An easy teapot craft

Ever see a craft project in a book that's so simple, you simply look at it and say "I can do that!" Well, I saw this one in a book the other day (and I'm sorry to say I've forgotten the name of the book), but it's basically an old teapot decoupaged with strips of fabric. You can make this in under 30 minutes, and if you're like me you've probably got everything you need to make it already!

What do you need? A teapot, obviously. I used one of those small individual-size teapots like you're often served in tea rooms. A mixture of equal parts white glue and water. Fabric. (I used a fat quarter, a common cut of fabric in quilting, and had plenty left over.)

I am so eager for fall to get here I've starting gathering fall decor, and this fabric from my stash seemed like a good choice for fall. I cut the fabric into about 1-inch strips by cutting small slits in the fabric and then tearing them so I would get the texture of a raggedy edge. I like the word "raggedy." If any of you saw "The Help" over the weekend, one of my favorite scenes is the one where the town's chief trouble-making debutante is told to get her raggedy self (I paraphrase) off Mrs. Phelan's porch. "Raggedy." Great word.

After making sure to cut the raggedy strips long enough to tuck over and under the edges of the teapot, I began soaking them in the glue-water mixture and applying them to the teapot, layering edge over edge.

I placed waxed paper under my teapot as it dried so it would be easy to remove when finished.

And there you go, an easy new floral container or planter. And when I get tired of this design, I'll bet I can just soak it right off and use the teapot again, but if not, I'm willing to sacrifice one small teapot for a good cause!

Tea Sandwich Saturday #33 - Tuna & Goat Cheese

Canned tuna is one of those foods I enjoy only once in a great while, but this week I craved tuna and decided to see if I could make it with "tea sandwich flair." I tweaked a recipe I found online and very much enjoyed this upgraded tuna recipe!

You can serve it between rounds (or rectangles) of bread or, below, as an open-faced sandwich. The goat cheese adds a nice creamy texture and would, I think, be a pleasing addition to a tray of tea sandwiches.

Tuna & Goat Cheese Spread

1 (6-ounce) can water-packed tuna, drained
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning (or to taste; I used a little more)
4 tablespoons goat cheese, crumbled

In a mixing bowl, add all ingredients and combine well. Yields enough spread for about eight 2-inch round tea sandwiches.

The "Tea Junk" Drawer

Do you have a "junk drawer" at your house? The tea cabinet in my kitchen has a "tea junk drawer," and it was time to clean it out the other day because it contained way too many things I haven't actually used in years.

Chief among them: these metal infusers-on-a-chain. I'll bet most of you have some of these too, don't you? I started collecting them when I first got interested in teatime. In later years, though, I found myself using disposable paper teabags or filtering teapots to make loose leaf tea, so I no longer need to use these types of infusers.

I don't necessarily want to get rid of them, though, because I might change my mind about using them one day. Also, I've seen old infusers used as Christmas tree ornaments! Not sure what I can do with old tea strainers I don't use any more, but I'll hang on to them just in case.

I had an empty hat box in my craft room upstairs, so for now these old tea things have a home there instead of cluttering up my tea junk drawer!

Propagating tea

After my friend Frivolitea gifted me with a tea plant last summer, another friend of mine commented that she'd love to have a cutting of it once the plant grew to where there was enough to share. To my absolute delight, this plant has a) thrived and b) sent up a couple of spare shoots next to it. I decided to cut off a piece of one and see if I can turn this into a "passalong plant" that I share with others since it was originally shared with me! Here, I've got the cutting soaking up a little water in a small pot.

The tea leaves look very healthy, so I'm encouraged!

I dipped the cutting in some rooting medium to give it a little extra boost before planting.

And here it is in its new pot, where it will hopefully grow! I have another ulterior motive for this plant as well. I'll be speaking on tea at a Friends of the Library fundraiser next month, and I thought it would be nice to take along an actual tea plant to show those who may not be familiar with camellia sinensis in its unprocessed state. Wish me (and the plant) luck!

Some secretarial work

This is my great-grandmother's secretary, which was handed down to me many years ago now. I began to notice that the things I was displaying in it weren't showing up very well, and it hit me that the colorful chintz in my white kitchen cabinet might look better here, while the pink Depression glass in this mahogany secretary would almost certainly look better there.

Yes, I definitely like this better with the chintz displayed against the dark background.

I don't have that much chintz, but what I do have I really treasure, whether it's my Royal Winton Welbeck chintz or the no-name Japanese chintz sugar and creamer I recently found for $1.99!

A few chintz teacups, old and new, are now in this cabinet as well. I once heard a decorator's advice to occasionally shuffle things around in your home because that makes you feel like you've gotten something new, and I definitely find that to be true. I'm still working on prettifying the pink glasswares in the white kitchen cabinet, but hopefully I'll have that little project to share in a few days as well!

A rainbow of teapot tablecloths

It's been a while since I found any affordable tea-themed linens, but recently I came across a gray-toned teapot tablecloth on eBay for under $10. I was pleasantly surprised when I was the only bidder and won the auction!

Like many vintage tablecloths, this one features a solid colored rectangle in the middle surrounded by a very graphic-filled border. I just love all the different teapots on this tablecloth!

Good thing, too, because I already had this tablecloth in blue.

And pink. I saw it in yellow once as well, but it was a bit faded so I didn't buy it. (I regretted that.) I also saw it in green once on eBay, but it went for a very high price so I didn't bid. (And I didn't regret that!) There are very few tea collectibles I own that I've been able to collect in various colorways. A few brooches, a few tea towels, but these are the only tablecloths I have in different colors. Are there other tea collectibles (besides teacups, of course) that you've found came in different colors?

Weekend hits and misses

Sometimes, an item's desirability is directly proportional to whether or not there's an "Everything Half Off" sign in the booth at the antiques store. Thus, this $10 teapot I'd seen before and was mildly interested in because of the word "Tea" on it suddenly became much more attractive when I realized it could be had for just $5. Fall decor, I think. (And that lovely season can't get here fast enough!)

I'm still finding myself drawn to old restaurant ware, and I loved the smaller luncheon size of this oval plate from Syracuse.

The red border on this plate appealed to me. I wonder which restaurant used this piece? I really must find a book on restaurant ware.

Finally, I was tickled to see a bone china teacup set in a Christmas pattern for just $5. I started looking for these a few years ago and learned individual Christmas teacups just don't appear that often. I felt the rim of the cup and the saucer and was happy both were chip free. A great deal, right?

Alas, no. Can you believe I missed this botched repair job on the handle? How did I let that slip my notice? Oh well, I suppose I can decorate with it or fill it with Christmas potpourri or something. Meanwhile, I learned that I need to remember to check the handle when I'm out teacup shopping!

Tea Sandwich Saturday #32 - My Favorite Egg Salad

My egg salad recipe, which I found in a tearoom cookbook years ago, is a longtime favorite. In fact, this is what I took for lunch almost every day this week, because I never tire of eating these sandwiches!

I always like just about anything with olives in it, and this egg salad really gets a boost from the flavor of the olives. Plus, this spread is nice whether served open-faced or ...

... sandwiched between two slices of bread. If you like olives, you should love this recipe!

Egg-Olive Spread

4 boiled eggs
4 ounces (half a large block) cream cheese
2 teaspoons brown mustard
20 green olives
1 teaspoon olive juice
Dash of salt and pepper

Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse well, until everything is thoroughly blended. When cutting the traditional rectangular shapes, I like to spread the filling across the full-sized piece of bread first, top with the second slice, trim crusts, then slice into three tea sandwiches. Garnish with thin slices of olive. This recipe makes enough spread for several dozen tea sandwiches.

Teatime Blues

After weeks of virtually no rain, it was so lovely to wake up here in Georgia and see gray skies and a saturated ground and hear the almost forgotten sound of rain. It felt like a "blue" sort of morning, yet it made me so happy! And when I looked in my tea cabinet, I noticed for the first time that a few of my blue teacups and saucers had ended up in a stack together. Perfect!

Blue teawares seemed just the thing for trying some new oolong tea that was a gift from a thoughtful tea friend. Oolong tea is sometimes referred to as "blue tea," not because of the color of the tea but because it is somewhere between green and black in terms of its production method and taste.

When I prepared my tea, which was rich and delicious with just a hint of a floral taste, I used one of my favorite cup and saucer sets. I think I've mentioned this Swinnertons Silverdale set before because it is so special to me. This was part of a set that belonged to my friend Liz's country grandmother. Years ago, she set aside her "egg money" to buy herself a pretty set of dishes. Can't you just picture this grandmother admiring this lovely blue design and imagining it in her kitchen? And to think, one of the teacups is now in mine!

I also never tire of seeing this backstamp with the tea kettle on it. It sure helped me enjoy singing the blues!

What's "In Bloom"

Do you like to wear fragrance? I sure do. I always reach for the ones in the floral/fruity range, and I just love having a new fragrance to spritz on as I'm headed out the door after dressing each morning. My newest is one from Avon, "In Bloom" by Reese Witherspoon. I'd gotten a sample from my representative and loved it, and then I (of course) waited until it was on sale to buy a bottle. I have to admit I don't like buying anything (clothes, jewelry, fragrance) endorsed by a celebrity, because most celebrities these days strum my poor nerves. I nearly bought a black pocketbook recently until I saw that it had a metal label bearing the name of a popular blonde pop singer. Ack! She doesn't carry a purse with "Angela McRae" on it, so why would I want to carry one with her name on it? But I digress. Reese Witherspoon is a celebrity I actually like, so I don't mind her being associated with my new fragrance.

It's the yummiest, headiest fragrance I've sniffed in ages, and the light floral is perfect for summer. I also love-love-love the bottle's crystal rose on top. Such a pretty design!

But it wasn't Reese or the rose that persuaded me to try this fragrance, it was the recipe, you might say. Read the ingredients and you'll see they include "peach tea leaves." Surely they meant to say "peach-scented tea leaves," but at any rate bless Avon for the idea of adding tea (or at least the scent of tea, since no camellia sinensis is actually listed) to this delightful fragrance! If you don't mind my being nosy, what fragrance(s) do you like to wear?

"Tea at Fortnum & Mason"

Do you ever want to look at a book or magazine simply because it's pretty? I do. In the course of my job I am forever reading articles about cooking, decorating, news and technology, but sometimes I just need to quiet my mind by looking at something where I don't have to think so much. Even two recent visits to the magazine stands turned up nothing inspiring. For that reason, I was so very surprised -- and grateful -- when a new tea book I ordered ended up being not only a delightful read but also the loveliest thing I've *looked at* in quite some time!

"Tea at Fortnum & Mason" is a small (5-1/2 x 7-1/2 inches) book, clad in that beautiful eau de nil color for which the London department store is rightly famous. This book had been on my wish list for some time, and I finally ordered it as a small treat for myself for surviving another large project at work. Ahh, it was just what I was looking for, with tea information and recipes I wanted but also beautiful photography I was craving. Like the image of this Eclair with Fresh Cream and Raspberries.

And this Honey, Sultana and Pecan Tea Bread, sliced and cleverly posed against a teapot.

Even the opening pages of the chapters are gorgeous, such as this spread for "The History of Tea."

Or what about this one for "Small Cakes and Fancies"? The design and recipes in this book are both outstanding, and if you need a little "soul food" yourself I'd certainly recommend it. Now if you don't mind my asking ... what's the last really pretty book or magazine you've read?

Teatime journals

Have you come across any great new tea books lately? I haven't, so I was looking around eBay a few weeks ago at titles with "tea" in them. That's when I spotted this journal, and I dearly love journals, but I already had quite a few blank ones waiting to be filled. Did I really *need* this one? It was just $4.77, plus shipping. Undecided, I bookmarked it but didn't order it.

And thank goodness I did not. I was in Dollar Tree last week (one of you had told me they sometimes have tea-themed cards there!) when I saw this very same journal for just $1 (obviously), plus another teapot and teacup design journal as well. Now I would have had a conniption (or at least a good hissy fit) if I'd ordered this and then realized it could be had for a mere dollar!

These journals even feature tea-themed graphics on the inside pages. Got a Dollar Tree in your area? You might want to be on the lookout for these!

My new favorite teacup!

Finally, I am the happy owner of a pink cup and saucer in the Tea Room Depression glass pattern! I saw this online for a very good price ($30, marked down from $50) prior to the Depression Glass Show last week. I had told myself that a) if I didn't find it for a better price at the show and b) if I didn't spend too much at the show, I would order it. Once I realized the prices glass was going for last weekend, I couldn't order this set fast enough! It arrived in beautiful condition, and I am now one happy Tea Room glass collector.

I was thrilled this cup and saucer were in such great shape. If you look for this pattern online, sellers often mention how hard it is to find this glass in good condition because of all those corners jutting out. It's even more amazing to find this glass in good shape when you consider that it was often used in tea rooms and soda shops, where it certainly would have been subjected to wear. This pattern was made by Indiana Glass from 1926-1931 and is one of the earliest Depression glass patterns. (I love to imagine ladies with white gloves and floral hats sipping their tea from these pieces.)

Here is the saucer. Now, if I just had some plates to match ...

One thing I have observed is that this pattern often has bubbles inside the glass, which was apparently a manufacturing flaw. It doesn't bother me, though, because I'll take bubbles over chips any day!

I did have a slight concern that perhaps a glass teacup filled with tea might be uncomfortably heavy to hold, but it was not. It took me two years to find this set at a price I was willing to pay. (Actually, this is only the third Tea Room teacup and saucer set I've seen at any price.) If I ever collect enough pieces for even two to have tea, you can bet I'll be throwing a special tea party to celebrate!