Alice in Wonderland Party

We took our Mad Hatter's Tea Party to a Chinese restaurant.  Notice the newspaper hats.  I had a large vase with cherry blossom branches (from Pier One) with tiny pastel cardstock lanters with battery operated votives in each one.  I made them just like we used to do in elementary school by folding a paper in half the long way, then making slits along the fold.  Only, I glued circles on the bottoms to hold the candles.

     I have been using the program Printmaster for years.  It is easier to use than Photoshop for those of you who are afraid of powerful graphics programs.  Both of these programs let you print images ANY SIZE YOU WANT.  I am married to an architect.  I send my clipart and images to him.  He prints them out on his large machines.  If you can't make friends with an architect, then Printmaster lets you print up the images, but they are on individual 8.5" x 11" pages that you glue together on the borders.  Glue sticks come in so handy here.I glue the pages together, cut out the image (which I did here) and spray mount it to cardboard.  I then make a triangular cardboard stand.  Sometimes I cover image with clear contact paper.  Sometimes I print image in black and white and paint it.  They are ALWAYS a hit.

I created this teapot cake from a doll cake pan.  Google: shopping: doll cake pan.  Normally the doll would fit in the narrow end on top.  This was my first venture into fondant.  Fondant comes in big tubs from cake supply stores.  You can roll it out just like clay.  My daughters gave me a pasta machine.  With it, I can roll out thin layers of fondant and cut out shapes.  I did this for the hearts and leaves.  The spout and handle was fondant that I rolled into tubes and then let them dry over curved shapes.  The lid was a small cake.  I rolled out a circle large enough to cover it.  I used  the following reciped for the frosting: beat on high 3 egg whites, 1 tsp vanilla. Add on low speed 4 cups confectionery sugar, 1 Tblsp. cream of tartar.  This frosting hardens quickly, so keep the bowl covered with a wet dishtowel.

   

 I ordered oversize teacups from Costco World Market.  I bought small flowerpots and made small arrangements for each guest. I used Printmaster to make the story characters as flower picks.  The program lets you "reverse" print.  So I print one, then print another reversed.  I cut out these two and glue them back to back with a wooden skewer between them.  Below is another photo with a better idea.

                                                                    The Birthday Girl

                                                             

 You can't have a party without the cat.  I had a stuffed mouse in a silver teapot and the stuffed cat that I bought at the Disney Store.

                                                                    

   

                                        

    These flower pics look larger in the photo, but what a response they received.  I let each guest take their flower pot and character home.  Being my friends, they enjoyed them, then returned the pots and characters for me to use at a later date. If you return to my blog at a later date, I will show you how I used these patterns and turned them into oversized FUN FOAM characters.