Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 46

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Children's Tea Party, circa 1900

 

Let's end the week with a tea party, shall we? I recently came across another of those old stereopticon viewing devices in an antique mall, but it was pricy and had only a single stereoscopic image with it. Later, I found myself looking up these old images on the Library of Congress website. I found another tea-themed image that I don't believe I've shared here before. When I gazed at the center of this one long enough, it did indeed become a 3D image and had lots of detail!

If, unlike me, you're opposed to absolutely wasting time by sitting there staring at the center of your computer screen all day (and hey, that may include some of you!), here's a close-up detail from the image.
One day, I fully intend to own a stereopticon, the lovely vintage wooden viewing contraption that's sort of like the ViewMaster of my youth, but it won't be any fun to own one unless I can find it in the wild for a bargain price. Maybe this will be the weekend!

A tea-rrific opportunity to enjoy tea and art!

Are any of you in the Asheville, North Carolina, area? Or do you live within driving distance? If so and if you’re an art enthusiast, then please check out this two-day “Creative Junk Journaling for Tea Lovers” workshop with my friend Lynn Karegeannes!

You can click on the flyer below for more info, and I can promise you that if I didn’t have a family commitment keeping me from attending June 3 and 4, I would be there! Lynn and I met as fellow tea bloggers more than a decade ago, and I’ve had the pleasure of taking tea with her a few times as well as enjoying occasional phone chats with her over the years. We have many shared interests, including a love of teatime and art, and she is an incredibly gifted artist—as well as a lovely, thoughtful friend!

You can also learn more about the workshop by visiting https://full-life-arts.com/workshops-events/

Seasonal decor for tea lovers

Back before Valentine's Day, I found some great new springtime decor at T. J. Maxx. And since I firmly believe that tea lovers need to have first dibs on the tea goodies, I wanted to share my finds here!


First, I’ll start with St. Patrick’s Day, since it’s the next holiday, for which I got this lovely set of three tea towels—two patterned ones and a single green one. I thought $9.99 was a great price for the towels, and I was especially happy with the patterned ones.

My favorite find, though, was this Easter-bunnies-in-teacups shelf piece, which I believe is resin. It’s $14.99, and that seems to be the going price for such things these days.


I love that each bunny seems to have its own personality. (I like to think the "T" bunny is raising his paws and saying "He is risen indeed!")

I’d already been stalking eBay for vintage Easter decor, but the things I liked most are out of my price range ($95 for a tin toy—yikes!). These candy tins and egg-shaped tins at TJM were just $6.99 and $7.99, though, and they have the vintage look I’m going for. (The chocolates inside are just so-so, but I didn’t buy these for the chocolates.) So if you, too, are getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day and/or Easter, you may want to check out T. J. Maxx, which had more tea-themed goodies than I've seen there in a while!

Pinky Up Chamomile Citrus Tea

If you're a fan of chamomile tea, you probably know what this blend is without even reading the description! Blends with chamomile are so pretty and fluffy looking, like the potpourri we used to all have in bowls throughout our homes.

I'd seen Pinky Up tea tins in some local gift shops, but when I saw this bag of their loose herbal tea at T. J. Maxx the other day, the time (and price!) was right to sample it.

This blend contains organic rosehip, organic orange peel, organic chamomile, organic lemongrass, organic peppermint, organic orange oil, organic hibiscus, and natural flavoring. It does indeed have a nice sunny citrus flavor in addition to the familiar chamomile flavor, and I'm happy to have discovered this big bag of herbal tea for a great price!

Wrapping up Valentine's Week

On Monday morning, a new friend was coming over, and at the last minute, I decided to put out some festive treats. I already had extra sausage balls I'd made for a Sunday school breakfast, and I'd made some of those seven-layer cookie bars over the weekend, so I added some heart-shaped cookies I'd just baked (was testing recipes for a valentine's cookbook) and called it done!

She was so surprised and said she'd never been to a real tea before. As you all know, this isn't full afternoon tea by a long shot, but she appreciated the gesture so much that I decided I should do this sort of thing more often! I already had my table set up for Valentine's Day, so all I did that morning was make pots of coffee and tea. I was happy that I was able to pull out the teapot napkin rings I bought last year at a local antique mall. The napkins came from Etsy.

And of course I always have plenty of rose-trimmed dishes.

The pink Lu-Ray platter was a gift from a Sunday school friend who was cleaning out and thought I would like it. I do!

A thrifted heart-shaped glass dish held the sausage balls. My "vintage" tablecloth is actually brand-new and came from the Fancy Flours catalog (fancyflours.com), but it sure looks vintage, doesn't it? It's the prettiest tablecloth I've found in ages!

Now it's time to start thinking about how to decorate for St. Patrick's Day, and I have only a few tea wares and fabrics that are green. It's time to get creative!

The winner of the Harney gift card is …

 Janet P.! Congrats to Janet, and I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Week Giveaway #3

Happy Monday, friends! Today's vintage valentine is another eBay find, and I love the cute teapot and teacup as well as the "You suit me to a 'T'" message!

The inside says "Say you'll be my sugar!" and is signed simply "Sandra." I hope you enjoy seeing these vintage valentines as much as I enjoy sharing them each year. It's always a challenge to track down some new ones, and this year, I was quite happy with my finds.
To conclude our Valentine's Week celebration, I wanted to wrap up by giving away a $25 gift card to Harney & Sons, because we all can use more tea! And standard shipping is free, so I trust you will make that $25 go as far as possible!

If you'd like to win the Harney & Sons e-gift card, just leave an "Enter me" to this post between now and 7 a.m. EST tomorrow, February 14, *making sure I have a way to contact you if you're the winner* and you'll be entered to win. Good luck, and I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day!

The lip balm and handmade cards go to …

 Frances L! And I have your address, so I'll get these in the mail shortly. I hope everyone checks back on Monday for one more Valentine's Week giveaway!

Valentine's Week Giveaway #2

Today, I’m sharing one of my newly acquired vintage valentines, one that reads, "Some SPOON-Y CUP-LE we would make."


The inside says (in type so large you can't miss it), "IF YOU'LL BE MY VALENTINE."
And the back of the valentine is in color, too, which is somewhat unusual.
For today's giveaway, I'm offering this Beez Nuts Green Tea Lip Balm I found in a shop in Pine Mountain recently. I got one for myself as well, and I really like it!
And because I want you to have more than just a tiny little lip balm in your package, I'll also be including three of my latest tea-themed cards, which have varying colors and designs. I'd love to think that someone I don't even know might be heartened by receiving one of these cards I've made!
So if you'd like to win the lip balm and the cards, just leave an "Enter me" comment to this post by 7 a.m. EST on Saturday, February 11, and you'll be entered to win (US only, please, and please be sure I have a way to contact you if you're the winner). Good luck!