Monday, February 27, 2012

A Mad Hatter Tea Party, Part 1

Me, as the Mad Hatter
Pic by Lita
"We're all mad here" ~Cheshire Cat
My Mad Hatter Tea Party Bunco party was a success! For 16 months I had gathered bits and pieces of things that I could possibly use to decorate my theme. For the last three weeks leading up to the party, I worked on those decorations from dusk to dawn, putting together tables, testing teas, baking goods, even making my own sugar cubes! I'll include some "how to's" in these posts and to recoup some of the costs, I'll have a few of the items you see here in my Etsy store for sale next month. I hope you enjoy my take on the Mad Hatter Tea Party and perhaps it will give you all some ideas to throw your very own Mad Hatter themed party! I have a lot to share from this party! Be forewarned...it's quite long! I had no time to pull out the big camera and take pro shots so hope the iPhone images will suffice!

The overall look for my tea party was a mix of bright colors and vintage items. The menu was based on a British High Tea experience with champagne, high quality loose teas, delicious tea sandwiches, scones and bite-sized desserts. Of course, since the Mad Hatter was hosting it, there would be a bit of madness here and there such as vintage mismatched teacups and a variety of interesting teapots.

A variety of vintage teacups

Wedgewood and a delicate teacup make a perfect combo

The tea table featured seven different loose teas, each in a different pot. Each teapot sat on a lace doily and had a delicate silver tea strainer. Vintage teacups for the guests usage were placed on and around the table. This gave everyone an opportunity to pick a cup that suited their aesthetic and a tea that suited their palate, which helped to give each party goer a unique experience. To add a little whimsy and history to the table setting, small clippings from the chapter on the Mad Hatter tea party from the Alice in Wonderland book were placed under the clear table covering, along with a vintage instruction sheet on brewing the perfect cup of tea. 
 After pouring their teas, the guests could then move to the side tea table which was filled with additions for a perfect cup of tea such as honey and lemon flavoring spoons, fresh sliced lemon, organic mint leaves and even decorative sugar cubes I made myself!


To easily decorate sugar cubes, place a handful of white melting candies in a Ziploc bag and melt in microwave for 10secs at a time, kneading to smooth out after each time until just melted. Snip a 1/8" corner from the bag and put a small dab on top of a sugar cube. Press a edible Royal Icing flower on top and let set before serving. Voila! Pretty cubes that are super easy to create! Use natural rock cubes to give a whimsical look to them.


The table with the tea additions was decorated with a variety of items related to the book...a white rabbit, a top hat made out of a $3.00 foam hat picked up from Michaels, book clippings, a dormouse in a teacup, large brass key, pocket watches and finally, a vintage looking glass highlighting a page in the Alice in Wonderland book. It's the small details that make the party interesting and fun!




Next up I'll share how the big food table was decorated and what was on the menu so stay tuned...












Saturday, February 25, 2012

Nature's Beauty

Thought I would share a couple of pictures of Nature's Beauty taken yesterday with my new camera, the Nikon D7000! I really love it so far. It has a quiet mode shutter speed which allowed me to get really close to the hummingbird without scaring him off. I've had the camera for over a week but just yesterday finally broke it out of it's box and headed outdoors with it. Nichole and I have decided to take a break from our iPhone missions since we are at a good stopping place of 25 completed. We will do the next 25 over the summer. I think the iPhone mission has made me a bit lazy with my blog. I miss making things, painting and inspiring you all with my artsy adventures. I'm recommitting to more artful posts this Spring! I've been trying to find the time to blog about the Mad Hatter Tea Party but it's taking some time to get all the details written out. I want you all to feel like you were there! So, here are a couple of pics to tie you over until I finish that blog post. :)

First Blush

 Little Hummingbird

Captured Blooms

Sunday, February 19, 2012

iPhoneography Mission #25

iPhoneography Mission #25: 
Call out to your pet and record the moment of connection.


I do not have the most cooperative cats when it comes to photography. Somehow they always know when a camera is in my hand. Even with the iPhone camera, and bird calls coming from my lips, I am still thwarted by closed eyes or a turn of the head. So I only have a few images to share with you for this mission as pictures were just blurs of fur as the little buggers ran off to hide from my lens. :)

Mom, you are disturbing my bird watching!

The ears back mean Back Off!

 Rawrrrr!

 Calm (but one more snap and her mood could change!)
The life of a pampered cat is soooo very tiring!

And, since these pets weren't cooperating, I called out to my other "pet":


Now, I can give my cats (and hubby!) a break from having a camera in their face and move on to the next mission...

iPhoneography Mission #26: Make water stains.
Ohhh...sounds like an opportunity to get very creative!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

iPhoneography Mission #24

iPhoneography Mission #24: Seek Color


I got lucky this week for Mission #24 as I had to run to the antique store for a last minute purchase for my upcoming Mad Hatter Tea Party. After I had made my purchase, I took a quick run through the store, snapping away at colorful things that caught my eye.

 Blue Dog

 Blue Swirls

 Fiery Feathers

 Fanned Out

 Colors of the Kimono

 Pretty Plumes

 Of course it buys happiness!

 Sequins

 Xylophone

 Colors in Abstract

Beady

And here is the next mission!:
iPhoneography Mission #25: Call out to your pet and record the moment of connection.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

iPhoneography Mission #23

iPhoneography Mission #23: Find something round.


And so I did...

Red Round

Bullseye

What Time Is It?

 Connected

Through the Looking Glass

Polka Dot

Reflect x 6

Reflection in the Round

Square+Round+Octagon

That was a fun mission! I'm sure more round things will be in my future images. For now though, let's move on to the next one:

Mission #24: Seek color.

Mmmm...color. ♥