Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

I'm just curious, raise your hands if you know why Cinco de Mayo is celebrated.   If you don't know let me enlighten you.  May 5th is celebrated because of an unlikely victory the Mexican Army had over French forces on May 5, 1862 at the Battle of Puebla.  So there...the more you know right?

How To Use the Same Charger Creating Different Looks

Creating fun tablescapes has long been a hobby of mine. Since it is Christmas time and everyone is very careful about spending too much extra $$ I'd like to share how I used the same charger for both a very formal look and casual look. As soon as I saw these chargers in the Pier 1 planner in early fall I knew I'd have to have them.

Initially, I'll admit that I only saw them with my everyday dishes.   Once I got the plaid chargers home I happened to pull out my Christmas china and as they sat beside each other it hit me, maybe that was also an option.  I'll start with the informal dishes.  My everyday dishes are your basic creamy white in color.  They go with everything!

 Also notice the green rattan charger, when I started working on this I didnt even recall these placemats.  It wasn't until I went looking for my napkins that I saw those.  Before I found these I was also looking at a simple round green placemat from Pier 1 that happens to be almost the same color.  The same look could have been achieved with those round placemats! 

We are not huge entertainers until December rolls in.  Since we have multiple dinners that often include the same yet different people, I want the table setting to be fresh and new each time.  Now as a side note, this isn't the only table setting that I will be sharing the Christmas china in.

My initial concern was would the plaid be too casual to use my formal Christmas china with.  The second I sat the dinner plate on the charger the answer was NO!

 Resting a very formal napkin with a gold thread, I placed the napkin vertically on the charger.  It worked to soften both the charger and the plate.

 Along with adding softness, I believe it broke up the plaid just a bit.  The colors of both the charger and the plates marry very well.  All that was left for me to do was add a few others elements to the table.  Fresh greenery from the yard along with the lantern, mercury glass taper holder and the gorgeous pair of pierced candle holders finish the table off.

Using the same chargers absolutely saved me money and space(storage)while creating 2 very lovely table settings.  I'd love to know ways you've used home decor in multiple ways to save!
Sharing at: Between Naps on the Porch

Christmas Breakfast Tablescape

Christmas morning has always been such a special morning.  At our house the boys are opening Santa and there is lots of cooking going on.  We all enjoy breakfast food so I try to make it an "affair!"  Since we lived away from our family for over 17 years we learned to make simple things mean alot!  When the boys were younger we'd put them to bed and I'd set the breakfast table so after they had opened Santa they'd see lots of pretties.  This year Honey's family will be joining us for Christmas Brunch and the breakfast table will most likely look just like this!