n English tradition invented by the seventh Duchess of Bedford, Anna (one of Queen Victoria's ladies in waiting) in the 18th century, tea parties don't necessarily have to be in a lush palace garden to be brilliantly smashing. If all you have is a small deck area or just the stoop of the back of an apartment complex that will do just fine. A few plants or cut flowers are recommended, but a simple set up with little round tables or chairs and some little tables make for a dandy afternoon. For this lovely tea party what is absolutely necessary is cute decorative invitations, cucumber sandwiches, carrot cake with lots of cream cheese frosting, and a big tea-pot full of your favorite tea.

Before you get started, you'll also need to organize your ideas. List the details of your party: the occasion, date, time and place, as well as how, when and who to respond to.

Having an RSVP will help you to gauge who will be showing and how many people to plan for.

What You'll Need:

• paper
• potatoes
• a sharp knife
• acrylic or watercolor paints
• Rigid Paper-card stock, parchment and brown wrapping paper work well

Directions:

1. Either pre-print this information on your computer's printer or save it to fill in after the hand-printing is complete. Since the theme is a tea party. It will also bring inspiration for your potato print. You could print a teapot, a teacup, a tea leaf...

2. With all of that in order, you're ready to start printing. Use your imagination-you can get pretty creative. Paper grocery bags, index cards, construction paper or even fabric are just a few ideas. Cut your paper into invitation-sized pieces. 5.5" x 4.25" is a good size because office suppliers usually stock envelopes that size.

3. Any potato will do, but it should be large enough that you can safely carve, while small enough that you can hold it comfortably. Simple shapes that require little detail work best for this project.
4. Cut the potato in half and transfer an outline of your shape to the potato. Use your knife to carefully carve the outline. Cut away all the potato that you don't want to touch the paper. You won't be able to put back cut potato so go slow and be careful.

5. Dip the carved potato stamp in the paint, but be sure not to use too much paint. It's a great idea to keep cheesecloth or paper towels nearby to blot the stamp.

6. Remember to send them out at least a month in advance to give everyone time to set their schedules and RSVP.