How to Make Floral Adornments for a Tea Table

Adding embellished bows and flowers to a table, especially a tea table has become a basic requirement for me.  It dresses up the table like nothing else can do, and so subtly.  I try to match or coordinate the artificial flowers with the real ones that will become centerpieces.  I think it completes the look of the table and makes it so much more above average.  I want my guests to be awed when they come in and sit down.  Above, a simple satin wired ribbon was crafted into a bow and embellished with flowers that will coordinate with the centerpiece.  The above floral bow compliments the centerpiece perfectly!

First gather the fabric of the top cloth with a large safety pin and pin it underneath the cloth. Loop the ribbon through the safety pin on the top. Gather the flowers and tie the bow around them. Work with the flowers until they lay the way you like. Above the adornment of a string of pearls is  added to kick it up one more notch.  Isn't it pretty?

Above is one of my favorite ways to beautify a table.  I first make bows from white or cream tulle, or whatever other color goes best with my scheme.  Then I attach artificial roses and leaves to the bow and it makes a beautifully feminine statement.  (The statement is:  you are really special to me and I am sooooo glad you are here!")  Very often I add a strip of satin ribbon cut with an inverted "V" at the bottom and slip it through the large safety pin for added embellishment. These take a little time to make and attach, but it is so worth it. 

The bows on the corners coordinate with the centerpiece roses

The floral bows above were designed to coordinated with the flowers in the tablecloth and the centerpiece flowers below.

I gathered flowers from the colors in the table cloth to fashion this arrangement.  First tie the tulle bow with at least four loops on each side and room to hang a bit of the tulle in the normalcy of a bow.  These flowers had to be attached with wire because they kept falling out of the arrangement without that process. (See instructions below).

You can enlarge the above picture by clicking "Control +" until you reach the size you wish.

I hope, if you are having a ladies only event, you have the chance to make these for your table.  They are the one element that ties a table together for a coordinated and upscale look. 

XOXOX, Debbie

How to Make an Edible Teacup & Saucer

This is toooooo cute not to share!

Our CBS (Community Bible Study) Leadership Tea every February is a group effort of six of the Senior Leaders designing, constructing, and hosting a lovely tea for the rest of our leadership team.  We are always trying to come up with ways to make them involuntarily express oohs, aahs, and wows!  This year we decided to make edible mini tea cups.

We started with these white chocolate cordial cups found at Tuesday Morning. You can find similar offerings at World Market, possibly Trader Joe's or local gourmet shops.

 We (Trina) set the base as a chocolate wafer cookie.  They can be purchased online here:

Trina filled the cups with caramel that you drizzle over ice cream. Doesn't it look like tea? ;-) She attached the front flower (purchased at a cake decorating shop) with white chocolate that she had when she hand-crafted the diminutive teacup handles.   They were placed on the most adorable lace sugar doilies.  I found them in Tea Time Magazine or Southern Lady Magazine.  They were pictured in a cup of tea.  I thought they would be so great for our tea, but I experimented with one before the tea, thankfully, and found out that they dissolve and break apart in a rather unattractive way that did not  show off their best feature.  So we brainstormed and came up with these as our plan B.  I feel they are worthy of plan A status. You can order the lace sugar doilies from Sweet Marve Lace an Etsy shop.  She has a parade of designs and quantities.

Lace sugar doily atop the chocolate cookie wafer.

The Grande Finale!  Such a remarkable treat!

I'm sure these would work for chocolate cups too.  We just liked the look of these for teacups.  I hope you get the chance to make someone's day delightful with these cute little teacups. 

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XOXOX, Debbie

How to Make a Napkin Rose

Napkins fashioned into roses are perfect for an afternoon Tea.  They are so feminine and make a delightful impression on your guests. What made the one above look so realistic is that it had all four sides completely edged with a frilly ruffle.  This is THE BEST way on earth to use a napkin that has four ruffled edges! Have you ever tried to fold a napkin with four ruffled edges?  It's too big to hold in the middle and squish outward.  It looks awkward when folded any other way.  I know, I tried it first!

The napkin doesn't have to be a solid color to look amazing.  The napkin above is a floral patterned one.  The leaves were taken from an artificial floral arrangement I designed for the edges of the tables.  I will feature how to make them in the next day or two, so please check back!  I am a believer that "details make it delightful".

The smaller the napkin the smaller the rose.  Folding the napkins this way saves so much room on a tea table.

 

(To enlarge these instructions, press "Control +" until you reach a comfortable viewing size.)

I hope this has made it easy for you and you have fun making and displaying these.  They add so much more than normal to a table.  Actually, they make it delightful!

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XOXOX, Debbie

Tea Time Veggie Bouquet Salad

 

I saw a salad very similar to this on Pinterest.  However, there were no instructions to accompany the picture so I decided to post some because many people have asked me how to make this salad.  It is really very simple, but time consuming to make.

First one...a prototype.

Starting with yellow and red bell peppers, I used mini-floral cookie cutters found a Michael's to cut small flowers.  I then used an even smaller heart cutter to cut a heart in the middle of each one and switch out the hearts in each color. I then sliced and cut flower shapes from radishes and cucumbers (These can be seen in the picture of the final bouquet).

Blanch the asparagus spears.  These are about 4-5' in height.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

All blanched and ready to refrigerate.

Wash and slice radishes.  You can use a cookie cutter to cut your shapes, but I found simply trimming them into the shape of a flower with a paring knife produced a better result with a different shape than the bell peppers.  I liked the variety of shapes.

            

Peel and slice the carrots into about 1/4' slices.  Then cut the top of the carrot to resemble a tulip.  Slice a washed cucumber (I used English Cucumbers) into about 1/4" slices and fashion a double leaf out of each side of the sliced cucumber. Just like the picture.  It is very easy!  I loved the look of this little flower.  It looks so cheerful!,

I think you could slice up jicama to make a daisy-like flower and even used sliced beets for flowers.  I'm sure there are other items that could be fashioned into beautiful flowers.

I purchased plastic cups with stems at Party City in a package of 32.  I washed and placed the leafiest lettuce leaves I could find in the bottom of the cup.  I added two asparagus spears and two snow pea leaves to each arrangement to resemble plant leaves.  I then placed all the different flowers on tooth picks and inserted them into the lettuce leaves.  You may have to work a bit with them to get the desired arrangement you're looking for.  When your guests enjoy the salad all they have to do is reach in for the toothpick, and dip it into the dressing and consume. 

My Tea was for 30+ women so I made two recipes of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing with one cup of milk in one recipe and one cup of buttermilk for the other.  Then I mixed it all together.  It turned out perfect!  With the two recipes we did have about 1/2 cup of dressing left over.  We placed the dressing in small ramekins.

Everyone "swooned"  (Swoon: to enter a state of hysterical rapture or ecstasy ;-)) when they saw this salad!  It was truly delightful, and really fun to hear my guests enjoy a treat made especially for them.

Hopefully, you can surprise someone at one of your dining events with this arrangement.  I think they are perfect for Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Birthdays, Showers or just to impress you loved one.  Have fun!  And send me pictures at MakeItDelightful@gmail.com if you make these.  I love to see them!  

If you haven't signed up to receive my blog posts you may do so by going to the top right hand side of the blog and enter your email address where indicated.  I'd love to have you join me in my domestic endeavors. Big Valentine hugs to all of my blog followers.

 XOXOX. Debbie