Lilly Cottage

Welcome to our Mad Tea Party..whimsy and vintage 2012

It is here, it is here!! The spectacularly fabulous Mad Tea Party day!! Today A Fanciful Twist hosts its Fifth Annual Mad Tea Party. Today is a day for getting you favorite tea cup out, putting a flower in your hair and remember what it was like to be child and let your imagination run wild. Today is a day for believing in fairies or heck even being a fairy if you so desire, today is about celebrating today!

Now for the past four years we have joined Vanessa and hundreds of blog party goers around the world, flitting from online tea party to tea party as well as hosting our very own Mad Tea Party..a very special real tea party, so that we can spread the fun just a little bit further.

This year was our biggest Mad Tea Party ever and it was so wonderful...this year we hired a hall and transformed it into a Mad Tea Party ...which was totally unexpected by the party goers and it was so lovely to hear them take a sharp intake of breath as they first saw where they were to spend an afternoon. so come with us now as grab you a teacup to call your own and we enter our own little fairytale land and you can choose a seat.

Right let's go and take a look at some of the sights...which way first left or right? Right you say, ok..whoops oops sorry did you mean the other right...I am always getting those two mixed up.

Oh I spy a rabbit and a key...I wonder how many you can find.

Oh and look Alice even made an appearance, I wonder if she has seen the key yet?

Butterflies escaping from the milk jug..whatever next?

A Tea Tree...with a bit of coffee thrown in for good luck...based on Vanessas ribbon chandelier a couple of years ago, I have made this ribbon festooned chandelier with lots of trinkets hanging down and I added the teabags to the side, all you need to do is pull off the one you like.

Little Red even found her way to the party, and yes I do admit dancing on the tables was a bit premature, but when you are that tiny and cute we can make allowances.

Everybody needs their own portable chandelier on days like today.

Clock Cake plates..of course!

Whirling, twirling girls.

What would any kind of tea party be without some Fancy Tea cups?

And Fancy Tea, crazy cake stands there was food on them I promise)

How much do glittery starfish weigh I wonder?

Being that we are very very close to the beach, it was nice to see some shell fairies popping in for a visit too.

Oh my goodness, look at the time, best choose a chair and get ready for other mad folk to join us..now where would you like to sit?

Happy Mad Tea Party Day! Thank you Vanessa for the inspiration once again, and now we are off to visit so many other beautiful tea parties today, where can I find yours?

Kiss Noises Linda

Oh we did have other lovely people to visit tooo...look at  these smiley happy faces

If you would like to visit other tea party hostesses too, simply pop over to A Fanciful Twist  and hop from one beautiful Tea party  to the next..KN again Linda

** Please pop back and see us later in the week too when I will tell you all about the other creative wonderful people who helped to make this possible, they are so special!**

 

 

 

There is a whisper in the wind.

Yes indeed there is a whisper in the wind of some madness afoot..madness of the Mad Tea Party kind.  We have heard all sorts of strange tinklings and chatterings around Lilly Cottage of late and a little note was found under our mat the other day...not that we usually look under the mat as a reular daily  routine, but something just made us do it on that day..

It was a invitation to a Mad Tea Party..on Saturday 28th July, an amazingly huge and fantastic event where we get to have our own tea party and then flit backwards and forwards around the world visiting other tea party hostesses and goerers ( new word do you like it?)...though this invitation was specific to our very own event and on the back of the invitation were directions to the local community hall. Being slightly curious, we sneaked a little peek to see what preparations were in order.

Well there was nothing there that even suggested a Mad Tea Party..perhaps this year the party wouldn't be as Mad as other years.

But still the wind seemed to giggle and whisper around us as if to promise that magic would happen on the day.... only a few more sleeps to go and we shall see for ourselves if this years Mad Tea Party would be a memorable event.

We promise to let you know..as soon as the day breaks on Saturday 28th July and we will make sure that we let Vanessa know over at A Fanciful Twist.  too, after all she is the Queen party Hostess and the reason we all get to believe in Fairytales and magic and whimsy for a little while.

Kiss Noises Linda

Feel like some more Fancy Tea?

I tell you Rebecca from Fancy Tea  has so many gorgeous things in her little shop front I could probably post a photo a day for a month and still have things to show you. Following on from yesterdays post, here are some more photos of the pretty things at Fancy Tea.

Oh I love this setting above..Lady Carlyle by Royal Albert, oh all the photos I took, this design shows up more that any other..hehe..just love it.

Look at those walls...I tell you this shop is divine! The best bit is you can hire all of these for your own Fancy Tea  event...swoon.

I mean to say...what is not to love about these cups...

Some of the ' Fancy Tea Bags' that I have made and are for sale at Fancy Tea at Sandgate.

One of the hardest things to photograph...vintage bunting, so this is a photo of before it went up, lol.. love the layers of linen and ribbons though..pretty.

And the jug covers before they graced the shelves of Fancy Tea.

Now on to getting ready for our own big Mad Tea Event...excitement in the wings for this one.

Kiss Noises Linda

 

 

Fancy Tea Party Preparations.

Not long now until our very own Mad Tea Party and I am thrilled to be working with Rebecca from Fancy Tea as we gather the supplies for the bestest tea party ever! Rebecca's business Fancy Tea  is a vintage tea party and china hire  business and her catchline...Beautiful Vintage Style for Hire...is a perfect match for Lilly Cottage and our Vintage Style Living tag line.

Her business has been operating for a quite a few years now and her collection of  vintage bone china is stunning and has come from all over the world. She has recently opened a shop front at Sandgate where you can see and choose the supplies you wish to hire for your own tea party experience. She also has some beautiful tea party inspired items for sale, some fancy teas, beautiful pearl bracelets and lovely Fancy Tea bags, crocheted jug covers and vintage bunting that I have made.

Her Sandgate shop address is Fancy Tea, Shop 1 Knox St Sandgate...right near the entrance to the Sandgate Train Station, if you would like to go and drool over her fabulous collection...I have already done that and even took these photos to share with you...I have rather a lot so I might have to spread them over a few days..or maybe end up with one photo heavy post..now lets see how we go.

These plates are on the side of the cupboard that holds all the crystal...what a fabulous idea!

 Yes that might be enough pretty photos for today, will post some more tomorrow, including the sweet little bags I have made.

Kiss Noises Linda

 

Tea Party love.

Well preparations are in place for my very own Mad Tea Party ( tying in with Vanessa's Mad Tea Party at A Fanciful Twist). Mine is a real life version though and I am holding mine the week before the online one so I can be ready on time.

I have a new venue for the tea party this year and a whole heap of ideas for decorating, I just hope it works out the same as it is in my head. I have been very lucky to have been invited to a few tea parties recently, where the set up has been stunning, here are a few snap shots of these fabulous parties.

First there was Kerri's tea party with a twist, a singing Tupperware man twist to be exact...not at all what you would expect at a tea party but fun all the same and her decorations were just beautiful...as was the food and the stunning tea..

Tomorrow I will try to jump on and share Ruths tea party with you, a beautiful setting, company and food there to.

Hope your weekend has started off beautifully,I have plans to visit the Vintage Fair at South Bank tomorrow but we will see what happens there as I may have to conserve my energy for a big night out at the Kedron Wavell hotel as a bit of a birthday celebration for myself and my old friend Pauline ( whose birthday is also on the 17th July) with my two oldest friends...well not the oldest people on the street type friends, just friends who I have known for a very long time indeed) (insert breath).

More tea party pics of Ruths tea tomorrow,

Kiss Noises Linda

Sewing a shabby pink heart.

Every spare minute I get I have been working on these cushions, I love doing them and as no piece of fabric ever goes to waste around here I am pretty proud of them. These little suffolk puffs (or Yoyo's if you prefer) were made using the off cuts of the fabric I use for borders around cushions, so they are a wide variety of colours and it is a bit of a lucky dip when my it comes to choosing which ones I want to go on which cushion.

This one is pinks and the other one waiting in the wings is blue/greens. I also have a natural calico french inspired one waiting somewhere down the line too.

I even like just the outline of the heart done in the suffolk puffs but filled in I think is even better.

 

I will try and do a few quick posts this week as a bit of a catch up, school holidays and Mad Tea Party planning have meant it is has been a bit crazier than usual around here...back on track next week.

 

Hope you are having a lovely day,

Kiss Noises Linda