flew the coop: High Tea with Marie

It's tea time! Alpha Stamps Marie in Wonderland kit is full to the brim with tasty sweets, outrageously poofy panniers, tea sets, and Marie of course! Seeing the cakes and teacups on the Marie Takes Tea collage sheet made me eager to set up a tiny tea party of my own, and invite three of my most favorite ladies for a cuppa.

I started by making tea party place settings with a fun twist. Lots of my paper projects tend to be interactive and I thought it would be great to have articulated Maries to play around with while daintily sipping your tea. The paper dolls were made by cutting out three separate pieces of the same image from the Marie Takes Tea collage sheet, punching holes with a tapestry needle through the shoulders, upper arms, and forearms, and then attaching them together with Metallic Mini Brads.

I covered the back of a die cut chipboard panniers dress with paper from the Harmony 6x6 paper pad, inked the edges, and then glued it to the back of the poseable Marie. Marie's front was decorated with Diamond Stickles, Goldenrod Stickles, Stickles dry glitter, and tiny adhesive gems. Lots of those scrumptious cakes and teacups were cut from the same Marie Takes Tea collage sheet and I glued the short ends of a sliver of paper to the back so Marie could hold her cake and eat it too! Plus, it's fun to put cookies on her head.

We couldn't have Marie toppling over during tea (it's not THAT kind of party!), so the stand not only keeps her upright but also holds a little secret that my tea party guests receive as a thank you gift.

I glued a length of 1/8" drapey ribbon to the lid of a tiny paper mache box (covered in the luscious Harmony paper) and glued that to the back of Marie. The top edge of the lid was left unglued so my guests' name cards could be slipped down between the pannier and the lid. A strip of white Dresden border held the vellum name card in place. The rest of the box was tied to the lid and tiny brass feet were added to the bottom.

So what's inside the box?

Ooo la la!

Here's a quickie tutorial on how I made the Marie charm necklaces. First, off with her head!!! Using a 1" circle punch, cut out a noggin from the Marie Takes Tea collage sheet.

Adhere the image to a 1" brass pendant using a dab of Glossy Accents.

Add Glossy Accents around the perimeter of the image, then fill in the center.

It is difficult to see in this picture, but I colored the backgrounds of the images in coordinating Copic markers.

Add an acrylic flower or other decoration and sprinkle on a few micro beads before the Glossy Accents dries. Once dry, attach a brass tea set charm to the bottom and loop a length of drapey ribbon to the top. Viola!

Our tea got cold because we were too busy posing Marie.