My colorful new dishes made me happy! The first time I used them was for a dinner with friends. They were so pretty I made place cards! It's nice to add a little beauty to everyday life.

For the place cards I used Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Red ink.

Dinner was good too, and the company was fun, as always.

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Two other purchases with a lettering slant were this wooden sign in my windowsill

and this Celtic Birds Knot plaque from my favorite resale shop, reminiscent of the ones I saw when I was in Ireland several years ago.

I had a couple of successful days shopping. (I don't love shopping, and do it seldom, despite what my son and husband think!) The bad thing is that I only bought place settings for 6, thinking I could easily get two more later. I also failed to get cups. I went back to get those later (the day I settled for Cucina) and there were no pieces of the pattern left in any of the chain's Louisville stores. Sad me. Maybe they'll show up somewhere sometime.