Carnival At The Beach

This summer we took a much needed girls trip to Newport Beach, California.  We spent a lot of the time playing with my darling niece Lyla, and making up some fun activities for her. 

During the day we built sand castles, or at least attempted to before they got destroyed by the little monster. In reality we just built a giant pile of sand.  The waves were HUGE that day, because of the storm warnings over by Hawaii, so we decided to just lay around in the sand and play, avoiding the rough water as much as possible.

Later on we decided to take the little Princess, on our last night in California, to read her a bedtime story while watching the sunset at the beach.  She refused to wear the cute outfit we had planned for this so we let her be 'Punzel instead, which I loved in the end. 

If you remember my last post, Oh The Places You Will Go Little One, I had some circus animals displayed on the table.  This post represents those animals and how the books that we read in our childhood can enhance our imagination, and bring us to a world where the impossible is always possible.  It's wonderful how it came to life in my niece's imagination by playing with the circus, and reading it with a wonderful book.  This summer we all got to see the circus come to life when we went to Circ Du Soleil on the Santa Monica Pier, in California.  

What a perfect way to end a beautiful vacation.   

Oh The Places You'll Go Little One

I was raised in a home that encouraged imagination, creativity, and the encouragement to live out my dreams.  During the evenings, all five of us would curl up in bed with our Mother, and she would read us one of the many children's books she had collected throughout her travels.  Some were the classic fairytales that most children grew up with, and others were unique stories from other countries.
My little mind would always wonder off into the wonderful worlds of these books and dream about the many lands and adventures that I would go on when I got older.  The popular book "Oh The Places You'll Go" inspired this classy Art Deco tablescape, that brings a childhood imagination to life into the setting of adulthood.

This tablescape was done up with a classy black, white, and gold color scheme.  A very popular combination these days,  but it has also always been a favorite of mine.  I love that it has a timeless look about it, with its void of color.   I wanted it to be a simple, classy, tablescape that has a whimsical feel about it, without being to chaotic with color.

The animals add that classy fanciful feel of childhood, that bring back memories of the circus, and travels to foreign lands. All the animals were purchased at Gatehouse No. 1. They will be used in a up-coming post, featuring a more literal version of the circus, and another favorite children's book. 

The books stacked in the middle represent a flavor of some of my favorite childhood books. Each photo represented in the background was chosen to resemble a different childhood book from my life, and how these books were able to come to life through me in my travels.  (Which I will expand upon a little later.)

The shadow puppets represent my favorite childhood fairytales. These stories took me to far away lands where a Princess and Prince met and feel instantly in love, Fairy Godmothers granted all of your wishes with a swoop of a wand, and where the evil villain never wins.
The shadow puppets created a playful feel to these white goblets, but can be used in many different ways. These darling shadow puppets are from Anthropologie.  They will be featured in a later post, with some other ideas that you can use them for.

The tablecloths were gathered with a striped burlap ribbon, and placed with a vintage lion button, and then safety pinned on.  I don't sew, so do not stress its very easy to do!

I had all these wonderful images from my travels printed by Shutterfly.  They did an exceptional job for this project, and I cant wait to have my favorites made into some colorful wall art for my bedroom and living room by them.  I will post pictures when I get them done!

From the time I was little, I have been obsessed with hot air balloons.  The vintage/French styled hot air balloons were shown in many books and paintings throughout my life.  Someday if I get the chance, this will be a theme for my child's nursery, but until then... its my tablescape!  I just had to have an excuse to create them!

My Mom and I made these balloons to create the illusion of travel and movement throughout the tablescape.  I will be posting a tutorial on them soon!

THE ORIGINAL PHOTOS

I wasn't able to use all of the ones I printed in the background, but I choose a few of my favorites.  

Paris, France

The Book:

Snow White and The Red Rose By: Philomel

Chez Republic

The Book:

The Prince and The Mermaid

By Ian Deuchar

Budapest

The Book:

Rapunzel By:The Grimm Brothers

Paris, France

The Book:

Madeline

By: Ludwig Bemelmans

Latvia

The Book:

The Sleeping Beauty in The Woods

By:Charles Perrault

St. Petersburg, Russia

Book: It Could Always Be Worse

By:Margot Zemach

St. Petersburg, Russia

Estonia

This reminded me on Pinocchio 

Denmark-Hans Christian Anderson Statue of The Little Mermaid-

The Book the above one.

Norway

Doesn't this look like the perfect setting for a Christmas Book?

Stone Henge, England

The Book:

Young Guinevere

By: San Souci/Henterly

Hawaii

The Book:

The Barefoot Book of Goddesses

By: Kris Waldherr

Italy

The Book:

The White Cat

By: San Souci/Spirin

Venice Italy

Verona, Italy

The Book:

Romeo and Juliet 

By: Shakespeare

*Not all books end happily

Cambridge, England

The Book:

Alice In Wonderland

By Lewis Carroll

*This is a all time favorite of mine.  The book featured in my tablescape was given to me by my Grandmother, and has been a treasured item in my life.  My grandma also took the opposite side of this picture, and hand painted it for me as a cherished painting in my home.  This book alone, inspired this entire blog post.*

Holland

The Book:

The Trouble with Trolls

By: Van Brett

Chez Republic

Tam Lin

By: Yolen/Mikolaycak

*This book is set in Scotland, but since I have never been YET, this will have to do.

Paris, France

The Book:

The Canary Prince

By: Nones

Paris, France

Paris, France

If you would like to learn more about each of the children's books, my sister has started a blog and is reviewing all of the following books on her blog.  Click here for the link.

Here are all the original photos that were all taken by me, during some of my many travels throughout my life.  Please do not use them without my permission. Cheers

All tableware is from ZGallerie, and Striped fabric is from IKEA.  We just pinned and cut them.  Stayed tuned for more tutorials on the Hot Air Balloons, Circus Animals, and the Shadow puppets!