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Sunday, August 11, 2013

Summer Tea Time

by Heather
Home Goods plates; vintage teacups from another china set; Home Goods place mats; tea towels (which I use as napkins) from a little shop in Minneapolis 
I like tea parties. Give me any excuse to have one and I will. This time the tea started out to be for one party but segued into another instead. Oh well...any excuse will do. I always have loose tea leaves on hand -- I start each day with a pot of tea -- and I usually have scone mix in the cupboard. I know how to make scones from scratch but why would anyone bother to do so when, with this mix, all you do is add water and they're great every time. 
With the scones, I like to serve several types of jams -- usually strawberry and lemon curd -- and clotted cream (aka Devonshire cream).
Lemon curd and strawberry with champagne jam are held in glass bowls with glass serving spoons from local shop, Bungalow; clotted cream is in vintage Waterford; butter dish from Home Goods
Cost Plus is the place where I can find all of these items at good prices. I'll also pick up Cadbury milk chocolate fingers and Walkers shortbread if I know that I'm doing a tea in the near future.  Can you tell that I'm not the baker in our blogging trio?
Scones, shortbread and chocolate fingers are placed on Home Goods two-tiered plate stand.
For this tea, I made two types of tea sandwiches: egg salad on wheat and chive butter/cucumber on white. I used a mandolin slicer for the first time to get the cucumber slices thin enough -- why haven't I used this before?? It's been sitting in the cupboard for years!
Sandwiches are placed on a tiered glass stand from Home Decor. Note the sweet birds perched at the top; they fit right in with the bird motif on the plates.
 If I'm going all out, I will generally add at least one more type of sandwich as well as cheese straws and sausage rolls and if I'm really on a roll, jam tarts and sandwich cake.

One of the best parts of having a tea is setting the table. I love the green bird and flower patterned china that I picked up at Home Goods this spring so I started with those plates.
I wanted to offer both de-caf and regular tea so I needed two teapots. Home Goods again to the rescue with two pots I had picked up this spring -- one to match the green plates; one in cream with a bird motif.
The only new items on the table: two candelabras from Home Goods (where else?)
I couldn't resist these candelabras. I'll probably put them into storage after the tea and bring them out again at Christmas. I can picture them during that season surrounded by silver and sparkle.
A green linen runner down the middle of the table and two preserved boxwoods in their own wire basket, both from Home Goods, added to the off-center centerpiece.
Butter knives and additional tea spoons are corralled in silver cups
Maybe for my next tea, I'll do a coastal theme. The tea pot below with a matching sugar and creamer is needing some action.
Home Goods tea pot, sugar, creamer, and tray
Home Goods jar; Nordstrom's candleholders

Come on over for a cuppa, okay?

Love,
Heather

28 comments:

  1. What fun and how beautifully displayed! I would love to go to a tea party.

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    1. Would love to have you over for a tea party. The next time you're in town, let me know and we'll have one in your honor, Marla.
      Heather

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  2. I would love to come over for a cuppa! What a gorgeous spread!

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    1. Thank you, Kristin. Come on over -- I'm sitting down with a cup of tea right now and have a few scones left over from an impromptu tea party with the granddaughter after her first day of kindergarten.
      Heather

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  3. Oh my, this is gorgeous. Love your candelabras and the plates are fabulous. Such a pretty pattern. Thanks tons for linking to Inspire Me. Hugs, Marty

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    1. Thank you, Marty. It's been a while since I've had the chance to link with you so it's fun to reconnect.
      Heather

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  4. I can't believe Home Goods has the trellis/bird tea set item! This is a very fun post and I am so glad you shared at Tea In The Garden!

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    1. Thank you, Bernideen. The china pattern is all sold out now. They also had it in yellow which I was going to get, but most of the pieces were gone so I couldn't. Lesson learned: if you like something at Home Goods, buy it right away because it won't be there when you come back :)
      Heather

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  5. A beautiful table and the food looks wonderful. Thanks for the heads up on Cost Plus. Thank you for sharing your wonderful party with us. Blessings, Mrtha

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  6. Hi Heather,
    What a fabulous tea! I absolutely LOVE your green bird/trellis tea plates! We don't have a HG here; wish we did. Everything looks so good. The tea treats look delish. Thanks so much for sharing with us and coming to Tea Time.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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    1. Thank you, Sandi. Home Goods is such a temptation -- you should probably be glad you don't have one close to you :)
      Heather

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  7. Beautiful! Your treats look delicious! :) I love all of your pretty candelabras!
    Jennelise

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    1. Thank you, Jennelise, for visiting our blog. I appreciate your comments.
      Heather

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  8. Wow, you really put on a fabulous tea party!! The gang over at My Personal Accent, would like to invite you to link-up this fantastic post at our new Blog Strut Peacock Style Link Party. Share as many of your creative ideas, recipes, and any other family friendly content as you like. We will be pinning every submission we receive. If you have a giveaway or contest you’d like to promote, feel free to post it on our giveaway page. Come on over and show us what you’ve got! http://www.mypersonalaccent.com/the-blog-strut-peacock-style-6/

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    1. Thank you, Sande. I will connect with your link-up. Sounds like fun!
      Heather

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  9. Such a pretty tablescape! Love the chandeliers! I totally get not liking to bake. I like to bake, but I hate cooking meals. Thankfully my hubby makes about half the meals around here! Thanks for sharing this at What We Accomplished Wednesdays! Have a super week!

    Hugs,
    Deborah

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    1. Thank you, Deborah. It does seem like women fall into either the baking or the cooking camps. I much prefer the cooking part although, if I'm being perfectly honest, I prefer making reservations over either cooking or baking :)
      Heather

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  10. What a pretty tea! I too love those scone mixes! Everything looks so great! Thanks for sharing at TTF.

    Linda

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    1. Thank you, Linda. Aren't those scone mixes great? Just made another batch for an impromptu tea party with the granddaughter.
      Heather

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  11. Heather, you have set a lovely tea. I too love having tea parties. I love the white and green bird pitcher. I have a set like the white bird one. Is was given to me for my birthday a few years ago by a friend. I love it too. Thanks for sharing your beautiful spread with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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    1. Thank you, Jann. If you're ever in the Valley of the Sun, look me up and we'll have a tea party together.
      Heather

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  12. I featured your pretty tea party at Mod Vintage Life today. Just a couple of days ago a lady had shown me some china she was looking for napkins to go with and it was your china but in turquoise. I adore it. She said she'd gotten it at TJ Maxx. I'm going to go see if I can find some for myself. I hope...hope...hope... Thanks for joining my party!

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    1. Hi Nita, I was on vacation so I'm just getting back into answering comments today. Thank you for the feature; it's quite an honor!
      Heather

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  13. What wonderful things you have on display. I love a good tea party and yours sure does look inviting. Thank you so much for linking up to Thriving on Thursday last week. Hope to see you again sometime. By the way, I'm your latest follower.

    Anne xx

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    1. Welcome to our newest follower, Anne! We're so happy you joined us.
      Heather

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  14. Lovely tea - the food looks delicious and I think the candelabra is gorgeous - I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
    Kathy

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    1. Thank you, Kathy. Always a joy to link up with your party!
      Heather

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