I love these dishes so much that I decided to pull them out again and use them for the Mother's Day dinner that I hosted, and share the setting with Tablescape Thursday. The first time I used them (here) I focused on pale sage green tones, and it worked beautifully. This time I decided to go with blue, matching the napkins to the plates, and I liked it equally as well. It's surprising, really, just how many color combinations work with these very dramatic plates. 
It was pure serendipity that I was able to match my mother's gift wrapping to the table setting (I bought her the DVD of the first season of Downton Abbey, and for those of you who watched it and loved it as I did, you just know she's going to swoon!) I was actually in the process of taking apart a floral arrangement that mother used for years, then I used for years, and eventually the colors just didn't match anything that either of us had. Any time I take apart a floral arrangement, I remove the flowers and greenery and bag them up to reuse as a package decoration.
Here's the gift up close. It really is a breeze (if you own a glue gun) to whip up a fabulously wrapped gift in no time if you set aside such flotsam and jetsam. Honestly, I think I used to spend more time hunting for ribbon and bows than I do now just hot gluing a few flowers into place, and look how much prettier it is. But, back to the table...
Here's the place setting without the gift covering up the design Don't these just want to make you book a trip somewhere?
I had no idea what I was going to do with the center of the table and then I remembered the apothecary jars that I had purchased back in December and used as a part of my Boxing Day Dinner table setting. I filled these with candles and more of the flowers and greenery from the disassembled arrangement. I was thrilled to have scored this set of candles from Pottery Barn, that worked perfectly with the dishes. I just happened to see them while shopping in the store one day and grabbed them. The sales clerk told me that they had been flying off of the table ever since they arrived in the shop and, sure enough, by the time they reached the catalog they had sold out.
Didn't this arrangement work out perfectly? The passport is expired, but since it is loaded with stampings I kept it as a remembrance of our trips. It, and a few scattered foreign coins, completed the table.
Old World Maps dinnerware - Omnibus by Fitz & Floyd
Flatware - Oneida
Placemats and runners - Pottery Barn
Apothecary Jars (medium size) - Crate & Barrel
Apothecary jar (tall) - Pier One
Candles - Pottery Barn
Passport - U.S. Government
Coins - British Government
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