Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 51

November Giveaway: A Rae Dunn "Tea Mug" Plush Throw!

For years now, I have been searching for a plush throw with teacups on it. I just knew I would find one someday, and when I did, I vowed, I would get one for a giveaway too. Well, I’ve come festively close with this “tea mug” blanket I found at T. J. Maxx over the weekend! I just love these cozy throws and already have several, and when cold weather hits, I could always use one more. Perhaps you can too?

This throw is designed by Rae Dunn, the California artist whose whimsical font is instantly recognizable on all sorts of wares these days.


The mugs on the throw say things like Blessed, Cozy, and Joy, (as well as Bah Humbug if you’re having that sort of day), and curling up under this throw this Christmas season sounds like a grand idea to me!

If you’d like to be entered to win this throw, just leave an “Enter Me” to this post between now and 7 a.m. on Black Friday, November 25, and you’ll be entered to win. You are welcome to enter here or on the Tea With Friends Facebook page (US only, please.) My plan is to mail this throw in time for the winner to have it by December. Good luck!

Adagio's 24 Days of Tea Advent Calendar

When Adagio Teas asked if I wanted to sample this year’s tea advent calendar, I immediately said yes, as I’ve enjoyed having one before and knew it would be a fun treat once again! But I did feel compelled to try a couple of samples before recommending it, and the ones I tried were wonderful!

This would no doubt make a great gift, but I have to tell you that I recommend buying one for yourself, as every woman I know could use a nice, relaxing treat each day to make it through the busyness of the Christmas season!
A normal customer would try the teas sequentially, but you all know I’m not normal, so I chose #3 (number of the trinity, always a good choice) and #22, since the year is 2022.


Behind door number three was this delightful Cranberry Nut Muffin Green Tea. As soon as I opened the packet, I inhaled and said, "Aah." 

It smells like a gift shop at Christmas with all the fruity/chocolatey/nutty scents, and when I read the ingredients, I realized I was spot-on, as this tea contains green tea, apple pieces, cocoa nibs, cranberries, raspberry leaves, orange, cranberry flavor, red cornflowers, pecan flavor, and vanilla flavor. Yum!

My next selection was the tea titled simply Christmas. This is a black tea that contains cinnamon, orange, natural spice flavor, cardamom, cloves, ginger, natural ginger flavor, and natural cinnamon flavor.

Though the green tea was my favorite, I liked this tea, too, as it tasted like many of the Christmas spice teas I have enjoyed over the years. This tea advent calendar is such a fun way to sample some new teas between now and Christmas, and if you're interested in ordering one for yourself, go here. By the way, the sample I got contained loose tea, which I prefer, but you can also order it with tea bags!
COMING WEDNESDAY: A unique giveaway and just in time for the holidays! Please do not miss it!

In honor of Veterans Day

In honor of Veterans Day today, I wanted to see if I could find an appropriate historic tea photo on the Library of Congress website, and I came across this one from 1918. It shows "Mrs. W.E. Corey serving tea in the garden of her home, the Chateau de Villegenis, which she lent to the American Red Cross as a home for convalescent American officers." (Mrs. Corey was the second wife of William Ellis Corey, president of U.S. Steel.)

To any of you readers who have served in our armed forces, I thank you for your service!

Cream puff mix was once a thing. Who knew?

My friend Nancy, who knows I’m looking for old Valentine’s Day recipes, alerted me to a vintage book with lots of old holiday recipes, so naturally, I hopped on eBay and got myself a copy of Betty Crocker’s Party Book. This book was actually printed in 1960, and this is the facsimile version from 2009, which is just so fun to read.

I always look for teatime in any cookbook I come across, and this page features a Mother's Day tea. Most of the foods looked fairly traditional, but I was puzzled about the identity of that purple floral dish on the cake stand at the center of the photo. Can you tell what it is? I couldn't, so I had to read the info: "Top a white glass cake stand with bunches of violets tied with pink net … centered with [a] pink rose and violet corsage." Here's a better idea: Don't try this at home. Some decorating ideas simply don't age well!

It's fun, though, to read the vintage recipes and text, like this comment that "antiques lend charm" to our decorating. Yes they do!

And last but not least, have you ever made cream puffs? I have not. I keep meaning to learn to make them, but I was truly surprised to learn that Betty Crocker at one time made Cream Puff Mix! Now where is that stuff when I need it? If you're curious about what cream puff mix used to look like (and I was), you'll find an old ad for this cream puff mix on Pinterest here!

A tale of tarnish and teatime

On Friday and Saturday, I visited several local antique stores to get a head start on shopping for vintage Christmas collectibles. With the renewed interest in vintage Christmas, it's getting harder to find the old stuff, so I like to look early, and I hit the jackpot at one store, leaving with three big bags of wonderful old finds that I can't wait to decorate with. Not surprisingly, I found a few tea things, too, and one thing I took a risk on was this tarnished snowman tea tray. It's obviously not vintage, but it doesn't look quite new either. It was $18, and I started to leave it, because what if it couldn't be cleaned up? But then I thought of all the times I've regretted *not* getting something and realized I would probably regret leaving this behind.

And this is just the result of my first quick polishing, but I'd say Mr. Snowman Tea Tray is going to clean up just fine! I was so pleased, because I used these tiered tea trays for more than just teatime. I have one in my bedroom to hold jewelry (most of my jewelry isn't in the jewelry box simply because I like to see it so I can remember to wear it). For Christmas and other holidays, I use tea trays to display ornaments, small teacups, or other decor. And if I'm going to a Christmas potluck (and I have three on the schedule so far), it's fun to take some treats on a tea tray simply to have an offering that's a different height than all the others. So … yay for a new tea tray!

Unrelated to Christmas, this pink teacup was calling my name. My inner girly girl loves things with bows in the design, and I've also been collecting frilly-looking vintage goodies to feature in my vintage valentine book whenever I get around to writing it (maybe by Valentine's Day of 2024). This looks like a good Valentine's Day teacup, don't you think?

And I posed this new figurine here just so you can see the small size, but I still can't believe my eyes were sweeping past some old car figurines and spotted this Lipton "omnibus," as it says in the fine print.

It just seemed like something that might be fun to use in a teatime display one day, and the price was right. Now that all of that early-bird-shopping stuff is out of the way, I'm ready to decorate for Thanksgiving!

A *British* source for free teatime images

 

I've (virtually) stalked the (digital) aisles of the Library of Congress for years now, searching their public domain images for photos and drawings related to teatime. Imagine my delight when I learned this week that the British Library, too, has public domain images available online. Like this one, which is said to be from page 15 of the "Old Father Christmas" picture book.

This one, which I'm sure we could all invent a story around, is from "Love's Provocations; being extracts taken ... from the diary of Miss Polly C.-. By Cuthbert Bede."
This one is "The Little Squire. A story of three [With plates.]" And I'm just getting started! If any of you need images for your various tea-related projects, tea party invites, or other purposes, just visit the British Library online and let the fun begin!

Twinings Cranberry & Lime Green Tea

My pantry looks like a rainbow these days with all the colorful Twinings boxes: blue, green, pink, fuchsia, lavender. I've never been able to recall the exact names of these "wellness" tea, but I do remember the colors of the ones I like best (fig-and-vanilla = lavender-colored box, for instance). And the newest addition to the collection is this Cranberry & Lime Green Tea, another of the $1.99 finds at my local Ollie's.
Matcha and cranberry and lime? Hmm. I wasn't sure whether this was a good idea. I've had matcha a few times and find it a bit on the bitter side. This Twinings blend was said to be an attempt to "soften" the matcha, and I think it succeeded!
In fact, this tea was heavy on the lime, light on the cranberry, and it was just a nice fruity tea with no bitterness at all. But the fig-and-vanilla flavored black tea here is still my favorite of these Twinings wellness teas! Have you tried any of them? If so, got a favorite?


 

Some new teatime stamps I just love!

Months ago, my thoughtful friend Heather notified me of a half-off sale on a stamp-and-die set she thought I might like, this Rose Tea set from Altenew. She was right and the price was right, so I ordered it right away, but it's been such a busy summer and fall that I've pretty much made only the cards I've absolutely needed for specific occasions. Yesterday, however, I decided it was time to make a frivolous just-for-fun card, so I finally opened this set and got to work.

I love having all these choices of sentiments, teacups, and the rose and leaves.

And it was only once I was coloring it that I realized this is the only tea-themed stamp I've ever seen that features a *pyramid* tea bag. How very modern, and those Tea Forté folks in particular should love it. If you're interested, this stamp-and-die set is here (but not at the price I found, alas).

And when I was tidying up, I came across another tea card I made with the Cup of Tea bundle from Stampin' Up last month. This is the card I made nine of as invitations for niece Madison's recent bridesmaids tea. I handmade the cards and printed the insert with the time and date info to go inside. I made an extra one for Madison after I got the others in the mail just under the wire, and I haven't even given it to her yet! If you're interested in this stamp-and-die set, it's here. (And if you need a demonstrator, let me know and I'll hook you up with my friend Kathy, the crafting queen.)

Brisk Iced Tea … from Dollar Tree!

Whenever I post about my dollar-store discoveries of tea, I picture some of you sitting there in your fancy ladies' parlor, wrapped in a velvet tea gown, nibbling at cucumber sandwiches, bone china teacup in hand, and murmuring to the servants, "Good heavens, Jeeves! Is she doing one of those low-rent tea reviews AGAIN?" And the answer is yes. Yes, I am. Today, it's my Dollar Tree discovery of these flavored teas from Brisk Iced Tea. 

First up was the Pineapple Passionfruit flavor. I love all things pineapple, and I was happy to see that this tea, while it did contain "instant tea" (alas) also contained "green tea," so that was a plus. I liked the flavor, but I liked it in the sense that I like a Capri Sun juice drink if I'm at some kids' event and it's the only cold beverage at hand, if you know what I mean. Pleasant-tasting enough, but not quite enough "tea" flavor to make me buy it again. The Strawberry Melon flavor? Well, I haven't technically had Kool-Aid in years, but it reminds me of the Kool-Aid I had as a child. So there you go. We try these "economical" teas so that you don't have to!

One thing I do recommend: the cute new Tervis tumbler that I found at Publix recently! We love Tervises at my house, and I'd not seen a floral one before. (But I'll be using it for some different teas once these fruity drinks are gone!)

A birthday visit … and a little thrifting on the side!

Last Tuesday, Alex and I flew to Wisconsin and arrived late that night, so we were there Wednesday morning to surprise grandson Michael, who turned twelve that day! It was so fun seeing him and his brother, Andrew, since our Badger Boys are growing up so quickly. Here we are with the boys, and we love visiting in the fall since the leaves there are so stunning, with rich golds and some orange colors that we never see down South.

We like to give birthday gifts that remind Michael of his Georgia roots, and it doesn't hurt that the Georgia Bulldogs are currently ranked number one!

We enjoyed a fish fry with family, several afternoon walks through my stepdaughter's lovely neighborhood, and even a trip to a coffee and tea shop/bookstore in Green Bay (where I ordered tea, of course). We also enjoyed lunch one day at a stir-fry restaurant called HuHot that we like but don't have back in Georgia. And whenever we were out and about, Alex asked if I wanted to hit some thrift stores. I found a few things so lovely that I had to carefully pack clothes around them in my suitcase so I could get them back to Georgia—especially this "Daily Bread" plate I found at De Pere Christian Outreach, a thrift store where my stepdaughter's in-laws volunteer. I think this handled plate is one of the prettiest "Daily Bread" plates I've ever seen, and at $4, it wasn't about to be left behind.

Are any of you Fenton glassware collectors? My parents were actually Fenton dealers years ago, so we love us some Fenton in my family. But I did not have this ruffled rose vase. Again, $4. And despite the TSA folks who always seem determined to rattle my suitcase or purse (or me), I had this vase wrapped in a thick sweater, and it made it safely home on the plane. Isn't it gorgeous?

I also like the St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores I discovered in Wisconsin years ago, and this $1.69 Christmas dessert plate matches a teacup and saucer I bought at an antique store a year or two ago.

St. Vinny's also had these 95-cent McCall's recipe booklets (from 1965), which include some Christmas and Valentine's Day recipes that I will try to recreate someday, so these were fun finds as well. I always enjoy our trips to Wisconsin, but I sure wish I could move this lovely state (and especially some of those who live there) a little closer to me!