Welcome Home!

After being away at school for the past eight months

my daughter has come home for the summer.

To welcome her home I did a special

"Welcome Home" tablescape.

I used her favorite colors - orange and pink.

The vase she picked out from Michaels on a previous visit home.

The flowers I found at Dollarama

as well as the clear frames and stickers

which I used for the welcome home sign.

These wonderful woven placements I found at JYSK

and were the perfect color.

I layered them and just tucked under the ends

on the pink placement to allow

the orange placement to accent.

And added some houses

to complement the theme of home

which I found at the local thrift store.

I used simple white dishes

to allow the pink and oranges to shine.

The napkin and napkin ring are both from Pier 1 Imports.

And the tealight holders were from Dollarama.

The glasses I bought at a clearance sale from Stokes last year.

I just love the pattern on them.

I added a few pink daisies,

which are my daughters favorite flowers.

And my "Welcome Home" tablescape was complete.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the look on her face when she saw it.

She absolutely loved it!

And that's what I love about tablescaping -

seeing the joy it brings others :)

I am joining...

Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday

The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays

Return of Winter

Winter has returned with a vengeance.  We've been having such a beautiful fall that we were lulled into the false sense of hope that it would just continue on.  Unfortunately, we awoke to the jarring reality of winter.

Who needs a gym membership when you get to shovel out the driveway by hand.

The only one who was really happy with the snow and cold was our dog.

It was a perfect day to make some soup.

I do have to admit that with the snow it is much easier to think about Christmas.  I made some Christmas gift tags out of some leftover scrapbooking paper and stickers.  These are a few of my favorite ones.

This past weekend was my dad's birthday.  We had a wonderful day on Sunday celebrating and visiting.  It will be three years in January since his heart attack and we almost lost him then and many more times in the past three years.  I am so thankful for this time we are able to share.

"The family is a haven in a heartless world."

-attributed to Christopher Lasch