Welcome Spring...Virtual Tea Party 2009

Happy Spring!

this past Saturday, March 21, i was able to participate in my sis, Mary Ann's,
~Vintage Tea Room's Virtual Tea Party 2009 ~

i was baking + cooking up a storm early that morning but alas...

please forgive me...as my Spring Tea Party is a wee-bit late...

if i were to wake up in the City of Love...this is what i'd imagine my Paris Spring Breakfast to look+taste like (of course, i'd like to add more like pan de chocolat, croissants, Ladurée baked goodies like their famous macaroons)...

but first i'd have to get a much bigger table...hee-hee...

i don't have too much of a tea cup collection like some of you or my sis, Mary Ann, but my other sis, Bobbie of Bee Line Sweets Co. (website coming soon) + i went shopping and she found a pair of gorgeous cake plates+cake knives (see below pic)

i mean, how pretty is that?! and the price was just right for a mere $2.99...

wow..wish there was a set with tea cups/saucers and the works...now i'll be on the HUNT for this type of pattern...reminds me of Rachel Ashwell...i just love the robin's egg blue, pink + sage colours and the design is really quite pretty!

i just gathered what i had...

added a few flowers to each teacup to keep it sweet + baked my lil' heart out

by the way, i found this adorable white-washed set of table+2 chairs on my last antiquing adventure with my sis, Mary Ann...at a HUGE antique mall up North called ANGELICA's. it's a drop-leaf old farmtable and the chairs have nice spindle+arch design...sorta reminds me of scandanavian furniture...the best part of this is the price...only $72 bucks for the set...wow...i was floored and i bought it for my lil' munchkins' library/study table but when my lil' ones aren't using it...

i like to use if for my lil' photo shoots...lil' tea parties...you know what i mean?!

i made mini banana cakes, blueberry muffins, eggrolls, crabcakes, cinnamon streusal cake and mini waffle fluffernutter and nutella sandwiches all served with chamomile tea, strawberries, blueberries, mints + chocolates...mmm

my mom + pop came over a little later and took half of this cake...the cinnamony aroma drowned out the eggroll/crabcake smell (whew!) and just filled the house with warm cinnamon+carmel scent and everyone was in heaven!

eggrolls are quite messy to cook but the crunchy taste makes up for it and they are absolutely delectable-esp. with Chinatown's sweet+sour sauce...mmmm...the crabcakes were just ok...got it from Sam's Club...bet if it were homemade, it would have been a bit more tastier and crunchier!

i made the eiffel tower and altered cake box last year for Jaime Compton's Marie Antoinette Cake Box Swap...wow...how time flies...

i just though it would go perfectly with my Paris Spring Breakfast theme...

the waffle sandwiches were scrumptious! (i made fluffernutter and nutella waffle heart sandwiches) the lil' ones loved them too! i think my fav would have to be the fluffernutter ones...

(remember when your mom or grandma would make 'fluffernutter' sandwiches???)
yummo!

it's fluffy marshmellow spread+creamy (or crunchy, your choice) peanut butter on bread...but this time, i made heart mini waffles...it simply melts in your mouth!

shioban adored this cinnamon streusal cake...

she loves that carmely, cinnamony taste...and so do i

aren't peonies just the prettiest lil' flowers?

crunchy eggrolls and crabcakes...something different for a Parisian Springtime Breakfast, huh?

they also love mini banana cakes

yummy fluffernutter + nutella mini heart waffle sandwiches...perfect

for lil' hands...

chamomile tea was the choice of the day...

perfect to welcome SPRING!

pretty flowers always perk up things, don't they?

it was truly a sweet teatime and we all enjoyed it...

sending lovely thank you wishes to my sis, Mary Ann, for hosting such a sweet

Springtime Virtual Tea Party...

to see who else is welcoming Spring with delicious teatime, go and check out the
Vintage Tea Room over at flickr and grap a cuppa tea and dream on...
merci beaucoup!

bonne nuit

xoxo jo ;)

Paris in Spring...

i've never been to Paris, but my love for that city is apparent...

i just sent my sweet sis, Mary Ann, my contribution to the 2009 Spring Itty Bitty Book Swap.

when i think of spring, i see the colours white+robin's egg blue...there's something refreshing about those colours...i automatically think 'fresh', 'anew' and 'life'.

y'know...after a deep winter freeze, all bundled up in layers and the world in a type of darkness...spring to me is a breath of fresh air...

in this challenge, i brought in 3 lil' bluebirds visiting the city i dream of...birds are already tweeting about in front of my studio...flittering about around the bushes...i love the sounds of birds chirping...to me that's a sure sign of SPRING...my 3 lil' bluebirds are fluttering about a lil' eiffel i drew...bringing with them strands of pretty + fresh garlands...decorating this lil' tower with freshness + sweetness!

those same 3 words when i think about spring also gave me an idea for an uplifting motto:

"anew...your fresh...sweet life..."
what a happy thought esp. during these hard times we are all going through...

i know my sis likes vintagey images for her itty bitty group but nothing really caught my eye when rifling through the net for cute lil' spring images...

so i thought making a lil' tower would be nice or so i thought. when i showed my dh my finished product, i asked him what he thought this looked like...and well...my dh isn't the most creative soule out there but he made me laugh...he said it looked like an 'oil tower' like the ones jr ewing had on his ranch... oy vay... leave it to my dh to spoil my creative high...
well...i guess it sorta looks like an 'oil tower'...well at least a 'tower' at that...lol ;)

i don't know about you, but it takes me awhile...several runs to create something...until i finally think maybe this is just right...

the lil' birdie, the milk glass and the robin egg blue eggs gave me the inspiration for this challenge...i really LOVE these colours...

well, i'm off to celebrate my mom's b-day party at Chinatown with the family...i hope my sis and our flickr group will like the spring tower...or even chuckle abit if it does remind them of an oil tower...

bonne nuit!

xoxo jo ;)