Rebekah Foster-cake artist

Tablescapes at Table Twenty-One, www.tabletwentyone.wordpress.com, Bald Is Beautiful: Holly Bertone Pink Fortitude collage

INSPIRATION: The many faces of my brave, beautiful, creative, very determined, cancer’s-butt-kickin’ friend, Holly Bertone, author of The Coconut Head’s Guide to Survival blog and CEO and President of Pink Fortitude, LLC.

Holly Bertone of The Coconut Head’s Guide to Survival blog was kind enough to consent to being a part of this post on the condition (that I happily accepted!) that I share her message with you: “I was young and healthy. If it can happen to me, it can happen to you. Please take care of your health. Early detection saves lives.”

So this post is dedicated to Holly and every woman or man out there who has stared breast cancer in its ugly face and “beat it like it stole something.” The fight is a tough one. I salute those who won the battle and honor the memory of those who, in spite of fighting the good fight, were taken from us too soon.
(Click on any photo, then click again to enhance/enlarge it.)

The table is dressed in a pure white full-length tablecloth from LinenTablecloth.com. The stretch white chair cover and pink satin sash are also from LTC. I wanted so much to tie the ribbon in the shape of the Breast Cancer Awareness symbol, but just couldn’t figure it out! Maybe by next year this time…! 🙂

Each place setting starts with a silverplate charger and platinum-rimmed Noritake “Spectrum” dinner and salad plate. A soft pink, simply folded napkin from Bed, Bath & Beyond sits atop the plates. I created the menus on our home computer and gave them more of a 3-D look by adding an actual ribbon dotted with a pink gemstone. (The menu items were our actual dinner that night. You can find my recipe for the chicken pot pie on this site under Recipes. The cake is a wonderful recipe from Kitty’s Kozy Kitchen, and it is decadently delicious!!!)

I wanted this table to literally reflect everything beautiful, so I used Cristal d’Arques Longchamps stemware with lots of reflective facets that caught the light of the votives in the centerpiece. The handle of the dinner knife and the mirror shine of the charger both have the same reflective quality.

After-dinner coffee is extra sweet with a rose-kissed sugar cube from Rebekah Foster, Cake Artist.

Who says bald can’t be absolutely beautiful? I admittedly spent a great deal of time working on this unique Breast Cancer Awareness centerpiece. I wanted to shout to the world that bald can indeed be beautiful, simple, sweet, sexy, exotic, erotic, and everything in between.
To create this very special centerpiece, I used ballerina pink and soft glitter spray paint to tint an inexpensive Styrofoam wig form. I applied flirty black eyelashes (did better than I do on my own eyes!) and then went to work with gemstone and pearl head pins. Just when I thought I was finished, I decided to add the nose ring to give her a youthful, contemporary flair to punctuate Holly’s message: Just because you’re young and healthy doesn’t mean it can’t happen to you. I spread sparkling clear and pink crystals (Beau-coup.com) at the base to represent reflective beauty and added votives to symbolize hope and light radiated by fighters like Holly.

Other tablescapes suitable for Breast Cancer Awareness Month on this site:
Breast Cancer Awareness Luncheon
Pretty in Pink, Wicked in Spurs
All A’Bloom
Pleasant Under Glass
Roses in October
Princess Pink Birthday Dinner
Blushing Bridal Shower
Pink Plaid & Posies
Luncheon in Pink
Pretty in Pink
Springtime in Paris
Peony Power
Coming Up Roses
Tea Roses

I am happily joining these ladies’ blog parties this week:
Christine at Rustic & Refined for “Table It!”
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for “Tablescape Thursday”
Bev at How Sweet the Sound for “Pink Saturday”

Good grief, Charlie Brown! Mothers Day is less than 3 weeks away now!!! I’m still grappling with what to do for my Mom’s celebration dinner. Too bad I can’t just add a few candles and recreate this table because I really like it! This is more or less an extension of the Springtime In Paris Mothers Day Buffet table I posted last week. It uses some of the same decorative elements and is designed to either work with the buffet (just take away the luncheon plates & put them on the buffet) or stand alone as a sit-down luncheon.
(Click to enhance/enlarge any photo.)

A full-length white linen from LinenTablecloth.com covers a 6-ft. oblong table set up in our living room to take advantage of the bright southern exposure.

Each place setting starts with a white ceramic charger from Old Time Pottery topped with a light green napkin folded lengthwise twice and tucked underneath. Following are a white Corelle luncheon plate and ceramic rose-rimmed plate I picked up at Tuesday Morning a number of years ago when I was feeling particularly girlie.

Here’s one of those decorative elements from last week: petal pink fabric napkins folded to resemble a rosebud. This time, rather than being tucked tightly and displayed en masse, the napkin is allowed to expand a bit to fill individual cups at each place setting. (Tutorial for this Rosebud Napkin Fold can be found HERE at Table Twenty-One Table Tips. Just scroll down to Tip #33.) I like to use two napkins at each place setting whenever sandwiches are involved!

The handles of the sterling flatware are embellished with a tiny flower to complement the design of the salad plates and cups. A rose-topped sugar cube created by Shawnee, Kansas cake artist Rebekah Foster daintily rests atop each iced tea spoon.

These green stems from Dollar Tree are one of the best tabletop investments I’ve ever made. So much bang for the buck! I bought enough to have one for water and one for iced tea at each place setting. If you’re not hip to Dollar Tree yet, you need to check it out. They have some pretty decent tabletop items in there from time to time….all for just $1!!!! There are currently more than 4,000 stores across the 48 contiguous states (every U.S. state except Hawaii and Alaska) and Canada, so chances are there’s one near you! If not, you might try its sister company, Deal$.

Here’s another of those elements from last week that really works well on this table to bring color, texture, and height in a slightly different way: clear 12″ glass gooseneck tower vases filled with reaching faux floral branches that create the illusion of a tiny forest down the table’s center.

I like the idea of creating a buffet table with a dining table in mind and vice versa. It really opens up a lot of entertaining opportunities!

For more pink & green tablescapes on this site:
“Blushing Bridal Shower”
“Showered in Pink”

For more tables in pink suitable for Mothers Day:
“Peonies and Pearls“
“Pink Plaid & Posies“

For other posts using the “rosebud napkin fold” on this site:
“Cupcake Colors”
“Springtime in Paris Mother’s Day Buffet”
“Au Revoir”

I’m joining the bunch at Susan’s place for Tablescape Thursday again. C’mon…you know you’re curious about what all the other tablescapers are up to this week! 🙂