon tea.

Norwich by Royal Embassy set the tone for a lovely, feminine table.

Fresh roses, peonies and hydrangeas echoed the beauty of the china's hand-painted blooms.

Joe's mother found our dining room table and chairs at an estate sale a couple of years ago, and planning this party gave me the motivation to re-cover the seats -- a project I have had on my list for quite a while. Waverly Chantal Vapeur, a flowing graceful floral design, gave me just the balance of elegance and interest that I was looking for.

Instead of designing one larger centerpiece, I spaced out several posies along the table. These low-lying arrangements gave each guest a view of flowers without blocking views of each other.

This soiree gave me the perfect opportunity to pull many pretties from the china cabinet.

This dining room table is a different size than the one we used previously, and I am still collecting linens that work with its long, narrow oval shape. For this event, I definitely wanted a solid white tablecloth. Although this microfiber one from Arlee Home Fashions was not exactly what I had in mind originally, it looked nice and was a practical choice. The polyester fabric is impervious to spills, so that will make for worry-free entertaining -- especially during the holidays when we often have little ones around our table.

I hope that Mallory, along with our other guests, felt blessed by the beauty of the day.

My cell-phone pictures do not do the ambience justice, but there was a sweet glow to our time together.

And a lovely fragrance of friendship -- a sweet blend of roses, fresh-baked scones, and my favorite blend of loose tea.

In my next post, I will share details of our menu, including an easy recipe that has become an instant favorite for entertaining.

Highlighting this side table are a framed invitation and menu. I used watercolor clip art from Digital Paperie for our party printables. I adore these images of macarons and teacups!

And, of course, I never tire of beautiful flowers!

In this stage of life, it is rare for me to host formal gatherings, so I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to celebrate such a beloved girl with a tea party. The afternoon was a gift of loveliness, and I hope it was a blessing to all!

"I take pleasures in tea, appreciating it with my spirit and therefore cannot explain why." ~ Sen Joo

How to Revive Wilted Hydrangeas

"Flowers whisper beauty to the world, even as they fade, wilt, fall." ~ Dr. SunWolf

Over the weekend, we honored the graduating seniors from our congregation with two very special events: a Saturday-evening banquet and a Sunday-morning reception. Friday afternoon and evening, I whiled away the hours blissfully arranging centerpieces with friends. To coordinate with our silver-rimmed plates and patterned napkins of gray, yellow and white, I filled glass vases with sliced lemons and snowy white hydrangeas. When we turned off the lights to head home, everything looked beautiful and the cold, dark room was fresh and fragrant.

So imagine my heartbreak to return to the church building on Saturday evening, ready to light candles and capture a few photos of our tablescapes before dinner, only to discover that most of the blooms had wilted. Whether it was the acids in the citrus or the unexpected heat and humidity caused by the air conditioning turning off during the night, or a combination of both, my beautiful bouquets were a shadow of their former glory. I had planned to repurpose the centerpieces for our reception the next morning, but the blossoms looked so sad that as tables were cleared after the party, many of the blooms were immediately thrown away.

But not so fast! I rescued a few blooms from the trash heap to see if they could be revived. I filled a bowl with tepid water, turned the stems upside down, and let the clusters of petals soak for a while. Then I clipped the stems shorter (at an angle) and arranged them in smaller vases of fresh water. As you can see from the photos in this post, we were treated to a Sunday-morning resurrection story, and the flowers look as lush and healthy as ever! In fact, they are now doing triple duty, after suffering through the banquet and looking lovely during the reception, by giving us a poignant reminder that you never know where beauty might flourish, if only we will offer a little tender loving care.

"Flowers don't worry about how they're going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful." ~ Jim Carrey  

10 Years of Teacher Gift Ideas

One year we surprised our teachers with lush bouquets of peonies in crystal vases, but when the children were in elementary school, our usual tradition was to present a gift of flowers in a container that can be used long after the blossoms fade. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Day, here are a few of my favorite ideas from the past decade.

We all scream for ice cream with this festive arrangement, a sundae-inspired gathering of flowers tucked into a parfait glass.

This presentation included a gift card to a favorite local spot for frozen yogurt.

For months I collected creamware pitchers and teapots for these gifts of white. The posies looked so lovely clustered in my sitting room.

I love this shapely creamer and hope it is still used often.

One of my favorite springtime gifts is a structured tote with a vase of tulips tucked inside. I have done these for teachers and graduates over the years.

A monogrammed gift tag adds the finishing touch to this favor. This gift can also be customized for a bride or mother-to-be.

Cheery bouquets of hydrangeas offered a ray of sunshine paired with sliced lemons.

Purchasing acrylic pitchers at a discount store and taking them to a local engraver to be monogrammed was an easy, economical option for this vessel.

Rustic garden buckets made charming vases -- especially when accompanied by handmade cards featuring photos of the children taken during a trip to a local garden.

Glass canisters finished with chalkboard labels made clever containers for fresh-cut bouquets.

Whether used in the classroom or pantry, these should have a long shelf life.

Finally, for a peek at periodicals tucked into magazine racks, see this post.

What could make a gift of flowers even more refreshing? Tucking the blossoms into a box of lunchtime treats. Visit this post to learn more about the menu included in this decorative hinged box. If you have creative floral gift ideas, please share them in the comments! 

"Teachers believe they have a gift for giving; it drives them with the same irrepressible drive that drives others to create a work of art or a market or a building." ~ A. Bartlett Giamatti

Flowers for Teatime

"Some people will tell you there is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A gift of tea gives pleasure long after the final cup is steeped -- especially when the container is as lovely as the one pictured above, which was a birthday surprise from the Victoria team.

This shiny tin canister, with its pretty pink label, seemed perfect for holding a posy of fresh spring flowers. (For some other pretty selections, consider the Nina's Tea L'Original Marie-Antoinette Pink Tin, Harney & Sons Royal Palace Tea Tin, or Nina's Tea Fete de Versailles.)

To make this centerpiece, I slipped a plastic cup into the canister, added water, and arranged a brimful bouquet of fresh floral stems.

Ready to be placed on the table or shared with a friend, this sweet posy doubles the pleasure of a teatime gift!

"The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose." ~ George Gissing