Harvest Breakfast Meeting Tablescape

This morning I had breakfast with two of my dear friends Sharon Hughes from Launch Your Creativity, and Cheryl Turner who owns the most beautiful tea room in downtown Orange, California called Paris in a Cup. Aside from being friends, Sharon is the founder of Launch Your Creativity, a business that inspires, encourages and teaches entrepreneurs how to launch and grow their business. Cheryl and I are blessed to be able to work with Sharon, and this meeting was to discuss the event that we just attended, and to plan next year's event. I love to mix business with pleasure, and always enjoy hosting meetings at home. It allows everyone to have a relaxed time, and there really is nothing better than to gather people around your table and to hear laughter in your home! Instead of a centerpiece, I placed a few things on a tray, both decorative as well as useful. I gathered one of the pumpkins from the border in our back garden and wrote "Grateful" on it with a metallic bronze Sharpie {they come in great colors these days, not just black!} then tied it with our FrenchGardenHouse gingham ribbon. We've used it as our signature ribbon for over ten years, I never tire of it. I knew I needed some height, so the vintage striped cheese keeper crock was perfect! I added a garland of faux harvest wheat, a tiny sprig of faux mini pumpkins, a candle, a porcelain menu board, plates, a tiny pumpkin, and some antique French crocks filled with cherries and butters and called it done. I added a little bag of "faux" autumn leaves tied with the same ribbon and a card to each plate, as a sweet little favor of our time together. On the back I wrote "I am grateful for YOU!" The table settings are a mix of antique and new dishes, and since I didn't use a table cloth I used natural placemats. Our Lily Belgian Napkins were the perfect compliment. They are so generous in size, and have great ruffles, I placed the antique silverware on each napkin and tied it together with checked ribbon for a casual look. A champagne flute {for sparkling cider from Trader Joe's}, a water goblet and a simple cream and black coffee mug complete each setting. So easy, pumpkin flavored sweet butter in an antique French crock. {I'll tell you how I made that below} The sparkling apple cider is wrapped in another Lily Napkin, and set on an antique English silver wine coaster. The Pumpkin Waffles were delicious! For the Pumpkin Waffles, I used a mix from Trader Joe's and made them to order on our waffle iron. (If you are not into mixes, there are lots of recipes on the internet.) It's super easy, and they came out wonderful! I heated up a can {yes, gasp!} of pitted cherries, and thickened the juice with some cornstarch and served that hot. For the Pumpkin Butter: Since the waffles are already a little sweet, I mixed about two good sized tablespoons of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter with a half cup of unsalted butter, and sprinkled in some cinnamon. Delicious! I hope you will host some of your friends or neighbors this season at home. Maybe you want to pin this to your harvest or tablescape boards on Pinterest. You can follow me HERE and see more holiday tablescapes and inspiration I am pinning there!