Romantic Adventure layout

My friend Phyllis, at Shabby in the City had a great idea for a project. She took a pic of a book page (scroll to the end of her post for the photo) then suggested we create something from it. So I added a couple of Photoshop brushes to it and a photo of hubby & me from our Honeymoon cruise.

It was a lot of fun, thanks for the idea Phyllis!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
from Holly, the ParTea Goldendoodle Girl


Our newest addition to the family. Santa brought her to us on Christmas morning.

She is my BFF (Best Furry Friend).

Here is her Doodle page, if you or someone you know owns a Doodle.

I hope for you and your loved ones, that 2009 will be filled with good memories, good health and gratitude for each and every day we have with our family and friends.

Enjoy some more pics from
Holly's First Photo Shoot

(taken in my daughter's room!)

Holly, the Goldendoodle Princess

Holly, the Goldendoodle Fashionista


Holly, the Goldendoodle Tea Party Girl

12 Days of Christmas Tea & Cookie Recipes Swap

Finally I am getting around to uploading all the fabulous swap goodies that
Jeannie from "I Craft"
sent me for the 12 Days of Christmas Tea & Cookie Recipes Swap.
Between making arrangements with Santa to get a Christmas puppy
and having family stay for the holidays it has be crazy 'round here.

Here are the goodies!

A couple of items didn't make it in the group shot.
I think my daughter took it out to look at it (?).

A I love this mini pan for an ornament!

This darling house held a teapot ornament (see below).

Jeannie cracked me up with her cookie recipes! I showed my mom and she cracked up too. But this book is PACKED with awesome cookie recipes! It's a keeper for Christmases to come....

I've seen Jeannie's cupcake toppers on her Etsy shop, and was secretly hoping I would get some in the swap. YAY! Look at all the pink cuteness! Cupcake shnupcake. I'm putting them in my hair or something! Or making them into brooches. They are too cute for just cupcakes....


This cute little tree contained these vintage beautiful earrings.
Then I put the tree on my pink tree.

Inside this awesome floral suitcase was filled with sugar-y mistletoe, a vintage ladies hankie and the cream teacup & saucer with more sugar-y goodness candy!

Beautiful cream teacup & saucer with my fave colors - pink & green.


This is MY TREE.
My beloved pink tree that is in the living room. On it I put all my favorite things.
Below are the wonderful goodies that Jeannie sent:


Sugar-y, glitter-y teapot

Sugar-y mistletoe.


Darling tree box.

"I love you for your pink cadillac" ~ Bruce Springsteen

THANK YOU SO MUCH JEANNIE, for giving such pinkalicious Christmas goodies. And not just the goodies themselves, but how you wrapped and decorated everything was just DIVINE. I didn't want to open them, it was so darn cute! You are very talented, and I appreciated every bit of hot glue and glitter that you did!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am still waiting to hear back from others who participated. I know it is a crazy time of year to try to add on tasks to do, such as blog swaps. So those of you who played, please send me the links of your swaps and I will update this post. Thank you to everyone who enthusiastically and joyfully signed up!

Swaps:

Lady Katherine received her swap goodies from Lady Jane

Lady Jane received her swap goodies from Lady Katherine

Phyllis, from Shabby in the City received her swap goodies from Erin

Looking forward to seeing the rest of the swaps!

New Year Greeting

Need prayers for my dad

To all my e-friends:

Please keep my dad, Lloyd, in your prayers on the morning of November 18 (PST) as he will be having major shoulder reconstructive surgery. His ligament has completely torn apart, with another almost torn apart, and we are hoping the surgeon can re-connect the ligament successfully.

I fully believe in the power of prayer, and I know there are some prayer warriors who read my blog. It is now that I humbly call on you to send healing thoughts and prayers his way.....

Thank you in advance.

xoxox,
Risa


UPDATE:
Thank you so much for those who posted a prayer comment or who prayed for my dad and his surgery. It was a success, the surgeon was able to re-attach the ligaments. He has a long road of tough re-hab awaiting him for the next few months. Again, I appreciate your kind hearts and kind words! It really means a lot to me knowing there are e-Friends out there who genuinely care about others....

xoxoxxo
Risa

12 Days of Christmas Tea & Cookie Recipes Swap

Join me and others who LOVE tea time and want to have some fun with a Holiday Swap! At the last swap I hosted, there were many ladies asking about a Holiday Swap, so here it is:

The theme is "12 Days of Christmas Tea & Cookie Recipes"

The swap is to consist of 12 items, all individually wrapped:
* A Christmas or Holiday print teacup & saucer.
* 3 of your absolute favorite Christmas Cookie Recipes on a 3x5 or 4x6 card.
* The other 8 items should be holiday and/or tea-related items.
For instance: (this is only for inspiration, you can choose whatever you like) Your favorite tea, a scented votive candle, a linen napkin, a silver spoon, decorated sugar cubes, a cookie cutter, an ornament, a tea towel, etc. - try to keep it tea time related! At least one homemade or handcrafted item(s) should be included as one of the items (i.e. a tag, a paper crown tiara, pinwheel etc).

Your Swap Sister may choose to open one gift a day leading up to Christmas, or she can open them all at once...it's her/your choice.

The t&s (teacup & saucer) may be vintage or new, one that is in your personal collection or a purchased one. Please swap a t&s that is functional (no cracks) and one that you would appreciate receiving (ie. no chips, crazing, fleabites). The spending limit is $20 (not including shipping cost).

Deadline to sign up by:
~ December 1, 2008

Parcels mailed out by:
~ December 12, 2008

Click here for all the details and *ahem* "rules".

UPDATE:
I've been getting requests to sign-up for this swap either at my regular email or through the comments box on this post. In order for me to keep all the requests organized please send your request along with your NAME, EMAIL ADDY and BLOG ADDY to this email: parteatimeswap [at] gmail.com (you do not have to have a blog to play).

Thanks a bunch!

Easiest Pumpkin Muffins

This post may be a little belated, but the muffins would be great for a Halloween or Thanksgiving tea:

I just made these mini-muffins for the first time for my son's class Monster Mash party and they are mucho yummy! Even my one kid who doesn't like pumpkin gobbled them up. They are very moist. Got it from AllRecipes.com but did a bit of my own thing. Here is the recipe:

Easiest Pumpkin Muffins

1 box of spice cake mix
1 can (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix both ingredients until smooth (do not add the egg or oil like the cake box says).
Spoon equal amounts of batter into greased muffin pan or paper cups.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in preheated oven, until a toothpick comes out clean.

I added some dashes of ground cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves in the batter.

Then I sprinkled brown sugar and some orange colored sugar I had on hand on the tops before putting into the oven.

This is great for classroom treats - especially since no eggs are in the recipe. Also a sneaky way to get some protein in the kiddies! Can also be frozen and defrosted when needed.

What's in YOUR Portable Studio?

My friend Phyllis at Shabby in the City is having a challenge and giveaway. For more info go to her blog at http://shabbyinthecity.blogspot.com

Here is a snippet from her blog:
So there is the challenge...fill your vintage pieces with your wonderful craft items and let's take it on the road. Show me your craft destination with photos of your carrier/caddy,box or basket, loaded down in vintage crafty goodness. Well say November 25th is our share day...exactly one month before Christmas (easy to remember, huh?) Please take the banner and post it in your sidebar, blog about it whatever....the more participants...the more fun!

They just don't get it

Hubby: What's that sound?

Me: My new clock on my blog. And it even chimes!

Hmpf.

Me: What? You don't like it?

Hubby: Sounds like Chinese water torture to me.

Me: Well, I like it. It sounds soothing to me.

Hmpf.


Sometimes we are like oil & water....

A Birthday Tea for My BFF

I took my BFF, the divine Mrs. M. out for an afternoon tea to celebrate her birthday at the Posh Peasant Tearoom. Mrs. M and I share a love for tea and all things PINK. I think I met my match when it came to being a pink aficionado freak when we became neighbors and friends. Oh, and she has depleted my personal stash of Cream Earl Grey loose leaf tea. She kept running out, I'd give her more, until I realized I'm all out! Have to place an order with my supplier....I don't mind, I'm just glad to be able to support a teaholic's habit.

In this pic, I brought my hats for us to wear. The one I have on is from the Mary Poppins Tea Party I produced a while back and haven't had a reason to wear it since. And I love the thick turkey feather boa the tearoom had! Boas are great for covering up your tummy when taking photos, huh?

If you would like to view all the photos from our tea, Click Here to go to my photo album (don't worry, you don't have to sign in or anything).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. M!

New ParTea Blog Header

What do you think of the header makeover?

Figured it was time to make some changes 'round here.

They are images from the photo shoot for the TeaTime Magazine article. I can't believe it was almost a year ago when we did the staging for it!

Did I ever mention some of the behind-the-scene drama that took place while preparing for the photo shoot? I'll try to remember some of it:

*I knew for a while that TeaTime wanted me to do a feature. So I waited. But when they were ready to rock 'n roll with it, I had five days notice to put it all together. I was informed a couple of days after Thanksgiving.

*While I was collecting all the items I wanted to use for the shoot, I had to move mountains of totes of china I have. I finally found the teacups in my favorite pattern, Homer Lauglin's Marilyn floral pattern. I don't have that many and they are hard to come by on eBay. So when I found them, because I was at an awkward position (you know - mountain of totes), one of the saucers slipped from my hand, bounced off the chair and broke on the floor. Mind you, I was also PMS'ing at this time. When I saw the saucer fall in slow motion and then break, I got off the chair and screamed at the top of my lungs. For like two minutes. Then started bawling. Hubby thought I was losin' it.


*I was going to go with my signature pink & green color theme design, since this was going to be in their Spring issue. But the DAY BEFORE the photo shoot, I received Mari's gorgeous custom hand-painted banner. She had stayed up until the wee hours to get it finished for me in time. When I saw how she painted the darling songbird in an aqua blue hue, I knew I had to add the aqua accent color to the table decor. My linen rental company would not have time to deliver any runners or overlays in time, so I needed to make my own. So the night before - when I should be loading up everything into the van - I'm heading over to JoAnn's to get aqua fabric and ribbon. I was also bending the forks late at night, and putting the glitter on the place card flowers at around 2:00am.

*I had brewed hot tea and had put in a vacuum pump carafe. It fell out of the van when my assistant opened the door and shattered the internal glass. So we had to ask the cafe near the photo shoot venue to make us some tea. It was so brewed too long and was so dark it looked like coffee.

*My caterer that I use for most of my tea parties and events is a great guy. But a little on the busy side, so he misses a lot of details. I ordered petits fours in pink. My other assistant picked up all the food since it was on her way. So she didn't know what I had ordered. When I opened up the bakery box of the petits fours they were decorated in red & green CHRISTMAS motifs! Augh! I was livid and said a select few cuss words (forgive me Lord)......remember I am still PMS'ing.....

*The handle on my silver bride's basket broke, so I tried to use clear duct tape to hold it down.

*I did not have any jewelry, forgot to pack anything with all the hoop-a-lah going on. So one of my friends, Kathy (in the tea party scene) had some pearls in her purse and put them on me. She IS a true Southern lady, being from Georgia and all.

*We were losing the sun and FAST. So we had to run around - click, click, click - get the photos done before the sun went down. And what was also strange was that we were doing everything all spring looking, but there was Christmas music playing from the The Cliff Restaurant above us! Just seemed odd...

But all in all, it was a great experience! It wouldn't be memorable if there wasn't any drama, eh?

The Prodigal ParTea Planner

It made me literally laugh out loud.

I got an email from Phyllis of Shabby in the City:

Risa!
Did you DIE after your birthday???
I hope not! Check in sistah!



So, here I am. "checking in".

I have no excuse or reason why I stopped blogging.......

~Life gets in the way sometimes?

~Sometimes our interests sway (you know us right-brained, creative, types that just hop from one thing to the next....) so I've been doing a lot of face painting.

~I discovered Facebook. Need I say more? Now that's a whole lotta fun!

~I re-discovered my love for reading (after having three kids - forget it) and read Twilight & New Moon in four days and just got Eclipse today from Amazon. You know where I will be on November 21st! Yup. I've become a Fanpire.

~Since this past Spring, I have had to be in physical therapy for a pinched nerve somewhere in my back/neck. No relief. So I've just dealt with the arm weakness, tingling, discomfort and numbness in my left hand pinky.

~Tried to clean out the garage and get all my event stuff organized. Really. Do I need 200-something settings of china and teacups and totes of silver, silver and silver? Really! So I will be selling some things just to lighten the load from my tea hoarding years. Hubby would like to eventually claim his workbench side of the garage. I think there is a in perfect condition, barely used treadmill in there somewhere too.

~I took a break from doing tea parties (in order to do the previous). Therefore, since my whole blog genre is about tea related stuff I guess I assumed that I had nothing to blog about. But I am finding out that I was wrong. I made some wonderful e-friends from blogging in the past. And the e-mails I received due to my absence asking where was I, is everything okay etc., was very humbling and heart-felt. So thank you to everyone who sent a What Up? inquiry. I really appreciate your concern and the time to drop me a e-mail!

~When I heard Karin of Creative Chaos was just diagnosed with breast cancer, it hit me and realized how much I admire meeting such strong, fabulous, funny as heck, tenacious, down to earth and creative ladies I have had the pleasure of getting to know. Just from blogging. We need each other to hold each other up during the fun times and challenging times. Karin, you are in my pink prayers during this tough time.

I do have some photos from some recent adventures and will blog about those later. But for now I just wanted to say Hi and that I look forward to dusting off my kettle, polish my tarnished silver teapot, and getting a teacup out of storage and visiting with my friends again.

xoxox,
Risa

Today is my Birthday

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the "Real Moms"

For those of you who are great moms, those of you who plan to be great moms and those who have great moms...

REAL MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche; they don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn't come out of shag carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?' and get their answer when a little voice says, 'Because I love you best.'

Real Mothers know that a child's growth is not measured by height or years or grade...It is marked by the progression of Mama to Mom to Mother...


The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.

14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it.

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.


For all the Mother's of the world, have a blessed day - you deserve it!
From Risa, The ParTea Planner

Happy Keester!

Sorry, I am BEHIND on posting a Happy Easter wish!