500 Plastic Bags, Labels and Twisties Saved!

Today, Island Tea Company donated $50.00 to The Nature Conservancy in honor of our customers! I'm so proud!

In 2007 we started giving our customers a 5 cent discount for reusing our tea packaging or for bringing in their own tins or jars to be filled. They received a 5 cents discount for each bag or container and we committed to tracking these nickels and then matching those nickels with nickels of our own and then we would make a donation to the Nature Conservancy when the fund reached $50.00. Last month we hit the mark! Actually we are $5.90 over. We'll use that to start rebuilding the fund.

The twenty-five dollars worth of nickels saved by our customers represents 500 plastic bags, labels and twisties that did not have to be trucked off our island to a landfill. That's neat enough, but that is also a bundle of bags, labels and twisties that Island Tea Company did not have to buy. This is such a win-win for everyone and our lovely planet, don't you think? In fact we are so enthused with this little program of ours that we are now giving our instore customers a 10 cents discount for each bag or container that they bring in to reuse.

Maybe, just maybe, we can make our next donation before the end of 2009! That would be sweet indeed! :-)

Lovely Lemon Tea!

One of my favorite teas is back in stock, Lemon! One of my dear friends nicknamed this flavored black tea "Lemon Drop Tea," because that is indeed what it smells and tastes like! It is delicious hot or iced. In fact, it is one of my personal favorites over ice. I'm enjoying a glass right now, because we actually have warm sunny weather for this Memorial Day weekend!

Lemon Tea is a rich blend of black teas and is generously flavored with lemon peel and lemon oil. For an interesting twist in your iced tea try adding a sprinkling of lavender buds, a sprig of mint, or fresh sliced berries. You can find this lovely tea on our website right here!

Win this!

Do you love pretty stationery? Do you journal? Or, think you might like to? Go to Women Take Wing!'s blog and enter to win this lovely lined journal! Winner will be drawn at noon today, PST.


If you want to see the journal and other items from this pretty desk collection, stop by our shop!

Pomegranate White Tea Spritzer

For Mother's Day sipping I served a delicious spritzer made with our Pomegranate White & Green Tea and champagne. So easy, so yummy and very pretty in a tall slender glass. I used pilsner glasses, but tall champagne flutes would be lovely.

You'll need:
Pomegranate White & Green Tea (or any fruity white or green tea of your choosing)
Grenadine syrup
Champagne (inexpensive is just fine for this) or a fruit flavored seltzer (we like raspberry)

Earlier in the day I steeped up a pot of double strength tea and placed it in the frig to chill. To serve I poured about a teaspoon of grenadine syrup in each glass, filled each about 1/2 full of crushed ice, 2/3 full of chilled tea, and topped each off with champagne. Sometimes I add sliced strawberries or crushed raspberries or a mint sprig.

Makes a very pretty and refreshing drink!

Millie's Birthday Party

Tuesday we celebrated Millie's first birthday. Many of her favorite peeps stopped by including Grandma, Auntie Connie, Ruth and Shirley. Our FedEx driver even popped in with a little cookie for our shopgirl. For her guests we served tea and "pupcakes!" Inspired by my dear friend, Lesley, I simply decorated the little cakes with a light touch of frosting and a sweet little violet blossoms picked early in the morning from my garden. While Millie could not have cake, she did snatch up one of the violet blossoms when I dropped it.


Below Millie is greeting her beloved Auntie Connie with hugs and kisses. Let me tell you, these two have an understanding! Connie brought Millie a bag full of gifts including a pink, fuzzy squeaky piggy, treats...more treats.....


Ruth B. brought the little miss a party dress! Well....a be-ribboned party collar, really. We were amazed that she happily wore it all day. In fact, she has worn her party attire most of the week, looking for it each morning. :-) Such a funny girl!


Happy Birthday, sweet Millie! You bring smiles to many faces!

Felted Tea Cozy Adventure - Part One

Last week my tea drinking college boy informed me that he needed a tea cozy, a masculine looking tea cozy, if you please. In other words, one of the sweet, floral models available in my shop simply would not do. After discussing his wishes, we decided a felted wool cozy might be just the thing. So off to the local thrift store we went in search of a thick, wool sweater.

The ladies at the store told us this is a great time of the year to look for wool sweaters, as many people are doing their spring cleaning and the donation bags were rich with sweaters. We were directed in the right direction and the hunt began. Some were too thin, and some contained synthetic fiber which does not felt. Many were the wrong color, but then my son spotted just the right sweater. His choice was a Pendleton Shetland wool sweater with a great pattern of blues and grays AND some poor soul had already started the felting process for us. The price on the tag was $3.75 but we were delighted to discover sweaters were 50% off! Can't beat that for an experiment! :-)

Back at home I tossed the sweater in the washer with some detergent and washed it in hot water with high agitation. (Note: Next time I will follow wise advice and put the sweater inside a large lingerie bag or pillow case closed with a rubber band for washing! Lots of fibers come off these sweaters and it is not a good thing for your poor washing machine!) I washed the sweater twice to really felt it down thickly and then tossed it in the dryer to damp dry before patting it out flat on a towel to finish up.

I quizzed my son on his design preferences and he decided he would like the cozy to fit rather snugly over his 6-cup teapot, and to have the spout and handle poke out so he can pour his tea without removing the cozy. Hmmmm...... Now to come up with a pattern.

Check back next week to see the rest of the project, and retrieve directions. In the meantime, if you are so inclined, go find yourself a old wool sweater and catch up with us!

My "Inspired to Soar!" friends!

I am the proud member of a women's entrepreneurial community, "Women Take Wing! Inc." Members are wonderful, talented women busily following their dreams of business ownership. Early each week, in our community's forum, members have the opportunity to post a hyperlink to their blogs with a snippet of information about what they are doing or talking about. Each Thursday these links are gathered up and posted on the Women Take Wing! blog and on participating member's blogs so that our readers have the opportunity to learn about some of these inspiring women.

I am delighted to invite you to visit a few of my friends! Welcome to "Inspired to Soar!"

Sparkles from Beach Haus Designs- Exciting things are happening from becoming an Ambassador for Crystallized Swarovski Elements to new design techniques. Check out what is happening at the beach!

Keeper of the Pennies talks about averting disaster as a single employee when life hands you unexpected changes.

Raised In Cotton Blog - Carol is headed to the beautiful Texas Hill Country to shop the wonderful antique shows taking place!

Island Tea Bits Dori (yours truly) announces Island Tea Company's Spring Fling sale and shares photos of her building's completed exterior re-do.

(WTW members, remember to stop by the forum early each week to post your blog and news bit!)

A fresh face greets spring!

The sprucing up of our building is all complete and we are so delighted with the results! With fresh cedar shingles and sparkling white trim, it just looks beautiful and very beach cottagy! A perfect look for Whidbey Island, don't you think? :-)


Last weekend we were treated to some lovely, spring-like weather and I took the opportunity to finish planting our pots with golden primroses and soon to bloom daffodils. Andrea and I toted them out front and now these bright spots of living sunshine greet us every morning! Something about those shingles just calls for more flowers.... I think we're going to add more planters out there for the summer and just stuff them full of color!


(Aren't those primroses just a glorious yellow? They make me so happy! )

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and see what's news. Remember, if our banner is flying, we are open!