My daughter, Madeline and I were playing around with my dishes one night and we came up with a way to show you how to add some simple colorful additions to your placesettings to make it really come alive. Here we started with a simple placesetting on a white table: Using a cute beach themed plastic colorful plate from Big Lots ($4.99 for 4) we stacked that upon a square white plate turned at an angle and then stacked that upon a large yellow plate used as a charger plate. It looks o.k. but I think we can do better.......................



We decide to switch out the clear water glass for a fun hot pink plastic goblet and we threw in a little green umbrella for more color. I scrounged around the house and found these silk flowers on long stems. I cut off the flowers leaving about a 5 or 6 inch stem that we could bend into a circle to wrap around the napkin and voila! It looks much better but.....I still think we can do better...................

Now this is what were talking about!! We added some bright blue tissue paper and made it look like a table runner and that just really made everything pop off the table! We also set the other placesetting and used an orange plastic goblet...not everything has to match to make it look great. Use your creativity, look for things laying around the house and make a new use for it.

Create an everyday celebration for your dinner table tonight! Leave your comments about this tablesetting below.

Last night at our church's "Young Women's" night I had the opportunity to teach 15 girls how to sew! They learned how to make Pajama Pants and they all turned out adorable. The girls I taught are between the ages of 14 and 18 and some of them had never sewn before. It was a wild fun night with sewing machines a buzzing and girls talking and laughing. Some of the girls got creative and added pockets to their PJ Pants as seen below in the photo.



Out of 15 girls....all but two finished their Pajama pants by the end of the evening.

Some of the girls were really patient and some were not...below is a photo of one girl sewing her elastic waistband together with her PJ pants on! Absolutely hysterical!

All in all it was a very fun night and I think the girls learned a lot and realized sewing can be a great creative outlet and that they can now make these PJ Pants for any member of their family or for friends. We plan to do this again and make more PJ pants to give to a local shelter for women and children.

I haven't blogged in awhile because I was traveling for the first time to Asia! Hong Kong and Macau to be exact. We had a great time and I did really good on the long long flights to and from Hong Kong. 14 hours plus 3 1/2 from Dallas to Los Angeles. I really have a hard time sleeping on the planes though. I don't think I got more than 2 hours each way! If I could sleep it would go by so much faster!

The photo above is of a Chinese temple that we saw in Macau...look at all the detailed carving on the top of the building. It was truly amazing.

We also went shopping at the famous "Ladies Market" in Hong Kong...where everything is outside in these little tent-like kiosks with merchandise displayed way up high on the walls. You can find tons of knock-off purses like Coach, Louis Vitton, Gucci, and watches like rolex, Tag Howard etc... for cheap cheap!! Look at the photo below and you will see some of the purses stacked up on the wall. It was really fun to wheel and deal with the gals to get the best price and sometimes they will take you to their secret stash of things.... up a creepy stairwell and in a locked room! But it was worth it!

Most of the food we ate was really delicious and very American but one night we had a traditional Chinese dinner. It has about 10 different dishes that get put into the center of the table and everyone eats "family style" I am not a seafood lover so most of it I did not care for. This photo below is of the first thing that was brought to our table. It is a baby pig!!! With the snout and all! You only eat the skin of the pig. You pick up a piece with your chopsticks and place it in between two small white dumplings with some slivered vegetables. I just kept telling myself.....it is bacon...this is just a piece of bacon...but it was so hard to eat it while looking into the face of the little pig :( They continued to bring out tons and tons of seafood (whole fishes with they eyes still in), shark fin soup and some funky dessert that had the texture of....dare I say... snot!!! I could not get past the texture of some of the things. I did try most of it but I just did not care for it.
Poor little piggy!

These are the sweetest little cards and so easy to make...(thanks to Martha once again.) I thought you could get creative and think of your own cute template to make... how about a star for the 4th of July, any kind of flower shape, a car for a little boy's card. I think the ideas are endless! Just click here for the easy how to's.

I love this great "GREEN" idea! I put this on my Childrens Nest blog too! I thought what a cute idea for a tea party!! Or how fun to have a bunch of these on your mantel. Martha always has great ideas! You can always find tea cups at thrift stores and flea markets and then you melt down your old candles to put inside!! Love it, Love it, Love it!!! For the step by step instructions just click here Bring a group of friends over and have a candle making party!!

Oddly enough...me, the one who does not like to travel, will be leaving on Sunday for a trip to Hong Kong and then onto Macau which is across the water by ferry from Hong Kong. This is a business trip for my husband who goes over there all the time and the first time for me to leave out of the good ole USA (except for Mexico a couple of times). I am a bit apprehensive about the long long plane flight to say the least. Leaving our home to DFW airport: 45 minutes, sit in airport for 2 hours, board plane at DFW to LAX 3 1/2 hours, then we sit for another 2 hours in LAX, Board another plane to Hong Kong...14 or 16 hours (I can't remember)!!!!, then another hour or so to our hotel. Holy Cow...I think that puts us close to 24 hours of travel time! I plan to blog while I am away and I am on a quest to find cool and unique things to share with all of you. Any advice or tips please leave your comments. It will be an adventure for me that is for sure but I will be back for Memorial Day and plan to enjoy a fun BBQ and a kickball tournament with some friends!

Berry Pudding Cake (From Better Homes and Gardens)
6 servings Prep: 20 minutes
Bake: 20 minutes
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash salt
1 cup fat-free milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups assorted fresh berries (such as raspberries, blueberries, and/or sliced strawberries)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degree F. Lightly coat six 6-ounce individual quiche dishes with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange in a 15x10x1-inch baking pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt; whisk until light and frothy. Whisk in milk until combined. Add flour and baking powder; whisk until smooth.

2. Divide berries among prepared quiche dishes. Pour batter over berries. (Batter will not cover berries completely.) Bake about 20 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm. If desired, sift powdered sugar over each serving. Makes

I have kept these particular photo tear outs from a Country Living magazine since 1999! I love the look and feel of these settings. How cute to use red cherries, blueberries and strawberries in these milk glass compotes stacked one on top of the other. I can't wait for summer!!!



I really like how they just stuck some American flags in with the corn...so simple and yet it just makes you feel like this is something special!



Look at this table set with a ticking fabric tablecloth and white napkins tied with different colored red white and blue ribbons. Love all the milk glass that is used and of course the collection of miniature American flags!

Here is an idea to make a festive memorial day centerpiece.
1 white metal vase
bunch of fresh or silk flowers (I used silks) in red, yellow white and blue
American Flags



Then you can use white dishes with white napkins and bring in the color with a red silk flower and tuck in the silverware underneath. I also used red salad plates to bring in more color and put it all on denim fabric for a table cloth.

From Martha Stewart: Whether your flags fly from a porch, fence, or doorway, one of these festive flag-display ideas is sure to be right for you.
1. This porch displays red, white, and blue bunting (the fabric flags are made from) that has been tacked to the porch eaves and tied with ribbon at the bottom. The trios of small flags are held up by aluminum brackets.

My cute daughter, Madeline and I got out a bunch of my dishes, table cloths, napkins and odds and ends and came up with a bunch of ways to set the table using what had on hand. It was fun and interesting to see how we could make things work together.
Madeline also happens to be a great photographer..you can see more of her work on her blog at www.eyesofmad.blogspot.com


We call this "Ella's brunch". My mom had given me this adorable "girlie" salad plates a while back and they just look like brunch or lunch with the "girls". We set the table with a purple tablecloth and we used striped scrapbook paper for a placemat! I love that...think of the possibilites of using scrapbook paper to set your table and can we say cheap!!! We used a set of white cups in a long skinny white platter filled with roses from the backyard as a centerpiece.


I love goblets and this one in particular with the bubbled glass. By putting a folded napkin into the goblet it really shines.


This is one of my favorite ones. The bright yellow plate with a lime green salad plate is so bright and fresh. Then we added the bright yellow napkin folded into the "rose" with the daisy plopped in the middle. It just popped when we placed a second napking (red) underneath the green salad plate. Then Madeline placed the silverware underneath for a fun new look.


We used some great old fashioned looking fabric and placed a piece of striped scrapbook paper as a placemat for this one too! Then we found some dark brown fabric I had and turned it into a fabulous folded napkin that holds the silverware so nicely. Madeline is quite the creative napkin folder.


We have more ideas on our other blog at www.beyondthetable.blogspot.com and we will also show even more on our website at www.thestylesisters.net so check back soon!

Looking on the internet I found beautiful creative napkin and table setting ideas to dress up your Mother's Day table. I placed many photos on our website at www.thestylesisters.net Once on our website, look for the words "Entertaining Ideas" on the left side of the page and click on it, the first section will be table setting ideas!! All the photos are from www.theknot.com it is a wonderful website for brides but you can also use many of the ideas to celebrate everyday life!