The Secret Life of The Mad Hatter

Welcome, Dear Friends, to The Mad Tea Party 2013!

Please do visit with our lovely hostess Mademoiselle Vanessa of

A Fanciful Twist

and the other wonderful attendees of this party by clicking HERE!

Here at The Tearoom, one our favorite friends of all time from the World of Wonderland is The Mad Hatter!  We did want so much to be able to introduce him to you today in person! Regrettably, he is unable to join us for the party here today, due to his attendance at The Royal Haberdashers Convention. It is held at the palace of The White Queen each year!

Because he cannot be with us today, how gracious of him to instead grant us access to his atelier, full of his favorite pictures of his life and art...

Look, the Hatter's work area and inspiration board...

And an album of pictures and a note...

This is a picture of The Hatter at 15.  

Already a hat-making prodigy,

he had begun to make his fantastic hats.

In this picture, he was wearing

one of his first creations.

And there he is again, 

pictured with his brother Adin and his sister Adelade.

As you can see, his Adin proudly wears a top hat

which is identical to that of his brother.

And their dear little sister could not

have been happier with her giant butterfly hat!

(And yes, Adelade does look familiar! She is a distant

cousin of Princess Sugar Verbena,

whom you might remember from this Mad Tea Party

and the tea party held at The Tearoom this past Valentine's Day!)

We know that he has been designing hats for his dear friend Alice

since they met, (which may have been sometime before that

famous Tea Party) although you may not have had the chance to see

some of the marvelous creations he invented just for her!

This one is appropriate to wear to an event

at The Palace of either The Red Queen or The White Queen,

as it is covered in red, white and black roses!

He even added a giant "A" for Alice on the top!

Originally, in this famous scene from "Alice in Wonderland",

Alice was wearing one of his typically beautiful yet whimsical creations...

But, as you can see,

the idea had to be scrapped after she drank

from the bottle marked

"Drink Me".

Oh Dear.

It seems that every successful career is littered with

its share of hits and misses!

Perhaps you did not know that he was the one

responsible for some very beautiful and innovative

designs, some of which The Gossamer Tearoom

has been honored to feature.

This lovely image of Princess Arabella

was our Happy New Year image,

celebrating the start of 2013!

Even our much-adored

Paperdoll-in-Residence

Victorienne

has served as muse

for The Hatter!

And here she is again,

playing in The Garden of The Tearoom,

and posing with two other Dear Friends,

Violetta and Dapple.

Their matching striped hats

are too cute and helpful for keeping

the sun from their eyes while

planting flowers.

A Steampunk dream in electric blue and silver,

with one of his famous Thimble Fezzes,

designed for the Patron Saint of The Tearoom,

Lina Cavalieri

And here, Lina fairly shimmers 

in a never-before seen confection of mauve and periwinkle....

And did you know that he was the inventor of the cage hat?

It is hat and veil in one,

with room for a lovely flower inside as well!

Even our mysterious Lily Grower owes much to The Hatter!
Oh!  That bow!
Don't you want to try it on yourself?
I do!

Oh!

Here are the tea party treats left for us by The Hatter!!

He's left us a samovar of hot water, to stay warm for our tea...

And look!

He's left his special white porcelain

top hat tea cups for us to drink it in!

And look at the treats he has left us...

Individual Strawberry Chocolate Marble Cakes

with Amaretto Buttercream

and Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache!

There is one for each of us and they are shaped like top hats!!

Oooh...chocolate covered strawberries!

My favorite!

I hope they are yours, as well!

And of which tea shall you partake?

The Hatter acquires his teas from various places...

This one is from Fauchon of Paris.

Called "Oui Pour La Vie" or "Yes for Life"

is an intriguing combination of flavors:

black tea, rose petals, strawberry, raspberry

and

notes of black peppercorns from Tanzania!

This one is from

L'Epicerie d'Imagination

and even has his image on it, so it must be magical.

It's called The Mad Hatter's Special Tea Party Mix Tea Leaves.

It tastes like strawberries.

Or chocolate.

Or tazzleberries

(Haven't you had them?  They are VERY rare indeed!),

Or any other flavor you can imagine,

but only if you have been asked by a March Hare

to have some more tea

when you have not yet had any!

Our party is nearly done,

but what is a party without gifts?

The name of everyone who visits the party until next weekend

will be thrown into a hat (what else?)

and a name will be drawn on Saturday night (July 20th).

The name drawn will receive this set

of handmade bookmarks/gift tags,

courtesy of The Gossamer Tearoom shop on Etsy!

These are the very special

Chapeaux de Gateaux (Cake Hat) tags!

The winner will receive a Special Edition package of nine tags,

three of each design,

packaged in a one-of-a-kind folder!

Each tag is hand-glittered with gorgeous black glitter

(which twinkles with flashes of orange, green and purple!)

and each is tied with black organza ribbon!

In this special package,

you will have enough to keep for yourself

and some to give away as gifts as well!

(Sets of three are always on sale in The Gossamer Tearoom shop,

so if you aren't feeling lucky or just can't live without them,

you can order them here!)

I thank you and The Mad Hatter thanks you
(in absentia)
for visiting our Mad Tea Party today!

Now, please make certain to visit the rest of the parties
and most especially that of our host Vanessa
by clicking HERE!

Images used in my collages are from the following
talented artists:

Ella of Calico Collage, Marsha of Tumble Fish Studios, Karen of The Graphics Fairy,
and Lori of The Magic Pug