A new twist on chocolate covered strawberries

A couple months ago, a dear friend at church asked me

for some ideas for her youngest daughter's wedding shower.
She explained that her daughter loved flowers and wanted

a garden-themed wedding.
My friend and I chatted about how to hang some things from the ceiling in the event room

and then she mentioned that she was going to incorporate
a "tea party" with the flowers and greenery.
She asked me if I could bring some small, fun finger food appropriate

for such an event, and after thinking about it for a couple days.

I asked her if I could bring chocolate covered strawberries.
She immediately loved that idea, and then texted me the picture below.
"What do you think about something like this?"  she asked.

I never attempted such a feat before,

but was intrigued by the challenge.
I told her I couldn't do ALL the strawberries like a teacup,

but I could certainly do several dozen to add to the decor.

I researched how to do chocolate covered strawberry tea cups,

brought the chocolate candy coating,
and started experimenting a couple weeks before the shower.

I learned several things about this project:

1.)  You must do this in STEPS.

2.)  You need several different colors of candy coating chocolate

warm and ready to pipe at the same time.
So that means some space is required for this as well.

3.)  For me, it worked to pipe all the handles first.
The thicker they are, the less likely they are to break as you

are adhering them to the covered strawberry.

4.)  If you look at the inspiration picture, you'll notice that the strawberries

are actually covered and then laid down on their sides to dry.
I tried experimenting to see if I could make the strawberry sit upright 

on its bottom like an actual teacup.

I cut off the bottom of the strawberry to give it a level bottom 

and then covered it in the candy coating.
I really loved how that turned out.

The only problem with that idea was this:
When you stand looking at the display, 

unless you have a very tall tiered tower,
and they are displayed at eye level,
you end up looking straight down at a bunch of green strawberry tops.
You can't see the pretty design until you pick it up!!

I did not love that.

So I decided to just cover them in the candy coating and lay them on their side

as in the inspiration picture.

5.)  You have to work fast!

The candy coating dries really quick!
I experimented with adding designs with shaped "sprinkles,"
but it was super hard to get them stuck on while the coating was still wet.
So I opted for piping on different designs, again, like

in the inspiration picture.

6.)  To adhere the handle to the hardened, dipped strawberry,

you simply pick up the handle and dip it slightly into warm, melted candy coating

and hold it onto the strawberry.
Again, it dries really quickly, so you don't need to put it into the refrigerator

to dry completely.
I tried that on experiment day, and found later it was unnecessary.
But, the handle does want to try melting and breaking on you

in the nanoseconds you are holding it onto the strawberry,
but the thicker the handle, the less likely that was to happen.

In the days just preceding the shower, I had been really struggling with

an upper respiratory infection of some sort.
The night before the shower, I had every intention of covering

all the strawberries and making the handles,

but I felt the worst that night than any previous night up to that point.

I even weighed my options of calling my friend and cancelling all together.
But one of my students from our homeschool co-op came over to help

my daughter and I on the morning of the shower.

We were able to bang out almost 80 strawberries in 2 hours, 

and I couldn't have been more delighted with their hard work, patience,

and calm spirits!!!

 My friend and her daughters were delighted with the finished product!!