Springtime feels like the time for Alice in Wonderland: flowers blooming, spending more time outside, feeling a little more whimsy after the winter blues. I’ve seen a few new teas popping up this time of year, themed for just such an occasion.
I recently tried the Lewis Carroll blend of black tea from Simpson and Vail. In case you don’t know, Lewis Carroll is the author of Alice in Wonderland, among other works. Alice in Wonderland tends to be a favorite among tea fans for the famous tea party scene featuring the Mad Hatter, not to mention all the cute tea cakes that wreak fantastical havoc for Alice’s adventures.
This Lewis Carroll tea blend features an Indian black tea base, combined with Chinese Rose Congou black tea, highlighted by added violet fragrance and flavoring. All these flowers are meant to put us in a fantasy world, whether in the queen’s roses, or in the garden beside the tea party. There are lots of blossoms in the dry leaves, and the brewed cup smells as sweet as a blooming garden.
I enjoy the fragrance of this tea, but strong floral blends aren’t my personal favorite when it comes to taste. I found I enjoyed the tea more with a touch of milk and sugar, which helped mellow out the strong floral flavors and made the brew more like a flower-scented dessert.
This is a great tea to put you in a springtime mood, perhaps sipped while out-of-doors after a dreary winter. If you’re one for having fancy tea parties, this may also be a great choice, whether it fits your Alice in Wonderland theme, or just because it feels fancy and ladylike, and makes the flowers on your teacup smell like they are alive and fresh!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description:
A tea party plays a memorable role in Carroll’s most celebrated novel as the setting for Alice’s nonsensical meeting with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. “A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden” where, as the Mad Hatter told Alice earlier, “it’s always tea time.” To make our Lewis Carroll blend, we added our fragrant violet flavor to an Indian Black tea and Rose Congou tea, a China black that has been scented with rose petals during the drying process, to create a deep amber cup with an incomparable bouquet and a flavor that is absolutely heavenly.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
PRODUCT REVIEW: Illustrations & Cliparts – Mad Hatter Tea Party Elements from Cupcake Cuties at MyGrafico
PRODUCT REVIEW: Illustrations & Cliparts –
Mad Hatter Tea Party Elements
Where to Buy:
Cupcake Cuties at MyGrafico
Tasters/Crafters Review:
I’m so happy the owner of MyGraficO is a tea drinker!
Here is one of the recent TEA RELATED Clip Art Sets she gave us to work with. I have been a fan of Designs by Cupcake Cuties for a while and haven’t worked with too many of her clip art sets yet – compared to the other Digi Stamp Sets over at MyGrafico – so I was super excited to work with this one!
MY PROJECT:
This is the outside of my project using an image from this set. I have done many of these little tea bag holder books or envelops in the past and thought this image would fit nicely on the front of another one. Not only is the set tea related but as you can see it’s Alice In Wonderland Themed!
All I did was use cardstock, various paper scraps, and I had some adhesive fabric I used on the side (the brown strip on the right with white dots). I LOVED that the clip art image already said DRINK ME. I didn’t have to any anything.
And here’s the inside of the envelop or book. It has a little pocket for an individually wrapped tea bag of your choice.
I decided to use one from Yogi Tea called Hibiscus Paradise. No real reason…it was just something I had on hand and close by.
You can also decorate the inside more but I left this one blank. You could also write on the inside if you wish. I will probably do that down the road before sending it out in a swap. It’s really easy to do these little holders and there are various templates online or you could easily come up with your own.
You will probably see many more of these from me. I enjoy making them because they are quick and easy and with all of the tea swaps I do they are fun to send to people too! It’s was even more fun to use this clip art on my project, too! It did shave off a few minutes of creating time with the sentiment already in place. I like to print up a few sheets of these to have on hand – ready to cut – at any moment! If you would like to purchase this set it’s only $4 and available HERE. You will receive all 20 clip art images pictured at the top of this review! This set is a STEAL for any TEA LOVER, Crafter, and/or Alice In Wonderland Fan!
PRODUCT REVIEW: Alice Patchwork from Tainted Sweets & MyGrafico
Designer: Tainted Sweets
Where to Buy: MyGrafico
Product Description:
Alice in Wonderland Patchwork!
Nine seperate 8×8 cute and colorful Alice in Wonderland squares!
Great for quilts, wall art, glass blocks and so much more!
Artist’s Review:
When I received this Alice Patchwork set created by Tainted Sweets, I was thrilled! I love Alice in Wonderland, and this was such an adorable interpretation.
After giving it some thought, I knew just what I wanted to do! I decided to make a greeting card set with them. The graphics are large (8×8), so, I had to adjust the size on them. I used the image of the Mad Hatter, The Dormouse, and the Teapot/Teacups for a set of three.
I printed the adjusted squares onto cardstock which I then cut out. I ran my Krylon Gold Leafing pen around the edges of the square, and then I layered the square onto some coordinating scrapbook paper that I had on hand. I used some foam mounting tape for the printed images to give the card a little dimension, and added a few rhinestones to each card for some sparkle.
These were a lot of fun to make, and I really like how they turned out. I will be sending these out to some on-line Tea Friends, but, I think a full set (using all 9 images!) would make a great gift for someone special!
MyGrafico is a great website – loaded with tons of images. Check them out for your next artsy project!
