Beauty from Ashes

04/08/201804/08/2018

Good morning dear ones. I have been looking forward to sharing this photo shoot with you for a very long time. It literally grew out of the ashes of a dangerous bush fire near our local beach village in the peak of a stifling Summer last January. The flames came perilously close to homes, although thankfully all were spared.

Each time I drove past this particular section of bushland all I could see was beauty. The traumatised trees stood defiantly in the bare earth, looking naked without bushy scrub at their heels. At first the scorched land seemed too damaged to recover, but eventually green shoots began to emerge. New life. It was truly breathtaking.

In my obsessively creative mind, a picture began to form of a vintage dessert table nestled amongst the charcoaled aftermath. I wanted to set a scene of contradiction with a table of delicate desserts in striking contrast to the harsh forest. Everything needed to be out of context. An old dressing table laden with vintage cakes and cupcakes and pretty buntings hanging from trees. Elements more suited to a bridal shower than a camp ground.

Of course dreams in my head usually take a while (often years) to become reality, so by the time I was able to execute this one, fresh new buds of life had turned into spindly clumps of grass dotted over the landscape. Not to be deterred! It was still beautiful. The day I scheduled the shoot it was raining, so we stood huddled under the shelter of our van boot waiting for a break in the weather. Eventually we had a window straight from Heaven. The sun came out so we quickly moved furniture, hung up buntings, trudged desserts over fallen twigs and hustled into position. We ended up with one hour of glorious afternoon twilight.

Oh my heart. Perfection.

Dear Miss Mary was my model, with a guest appearance from Bertie the bunny. Both were incredibly photogenic, but I may be a bit biased there.

Keeping the colour palette soft and muted with a feminine touch, I created desserts to match the pastel peach of Mary’s dress and headband.

I wanted to create an oasis. A tea party in the bush. An atmosphere of discovery and delight in the midst of adversity. One thing I have learnt is that the sweetest moments in life often arise out of the greatest trial. Beauty can indeed emerge from the ashes.

So often as a mother I wrestle with my own failures. Sometimes on a daily basis. No matter how hard I try I will never get it all right all the time. It’s just not possible, and yet I know I am not alone in being swallowed up by perceived or real mistakes made and opportunities lost. I imagine most mothers feel this way sooner or later.

Harsh words are spoken that cannot be taken back, frustrations spilling over into anger, the wrestle within to keep from putting self first, feeling like we aren’t good enough and our kids are going to be all messed up. We can get caught up in thinking that if only I were this or that, or could do this better, or was more like that mother…if only I were different, if only I wasn’t the way I am…then I would be a better mother. We let the fire of lies blast us bare.

My youngest daughter Kitty is quite affectionate, like most six year olds, and lavishes me with hugs, kisses and affirmation of her undying love for me. A few weeks ago she was saying grace before a meal and started thanking God for her mummy, saying that I had a pretty face and was “everything I ever wanted my mummy to be when I was in Heaven before I was born”. I was so touched by her genuine appreciation for who I am simply because I am her mother. She was satisfied that I was good enough, confident that I was capable to be her mother just because I am me. How hard it is to rest in that knowledge and let the wisdom of babes speak truth over us.

So, the next time self doubt creeps into my mother heart, I will trust that the Lord actually knew what He was doing when in His wisdom He made me the mother of my children. He alone will bring forth beauty from the ashes of my failings, mistakes and weakness. All I need to do is stop where I am and take a good look around me. I might just see that the view from here, although bearing the scars from trial, is still pretty special.

Photography // Sarah Rickard Photography

RECIPE // Lemon coconut cake with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream (and a nod to Violet)

29/07/201830/07/2018

Well a big hello my Lovelies! How’s things?

I know it was a couple of months ago now, but who watched the Royal Wedding? Sigh. Wasn’t it just gorgeous!?

Ok, now keep your hands up if you loooved Megan Markle’s wedding dress. Sorry folks, but my hand goes down right there. I know I know…simple elegance, but nah, I tried, but I just could not see past an ill fitting, dare I say it, plain gown that did nothing for my expectations of royal nuptials. ( Please don’t throw anything at me! ) Thankfully her stunning veil saved the day and of course the sweet Duchess of Sussex is just so darn attractive she looks fabulous in anything.

The cake however, now there is a trend setting piece of sugar work that I am hoping will take the world by storm. Although, yes, admittedly, it too was rather plain for the palace, I was impressed by it’s daring simplicity. Sitting there on possibly priceless gold cake stands, were these very basic (dare I say rustic) cakes that gosh, even home baking amateurs like me could have a crack at.

What excites me most about this rustic marvel is the rough edges. That brilliantly buttercreamed border has announced to the home baking world that it is finally ok not to have that all elusive perfect razor sharp edge on your cakes. (Although I still love that look and hope one day to achieve it) But oh my, this is something to celebrate my friends. What a revolution! And honestly, isn’t it just so pretty?

So, it is with the greatest respect to Claire Ptak from Violet Cakes I offer you my nod to Violet. A celebration of the imperfect cake. To keep some vintage originality, I chose to give my cake more of a shabby chic look, using the prettiest pale pink roses and gorgeous ‘Wedgewood’ food colour. I hope we see a lot more of this cake decorating style in the future.

The Royal wedding cake was elderflower and lemon. For my cake I made a lemon and coconut cake with layers of raspberry swiss meringue buttercream and homemade lemon curd. Store bought curd will do, but let me encourage you to make your own as it really does taste so much better. I use this super simple recipe from Donna Hay.

Lemon coconut cake with raspberry swiss meringue buttercream

A subtle lemon cake filled with layers of fresh raspberry swiss meringue buttercream and homemade lemon curd.

Ingredients

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 cup warm water
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp each baking powder & Bicarb soda
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1 1/2 cups castor sugar
zest of two lemons

Raspberry swiss meringue buttercream

12 egg whites
2 1/2 cups castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
625 grams unsalted butter, chopped and at room temp (2 1/2 blocks) It needs to be quite soft
1 punnet fresh (or frozen) raspberries
2 - 3 drops pink gel paste I used Wilton Rose colour
1 cup lemon curd to put between cake layers I used Wilton Rose colour
4 -5 drops Americolor "Wedgewood" food gel paste For final coat of frosting

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C
Grease and line three 20cm (8 inch) round cake pans
In a medium bowl, using a hand whisk, beat eggs until well combined.
Add vanilla and oil. Whisk well
Add sour cream. Whisk until well combined. Add coconut and water, whisk well.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, bicarb soda
In another separate bowl, measure sugar. Add zest of two lemons and using your fingers rub the zest into sugar until well combined and fragrant.
Add sugar to dry mix and whisk together until well combined
Carefully pour wet mixture into dry mix. Whisk well.
Divide cake mixture into three prepared cake tins.
Bake in moderate oven for 25 minutes. Check and continue to bake for another 5 minutes if needed.
Place tins on a wire rack to cool. Leave cakes in tins for 10 minutes before turning onto rack. When completely cool, wrap each cake in plastic food wrap and refrigerate at least an hour (I leave mine overnight)

Swiss meringue buttercream

Carefully separate egg whites, ensuring no yolk gets in. I find it best to separate each egg in a small bowl before adding it to the mixing bowl, so you don't contaminate all of the other whites if some yolk gets in..make sense?
Keep two egg yolks to make your lemon curd
Place egg whites in your electric mixing bowl.
Add sugar and hand whisk until well combined
Put the bowl carefully over a medium saucepan on a stove, with 1 inch of simmering water in it. Whisk to ensure sugar and eggs are combined
Wait and watch for about ten minutes until you feel no sugar granules as you rub mixture between your fingers. NOTE: mixture will be hot but shouldn't be too hot to touch. Never do this if you are making caramel!!
When you are sure the sugar is dissolved, remove from stove top. Put bowl into electric mixer and using the whisk attachment whisk on high until meringue forms with stiff peaks. About 5 - 8 minutes
Stop mixer and change over to paddle attachment. (Give the whisk to the nearest child who walks past and s/he will love you forever)
Turn mixer onto the LOWEST speed and gradually add pieces of soft butter, one at a time. This will take some time.
Wait and watch. This is where SMBC can get tricky. When all of the butter is in, the mixture will change consistency and flop slightly. It will then change to look soupy, then curdled like scrambled eggs. Don't panic, YOU WANT THIS TO HAPPEN. Don't give up when it looks weird. It will take about 15 minutes to turn into silky smooth buttercream and you will be beside yourself with how fabulous it looks.
TROUBLESHOOTING: SMBC can be temperamental. If it still isn't coming together after say 25 minutes, then it probably won't. The experts say to refrigerate for 15 minutes then mix again, but this has never worked for me and I find it easier to admit defeat and start all over again. Yep, that means another dozen eggs, so be prepared.
If all is going well, rejoice!
Add vanilla bean paste and mix for another minute or so.
Separate icing into two bowls. Reserve half for final coat of frosting. Colour with "wedgewood" Gel paste.
Add raspberries to the second half of frosting. Add food gel paste to make it pink if that hasn't happened naturally. (frozen berries may give more colour than fresh)

Assembling the cake

Take your cold cakes out of the fridge. Using a serrated bread knife, carefully level cakes until flat on the top. They should be pretty flat already.
Put one layer of cake onto a cake board and onto a turntable if you have one.
Spread a spoonful of lemon curd onto the cake, then some of the raspberry meringue buttercream.
Repeat with second layer.
Turn third layer upside down and place on top. Eyeball the cake to check it is level.
NOTE: The cake I made in the photo has 4 layers. If you want the cake this tall you will need to make two batches, putting a third of the mixture into one 20cm (8 inch) round tin. I used the rest of the second batch to make cupcakes.
Using a cake spatula, smooth the sides of the cake and put more icing on top. Smooth as best as you can, adding more icing to cover the entire cake with a thin coat. This is called a 'crumb coat' and stops crumbs getting into your final coat of icing.
Refrigerate cake until crumb coat has crusted.
Use the remaining blue coloured buttercream to frost the cake. (Keep frosting at room temperature and beat on low to get back to desired consistency if necessary)

Just a few things to note. This recipe makes a three layered cake, not four like the photos. One batch will split evenly into three 20cm (8 inch) round cake tins. For my cake I made two batches and put a third of the extra batch into one cake tin. I baked the rest as cupcakes, which reminds me, all of my cake mixtures are interchangeable with cupcakes, so you can make either. Bonus.

You know my favourite outfit at the Royal wedding? Although Oprah came a close second in my eyes, I thought her Majesty the Queen rocked it with royal splendour. Did you notice how fabulous she looked? Wearing the brightest, almost neon lime green accented with deep purple feathers. Seriously, the woman is a legend. Who else could wear those colours? All I could think about was how gorgeous those colours would look in a cake, so watch this space.

God save the Queen. xx

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A Spring tea party in Autumn

28/04/2018

Good morning Lovelies. Isn’t it wonderful that Autumn has finally poked his chilly head up after a long and tiresome Summer (sorry, I know most of you love hot weather, but not me!) He has taken his time this year and most days are still quite warm, but I am relishing the fact that my flannie jammies and slippers are finally out of the cupboard at last.

Last Spring we welcomed a precious family into our home for afternoon tea. They live in Singapore, although they are an Australian family who are blessed with 13 children. I wanted to spoil them so I set up a really simple tea party using some colourful flowers as my inspiration. Never overlook cheap supermarket flowers. While some of them are quite ordinary, you will often find enough pretty ones to mix and match with greenery from your own garden to make a lovely table centrepiece. The key is to get creative with your presentation and put flowers in something unique, like these gorgeous vintage thermoses or painted mason jars.

With these sunshiney flowers as my inspiration, I built the entire theme around their bright colours. Sunset orange, fresh yellow, watermelon red with a splash of green became my colour palette.

Looking through my collection of vintage aprons I selected those which matched the theme, instantly adding a retro feel to the set up.

Another easy way to add a bit of fun to your tea party is to dress up some glass bottles. I raided my scrapbooking supplies to see if I had anything that would suit the colour scheme and found bright washi tape and cute wooden flower pegs. By adding string, paper flowers and matching straws to each bottle, I brought cohesion to the theme and delight to my guests. By adding white tags to each bottle, guests wrote their name, keeping their own bottle throughout the party. A win if there are a lot of children buzzing around.

What could be easier than giving guests soda water with fresh lemon slices and mint leaves to drink. Tea parties do not need to be complicated. It is all about presentation!

For the adults, I served tea in my gorgeous Johnson Australia cups.

To keep things super simple, I only served one cake for afternoon tea. I made a generous sized carrot and pecan cake with cream cheese frosting, decorated with flaked coconut and fresh flowers.

The rich colours of this tea party ooze the essence of Autumn, but could equally be a celebration of the arrival of Spring. Whichever hemisphere you live in, with Mother’s Day approaching, perhaps you will find inspiration to gather some of your favourite things together to host a little tea party of your own.

For more seasonal party inspo, check out my Spring Brunch or Autumn dessert table

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Woodland Baby Shower {Part 2}

20/10/201720/10/2017

Good morning Lovelies. How’s things? The girls and I flew solo this week as hubby took our 18 year old son adventuring in Tassie for a dose of hiking, snow seeking, white water rafting and bush walks. He has worked so hard this year, often at three jobs, so we wanted to give him a pat on the back and tell him how proud we are of the amazing young man he is becoming.

Time out is good for all of us. As stay at home mums of littlies and middle size kiddies would know, it’s not that easy to go on adventurous holidays. Actually, even just holidays. I think we’ve tried about three times to get away this year, but between the dog, two cats, rabbit, chickens, brand new chickies and kids agendas, its been nigh impossible.

To be honest though, I’m not that adventurous anyway. I really love my home, my kitchen, my books, tea, hearth and larder….ahh Bilbo Baggins, I see you. We don’t use our hearth much, but I am honestly very happy in my own space. This week one of my daughters suggested I should go out into the veggie garden more often…I can’t remember why she was saying that, but the first words that popped into my mouth were…”Why would I want to leave my kitchen?” Even I was taken aback by my candid reply. I was instantly struck by my own honesty….yes, I would rather be baking in my kitchen than pretty much anywhere else.

One thing I can do from home, to my delight, is create adorable baby showers and parties. When we heard our first grandchild was on the way, I was quick to talk with my son and his wife about the baby shower. As I was the stylist and sweets caterer for their gorgeous Vintage barefoot wedding, I knew pretty well what style they both like. Mostly vintage with a splash of sunshine, green from the earth, timber, natural textures and pops of colour.

My son requested that the shower be suitable for both guys and girls, as they wanted their friends to attend. I therefore kept to a fairly neutral palette, with lots of light timber, raw textures, white and hints of pink to celebrate that their baby is a girl. You can read about my heartfelt reflections on becoming a grandmother in Part 1 of this baby shower post HERE

I chose a bit of a boho woodland theme, keeping the design elements simple and not overly cluttered. I used some greenery, grasses, succulents, and one of my favourite vintage design elements, a homemade fabric garland, as a statement piece along the front of the dessert table. The timber pallets were a main feature of the display, which are a cheap and versatile way to dress up any dessert table. My husband made the backdrop timber board with wood panels from Bunnings, which was painted white.

I had fun creating the dessert menu for this baby shower. I decorated sugar cookies to look like flowers and gave chocolate coated peanut butter crackers a touch of cactus love. Caramel corn cupcakes were topped with cute foxes and woodland animal printables and the most delicious raw cakes topped off the dessert table.

I found these cute birch log card holders on eBay that matched my theme perfectly.

Apart from the main dessert table, my talented son made up antipasto platters for an extensive grazing table. He has a natural way of putting savoury food together, so I left that in his capable hands. I pulled out some of my quirky props, including old suitcases, wooden crates, enamelware and even an old set of scales. It is so easy to dress up a food table by using whatever funky things you have around your home to add height and interest to serve your food.

One of my go to serving ideas is to wrap small luncheon rolls in coordinating fabric or ribbon scraps. Such an easy way to dress up your table. It’s the little touches that turn an ordinary gathering into something special.

Another little idea I almost always do is get my kiddies baking biscuits or cookies for the table. A sweet homemade touch that goes the extra mile in making your guests feel spoilt, and your kids will feel important too.

Something else the kids can help with is decorating the drink glasses or bottles. I usually use mason jars or glass milk bottles, both available from cheap shops. They are so versatile and can literally be dressed to suit any theme or event. Personalising the name tags also helps make your guests feel valued, and encourages them to keep the same glass throughout the day.

Of course no baby shower in my home is complete without a tea station. I saved up most of the pink to use on my funky pink dresser that I just adore. I made up a ‘tea’ banner with coordinating printables and embellished it with matching fabric scraps and hung it across the mirror. Carefully selected tea cups sitting on the dresser were pretty enough to make any tea lover sigh with immense satisfaction! Not to leave the coffee drinkers out of action, I set up my retro Johnson Australia coffee cups, which also happened to match my theme. Score.

Whenever I host a baby shower I love to decorate a baby or doll cradle to hold gifts for the expectant mother. In this case, a dear friend painted the cradle as a gift itself to the delighted mama.

Lastly, and perhaps my favourite element of any party is the take home favours. I am a gift giver at heart, so I’m always on the lookout for cheap, suitable party favours that say a hearty ‘Thanks for coming!’ to any party I host. I found these brightly coloured fragrant candles half price in Lincraft and knew they would be perfect for the baby shower. By adding cute ‘thank you’ tags tied with string I had gorgeous little gifts for guests to enjoy at home.

Thank you for taking a little tour around my baby shower with me. As I mentioned in Part 1, this event was especially close to my heart. I am so blessed to have a loving family and it was an honour to create this special party for them.

Next week I will be sharing with you my absolute favourite cake I have made so far. It’s a bit of a bomb! Stay tuned, and have a great weekend. xx

On baby showers & becoming a grandmother {Part 1}

14/10/201714/10/2017

Hello dear ones, I’m so glad you are here. Thanks for popping over. I want to tell you a story. A story about a new chapter in the book of my life, and oh the pages smell sweet.

There are few things I hold closer to my heart than bringing new life into the world, or encouraging other dear mothers in any aspect of the birthing process. From the pregnancy itself, with all of it’s marvel, wonder and challenges…through to the pinnacle of labouring to birth a precious babe into your arms, heart, family and world…there is truly nothing on earth like it. The greatest moments of my life have been holding my slippery new babes in my arms for the first time.

In July this year, a new baby entered into our family, but she didn’t come from my womb. I watched the belly grow, felt baby wriggle and squirm in the secret place, but only from the outside, as an onlooker. I was part of the discussion of baby names, but it wasn’t mine to choose. I didn’t feel the nausea or the tide of hormones washing wildly over fragile emotions. It wasn’t my body that expanded and groaned with discomfort towards the end, feeling pressure on muscles I didn’t know existed. This time it was not my mind that had to comprehend an impending labour with all of it’s challenges, excitement, apprehensions and longings.

I laboured in the room, not as the birthing mother this time, but still a mother. Watching my son, confident, assured and focussed. Attentive to the rhythm that would become the gateway of birthing his very own family. My beautiful new daughter working hard to become a mother. My hands gently on her back, covering her with my love and the strength of many years of birthing. Whispering, rocking, breathing, tending to her needs in silence and guarding her freedom to do this important work unhindered.

In the fullness of time she came. Deep into the night, quietly, calmly, surrounded by peace, engulfed in love. No fear. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. I have never seen a birth like it….none of my nine even came close.

I am so proud of my beautiful, amazing daughter in love and my precious son. Together they laboured as one to become three, deepening their love and experiencing that indescribable joy of meeting their own tiny little human for the first time. There are no words.

I cannot adequately express what it was like to be included in such an intimate, raw experience with my son and his wife. I was very humbled and blessed…so honoured to help them through this part of their journey, having the opportunity to express my deep love for them in such a practical way.

It was unusual for me to be in the birthing room as a support person instead of the one running the marathon endurance race of labour. It was a gift of healing for me to experience a calm birth without the trauma that so often accompanied my own birthing journey. To see labour as a positive, enriching and natural experience was truly life giving in it’s fullest measure. While I have assisted in births before, this one was especially close to my heart and can I say it was so wonderfully refreshing just to be there, with the freedom and head space to marvel anew at the absolute miracle of the whole process.

As I held sweet Miriam Joy for the first time, I became profoundly aware, that while I was not the new mother this time, I still have an important role to play in her life as a matriarch over our entire family. Always there to love, watch over, protect, pray for, delight in, cherish and champion as her devoted MA. Together with her Papa, all of her six aunties and one privileged uncle, this precious baby girl has an instant cheer squad of doting fans ready to spend a lifetime surrounding her with the fierce love that makes up family.

My son, the baton is yours now. Take it and run. It will be by far the best race of your life. I love you and yours, always. xx

Next week I will share Part 2 of this sweet baby shower, where I will give you more photos, all of the delicious details and talk party! xx

Concept, design, styling, props, cakes and sweets || Mama Bear’s Kitchen

Photography || Sarahrickardphotography.com

Printables || The Print Nest

Cake topper || Grain and Co

Raw Cakes || Raw Cakes by Coco

Valentine’s Day High tea party

11/02/2016

Valentine’s Day is upon us! Last year when I created my inaugural Vintage Valentine’s Day party I had a simple revelation that this sweetly romantic day was the perfect occasion to celebrate in style by gathering a few ladies together to enjoy an afternoon of feminine beauty, fellowship and sweet treats.

This year I wanted to have a high tea party with the ladies and chose soft pink and white as my colour scheme. I steered away from the typical and often gaudy reds associated with Valentine’s Day, keeping the colour palette soft and feminine. It was also the perfect excuse to bring out my lovely white hobnail compotes and pink and white milk glass cake stands. I made a simple backdrop by gluing small pink pom poms in a heart shape with paper roses added to them. I found the prettiest pink tulle with ribbons on sale in Spotlight, which became my tablecloth.

The theme for my party was ‘Perfect love’. Let’s face it ladies, sometimes we can feel a little disappointed in our male counterpart on special days like Valentine’s Day. It’s just one of those days that usually slips by unnoticed by our husbands who aren’t quite sure what to do with it! I have come to understand that a woman’s heart is a deep and complex well that needs very special care and attention. Our needs are so intimate and peculiar that there is only One who can truly reach us in the deepest recesses of our hearts perfectly every time. I am talking about the Perfect Love of Jesus. Our Maker is the true Lover of our soul, and all that makes us uniquely women.

So this Valentine’s Day I gathered over 30 women together in my home to serve and bless with endless pots of tea in fine china tea cups, pretty sweet treats, beautiful flowers and most importantly, to share with them the love of Jesus, the One who can meet every need and romance our hearts.

Mother’s Day tea party invitations

05/05/2015

I made these sweet shabby invitations for our church Mother’s Day tea party which was to be held on our back deck last weekend. The last time we planned a large gathering in our home, which was our eldest daughter’s 18th in February this year, we had an unexpected cyclonic weather pattern move right through. Had to cancel. For our scheduled Mother’s Day tea party, we had massive flood rains hit which blocked most of the roads around us and thrashed our deck wildly throughout the night. Hmm….Let’s just hope these things don’t come in threes, because we are planning a pretty big (gorgeous vintage I might add!) wedding on a stunning property with a marquee in four months!! Wild weather is not an option!

Anyway, back to the invitations. Good old Spotlight was a bit low on nice shabby scrapbooking paper, but after a lot of rummaging, I found these lovely pages with vintage blue dots and blush pink with gold roses. I bought some matching cardstock, gold ribbon, and a packet of Vellum see through paper. I used scrap lace from home, whipped out the double sided tape and pulled together these easy invitations.

We have rescheduled our tea party for next weekend…missing Mother’s Day by a week, but making the most of the opportunity to gather together to eat cake and drink tea.

Keep an eye out for the photos!! xx

Engagement photo shoot. Part 1

02/04/2015

Last week I was delighted to be a part of organising a romantic afternoon tea for a special young couple who were getting engaged. The groom- to- be enlisted my help in setting up a pretty tea table out in a wooded grove where he surprised his sweet girl and asked for her hand in marriage. As you may notice from the photos, the location was actually an old historical cemetery – not the first place you would imagine proposing to your girlfriend! But this grove was beautiful. It was a private, shady hideaway that oozed charm and character. The requested colour was yellow, with a distinctly vintage feel. The bride-to-be loves chocolate and peanut butter, and so the afternoon tea was a simple affair, with my own Chunky Monkey cupcakes, chips and dip (her favourite snack food), and peanut butter chocolate. Perhaps the most exciting element of the table was the placement of the engagement ring. I have an old silver dish with a lid that slides over the top. I tied the gorgeous ring with yellow string and laid it on a bed of crocheted doilies to be discovered by the lovely lady. It was all very romantic. For the props, I strung a few of my handmade doily hoops from the trees, along with some old timber frames and a yellow fabric garland. Other vintage props were scattered around the setting.

The stage is set. Stay tuned to see what happens next!!

Shabby Chic high tea party

18/01/201502/03/2015

Last year I had the honour of creating a high tea party for a group of sweet young ladies who wanted a fanciful afternoon tea together. A shabby theme was chosen, with soft pink and green being the main colour scheme, with an added hint of lilac.

The menu included Chicken and tarragon ribbon sandwiches, a summer fruit platter, and an array of homemade treats such as rose with french vanilla cupcakes, white chocolate covered Oreo cookies, lemon blossom sugar cookies and raspberry melting moments.

Each place setting was adorned with a pretty rose tea cup, linen napkin and surprise cookie for the guests. Personalised favour boxes contained a cupcake to take home and were topped with a handmade name tag. A little jar of mints was also given to each guest.

The table decorations were kept minimal, as I wanted the pretty tea cups and food to take centre stage. It doesn’t really take much to create a beautiful table setting that can delight your guests. These sweet young ladies certainly enjoyed their spiffy afternoon tea!

Enjoy!

XXX

How to make your own vintage party invitations

14/01/201503/03/2015

Whenever I host a party, I always give a lot of thought to the invitations. This is the first contact your guests will have with your event and you want to lure them in with a dose of handmade gorgeousness. I know custom made printable invitations are all the go at the moment, and yes, they are lovely. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer the feel of ribbon, lace, pretty paper, string and buttons. By taking the time to create your own invitations, you are building a sense of anticipation in your guests and heightening their expectation that your event will be one to remember!

The good news is that you can make beautiful invitations that suit the theme of your event, with a few simple materials and at a surprisingly low cost. They do take time, but if you love being crafty and enjoy spending a few quiet nights with paper and glue, then you will find the whole process quite simple and very relaxing.

1. Choose a theme and colour combination for your party.

Do you want your party to have a shabby chic feel to it with pretty pastels and lace, or a more formal, victorian and old world look? Perhaps a rustic, woody theme with burlap and brown paper? Establishing your theme helps you to narrow down the colours and patterns you want to use for the invitations, and makes it easier to continue them throughout the elements of your party.

2. Buy scrapbooking paper and cardboard that matches your theme.

This is usually the first thing I do when making invitations. Sometimes I think I live at Spotlight. I am always there checking out their range of paper, ribbon, fabric and rummaging through the sale bins. It depends on the number of people you are inviting, but you won’t need a whole lot of paper. I like buying the matching ranges of paper which complement each other. Buy plain cardboard to match.

Walking through Spotlight or Lincraft, base everything on this paper and see what you can find that goes well with it. Strips of lace, ribbons, string, oh and my favourite….buttons. Glorious buttons.

3. Buy white cardstock or pre made cards to decorate.

These square cards below were bought from Spotlight. I love them. You can get envelopes to match and they are very easy to decorate. Sometimes I just cut out a rectangle of white cardstock to use vertically for a simple invitation. Again, I cannot stress enough how inexpensive this is.

4. Decorate, decorate, decorate.

Now comes the fun part. Put the kids to bed, turn off the tv, put on some nice music and cut, paste and stitch to your hearts content. Make double sided scrapbooking tape your best friend. I use this to stick most things on my cards. It has better adhesion and looks a lot neater. Again, buy it from Spotlight or Lincraft.

On the invitation below, I tea died some cheap paper doilies and stuck them around the card before tying it all up with ribbon and string. On the inside of the card, using double sided tape, I put a strip of lace over a piece of printed see through paper which contained all of the party details.

5. Continue your theme throughout the party.

As you can see, I continued the same elements from the invitations onto the table settings. These favour boxes were tied with the same string, ribbon, and lace, while the menu cards underneath were made with matching scrapbook paper.

There are many different ways to make beautiful invitations that don’t cost the earth. Your guests will marvel at the detail and time invested in each unique invitation. They can be as simple as using a scrap of fabric and a button, or as elaborate and ornate as you like. The only limit is your imagination. Let me encourage you, when you are next planning that lovely tea party or baby shower, to do something special and make the invitations yourself. In our fast paced, computer dependant lives, I dare you to resist the generic email or Facebook invitation and surprise your guests with beautifully hand made invitations that they will most likely keep for a long time……and I bet they will also take the time to rsvp you!

Enjoy!!

XXX