Food and Drink

We always have the Welcome sign out here at our cottage, and get a lot of guests to show for it.  After the Easter egg bash yesterday, we had an old college buddy of my husband’s drop by from Colorado for the weekend with his family, and our niece and nephew came over to hang out too, ended up staying the weekend. To feed a houseful of hungry teenagers, I decided on a build your own taco bar, and set up a couple large tables in my studio for seating.  I don’t know if they cared about the fresh picked grape hyacinth and the fairy figurines as a center piece, but it made me happy to do.

Then, I took advantage of having two 13 year old girls over to giggle with and we decorated Easter cookies.  After raising two loud boys who cared more about eating cookies than decorating them, this was a treat for me.

It has been hectic, but a lot of laughs. And this is just the beginning of visitor season.  Next week, my mother-in-law arrives from Michigan.  And who knows who we’ll have the week after that?  I have been known to go months with people coming every week to stay for  a night or two. 

I am sneaking away for a bit to work on listing some more things on Ebay (this Welcome sign for one!)  Oh, that sounds like I didn’t want guests, that isn’t how I meant it.  I have a TON of these, am constantly painting on old bits of wood I collect.  This one is from the old cabinets we tore out when we remodeled.  I hate to throw away anything that has a possibility of painting a rose on it!

I also listed this ATC, isn’t she just full of zip?   She reminds me of myself at my son’s wedding when I led the conga line and didn’t realize every wedding guest saw my panties as I dance through my gazebo and around the gardens!  When you are having such a great time, who cares about a middle aged woman’s panties showing a bit??

Well, back to the guests.  And the Easter cookies.  There are a couple with way too much icing on them, and those are really calling out to me.

Welcome to the Spring Tea Party!  I think it really will feel like Spring here in KS today, is supposed to be in the 70’s and I am going to cut some forsythia.  Here is a tiny teacup fairy watercolor I have done, doesn’t she look like she is ready to play outside on a nice spring day after her tea party?

This photo of the breakfast nook in my kitchen was in Small Room Decorating Magazine, page 26, Nov 2006.  It was taken by Bill Mathews and styled by my friend, Gloria Gale. 

You can see some of my tea cup and sugar bowl collection on the shelf above the table.

Gloria and Bill did these photos too, but they have not been published yet. I wrote an article for the pictures, but don’t know which magazine it will be in or when it will show up. Sometimes, the pictures take a couple years or more before they are used!  Which is hard, when I am so excited to see them when they come out!  I check the newsstand at the grocery store every week, even though the editor is very nice and sends me a copy ahead of time.  It is a good feeling to be flipping through pages at the store and be surprised by photos of my home. 

This is the entry way to the kitchen, basically the main entrance to the home.  I can’t say it is always this welcoming and set for a party, but I love it when it is.  Any excuse for a party is a good reason to get my pretties out of the cabinet and use them. I don’t believe in letting my favorite things sit on the shelves and be left out.

The bright pink rose painting hanging by the door is one of my watercolors.  I faux finished the walls in a wash of 3 toasty colors over ivory to warm up the room.  With all the white furniture, I didn’t want too much color on the walls, but it was too blah when it was a lighter shade of cream.

My son was working for a cabinet shop when we were remodeling and he built all the beautiful cabinets for me.  I added the embellishments, painted them a French vanilla, then glazed over them with a cappuccino color.  Fitting and tasty colors for a kitchen!!

I tied tiny little teapots to my garage sale chandelier after painting it white (I think the last owner was a circus clown, by the color it was when I bought it).  For the spring fling tea party today, I will take down one of my favorite teapots from the top of the cabinets and make Black Current tea.  I am baking brownies too, and adding white chocolate M&Ms to them.  Now, where have the white chocolate ones been all my life??? YUM

One last photo from Bill and Gloria’s work at my house before I go check out the virtual tea party.  If you want to go to, the link is:   http://www.artsymama.blogspot.com

This photo is a close up of the cake I had out for the photo shoot.  I don’t bake things that turn out pretty, so I always buy a cake a the grocery and doctor it up.  Then, after the pictures, we sit down together and eat it! 

Wishing you a beautiful first day of Spring, and thanks to Kari at artymama for the idea of the tea party.