Mad Tea Party 2014!

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Hello!!

Happy "Mad Tea Party! ~ (I got the correct date this year!)



Linking with Vanessa's ( www.afancifultwist.typepad.com ) 



Seventh-Annual Alice-Inspired Extravaganza!



(Thank you, Vanessa!)

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I had such fun arranging things just so... 

(Who says one must grow up?)

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Here are Red Queen 1 and Red Queen 2 ~

They'll be your hostesses today...

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Presiding over their table...won't you join them?

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Earl Grey or Constant Comment?

I inherited these three pretty tea cups and saucers from my Grandma Launius...

She collected them for years...



 (Grandpa made her a very cool display shelf, which we still have).

In later years when she could no longer stay alone and went to live with her

sister (Aunt Bertha), she wanted to return to the givers many



of the cup and saucer sets she had received as gifts over the years...



 a little remembrance.

But first, she had me choose my favorites.

(Those folks just didn't get their gifts returned!)

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What would she think of my tea party and her cups with "Drink Me" tags?

I think she would be delighted!

We had tea often, the two of us (sometimes we invited Grandpa)...

choosing two (or three, sometimes) of her beautiful cups from the shelf.

Grandma would approve.

But, I digress! This is a Mad Tea Party!

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I decorated the sugar cubes with tiny bits of icing...fun!

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I got my little red paperback "Alice" in my Christmas stocking one year...

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Isn't this just the cutest little teapot finial?

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Gorgeous sunny yellow day lilies (a gift from my dear friend Elaine)

hold court over the tea table...

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A Lilliputian cake!

I added a little more icing decor, and of course the roses...

(I was actually going to use sprigs of Vinca and Hydrangea, but I looked them up

and they were a no-no...toxic). You can eat roses, if you want!

(But we didn't.)

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Queenie-Approved.

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"I'm late, I'm late!..."

This bunny was carved years ago by my friend Jerry Smith...

I know I probably shouldn't have tampered with Jerry's artistic expression,

but I'll have to admit that this fellow's jacket has been many different colors

over the years as my decor has changed!

I thought he would like to join the party, and he fits right in...

he's a little Mad, too...;)

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Looking toward the herb garden and the setting sun.



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Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter, softened at room temperature

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened at room temperature

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy (do not over-beat);

Gradually add sugar, beating well.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until combined. Crack eggs into a bowl first before adding to the mixture, to make sure you avoid getting shells in the cake mix.

Sift 3 cups of flour. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

Pour mixture into a greased and floured 10-inch Bundt pan.

Smooth the top of the cake or bottom of the cake (depending on how you look at it) with a spatula to even it out.

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack. 

(The cake will have a crusty layer on the bottom that you can trim off if you want to.)

That's it! Enjoy!

Here is my Cheshire-Cat-on-a-Rock Tutorial!

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Basics...

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Chessie is a very TOOTHY fellow...I didn't realize just how much so until



I started putting in all these wicked little teeth!



And....Voila!



I'll give my Cheshire Kitty away next weekend;



Leave a comment and he might be coming your way!



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One more thing..."Mini" Faerie Houses!



They'll be in my Etsy Shop tomorrow.



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