Monarch Butterfly Nail Art

     It is snowing as I write this post, but someday spring will be here.  Right?  Until then, I'll be enjoying spring via nail art.
     I love butterflies, and monarch butterflies have always been my favorites.  My sister and I had a couple of pet butterflies growing up.  I believe our "tightrope walking" butterfly (it walked upside down along a piece of string) was a monarch butterfly.  Here is some nail art that reminds me of spring and all of the beautiful butterflies I've encountered over the years.

Materials:

*Orange nail polish
*White nail polish
*Black nail art pen
*Small dotting tool

Directions:

*Paint nails orange.

*Draw on butterfly wing shapes using a black nail art pen.

*Add white spots with white nail polish and the dotting tool.

Floral Nail Art

     Spring is here, at least technically.  While the flowers are not yet blooming here in Maine, you can still add some springiness to your look with these floral nails.

Materials:

*White nail polish
*Pink nail polish
*Red nail polish
*Black nail polish
*Green nail polish
*Medium sized dotting tool
*Small dotting tool
*Fine nail art brush
*Base coat

Directions:

*Paint nails with a base coat.  Let dry.

*Paint nails pink, with the exception of your ring finger nail, which you'll want to paint white.  Let dry.

*Using the medium dotting tool, add pink and red dots to the white nails.  Let dry.

*Using the small dotting tool, add black dots to the centers of the pink and red dots.  Let dry.

*Using the nail art brush, paint on green leaves.  This was the part of the process that I had trouble with.  None of my nail art brushes are super fine, so painting on leaf shapes was difficult.  I ended up using the brush basically as a stamp after some point in time and that worked out okay, but I would definitely recommend using a very fine brush if you can.

Alice in Wonderland Tea Party

     Here is the Alice in Wonderland tea party post I've been promising.  Brian and I held this tea party at the end of last summer, so you won't see the jumbo mushrooms or roses anywhere around.  I didn't end up making those until October, but they would have fit in well with this party.  Here are some tips for throwing a bash of your own.  Check out my Alice in Wonderland birthday party post for some additional decor and dessert ideas.

The Tablescape

     The tablecloth was an old one I sewed for my Alice in Wonderland birthday party a few years back.  The "flowers with faces" centerpiece was also from that party.  Check out this post to see how to make it.  The mini teacups came from Goodwill.  I had planned on getting mismatched teacups because that seemed more fitting for a Mad Tea Party, but when Brian found a set of mini teacups for me, I couldn't resist.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but the teacups are resting on the coffee filter doilies.  See this post for making the coffee filter doilies and this post for dyeing them.
     For the dessert stand, I placed a fancy looking goblet between two nice-ish plates.  I didn't use any sort of adhesive to hold them together, which meant the arrangement was a little more precarious than I would have preferred, although things seemed to work out just fine.  If you have accident prone guests, I would recommend going with something less breakable, though.

Food

     These mosaic sandwiches are pretty and fun to eat.  Prepare your favorite tea sandwich filling and place between two slices of bread.  Cut off the edges, if you'd like.  Cut slices of cucumbers and radishes (or other colorful veggies of your choice) and place atop the sandwiches.  Cut sandwiches into triangles.

     For dessert, macaroons can make a tasty treat.  I can't remember which recipe I used, so use whichever one sounds best to you.  You'll want to keep an eye on the macaroons, though, as some ovens cook faster than others.  When using the recipe I found, I originally tried cooking the macaroons for the amount of time the recipe called for, which left the macaroons a little singed on the bottom.  For successive batches, I put them in for less and less time, but they still ended up a little dark.

     Why not finish your tea party with these "painting the roses red" cream cheese candies?  I used this recipe, with some slight modifications.  I replaced the mint extract with vanilla extract because I'm not too much of a mint person.  I also ended up having to use more confectioner's sugar than the recipe called for, although I didn't record how much more I used.  I live in a really humid environment, so if you live in a drier climate, the original amount of confectioner's sugar may work just fine.
     Once you've prepared the mixture and are satisfied with the consistency, separate the mixture into two equal pieces.  Combine one with some red food coloring, while leaving the other as it is.  Using a silicone rose mold, add red and white mixtures to the mold to create your roses.  Leave uncovered to dry.  Store in a sealed container.

Costumes

     Add some extra wonder to your tea party by encouraging your guests to come as their favorite Wonderland characters.  Looking for some Alice costume ideas?  See this post for a DIY Alice hair bow and this post for how to make your own pinafore apron.  Need a hat for your Hatter?  Check out this post and this post.  Some ears for the Cheshire Cat?  See this post.  Don't have someone to be the White Rabbit?  Add a White Rabbit plushie (see this post).

Dyed Doilies

     Dyed doilies add a fun pop of color to any tea party.  While this method is intended for coffee filter doilies, cloth doilies can be dyed in a similar fashion.

Materials:

*Water
*Food coloring
*Doilies
*Plastic container large enough to hold a doily
*Paper towels

Directions:

*Fill the container halfway with water.

*Add a few drops of food coloring.

*Dunk a doily in the water for a few seconds.

*Carefully remove the doily and lay it out to dry on a paper towel.

*To minimize wrinkling, you can press doilies under a heavy book if you'd like.

Coffee Filter Doilies

     Doilies can make for lovely tea party decorations, but they can be pricey.  Crocheting is another option, but that can be time consuming and is less than ideal if your tea party guests are messy eaters.  Coffee filter doilies make for pretty place settings and they're relatively fast to make, so if they are destroyed during the course of the event, it's less of a big deal.  If you want your doilies to be a color other than white, next week we'll talk about dyeing them, so stay tuned.

Materials:

*Coffee filters
*Pencil
*Scissors

Directions:

*Fold your coffee filters into eighths or sixteenths.

*Sketch out a pattern for your doily, if you would like.

*Cut along the pattern, or try free form shapes.  It's basically the same process as making paper snowflakes, but with perhaps different designs.

Giant Paper Roses

     What could be more fitting for a Wonderland tea party than giant paper roses?  I made these black ones for my Gothic Alice look, but red or white (or red and white) would work well if you're going for a classic Wonderland look.  This craft was inspired by this post from Martha Stewart's website.

Me as Gothic Alice with one of the giant roses in the background.

Materials:

*Long wooden dowel, at least 1/4" thick
*Green paint
*Green duct tape
*Poster paper in the color or colors of your choice (that's what I used, although crepe paper or other papers may be better suited for this project)
*Pencil

Directions:

*Paint the dowel green.  Let dry.

*Print out the templates given below.

*Trace and cut out 5 of the teardrop shaped petals and 15 of the heart shaped petals.

*Curl one of the teardrop shaped petals and tape it onto the dowel.

*Curl a second teardrop shaped petals and tape it to the dowel as well.

*Curl and tape the remaining teardrop shaped petals.

*Curl and tape the heart shaped petals.  For those petals, you'll also want to curl the top edge down a bit to give it a more petal-like appearance.

Paper Mache Mushroom

     Spring may still be weeks away, but it's not too soon to start planning spring crafts.  For the next few weeks, I'll be posting a series of crafts culminating in a Wonderland tea party.  While I used this oversized mushroom for Halloween rather than for a tea party, an oversized mushroom or two could add some whimsy to any Wonderland themed bash.

Materials:

*Tall oatmeal canister or two
*Scrap cardboard
*Newspaper
*Paper mache mixture of your choice (mine was just watered down glue, but there are other recipes out there that might work better)
*Paint in red and white or colors of your choice
*Paintbrush
*Duct tape
*All purpose adhesive
*Heavy rock (optional)

Directions:

*Place a heavy rock at the bottom of the oatmeal container.  This will weigh it down so that it will be less likely to tip over.

*If one canister isn't tall enough, tape two oatmeal containers together to form your mushroom's stem.

*Cut out a cardboard circle as large as you would like your mushroom to be at its widest point.

*Glue or tape the cardboard circle to the oatmeal container.

*Cut off a strip of cardboard that is several inches longer than the diameter of the circle.  Curve it to form an arch and then tape the ends of the arch to either side of the circle.

*Add wadded up newspaper to form the mushroom top shape.

*Cover the top of the mushroom with strips of duct tape.

*Next comes to paper mache part.  I just mixed some glue with water, dunked strips of newspaper into the mixture, and then plastered the strips of newspaper to the mushroom.  The strips I used were way too big, so the surface of my mushroom ended up being rougher than I would have liked, so I would recommend using smaller strips.  Let dry.

*Paint your mushroom.  It might be a good idea to spray paint the whole mushroom white and then, once the white paint has dried, paint the top of the mushroom whatever color you would like.