Tea Party Tips and Recipes

 Spring is the perfect time to host a tea party! I had fun deciding what I would serve, deciding on my decorations and making the invitations and menu.

The first thing I did, of course, was to make the invitations. The font I used on the invitations and the menues is Centeria Script Demo, a free font I uploaded from the internet.

Ten ladies were able to attend.

                            
 For the place settings I used pink transferware Villeroy and Boch dishes that I purchased in Germany, on cream tin chargers.

I printed a menu so the ladies would know what was being served.

I had a selection of herbal teas available so the guests could choose their own flavor.

I hung some Martha Stewart lacy paper lanterns in the windows and in the corner of the room.

Here are the savory choices: chicken salad on homemade sweet potato rolls, cucumber sandwiches on homemade white bread, and avocado egg salad with bacon on homemade wheat rolls. I added cherry tomatoes for garnish. Not pictured are cream scones, which were on a separate platter. There was clotted cream and homemade strawberry jam to put on the scones.

 The dessert choices were strawberry lemon bars, lemon curd tarts, chocolate chip cookies with toll house spring chips,

and strawberry-filled cupcakes with strawberry icing. I wrapped them in cupcake skirts purchased at TJ Maxx.

For a centerpiece I used a silver candelabra surrounded by small vases of pink azaleas from our yard.

  I looked for something small and narrow I could use for the mini vases,

and discovered these salt and pepper shakers at Wal-Mart for less than a dollar for two of them.

I added organza ribbon and a small pearl bead to each bottle.

I had fun making pink sugar cubes for the tea. The tray the sugar cubes are displayed on in this photo is from Ikea. For the tea party they were served on a pink depression glass plate.

To make the sugar cubes, tint regular sugar with pink food coloring in just a tiny bit of water. The blossom mold is also from Ikea, for 99 cents.

Pack the sugar into the molds, but only about half full.

Use the flat end of a wooden spoon to pack the sugar down tightly into the mold.

 Let the sugar cubes sit over night until dry. The cubes will slid out easily. Store in an airtight container.

Cucumber sandwiches are standard fare at a tea party. I made small loaves of white bread, then cut out circles with a cookies cutter.

 I cut the cucumbers into flower shapes with another cookie cutter.

 I spread the bread with cream cheese with chives and placed the cucumbers on top.

One thing I forgot to take a picture of was the take home gifts for each lady. I'd made a small loaf of bread and a small plastic container of homemade strawberry jam for each one. I also provided small pretty paper plates for the ladies to load up any leftovers they wanted to take home with them.

Probably the two favorite items on the menu were the cream scones and the avocado egg salad with bacon. Here's the link to the recipe for the egg salad, found on ourbestbites.com.

http://ourbestbites.com/2015/04/avocado-egg-salad/

 I copied the recipe for cream scones many years ago and don't remember where I got it from.                                                             
Cream Scones

2 cups flour                               1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt                       1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter, chilled               1 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix all dry ingredients together. Cut in cold butter with pastry blender until mixture is the size of peas. Add cream and mix to form a stiff batter; it may not cling together. Knead 5-10 times to form dough, adding only as much flour as necessary so it's not sticky.
Divide dough into two equal parts. Pat each half into a circle. It should be about 1" thick. Cut each circle into six or eight wedges. Brush tops with cream and dip into sugar.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until just slightly browned on the bottom. DO NOT OVER BAKE!   Makes either 16 small or 12 medium sized scones, depending on how many wedges you cut
Serve with clotted cream and jam.

Clotted Cream

1/2 cup sour cream                         1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup heavy cream                      1/4 cup confectioners sugar

 Mix together sour cream and vanilla. Beat cream in a chilled bowl. When cream forms into medium- stiff peaks, sprinkle on sugar and continue to beat. When sugar is integrated and peaks are stiff, gently fold in the sour cream/vanilla mixture.  

How to Hang Sweaters Without Stretching Them out or Taking up too Much Space in Your Closet

As most people have, I've learned many helpful tips from Pinterest.  One of them I found here was a way to hang sweaters on hangers so they don't stretch out and get bumps at the shoulders.  I started doing this, and it works great, but it took up lots of room in my closet.

Here's my solution to not take up so much space.  I bought some cheap shower hooks -these were at Home Depot for $1.49 for twelve of them.

I put the thin part around the "neck" of the hanger.

I put the sweaters on the hangers.

Then hung four sweaters one on top of the others.

Ta da!  Now I can hang a dozen sweaters but only take up the space of three on the bar in my closet. And yes, I organize my sweaters by color.

Autumn Decor

CUPCAKES!!

Made these Reeses and Andes Mint cupcakes for refreshments for my book club, then had enough left over to invite the neighbors over to eat them, too. The batter for the chocolate cake was the same, but the centers and the frosting were different. Both tasted yummy.
I put a mint truffle in the center of the cake for the Andes cupcake, with a mint buttercream frosting.

I put a peanut butter ball inside the cake of the Reeses cupcakes, with a peanut buttercream frosting.

Baby Shower Cookies

FYI, these tasted as good as they were pretty!!

Easter/Spring Decor

As I've looked at blogs this year, the latest trend seems to be decorating with pennant banners. They didn't look too difficult to make, so I designed one for Easter. It was more time intensive than I expected, but then, I made the triangles out of fabric, backed them with pellon and sewed ribbon around each one. There's also embellishments on the letters, but you can't see that. I love organza and use it whenever I can.

The bunnies are Villeroy and Boch from Germany.

This "flower box" under a picture in my entry way is filled according to the season.

I bought these little "flower children" in Germany, and they're standing on a step tansu I was given when we lived in Japan.

These egg candles looked just right on the crystal candlesticks.