"Time" for Tea

We had a beautiful Celebration sipping cold tea and eating pretty foods.  It was a reason to celebrate with ladies and rejoice in the miracle of a new baby.  Waiting many, many years to know that a child was going to enter your family would be so frustrating.  This new mom did just that and prayed, expressing her longing to have a baby.  Six years later we are celebrating with her and excited to see what the Father will do in their lives.  We know that only the Father could have opened her womb to allow this child to be.  What a miracle and a perfect time to rejoice! 

We wanted to do a theme that had to do with "time" since she waited so long for this to happen.  So, we went with a "Time for Tea" theme and had the decor and foods be centered on tea party delights and clocks.  All the clocks were set on the same time which was her due date.  Casie was in charge of this one, with Christi helping with some food, decorations and ideas.   We were buying clocks and tea cups at every thrift shop we could find to complete our projects.  We ended up with a perfect tea party enjoyed by every one of the ladies!

Here's the pics.  Hope you enjoy them and maybe get some ideas for your own tea party or celebration.  

Casie tea stained these paper doilies so they were a little more creamish instead of white.  This banner was so delicate and pretty.  She really did a beautiful job on it!

We hosted this celebration at the location where we fellowship.  Melanie is a gifted decorator, and we were blessed to have her come along side of us to help with the tables and place settings.  She supplied most of the table decor and all of the tea cups that were used at every seat.

Since we decided that a pregnant lady probably wouldn't enjoy hot tea on a hot day, we decided to still use the tea cups for something special.  Casie's brother, Garth from Layers of Flavors baked the cupcakes then put them in these cups and added his delicious frosting and pearl sprinkles.  They were so yummy!  

We hung these clocks above where the gifts would be.  Casie purchased them off of etsy and then we added the hands and the matching fabric we used throughout the party for the backing.

Aren't those umbrellas just too pretty?  Casie made these and we tied fabric around the jelly jars to add some pretty pinkness.

Each napkin had a clock tied to it.  These were purchased from Hobby Lobby and were such a great addition to the table settings.

Melanie had a long table and a shorter table that were used.  Both tables were decorated so beautifully with florals, candles, and clocks.  

Now for the food!

This tea cup and saucer stand was really fun to shop for.  With mismatched items, it made for such a great centerpiece to the food display.  Thank you to a few other ladies for helping with the sandwiches, eggs, and fruit.

Besides the fact that those parfaits look just delicious, aren't those food labels so great?  Casie had some clocks left over and added that and a bit of the paper lace to make a very pretty addition to the display.  She also added cute little pink flowers to the ends of the spoons that went in the parfaits and cupcakes. 

Blessings of gifts were poured out onto Rachel.  Many useful and pretty girlie things for that special little blessing coming soon!

There weren't too many times that I looked at Rachel and she wasn't rubbing or holding her belly, or talking to her baby or looking down at her belly lovingly (I mean really, how many of us ladies look lovingly at our bellies.: ) ).  Pictures of mothers holding their babies are so touching to other mom's hearts, but seeing Rachel's love already for this little one really touched my heart.  She already holds her in her arms.

We also take time to bless the new mom with words of encouragement, advice, prayer, Scripture, whatever the Father lays on the women's hearts to share with her.  It's always a time of blessing.  We also had her husband write a letter to her that was read during the sharing time.  Words of love from the new daddy are always sweet and touching to the mom.  During sharing time we also wash her feet as an act of servanthood.  It's a very humbling and special time!

Okay, baby, you've got a little more "time" to grow. Stay healthy and happy, and we'll see you close to August 11th, give or take a couple weeks. 



Casie and I with the lovely, Rachel!

Another CeLeBration blessing that blessed many hearts, including our's as we look at a woman who has been heard by the Father and favored.  What a time to rejoice, cry, laugh, and CeLeBrate with a sister!  Thank you, Yahweh, for this miracle and blessing!

DIY Tutorial- Rainbow Cake Pop Stand

Sometimes you just might have on hand what you need to create something amazing!  In this case, my dad had what I needed in his barn.  I had my heart set on an eye catching cake pop stand that was a rainbow for the children's school program, and I needed styrofoam.  If any of you have priced styrofoam at the craft stores, you know that it can be rather expensive, especially if you need a big piece or large quantity.  

The first thing I started out with was some pink foam board that is used for insulating buildings.  Not sure how much this stuff costs if you were to buy it brand new.  My dad had some extra pieces laying around, so I used those to make my rainbow pieces.  

 I began by cutting out the arches to make the rainbow.  The biggest piece, which is red in the above picture, measured approximately 2 ft. long at the base.  That gives you a general idea of the size of it.  Then they are equally smaller as they went down in size. 

 I let the children paint them as they didn't need to be done perfectly as you can see.  I drew basic lines for them to follow, then they just filled it in.  We had to do 2 coats of some of the paint so that it was a really nice solid coat of color. 

 We sprayed them with some gold glitter to give them just a bit of sparkle.  It was hard to see it, but maybe in the right lighting or if we would have put more on, it would have been better.

After all pieces were completely dry, we glued them together tightly in the correct order of color.  My violet looks a little blue in the picture.  Weird.  Anyways just follow ROYGBIV and leave out what colors you don't have if you have to.  Make sure to glue it together so that it leans slightly towards the back.  As the cake pops go in, it will cause it to lean forward, so glueing it to lean back will balance it for display. 

I poked the holes in with a stick before I put the actual cake pops in place.  I started in the center and then worked my way to the outside of each color.  I believe this held about 45 cake pops.  Here is the final project all set up at the party.

It turned out just how I had it pictured!

Think of the endless ideas you could do with this foam board.  We would love to hear some ideas you might have of using this product to create an eye popping stand for your guests to enjoy plucking their cake pops from.

Paper Poppy Tutorial

I really liked how these paper poppies turned out.  Not sure what to recommend for paper because I used paper I had saved for years that were wrapped around a bouquet of flowers.  I knew it would come in handy some day!  : )  I think in the tutorial, she recommends tissue paper which would also work nicely.  Enjoy this tutorial from Little Miss Crafts.  The only difference I did with mine, was that I used black marker to bring out the black center of the flower.  These made for a perfect topper for my fruit kabobs.  Let us know if you try these out and send us some pictures if you use them to adorn your next CeLeBration. 

Zebras and Feathers

Well, this Celebration was just what I had pictured in my head for Casie. With Casie and I planning Celebrations together, we joke that we both have little men who share ideas with each other til we finally get the perfect party planned for the guest of honor. I didn't have her little men this time, but I think we managed. I did have some great other ladies who stepped up to lend a hand and cover details and gave ideas to help me make this just perfect for Casie. I think we accomplished it, and all the ladies had a superb time enjoying one another's fellowship.

LeEtta, Christi, Celia and Naomi

I could go on and on about the details, but I'll stop and let you look through the pictures. I'll share more at the end of the post. Enjoy!

A DIY Tutorial on how to make these amazing centerpieces for a fraction of the price of the large feather towers that are at many weddings.

I have to break up the pictures to talk about these oreos for just a moment. Casie LOVES dipped oreos, so they were a must, but I definitely wanted them to go along with the theme and really wanted a white feather on them. After being unsuccessful trying stencils and powdered sugar, I saw a picture of feathers made from rice paper. So, I set out to duplicate those by using sugar paper that can be bought at most craft stores in the cake section. AND are you wondering how we got the inside of the oreo to be blue? The sun and beach special edition oreo packages are actually blue inside. How fun is that?

As this Celebration seemed to be more on the fun side, we had a skit lined up to add to the fun feel of it all. We changed a little bit of the lines to make it fit, and created this sign for the end that read, "When your day doesn't go as planned, don't hesitate to call a friend". We all need sisters to call on when we just need another lady to talk to or an encouraging word from a friend on a challenging day. The skit was called Mama's Close Call and gave us a very good laugh by some wonderful actresses at the Celebration. Sometimes the usual party ideas, aren't necessarily the right fit for a certain Celebration. Make it what you want the feel to be, even if that means doing something out of the ordinary.

Casie special requested a photo booth for her Celebration, and I'm so glad she did. It fit this theme perfectly and what fun it was to dress up and take pictures. There will be a separate post with all of those ideas and pictures later.

So, after much planning, creating, building, and even fixing things, this Celebration turned out lovely! We tried to have food with the colors of blue, white and yellow. The chicken, pineapple and yellow peppers (we did use some orange peppers too) kabobs were actually grilled over a campfire the night before to give them that smokey, delicious flavor. Thanks to my husband for taking the late shift and staying up til they were done. We also had eggs extraordinaire (deviled eggs), cheese and crackers, Blue and Yellow M&Ms, lemon cake pops, chocolate peanut butter cake pops, fresh blueberry and pineapple, pretzels dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with colored sugar crystals and striped like a zebra, and dipped oreo cookies. The drink was simply lemonade with lemon slices and ice cubes that were made from lemonade and blueberries. If you ever want something to stay cold but don't want it to get watered down, just make ice cubes out of the beverage itself. It works wonderfully!

We also had a basket with blank cards and envelopes addressed to Casie. I encouraged the ladies to take one home with them to send to Casie at a later time to encourage her. It could be before the baby comes to encourage her in keeping on going or after the baby to encourage her to take naps or call a friend if she is in need. : )

Did you notice the silhouettes? Those are actual silhouettes of Casie and her family. It took a little work on my part of taking pictures ahead of time that were the right distance away and would work for a silhouette. The right tools are definitely needed to cut out each profile. They all turned out great, and I was so happy with the final project. We sent those frames home with Casie as a gift. I think we might have to do one of the baby once he/she is born.

One of the best parts about the Celebrations we do is that we open it up for ladies to share their encouraging words to the one being honored. It is a memorable time and is very meaningful. Ahead of time we ask the husband to write something that is also read aloud to the guest of honor. Such special moments to savor! We wash the lady's feet and then I give a foot massage after to give the mother some pampering and show her how much we love her and are willing to serve her in whatever way we can. Not everyone participates, but for those who choose to, it's really a time of sweetness and bonding.

Christi and Casie, the CLBs

A friend is willing to be there for you, listen to you, cry with you, laugh with you, BUT a sister is willing to go the extra mile in serving you in whatever way she can, whether it be through actions of love or sitting at your feet to wash them out of a humble love. The relationships that grow and strengthen aren't the ones full of only laughs, but mixed with laughter and tears. I am so honored that I could plan this for her and CeLeBrate another life that God has blessed her family with!