Vintage Ivy Christmas Dishes

 

I love vintage!  Especially when it comes to Christmas.

Last year at MCC in Kidron I picked up these fun ivy tea cup and saucers. 

SCIO Japan holiday china is my favorite of the vintage ivy Christmas dishes.

This year at MCC I found the matching plates!!!  You know I was so excited!!

There were only 3 or 4, but I will take them for sure!  It is fun to add to my collection.

At the same time I found this plate stand for $5.50 and the teacup holder for $5.00  I just love them.

I do realize this is probably an ornament holder and not a teacup holder...but I will use it for my teacups.

  I going for the ivy dishes for Christmas.  The only teacups I am buying are ones with simple ivy patterns on them.  They mix and match very well.

Then a few weeks later at MCC I found the sugar and creamer!!!  Someone in the Kidron area I think had an entire set...and now slowly I am buying it back from them!!!

                             

                                             Slowly a luncheon set is coming together for me.  These will be for me to use when I have people over, not for tea parties.  I am loving the thrill of the hunt!!!  I want to find the teapot that is an exact match, but that might be a little tougher.  But, then I never thought I would find both the sugar and creamer.  

It is so fun to shop 2nd hand, you just never know that you will find.

Then in Orrville at Mission Thrift, this year, I found a tiered plate set for $2.50

 

Psalm 96:3

Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!

Whole Latte Love Cafe, London Fog, Canton

I stumbled upon this great little cafe the other day in Canton.

I was looking for a new place to try some tea and googled lead me here, to Whole Latte Love Cafe.

Whole Latte Love Cafe – North Canton Non-Profit Cafe

They have a lot of options for drinks.  I tend to find that coffee places usually have chai and London Fogs...this place was no different. I went with the London Fog.

cafe@wholelattelovecafe.org
234-360-CAFE (2233)

1308 South Main St.
North Canton, OH 44720

They had some cute items to sell too.

While waiting for my drink I was looking around and reading about the cafe.  I learned that this was cafe that focused on hiring people with disabilities.  I have to say I LOVE THIS!!  They are helping people with special needs find and lead productive lives.

Check out the website about why Scott and Beth started this cafe.  It is a great story of helping their daughter and the community.

I will be sure to stop in here again!!

The service was great, place is clean, everyone was very friendly, and my London Fog was delicious!

Whole Latte Love Cafe gets 5 teacups out of 5 teacups from me!!

I wanted to support them, so I bought a mug.  I will also go back and buy another drink.

I am also enjoying pumpkin scone from a friend. It is a great way to start the day.

 

Psalm 96:3

Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!

Office Tea Party and I can bring it to your office too!

                                       My office asked me to do a tea bar for our 12 Days of Christmas party!

                             

Each day leading up to Christmas we did fun things in the office.

I found these ornaments that you could put liquid in... we called them "Tea Shots"

You can find them on Amazon, search booze balls ornaments.  They have different shapes.  They ran about .50 each.

I did three teas for this day.

One iced, a chai (with fun toppings), and a Wassail.

                      

The iced tea was White Christmas by Harney & Sons.  It is good hot too, but I really liked it iced.

    https://www.harney.com/products/white-christmas?srsltid=AfmBOorRV7PjSolj9RQT9_k7jrBr3MiQjDdD9no-ljIrhg6Z6Hd9ounw

WHITE CHRISTMAS- White tea, cardamom, white chamomile, almond flavor, vanilla flavor, and cardamom flavor. Contains natural flavors.

                

The hot tea I made was Naughty 'N Spice from The Tea Spot.  It was like a chai, so I treated it as such.

https://www.theteaspot.com/products/naughty-n-nice-holiday-spice?variant=40494320418852

                 

NAUGHTY N' SPICE - organic black tea, organic pu'erh tea, organic licorice root, organic cinnamon, organic nutmeg, natural vanilla flavor, organic orange peel

I then had Christmas marshmallows, peppermint candy canes, cinnamon candy canes, crushed cinnamon candy canes, sprinkles, white chocolate, and Elf marshmallows.  All these could be used as toppings for the chai.  

I also frothed oat milk for people to top the tea with. 

                 

I then made Wassail.

I used Kericho black tea from Kenya as the base tea. 

https://kerichogoldteas.com/

             

I made it and I did NOT add sugar, I felt it was not needed.  I also thought the OJ taste was overwhelming, so when I made it again, I only did a cup and half.  I also just squeezed 2 fresh lemons and used ground cinnamon and ground cloves.

It was a lot of fun to share my love of teas with my co-workers.  I was surprised how many men said they did not think they would like the teas, but they tried them and they did like them.  That was super great to hear.  A lot of times I think people just don't know how to make tea have a bad cup and it spoils it and the never want to try it again.  That is why water temp and steep time are so important.

Black teas- water temp 212, steep time 4-5 minutes.

Green tea, water temp around 175, steep time 3 minutes.

You also have white tea, oolong, herbal, and more.  It is important not to have the water too hot for the delicate teas like white and green- you will bruise the leaves and the tea will be super bitter.  Also over steeping will ruin the taste too.  Check the tea package, it should have instructions for you.

                       

When you are thirsty and there is no teacup to be found you need to compromise.

I am off on Wednesdays throughout the year.  If you ever want me to bring a tea party to your office let me know!!

I will do three teas for up to 50 people for $140 (that is less than $3 a cup per person) plus tax and mileage.  I am happy to work with you on the types of tea too.  If you want a chai with fun toppings and frothed milk, ornament balls with iced tea or a summer iced tea bar...just let me know your needs.  

Merry Christmas!!!  Jesus is the reason for this season!

Psalm 96:3

Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!

Make some gifts for Christmas

Tight on money this Christmas?  Or just love to make crafts?  Then make gifts!!!  I love homemade gifts, and I think others do too!

Make tea to give, the cards, and the bags!

All you need for some fantastic instant tea...

1/2 C instant tea

1C Instant Tea (I like Tang)

1C instant lemonade (Country Time)

1 tsp instant cinnamon

1/2 tsp instant clove

I then mixed all the items together.

Find some fun airtight bottles to package the tea in.  Put a cute little label on the container.

1 Tbs of tea for 8 oz of hot water.

You then can make the cute bags to put your gift in.

I took bags I have gotten throughout the year, and painted cups on them and then just made them Christmasy by putting holly and them and wrote Joy on the cup.  Feel free to get creative.

Then you can also make the card to go in the bag!

At Dollar General I got these fun cup crafts.  The one set was $3 and made 20 ornaments...that I turned into cards and also a garland for my tea table.  One set was $4.  I was able to make lots of cards!

               

First, I glued all the teacups together.

I had some fun with the to-go cups.  I added my tea logo to the to go sleeve.

I then put the teacup on the card stock with just a spot of glue... so that the teacup could be taken off and used as an ornament.

I have to say, I just love these cards.  Super fun for Christmas and for my tea brand.

Here is the garland that I made for my tea table.  I think it sooooo much fun.

Psalm 96:3

Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!