JR's Lemon Tree of Friendship

 

 

JR's Lemon Tree of Friendship sprouted as the perfect conclusion to her Lemon Tea Party. I wanted the party to have a craft segment after the food and the drinks were consumed. I also wanted this craft to be meaningful, not just pens and stickers on paper that would eventually end up being recycled. I wanted to preserve the art and the memory. I wondered if the girls could produce an art that could then be used as decoration. I slept on the idea, and woke up to the Lemon Tree of Friendship.

 

Originally, the tree was going to be painted on a poster board and nailed to the wall in the spare room. I wanted the display to be "mobile." But, after further research and consideration I abandoned the idea; I could not find the dimensions I was after, and transporting art on card stock every time we moved was not practical.

 

Painting was my second option. We rent our condo, so I hesitated before I went down the painting route. What if our landlord objected? But, what if we did not even ask in advance! Bingo! We had already asked him if we could paint the spare room a different shade, and he had agreed to that, so why not take the chance on more paint on decorations. And, so it was.

 

After looking up a pattern online and enlarging it to the maximum dimension I could, I started my project. I had not painted anything before beyond what we did at school as kids. Art is not one of my talents. So, I was a little nervous when all I had to work with was a sheet of paper lying to my side, a plain wall, and brown tempera paint and a brush. I outlined in pencil. It looked good enough. I took the brush to the wall. And, I was taken in. I could do this. It was fun. And, it was rewarding. To see the finished product was worth the try.

 

And so, at the end of the evening we had our tree. All it needed was its fruit and leaves. Enter the girls. At the party, each girl decorated and labelled her own set of lemon and leaf. Then, JR and Mama taped each pair along with its corresponding name tag to the wall. With that JR got her Lemom Tree of Friendship and a lasting memory of a wonderful party and wonderful friends.

 

When we move, the lemons, leaves and name tags will come with. JR and I will paint a new trunk and branches, put the tree back together, and reminisce about the days gone by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apple "Tea" Party: Name Place Trees

Jannah-Rae's friends will always know where to sit when they join her at her formal parties. When they came to the Tea Party, their names were spelled out on a teapot cutout.

 

 

 

At the Lemon "Tea" Party, a half lemon held their names on a leaf.

 

 

 

This time, an apple tree will bear their first initials amongst the apples.

 

To make the name place trees, I first had to have enough empty toilet paper rolls. For this, I called upon my friends and family and together we collected six; the number of girls in attendance. With a small cover-up job, these were then transformed into the tree trunks. Green craft paper and an online template produced the crown of the tree. Red paint spots formed the apples, and white foam letter stickers created the indicators.

 

 



 

Start out with blank green craft paper and toilet paper roll.

 

 

Cover the toilet paper roll with brown craft paper, then paint the paper with brown tempra paint to desired shade.

Dot the tree cut-out with red tempra paint.

 

 

Stick the appropriate letters in the center of the tree.

 

 

 

 

 Cut slits on the side of the "trunk," and insert "crown" into it.

Behold the finished prduct.

 

Apple "Tea" Party: Favors

Every good hostess knows you should not send your guests home empty handed. A party favor is a wonderful way to conclude the event, say good-bye, and leave a lasting memory.

 

For her first Tea Party, Jannah-Rae strung together a teapot cookie cutter and a bag of camomile for her guests.

 

 

 

At her Lemon "Tea" Party, the guests each received a personal lemon cake, and its recipe, to take home.

 

 

 

 

 

For her upcoming Apple "Tea" Party, Jannah-Rae decided to put together an apple basket for her friends. The process of assembling the gift baskets served as both our activity of the day and our art project. The final result was arrived at after a small demonstration, a little frustration, and much collaboration. With steedy encouragement and a small snack, JR actually put many of these baskets together herself.

 

 

 

 

To put these gift baskets together, JR and I scouted our favorite grocery store for fruit baskets. We got lucky and they gave us a handful for free. Next, we visited our craft store for the apples and pipe cleaners. We could have also bought the green grass there, but we already had that on hand from left-over spring packaging. 

With some paint and creativity we set on our task.

It was a beautiful Fall day, so we spread out on our covered patio to enjoy the sun and watch the people while we worked.

With a pair of scissors, I poked holes through either side of the basket for the pipe cleaner handle. JR was frustrated at fist at not being able to string the cleaner through the hole, then after a few tries, she became skilled.

Once the handle was in place, it was time for the grass. Just enough to top off the basket.

First, we put an apple tree leaf.

 

Then, each basket got a green apple,



and, a red one.

 

 

With six on hand, our work was done.



 



 

 

Apple "Tea" Party: Taste Test

While I consider myself a good cook, I do not think I am an equally good baker. I have a few tried and true cake recipes, and I make some pretty good chocolate chip cookies, but when it comes to more "elaborate" desserts, I tend to shy away. Pie, more specifically pie dough, is one of these concoctions that I find extremely challenging. I treid my hands at home-made pie dough once and decided this was one that was worth more store-bought than home-made. The filling, however, is a different story. Once I have the ready-made dough, I can, and have, fill it up effortlessly. Its just the first step that is the hardest.

That being said, I decided that nothing is more suitable for an Apple "Tea" Party than apple pie, and more specifically mini-apple pie. How fun, and cute, would it be if each of the girls had her own individual pie set in front of her. It would make for an attractive table setting, too! Once the idea formed in my mind, I set out to execute it. The first item on the agenda was having the necessarty tools on hand. From the kitchen store I bought an apple-shaped cookie cutter, and from the grocery store, the ready-made pie dough. Then, I needed apples - I love Granny Smith - sugar, eggs, and cinammon.

With everything on hand, and JR napping, I threw together my trial run of these miniature pies. Below is a step-by-step tuturial should you be interested in replicating it one day.

 

Bring the dough to room temperature.

Roll it out, and cut it in even numbers with the cookie cutter.

 

 

 

Aren't these cute!

 

 

 

In a sauce pan, cook until soft the chopped apples, sugar and cinammon

(add sugar and cinammom to taste).

 

 

 

Fill half the cut-outs.

 

 

 

Cover the filling with the other half of the cutouts.

Pinch the edges with the edge of a fork to close the pies.

 

 

 

 

 

Cut a small slit in the top half to allow steam through.

Brush tops with egg wash.

Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

 

And Voila! Mini apple pies!

Apple "Tea" Party: Invitations

The date is set. The invitations are out. We are counting down to Jannah-Rae's third tea party of the year. The theme this time: Apples! After all, it is Fall.

Take a look at the invites. I like to be creative with my cards, while being frugal at the same time. JR hosts enough of these a year that I try not to spend too much on the preparations for the party, saving my money instead to splurge on good ingredients for the menu. So, I out the invitations together myself using "recycled" Christmas cards and red craft paper, and the internet for templates.

 

Cut out the letter A and an apple shape.

 

 

 

Use any outdated greeting cards you have on hand. I typically have a ton of Christmas cards left over from the previous year.

 

 

 

Through trial and error I come up with the right size of items to stick on top of the Christmas card image.

 

 

 

 

I used plain paper to cover the text inside the card. Then, include the pertinent information on the party.

 

 

 

Address the inviations with the girls' first names. Seal and hand-deliver, because it is more fun for JR to hand out the invitations to her friends and for her friends to be receiving them in person.

And, in the spirit of getting ready for the party, JR asked me to paint an apple on her foot. This gave me an idea for the party; face-paint apples on the girls.

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more on the Apple Tea Party in the coming weeks. 

A Lemonade "Tea" Party

was the highlight of the day. After much planning and work, the result was simply REWARDING. I am thankful that I have the time, resources, support and friends to make it happen.

After organising JR's second birthday party and seeing how much fun it was to throw a party, I decided I was going to have regular "tea" parties for JR and her friends. A few months after January, namely in March, JR hosted a tea party where the girls chatted over chamomile tea, peanut butter and jelly tea sandwiches, anise tea cookies, almond cakes and lemon scones. For favors JR gave her friends a tea pot shaped cookie cutter attached to a chamomile tea bag.

Following that success, and again the fun, I put together JR's first annual lemonade party. It took a lot of planning and quite a bit of work: the pineapple muffins that were my first choice ended up getting stuck to the pan; I put too much starch in the lemon curd and had to start again; I almost burnt the pie crust while trying to rescue it. But the end result was captivating. And worth it.

The menu included homemade lemonade, mini yellow corn muffins, green leaf-shaped pancakes, lemon pound cake, and a fruit basket. Each girl decorated a lemon and a lemon leaf for JR's Lemon Tree of Friendship (more on that to follow) and took home a mini lemon loaf.