"I felt," she told me later, "like I'd stepped into a fairy tale garden."
I did, too! What a dreamy afternoon tea in the garden!
A luxurious party without exhaustion, stress or overspending.
A luxurious party without exhaustion, stress or overspending.
Epic win! Want to know my secrets?
For my friends and me, making things look special matters. But I have a very limited budget of time and money.
Tip #1 - Buy a few beautiful crafting items and use them to the max. My new Sizzix Garden Party dies were used to make the coasters above as well as toppers for the Italian sodas below. They are as simple as turn the crank on a die cutting machine and you're done! Super simple but they look so fancy, don't they?
And since I'm so thrifty (ok, I'm absolutely cheap!) I want everything to work many ways. My welcome sign, the ribbony "treat" banner, and the albums we used for favors were all the same simple die: the bracketed album from the Garden Party Sizzix die collection.
Since gatherings are more fun when there's something to do, I gave each guest an album made of watercolor paper, along with paints and brushes, and we ventured into the flower beds to paint.
The other thing that made this party sing was the beautiful tea table.
I used my dear friend Brenda Walton's Sizzix dies to make labels for the table and the all-important favor boxes, all of which I embellished with quick watercolor and calligraphy. Eye candy!
And a word about the food... Don't be shy! Ask for help.
My brilliant niece Janelle played pastry chef and her sweets and savories were scrumptious.
When my friends from ages 3 to 89 left, they took a bird hanging in the cherry tree as a reminder of the fun we enjoyed.
Yes, my garden was full of weeds.
But nobody cared. We were too busy having fun!
I spent only a few hours to prepare. My budget was very small.
The sun shone, the party looked festive, and we laughed all afternoon.
We need more celebrations and more laughter, don't we?
The pretty Garden Party dies made it all fast and easy.
And yes- we are already planning another one!
