A Springtime Giveaway!

Sweet perfumes scent the balmy air,

and life is brimming everywhere.

~Paul Laurence Dunbar

Springtime makes me happy! I love seeing everything in the garden blooming and all the beautiful creatures coming out to play! In honor of this beautiful season, I'm doing a Springtime Giveaway! Enjoy these lovely images taken this weekend in my garden and then scroll down to see details on the prize and how to enter!

A Momentary Spring

Bromeliad and Bokeh

Guava Flowers

Pink seems to be the predominate color in my garden right now...

Pink x 2

The pompom (or powder puff) bush is bursting with spiky pink goodness:

And even my orchids have begun showing off their various shades of pinks:

Deep Pinks

Pale Pinks

Patterned Pinks

Magenta

Even our Bunco group is getting into Spring with a "Garden Party" themed bunco! I made these cute garden cupcakes for the party:

(idea stolen from the fabulous book Hello, Cupcake!)

Sally & I don our best Garden Hats (and for those Big Bang Theory fans, my pink & green floral dress is the same one Bernadette wore when she said Yes to Howard's proposal. sweet!)

How about a Spring Giveaway? I'm giving away to one lucky person, my beautiful hand-painted Butterfly Box which is filled with my Butterfly Note Cards and organic butterfly seeds I cultivated myself! Now, you can start your own Butterfly Garden! :)

All you need to do to have a chance to win is become a fan of my Photography Facebook Page or click the button on my blog that says "Join This Site" and become a member of my clubhouse! Then, leave a comment   about your favorite childhood garden memory! (If you are already a fan or member, just leave a comment for me so I know you were here!) I'll use a random number generator next week to pick a winner! And, here's another little incentive...if you are an artist or crafter, a little extra something will be in the box! :)  Good luck everyone and I'll leave you with one more image from my garden:

Reaching

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...

Hump Day Humor

Last night I attended our monthly bunco party and the theme was "You Might Be A Redneck if...".
Two of our players, Nancy and Kelly came in character which gave us all quite a laugh.
Penny, the host did a great job decorating too...what with smashed beer cans in the yard, baby items strewn all over, trash piled high and even a truck parked in the yard and a couch on the porch. All in all it was a smashing good time and made even more so by the fact that I won the big cash prize! Yay! That will help to cover the costs of my next bunco which is next month! My theme is "Mad Hatter Tea Party".  A month away..oh my...I'm late, I'm late, I'm late in getting started on my decorations!

Redneck Nancy

Intimates on the Line

Redneck Kelly

Me, as a Trucker (the extent of my redneckness...I am from the Midwest after all!)

Out of the South and Onward to Wonderland!

Fat Cat Cupcakes

For last night's Bunco theme of  "It's Raining Cats and Dogs", I made these Fat Cat cupcakes.
Aren't they cute??

It took me six hours to decorate 11 cats and that was baking the cupcakes and making the fishbones the day before! Of course, I can't take credit for the idea. It comes from this fabulous book:  Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make

Although I didn't win at Bunco, I did manage to drop my iPhone into the toilet. After leaving it overnight in a bag of rice, it seems to be working...except the camera lens has condensation all over it and is hazy! Not good for iPhoneography so I am off today to the Apple store. :(