Thoughts on a Tea Party

Well, I'm getting ready for my little tea party this Saturday.

Invitations have been mailed out (well better late than never with those).

Now I need to plan the menu.

I have a plethora of tea party books to choose from.

Maybe an Orange Sour Cream Tea Bread from this book?  Doesn't that sound yummy?  

This book is full of all sorts of sweet treats.  The recipe for Strawberry Tiny Tarts looks delicious.  

 I'll need to have some savories too.  Mary's book doesn't exactly have recipes, but it has wonderful ideas for tea sandwiches.  Maybe pecan studded cream cheese with chive butter?  Or how about almond chicken salad with basil butter?  

 Taking Time for Tea is divided into seasonal teas.  Well, technically it's spring, but the weather is supposed to be rainy and cool on Saturday.  A recipe for Warmed Brie on Toast Points with chopped dried apricots sounds yummy.  A little bit of comfort food sounds good, doesn't it?

This is one of my favorite tea books.  This one has such intriguing recipes.  Some are a little too ambitious for the amount of time I'll have to prepare.  Lots of savory treats - Ham & Tomato Scones, Chive & Potato Scones, Roquefort & Pear Brioche Slices........

Now we come to my favorite tea party book.  It makes me want to have a tea party every month.  (That might be because it has a theme tea party with plans and menus for each month!  LOL)  Some of the themes are The Queen's Tea, a Hiker's Tea, Tea & Roses, and my favorite - Mother's Day Tea.  It is so beautifully illustrated by Carolyn Bucha.  There are tips on how to have a large tea party, how to make tea sandwiches, how to make a tea cozy, and tons of recipes.  

Shhhh.....don't tell Baby Bee.  I snuck into her room and "borrowed" this book for some ideas.  Hmmmm...it also has a special tea for Mom.  Do you think I should bookmark that page for her?  That wouldn't be too strong a hint, now would it?

Did I ever tell you that Baby Bee dressed up as Fancy Nancy for Halloween?  She was in second grade and my mom - the Sewing Bee - made the costume from a just a picture in the book.  I found the perfect fabric - lilac silky stuff (clearly I don't know my fancy fabric names) and a lilac sequin dotted tulle (hey - I knew that one) and it was FABULOUS!  MARVELOUS! AND GLAMOUROUS!  (Oh and yes, I "borrowed" this one from Baby Bee too.)

But, then again, I digress.  I certainly do have a tendency to do that.  Miss Fancy Nancy does have some great ideas for a tea party.  We could play Fancy Freeze Tag or have a doll tea party.  

Well, I'm going to have to make some decisions and soon!  I sure wish you could come to my party.  

But I know you'll be there in spirit.  

Thank you so much for taking the time to come by.  It's such a treat to see you!

Oh, and if you happen to head on over to my ebay auctions, I am donating a portion of the proceeds for the next few weeks to the American Red Cross.  It is such a worthwhile charity and I know some of what we raise here will go to help those in Japan.

Blessings to you!

A Wee Bit of Gardening

I made it out into the gardens today.  

I haven't been able to out much because of the virus I had and my seasonal allergies kicking in, which then triggered my asthma; so I've been staying in quite a bit until my asthma was better under control.

It was so nice to clean up some and plant a few things.  

Thought I might start by showing you what survived the winter here....

This was a mystery plant.  I was certain I planted it this last spring, but I forgot to write down what it was on my plans.  It didn't germinate this past spring, but it started to leaf out this winter.  My husband and I kept wondering if we were nurturing along some giant weed.  I just couldn't recognize it.  

Then it bloomed and I remembered.  It was nicotiana!  You can't really see any blooms here because I picked most of them for a bouquet to take in the house.

Aren't they pretty?  Shades of pink, cream, and yellow.

My snapdragons also survived the winter.

I was able to pick a huge bouquet of those endearing blossoms.

Now I have two bouquets in my living room!  I love them.

While I was out in my kitchen garden, I also planted a couple of herbs a friend gave me.

Yummmmm!  Dill!

I have tried growing dill in the past with no luck, but I think I usually started it too late.  Wish me luck this year!  

And Bee Balm!  One of my favorite herbs.  At one time I had quite a bit of it, but they quit reseeding themselves so they never came back.  I don't know what color this one will be, but I once had a lovely lavender cultivar.  Bee Balm always reminds me of fireworks.  Do you see that in it too?

Lavender, sage, rosemary, oregano, and Italian parsley.

I also made a little herb bouquet for the kitchen windowsill.  Smells so good as we do dishes.

And a sweet little lavender bouquet for my nightstand.  (Sorry Worker Bee, you'll have to smell this from my side of the bed.  Maybe if you're good, I'll make one for you too.)

This same friend also gave me a half flat of pansies.  Boy I went to town!  

This planter hangs on one of the backyard gates.  

I just love galvanized metal, do you?  

I'm lovin' the moss all over this pot.  

 I have wanted to plant this 3-tiered basket with pansies since I bought it several years ago.  At last - I can cross it off the list now.  

Thanks so much for buzzin' by today.  Such a treat to see you!  I hope you know how much I enjoy our visits and your sweet comments.  

At Last! The Giant Chalkboard Is Done!

It's been a long time coming.  You've been patient with me as I tackled this project.

Shall we stroll down memory lane together?

I should probably start with my inspiration.............

I just loved the idea of writing inspirational quotes or menus or whatever in our dining room/sunroom.  I also wanted it to be portable in case I wanted to move it outside or really - anywhere.  

So I've painted a chalkboard on our pantry door in our kitchen and I've painted chalkboard paint on my most of my pots in the garden, so I was comfortable with the chalkboard paint,  I just needed to find the right thing to paint.  But I wanted to do this on the cheap.  Worker Bee looked at ReStore but the doors there started at $70 - too much for this project. So that clever Worker Bee found a cheap slab door he bought at Home Depot for about $18.  

I started off with this slab of a door as my Christmas present from dear Worker Bee.

Then I picked up some cheap moulding (we'll revisit my thoughts on the cheap moulding later) for a frame.

I painted the entire slab with the chalkboard paint.

Worker Bee and Baby Bee helped me cut and glue the moulding down.

And it looked like what you see above.  Cute, but this is a bee who craves color.

Well, I bet you can guess what color I picked to paint the moulding......

RED!

I got out my favorite RED from Behr - just an aside here, but I do love that Behr primer plus paint, worth every extra penny. (and no, Home Depot is NOT paying me for mentioning this paint)

It took 4 coats - but they went quickly - and then I rubbed a dark stain over the top of that to give it a richer color and some depth.

Don't worry - the white spot is a blossom from one of our backyard trees.

Well, what do you think?

I really like it, but I must confess I don't LURVE it.

Why?

Well, I should not have cheaped out on the the white plasticy moudling.  It looks nice and crisp when it is white, but it does not paint beautifully and I wasn't able to distress it like I had in my mind.  

For now, it will do, but someday I will improve upon this.

It's time for Metamorphosis Monday

over at Between Naps on the Porch!

And, of course, I've got to buzz by Sue's for
REDNESDAY!

I'm also linking up over at Boston Bee for Alyssa's Bee's Knees party!
Go check it out!

Oh yeah and total cost was about $32! (I already had the paints and stain and liquid nails.)

So thanks for coming by and seeing my metamorphosis!  

I truly appreciate you taking time out of your day to leave a comment of just stop by.  You are such a delight!

Wondering where my quote on the chalkboard came from?  It's on the bottle of my amazing grace shower gel from philosophy.  (yes, I'm a philosophy girl)  I love reading it every morning and it never fails to inspire.  Hope you enjoy it too!

Tea Party and Book Exchange Invitations

Look what I made!  

Thank you Karen from the Graphics Fairy!

Thank you Shabby Blogs for the tutorial on FotoFlexer.com.

Thank you Picnik.com for the final invitation.

And a final thank you to Chris at Red Gate Farm for the inspiration to use Picnik and print them off at my local photo developer (i.e. Walgreens).

So how did I make this you ask?

Well, I wish I was a graphics expert, but I'll tell you what I did

********disclaimer here - I've probably done this all wrong, but maybe if I can do it, you can too *********

1.  First I found the perfect vintage graphic from Karen's (the teacup) and uploaded it to Foto Flexer.

2.  Then I really wanted a gingham in a springy color to serve as the backdrop - I found an image from an old JC Penney catalog and uploaded that as the background (also to Foto Flexer).

3.  Then I played on Foto Flexer with the layers, cropping, etc.  And honestly, I just messed around with it until I liked the way it looked.  Of course, I saved it.  Don't forget to do that!

4.  Now I took the newly created file of the two layered/merged images (gingham and teacup) and uploaded it to Picnik. Then I just used the free text editing and added the details for the invitation.

5.  Saved that invitation and then uploaded it to Walgreens where they were ready in about 45 minutes. 

If I do say so myself, I am pretty pleased with how these turned out.  

*********

So, 

will YOU come?  

What books would you bring?

Gardening?  Fiction?  Magazines?

I'll keep you posted on the details of this little shindig!  

And thank you so much for buzzin' in today!  

Oh and I'm showing this off over at My Romantic Home.  Thank you Cindy for hostessing this fun little (well - not so little anymore) party! 

Have I Run Out of Ideas?

Say it ain't so, Sweet Bee!

Naw - I haven't run out of ideas, but I sure have run out of time to work on them.  

Do you remember this project?  

Well right now it's laying on sawhorses in my sunroom/dining room where it was recently caulked and is awaiting its paint. 

I vow to finish that project by this weekend!

But I did want to share with you one of the tastiest giveaways I've ever won!

I won a giveaway (a few months ago now) from the ever so delightful Kim from Cheap Chic Home.  King Arthur Flour was having a wonderful giveaway through her blog.  It was a muffin extravaganza!

I got those fun tulip (?) muffin wrappers.  

Don't my muffins look all fancy?

It came with the Vermont Maple Walnut Muffin Mix - yummmmmy on a cold winter day.

And also a basic muffin mix.  

I've added chopped dark chocolate to this mix with some orange zest.  YUMMM!

(that's what you see pictured above)

It is SOOOOO much better than any muffin mix I have ever bought at the grocery store.  

And another time....(yes, this mix is good for more than just one batch of muffins)

I added some crushed blueberries and a sprinkling of nutmeg and raw sugar on top. 

(of course, there are no pictures of that 'cause I made those for Baby Bee's birthday sleepover breakfast and they were devoured by ravenous 9 and 10 year old girls before I could even blink)

So thank you Kim 

and 

thank you King Arthur Flour! 

Oh and by the way, King Arthur Flour? 

------dear readers, avert your eyes now if you don't want to read my shameless begging --------- 

Any time you want to have another giveaway, I'm available! 

(that was terrible, wasn't it, but do you blame me?) 

Thank you so much for buzzin' by!  I have enough mix left to make some muffins for us - what kind would you like?  Now don't be shy!  I'd be happy to make you a little treat.

A Little Bird Told Me....

Yes, this little birdie mentioned that we celebrated a certain Baby Bee's birthday.....

So we had to get out the FAMILY BIRTHDAY DECORATIONS!

These are kind of like holiday decorations, 

but they're for family birthdays!

Can you guess how old Baby Bee is now?

First, we fill one of the apothecary jars with all kinds of birthday candles......

Then we get out the cutest little cupcake from the fabulous

Jenny Holiday.

(Worked a long time getting that little cutie on ebay several years ago.)

And of course, this plaque is a particular favorite 'cause she looks just like my Baby Bee did when she was about 4 years old!  Baby Bee even had that mischievous and yet angelic expression on her face too.

And here they are, all together!

Do you have special decorations for your family birthdays?

Well I'm sharing these over at 

My Romantic Home

for

Show and Tell Friday!

Hope you can join us over there for the party!

Thanks for buzzin' in!  We all enjoy seeing you visit our little cottage.

And thank you for all your well wishes!  I'm good enough to go to work and those report cards are all done and delivered to my students.  YEAH!

And, if you're still here - I'm working on my 400 follower giveaway!
Here's a sneak peek......

hope you can buzz by again!