Friendly Village in a Woodland Tablescape

We are sharing with you another tablescape from our church's ladies evening, Sights and Sounds of Christmas.  

Johnson Brothers introduced their Friendly Village pattern in 1952.  It is one of their top two selling patterns.  This very popular set is a family heirloom in many homes, like the Old Country Roses that we showed you recently.  Janet-Lynn set this table with dishes that belonged to her mother and grandmother.  Now she is the proud owner of these beautiful dishes.



Burlap, birch, cranberries, and fresh greenery are all pulled together into a fabulous woodland centerpiece.  



I love the way she used different sizes of the burgundy plates.  Some stacks have a smaller one in between the two Friendly Village pieces.  Other stacks have a larger one.  (see below).  It is wonderful to mix and match your dishes.  Never feel you can't use dishes because you don't have the exact number you need.  There is always a way.  The burgundy plates bring out the same color  in the Friendly Villages pieces.








The sweet little candle wreaths on each plate continue the woodland theme.  Gorgeous!

I remember my mother-in-law using her Friendly Village dishes.  Do you have this pattern?  Share with us how you came to own it.  Did it belong to a loved one and they gave it to you?

Tanya

Photos courtesy of Nicole Payzant Photography.


Don't miss the "Five Days of Giveaways" here at Take Six next week.

Joining:
Homespun Christmas

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Yummy Dough- Product Review

Yummy Dough cleverly combines two favorite childhood activities: creating designs with play dough and baking with mom, dad or a grandparent -- Mixed with water the Yummy Dough powder turns into smooth, well shapeable dough which can be baked. You can eat it raw or after it is baked.

The special consistency of Yummy Dough allows long kneading and shaping, it doesn’t stick to the fingers and it doesn’t turn soft and ‘greasy’ like cookie dough. Yummy Dough does not contain rising agents, but a particular flour and starch. This ensures that you don’t get a stomach ache when eating it raw and that the figures stay in their original shape after baking them.

Each package makes about a cookie sheet full of figures ... generally enough play and fun for 2-3 children.

Ages: 3+


I used this Yummy Dough for a playdate with 5 children (ages 2 to 8). The mixing of the powder and water definitely needed adult supervision. Once the dough was mixed, they all worked together and LOVED it! Each child was able to make 4-6 cookies. The taste of the cookies was not great, but the kids didn't seem to mind. The whole activity lasted about an hour and 45 min. It would be a nice activity to have on hand for those rainy playdates. You can purchase Yummy Dough on line or at "Uncommon Kids" in the Sunnyside Mall. It retails for there for $9.99. Costco has recently started selling it as well, 3 boxes for around $17.00.

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A Way to Remember the Moment

Last month, I was sitting on the front porch watching my kids play in the yard. It was one of those perfect moments Lisa referred to in a recent blog post. The sun was shinning, the hydrangeas and tiger lilies were in full bloom, the children were laughing and playing together. It was perfect! It was one of those moments when you can't help but give thanks to the Lord. I sat there wishing I would be able to remember this moment forever, but knowing how my brain has been retaining information lately....I ran inside and grabbed my camera and took pictures of everything.





In the last couple days, I have put together this little book to help me remember those few moments of perfection. In the book, I used all the pictures I took that day of the house, flowers, and children and added a few quotes about memories and our home.





Now when this day probably would have been a long forgotten memory, I can pull out his little book, show my kids, and thank the Lord for all the sweet memories.

Go snap a picture of something you enjoyed today!!

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Organize It

For some of us organize is a dirty word, for others this word brings comfort like a good book or a hot cup of tea. I realize that there are natural born organizers and I applaud you! There are others that I call the "want-a- be". They are always saying "I want to be more organized but just don't know how". I fall somewhere in the middle. I love organizing but still have many areas in my house that need work (my Tupperware cupboard for one).

As many of you know, I do a lot of paper crafting. With any kind of crafting there is always a ton of stuff!! So I am always on the hunt for creative ways to organize. I came across this great project to help contain some of my supplies. It came with the frame and little boxes that you need to assemble. You use paper to decorate the boxes anyway you want and the boxes are a perfect size for storing smaller items. I snapped a few pictures as I went along.

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The project only took a few hours to complete and matches my scrapbooking room perfectly. As I was working on the boxes, I thought of a few other places in the house to use something like this. It would be great for a little boy to store Lego. You could even glue little Lego pieces as the pulls for the drawers and use bright colors to decorate the boxes. You could make one for a little girl's room to hold barrettes, ribbons and elastics or jewelery. It could be used to store sewing supplies. The possibilities are endless.

For those of you who find organizing overwhelming, start with one drawer or closet. Work up to a whole room. When you have the right tools and the right frame of mind organizing can be rewarding.

I can hear my Tupperware cupboard calling my name...must go...organize it!

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