Details of the Tea Party

I cannot tell you in words how excited I have been to gain blog followers and fans on Facebook as a result of the features on the Tea Party I put together. (23 followers is big news for little ole me!) I would like you all to think that it was nearly impossible to put together and I spent thousands getting it perfect. Neither of those things are true, however, so here are the do it yourself details!

First up, the butterfly lollipops. Did you know it's totally easy to make your own?? I had no idea either, until Jessica of Pen N Paperflowers posted a tutorial. (If ever there was a brilliant blogger/creative mind on this planet, it's Jessica of Pen N PaperFlowers.) The best part is, you don't have to scour the candy aisle looking for something to match your theme... Lollipop molds are made in hundreds (if not thousands) of shapes and sizes. I did learn a few things of my own after 3 failed attempts, so take these hints with you when you check her tutorial out... First, make sure you pile the candy up REALLY high, especially in fragile places. For the butterfly mold, it was the tips of the wings. If there isn't enough candy piled on, it will burn and turn the candy an ugly brown color.

Also, I found that by spraying a paper towel with non-stick spray and then lightly greasing the mold, I had better results than just directly spraying from the canister onto the mold. It takes only a very little amount of non-stick spray to get the lollipops to come out easily.

I won't lie. I thought the table cloth was adorable. The pink polka dots with the floral vintage fabric on top was perfect. And, I had good intentions of spending a long time sewing a nice table cloth together. But, I actually don't know how to sew and when my Mother In Law came to help me, we were unable to get the machine working. So, I simply placed the fabrics on top of the table. No cutting, no sewing. With coupons, fabric is many times just as affordable as a plastic tablecloth but with a much prettier result.

The chocolate tea cup, saucer and spoon was also a homemade detail. With another candy mold! This is also, totally easy! I did figure out another helpful little trick, though. If you just pour the chocolate into the mold, you will have air bubbles and the surface won't be smooth. I combated this by first painting on a layer of chocolate and then pouring the rest in. Yes, with a paintbrush... Just make sure your brush is high quality enough that bristles won't come off the brush and onto your mold. I'm not very crafty, so I bought edible flowers and using more chocolate, "glued" it right onto the side of the cup. Easy, peasy!

For the cupcake pedestals I followed the Executive Homemaker tutorial for making a cake plate. I cannot re-find the tutorial for the life of me! Here's basically what the tutorial says... Buy some kind of base, buy some kind of a plate and glue them both together with E6000. In my case, I bought candlesticks from Michael's and tea saucers from Goodwill. Total cost of the project, $20 including spray paint and the glue! (And that made 6 of them!) Click for an alternative and just as good tutorial, here.

The cupcake bouquet was painless considering the finished product. I cut a styrofoam ball in half, placed it inside of the tea pot, added my cupcakes on kabob skewers and filled in the empty places with hydrangea from my friend's yard.

Are you ready for the details on the tutu bench?? I bought about 10 yards of fabric, cut the tulle into  6" wide by 36" long strips and tied it directly onto the bench. Since tulle is stiff, that's all you have to do. Tie it on and it will poof out like a tutu. This would be especially cute for dressing up little girl's chairs for a princess party, or to make the birthday girl's seat extra special.
I also used a tutorial for making korker hair bows to figure out how to get ribbon to perfectly curl and then used the ribbon to tie up my lollipops. The flower pomander hanging from the tree was a find at a local model home clearance center for $5 and the white paper lantern came from the dollar store. I just glued on the butterfly to "cute" it up a bit.

So, there it is. Nothing too fancy about it and yet, it did turn out beautiful, if I do say so myself. : )

Next week I'm making my dessert table debut for a girlfriend's paper shop boutique and a week after that my little man turns 3. I hope you stick around to see the results!

Kate