The Fourth Dimension

Hello, Viewers!

Once again it is my pleasure to report, for your edification, the proceedings of my latest Fairy Party - "(Re-) Dedicating Ourselves to the Fourth Dimension". Please don't ask what that means because I have no clue - it just sounded good, all right? And as I was casting about in my mind for an inspiring theme for my décor, the words "Iridescent Evanescence" suddenly surfaced, as it were, out of nowhere, so that (as we party planners like to say) was that!

In my quest for the iridescent and the fourth-dimensional I happened to come up with a few little items:

The tablecloth is a whole chapter in itself! The fabric is a shiny, slinky fashion material that I sewed into a floor-length-plus tablecloth. If you want to know the trick, it is as follows: Measure the length of the table, adding the distance from the floor up to the tabletop and then down again. Double the figure and buy some fun, gorgeous fabric. (My total floor-to-floor length, rounded upwards to allow for hemming and a tiny risk margin, was 4 yards - meaning that I bought 8 yards of fabric.)

Cut the fabric across in half - resulting (in my case) in two 4-yard-long pieces - and here comes the crucial point: DO NOT just sew these pieces together lengthwise, because you will end up with an ugly seam right down the middle of your table. Instead, take one of the pieces and cut it in half LENGTHWISE, ending up with two very narrow 4-yard-long pieces, which you then sew together with the wider piece, one along each side. That way the seams end up on the sides of the table, as seen here. The seams are not invisible, but they don't interfere with the table setting - and once the guests sit down the seams disappear out of view.



And so on to the center piece: The low, wide glass bowl from IKEA you have seen before - here it was filled to capacity with pink and clear acrylic "table diamonds", with a big iridescent glass bubble (courtesy of amazon.com) in the middle. Later, when everything was in place, I filled it with water.

The next step was to flank the "pool" with these crystal candle holders (which you have also seen before; and draping stuff from the chandelier, such as mirror balls and crystal ropes. It was all about creating iridescence and evanescence!
























Each candle holder has been improved with three dangling prisms, like so:

The curled hook lets you attach the prism almost anywhere. Needless to say, I am very pleased with it!


A sparkly garland around the pool, and a mix of pink and aqua submersible LED lights completed the picture. 

Let us now look at the place settings:

This very adorable plate has occurred previously in an all-white version, but this time I found it in clear plastic, with the lacy rim in silver. Needless to say, again, I enhanced it with an iridescent jewel!

With this lacy silver doily as a charger/place mat, the over-all impression was one of delicate silver filigree. To this I added the customary silver disposable cutlery, a silver-banded champagne glass (improved with pink diamonds), and a delicate wine glass with an etched flower detail. Totally enchanting.

The napkin treatment consisted of a pink paper napkin, swathed in a kind of shimmery, transparent doily, the purpose of which is exactly to dress up your napkins (paper or fabric), held together with my current favorite diamond napkin ring.

These doilies are sold as a more or less disposable item, since they are not washable (the silver edge is made of some paper-type material), but they can certainly be reused many times, if you just make sure to snatch them away from your guests the moment they have unfolded their napkins. This version is white with silver trim, but they also come in ivory with gold trim. Gorgeous!

A helpful tip when it comes to napkin folding - one which I usually forget to adhere to myself - is to do all the folding and fiddling before you set out the plates and glasses, etc., while you still have a clear surface to work on!

An overview of the table; I added small square mirrors as coasters, and mercury glass votive holders - all for the shimmeriness! At the last moment, I also decided that the crystal LED holders looked too empty, but - voilà - a pink (silk) rose will solve almost any problem.

A mirror garland has been added to the hanging decorations, and all is ready for the guests to arrive...

Next time I hope to show you some of the food, and other arrangements.

Regards from Rosebud!

The Great Outdoors: The Pictures!

OK, I'm back and the pictures are in - here we go! Join me on my balcony for a little summer atmosphere...

This is how I enjoyed the Inauguration of the Outdoor Season: rosy curtains (shower curtains, actually, bought in Europe) are in place, more or less, to provide ambiance and coziness; the tea tray is in place, as are pillows and fluff. 

The pouf adds comfort - a nice place to put my feet.

The tray comes from IKEA, and the various pieces of rosy china is part of my ever-growing collection of both new and vintage pieces - anything that catches my eye...

The table is covered with an old floral remnant that has followed me through decades. It is topped by a vintage hand-crocheted tablecloth.

To me, this is a slice of happiness - wonderful, everyday luxury!

Now, I have an idea for a different type of arrangement, with a more oriental flair - hopefully I will be able to implement it later in the season, so stay tuned, and join me on my balcony soon again!

Regards from Rosebud!

The Great Outdoors

Hello, Viewers!

It is finally here – the much-awaited, all-too-short, glorious, wondrous sliver of time of the year when it is neither too cold, nor – just as important! – too hot, to take one’s meals out of doors.

Coming from a country where summers are brief and often wet and chilly, I grew up among people who would venture out on picnics as soon as the actual frost was off the ground; and a drizzle was considered a mere inconvenience. The need to sit outdoors and absorb the sunlight was so pressing after all those months of overcast darkness that we would obsessively insist on having our coffee on the porch at the slightest provocation, even if it meant shivering with cold. “Isn’t this lovely!” we would exclaim to each other, teeth chattering so badly we could barely make ourselves understood.

Here in America I have become spoiled and now insist that the temperature must officially reach 65° before al fresco meals can take place. In this country the humid summer heat is the problem – it is easy enough to arrange yourself with blankets and mittens and hot drinks in thermoses, but what do you do in a sweltering 98°, with 90% humidity (or is that unladylike sweat?) in rivulets down your face? Sadly, you stay indoors, on a stool in front of the air conditioner.

But yesterday was my Official Inauguration of the Season and I was in heaven, spending hours and hours with tea, champagne and ice cream on my little lopsided balcony.

Part of the view from my balcony

Because of it being the Sabbath day I was not able to take any photographs, so even though today’s weather is a sad travesty of yesterday’s, I will recreate the look here for the benefit of my readership...

Well, that is to say, I meant to do so, but the wind is so ludicrously strong that it is impossible to create anything except havoc. However, I shall not be vanquished – I shall return. Don’t go away!

In the meantime, let me just whet your appetite with a couple of pictures that are actually wind-proof:

This is the basis for many of my outdoor arrangements: the metal structure of my Sukkah (will explain more about that when the fall comes, but it is used yearly for the celebration of the Feast of Booths), which I leave up/out year round. It is about 7 feet tall, and as you can see, I have attached a number of S-hooks, on which I hang curtains, lanterns, and anything else that catches my fancy. Very useful!

I love my outdoor rug! I found it last year on amazon.com for a pretty reasonable price, and it improved my quality of life with many instant degrees! It is also reversible, so you can have pink curlicues against an off-white background, if you want. (Here you can also see the bottom of the Sukkah structure, about 6 x 9.5 feet.)

Finally, another view of what can be seen in front of my house (no, the one you glimpse here belongs to a neighbor.)

See you again, as soon as the weather permits!

Regards from Rosebud!

Fabulous Divas

Hello, Viewers!

It was the party of the decade! And it took place in my home a couple of days ago! 

The Faeries had been scheduled for a get-together, but at the last minute it was discovered that three (out of seven) would be unable to attend, so there was wide-spread panic; four people, however delightful, do not a party make. Six is a minimum. In my opinion, the absolutely ideal number of guests is six to eight - enough to make it lively and party-like, but small enough to make it intimate and interesting; everyone can be part of the conversation rather than having the gathering split up into sub-groups.

But now we had a dilemma to resolve. Intense phone consultations between Faeries took place, with the resulting decision to invite a few more guests, but call it a non-Faerie event. Ergo, this was not a Faerie Convocation, but rather a Fabulous Diva Soirée, with the sub-title A Hot Pink Mess. The color scheme was, not surprisingly, hot pink with accents of black and flashes of white and silver. And diamonds, of course.

The basis for the table was a correctly-colored curtain, edged with a table skirt made from 12 yards of tulle, that I spent a considerable amount of time ruching and sewing and attaching with big stitches, so it can be removed, reused and recycled for other spectacular events.

I also spent a good bit of quality time cutting apart gift bags (pink/silver and black/white), and taping them together to form place mats, then further embellishing them with diamond trim to hide the handle holes. In any case, a bit of jazzing up never hurts!

The octagonal mirrors came out again, to serve as foundation for the center piece: a large crystal candle holder holding hot pink ostrich feathers, and two smaller ones, holding silk rose pompoms. Into the candle holders I inserted battery-operated pink LED lights, which gave a stunning effect. 

A crystal rope and a couple of large prisms increased the sparkle quotient quite considerably, and a black feather boa added that little extra bit of glamour...

The plates were black - not normally a choice I would make for tableware, but this time it was just SO right! - embellished with a hot pink jewel. The napkin treatment consisted of a solid pink one, rolled up with a pink-and-zebra-garnished one, held with a rather impressive (if I say so myself) diamond napkin ring.

Our Champagne glasses were embellished with more pink jewels and feathers. This is very simply done with a hot glue gun, and the decorations are easily removable when you have had enough and wish to return to normalcy - that is the beauty of hot glue! If, by any chance, you have difficulty removing the glue, just leave the item in the freezer for a few hours, and it pops right off.

Also, let me add a little note regarding these "Svalka" champagne glasses from IKEA: at $4.79 for half a dozen, they are cheaper than most plastic disposables (viz. the martini glasses below at $0.99 each), but much nicer to drink from. If you can bear the idea of the next-day clean-up, it is definitely worth it! BUT, then again - and here's the beauty of it - at that price you could even use them as disposables! No clean-up - just a large recycling bag! The best of both worlds! Unfortunately, IKEA's cocktail glasses are a little bit too expensive to be used as disposables, but "Optimal" for $2.99 is still cheaper than most, of course, and I may get some of those for the future. I have the Svalka red wine glasses, which are really superb - especially for that price!

At the last moment I had the impulse to add a few sparkly silver fronds to the feathers, and a gang of pink table diamonds to the black boa (which you can see in the picture below) - because less is very seldom more. Otherwise, I would say that the table decorations were unusually restrained - for me.

The disposable martini glasses - for our introductory Pomegranate Martinis - were embellished with Marabou feather trim and pink sugar rims, and set up on the rolling kitchen cart for a nice little cocktail bar experience. 

The cart - draped in pink - also held appetizer plates, coffee tray, cake platter, and so on, safely hidden away from view, and conveniently available as needed.

The black-and-hot-pink pomegranate tea bags were a felicitously color-coordinated find in the tea drawer...

The sugar trick came about originally by a happy accident: a couple of white crafting pearls fell into the sugar bowl and the effect was too pretty for words! The pink pearls here work almost as well...

The cake stand was enhanced with a black grosgrain ribbon and a pink rose.

As the Diva guests arrived they were led to a little dressing-up station with feather boas and tiaras to borrow for a glamorous evening. Do notice, please, how even the boxes tie in with the color scheme!

But the highlight of all my arrangements, though, the feature that elicited the shrillest screeches of delight and the most gushing expressions of enthusiasm, was probably the little Nail Polish Boudoir that I installed in an unused doorway, between the foyer and the office. And if you knew how tiny the space is, how everything in my apartment is calculated by the half-inch, you would be impressed too!

Two pink curtains were hung on the office side of the doorway as background, and two sheer ones on the foyer side, garnished with some diamond trim and held back with pearl bracelets. And a rose.

A small folding table was placed half-way across the threshold and covered with another pink curtain. Then I assembled a few boudoir things from around the house: the lamp came out from its storage closet; the mirror usually sits on my desk; a few shades of sparkly nail polish, remover, and cotton balls were served in footed bowls. The pink chair came from the office, and just barely squeezed in.

Feathered Divas are going nuts with the nail polish!

Even though this was not a Faerie event, there had to be a little crafting. I had been lucky enough to stumble on a 90% off sale of self-adhesive crystals, so I bought "a few" and offered them to the Divas. The simple, yet inspiring task, was to attach them to our cell phones. Personally, I have had a whole different level of telephoning experience ever since!
(No, that is not supposed to be orange jewels - in reality they are iridescent and gorgeous!)

And finally a few words about:
The MENU
Pink Champagne is obviously a necessity in this type of context!
Deviled eggs with smoked salmon was the appetizer, followed by:
Baby chicken kebabs with rice; and a light green salad, garnished with pink grapefruit, pomegranate seeds, and infinitesimal slivers of red onion.
The dessert was basically chocolate, described in detail below; and later, to finish the evening, coffee, tea and macaroons.

Obviously, the dessert would have looked more attractive
 in a glass coupe, or even a pink bowl - but black plates
were the order of the day! Sorry!
(If the surface looks strange, it is because the pink sugar
crystals that I had sprinkled on for fun have started to melt...)

Chocolate Lover's Diva Dream Dessert

This is a very easy-to-make, yet elegant, recipe that is GUARANTEED to be a great hit with the chocolate-lovers in your midst! Somewhat resembling chocolate mousse, it is yet much denser and creamier.

12 oz chocolate*
1½ cup vanilla soy milk 

(or regular milk)

6 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp salt

1. Separate yolks; set aside
2. Break up chocolate into pieces; place in food processor (fitted with blade); chop for 1 minute
3. Heat soy milk to boiling point; pour over processed chocolate; pulse for 30 seconds, until chocolate melts and mixture cools slightly
4. Add yolks, vanilla, salt; pulse until smooth
5. Divide into cups; chill for a few hours or over night.  NOTE:  The mixture is quite thin and runny, but do not be alarmed - it will solidify very satisfactorily!

Serves: 8

* As always, we are talking quality here! The better the chocolate, the more delicious the dessert. The recipe calls for bitter-sweet chocolate, but I imagine you could try other varieties as well. I used a Swiss bitter-sweet, dairy-free, kosher variety, called Schmerling Noblesse, with 55% cocoa (comes in 3½ oz bars). Having tried other varieties I warmly recommend this one - but if you have other preferences, go right ahead! Also, be careful when measuring - it is tempting to add a little extra, but you really need exactly 12 oz!

Oh my, I am still dizzy with the fabulousness of it all!

Regards from your Diva Rosebud!

Fairy Garden Party

Hello, Viewers!

How about a little spring in the air? It would have to be last year's spring, to be sure, since there is nothing but snow in the air right now. 

Springtime is particularly suited to us Fairies, and last April (or was it May?) I invited my Fairy court to a Garden Party. Unfortunately, we did not have access to a garden to be in - instead I brought the garden inside, and placed it in the middle of the dining table.

The base was a large terracotta planter "saucer", covered with a little artificial grass mat. eFairies.com provided the pond, filled with water of course, and floating a few shimmery leaves. I used some moss from a florist supplies store, and also, from the same source, little moss-accented "boulders", to create some landscaping around the pond.

All additional items were stuff that I found around the house, scouring my cabinets and drawers, but for the future, I am planning to get a few more specialized things - eFairies has a lot of inspiration to offer!

This Fairy Garden was the centerpiece for an exuberant floral extravagance, which also included gazebo candle lanterns, floating rose candles, rose figurines, flower-shaped candlesticks - and pretty much anything floral, pink or green, that I could lay my hands on. And glittery butterflies, of course!

Small silk flowers in pastel colors were sprinkled over the layered tablecloth. Additionally, each guest had a mini floral arrangement in a ceramic basket by her plate, to take home as a favor.

In one of my local discount places I found these rather crazy floral chargers - too fun (and too cheap!) to pass up, so that became the place settings, with clear plastic plates on top so as not to hide the rosy glory.

The napkins were pink and green - rolled up to resemble a rose among leaves.

I think "profusion" pretty much covers it! Not so much aiming for sophistication, but rather running rampant with the rose theme...

The chandelier was decorated as well, with tulle streamers, birds and butterflies, a rose pom-pom, and a particularly fetching lilac flower fairy...

The craft project of the day was one of the most popular yet - Fairy Paraphernalia Boxes. I had bought pink-and-white striped cardboard boxes at IKEA (where else?), that the Fairies could decorate with fairy stickers, jewels, decorative papers, old-fashioned flower die cuts, and glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.

 Some of the remarkable creations...

The Menu

Obviously, the food was partly flower-inspired. Pink and green were heavily featured. Thus, we  opened the proceedings with a newly-invented (by me):

Pinque Drinque: Pink Champagne, enhanced with Pomegranate juice (approximately 1 part juice to 3 parts champagne), a splash of Cointreau, and some Pomegranate seeds 

Avocado salad with Smoked Salmon Roses and Radish Flowers made a fitting appetizer.

The main course was not floral at all: Mushroom/Onion-stuffed Kapons in Calvados gravy, roasted Baby Potatoes, Baby Carrots, Baby Patty Squashes & Sugar Snaps

But then, for the dessert, we were right back in the floral garden: Pink Princess Ice Cream Rose Mold - previously described in detail here

And finally, after all the crafting had renewed our appetite, this very pretty Almond Cake with Kiwi & Cointreau Topping, which unfortunately turned out so disappointingly lousy, that I cannot share the recipe until I have figured out what went wrong. (I know how it was supposed to have tasted, and this was not it!) But I am happy to share the picture!

Now you know how the Fairies fare - stay tuned for more updates!

Regards from Rosebud!