A BLESSING OF A CUP

I recently shared the teaset in my header

above which I got for my birthday

last month.  In the header above you see

one of the cups on the left turned

backwards because it has a chip on the 

front of the cup.

A Facebook friend in my Afternoon

Tea Across America group sent me a

replacement cup which arrived today!
She said she got it at a yard sale.

So now, I have a perfect Welbeck set

that I posted about here and even the

backstamp is the same.

Thanks so much Laura!

TEA TIME WITH A BOX AND A BOOK

Last night I made some lemon pound cake so

I decided to have some today with a cup

of hot tea.  It is a lovely day and the sun

is shining so that's always wonderful!

I love looking at the photos of wonderful

English gardens in this book.  We have

just a few of the first pansies and tiny sized

daffodils blooming now out front.  

This week is spring break for all

the school children.

Last night I recovered a box that something

came in and ended up with a purple violet

and pansy and music themed box.

I also glued pictures on the

inside of the box.

Please help yourself to tea and cake!

I am so happy we can walk again now

outside.  Temperatures this week are in the

50's and 60's and for that I am grateful.

If the recipe for Lemon Pound cake

interests you - it is here.

NEVER THROW A BUNNY AWAY

I was going to toss these bunnies I have 

had since the 1980's and then thought "I

just need to redo them of course!"  I

also redid three eggs from that era

by recovering them!  They were very

bright foil colors before.

I especially loved the pansy one!

I admire the creativity of Wendy Addison

and ordered some cones made by her that

were resold on ebay.  Her shop "The

Theater of Dreams" is in Port Costa, Ca.

I really enjoy her Christmas and Spring designs
and her recreation of Victorian Ephemera.

THE SEARCH IS OVER

For quite a few years I have looked for a

Welbeck tea set or at least the teapot that

was sold through Victoria Magazine back

in the l990's.  Last month was my birthday

and we went to Kansas City for the day. 

 

On the way back we stopped in a 

small town antique mall and look what I found:

I was beside my with happiness when I 

happened upon a booth with this set and

the seller had proudly displayed the

magazine pages where the Welbeck 

Chintzware was sold.  I got all the 

pieces above for $140.00.

Since it is the first "official" day of spring

I thought I would enjoy it in the kitchen.

When we lived in Colorado, there

was a woman who had a booth along

the feeder road flea markets in

Ft. Collins.  She wanted $150.00

for the Welbeck teapot.  I sure

wanted it but that was a lot of

money for me so I always looked

at it lovingly and passed it up.

Springtime is always a joyful

time to decorate with bunnies.

And of course pansies

are an expected item.

So how about you - are

you ready to decorate for spring?

EASTER CROSSES

I recently worked on a dozen

crosses to give to friends and

share at my church.

I decorated a special bag for each one too!

As spring arrives I plan to be busy in the 

garden but lots of crafting has helped

 me survive this winter.  If I didn't enjoy

hobbies, tea, sewing, baking, etc 

 - I would be very bored!

EPHEMERA PAPER SHOES

Yesterday I made some paper shoes.  
I had seen the ones in the current
issue of Victoria Magazine so I was

inspired to try some:

They were definitely not an easy

project.  I didn't have a pattern so

I did a lot of guessing.

My labels reads "Victorian Ephemera

for the 21st Century by Bernideen".

For this project - I sewed quite a 

bit of the paper.

AN IRISH TEA TIME

Now that we can smell the air and

sense that off in the distance there

is just the slightest whiff of spring,

let's celebrate with a cup of Irish
Breakfast tea!

This was the coldest and snowiest

 winter for us since we moved to Missouri 
3 years ago.  So, we are ready for spring.

In the past, I have shared this doll which
 I purchased in Toronto, Canada back in 
the 80's and also the tea cozy I made
 from my Grandmother's napkin's she
embroidered for me when I got 
married in 1968.

This Irish Shamrock decoration was 
made by my friend Gina.  I have been
enjoying it in my kitchen window.

EASTER EPHEMERA

After making some Ephemera
 ornaments at Christmastime and quite
 a few cards at Valentines Day, I have
 gotten even more interested in making  cards, ornaments,
 decorations, etc.

A friend here gave me the base
"postcard" decorations above which came
from the Hobby Lobby so I embellished
them a little more.

My tea lady friends as we call
ourselves here in Columbia love 
doing this too but we all put different
 styles together.  As you can see I
have been using my kitchen
table to cut things out over this
snowy weekend.  Now that the
tea is over - time to move this
back to one of the larger tea
tables which do come in handy!

Last week I spent 3-4 hours designing various 
sayings in English and French to put on
 cards, etc.  Of  course, then they have to be
 copied and pasted to print them in a variety

 of font sizes.  I didn't like all of  them

 all afterwards,  but for me I don't think 

of it as a waste of time because that's

how I learned to do something new.

Of course - this artwork all focuses on 
Easter.  Last year  a friend gave me
the little basket ornaments for my 
birthday and the above 2 postcard
type pictures.  Now I added another
and put all on a star wreath I put
together for Easter:

Sharing at:
Create, Bake, Grow and Gather

MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS PAY A VISIT

A few months back, the Children's

Director at my church approached me
 about borrowing my tea room.

Since they are from my church and

the date was open,  how could I say

 no to those sweet mothers and daughters. 

I let the committee in several times

 this week to set the tables, do their
flowers, get a plan and figure

out their format for tea time. 

 It was held early on Saturday 

because everyone wanted to move 

on to their busy day.

For me,  I helped in the dish washing department at the end
 of the tea. Since they are my teacups
 and teapots, etc. I thought
 maybe I would jump in.

I hope you enjoy the photos of
the room.  I am not sharing photos
of the children for privacy reasons
but will tell you this table was
where girls sat who came here
from Rwanda and several were
born in a refugee camp.  They
were totally awestruck!

Teapots and Afternoon
 Tiered
 Tea Trays were
used at every table.

I do have permission to share
this photo of the director and
her daughter: