Tea Tuesday

Oh the weather outside is frightful.... la dadada something something...
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

I wish I could stay in all day but I'm having a quick brace of tea and a cookie before I head out for library duty at the kids school. Due to budget cuts they eliminated the media para meaning that they ask for parent volunteers to check in, check out and shelve books. I'm happy to help out but it makes me a bit crazy when the latest PTO newsletter came out talking about how great the school has done with the last fund raising event. How about giving the woman her job back!  


Ok I must now get down off my soap box to put on my boots... I don't mind driving in snowy weather, I was a school bus driver for a couple years, it's just all the other cars on the road that I don't trust!!

In case you were wondering...this is another set from my folks collection. Figured I'd show the bottom for those who are in the know...not me but I'm sure you're out there...

Stop by Kimmies blog to see what my fellow tea drinkers are doing today.

I finally made something new

With the long Holiday weekend, I finally took some time and felt inspired enough to do a bit of creating. 

First I grabbed my "maybe some day" journal that I slap my leftover paint in. Then grabbed my scrap bucket. This was just sort of something to remind myself that I actually could make something again.

After that I felt like I could be on a roll. I was thinking about gifts for teachers, casual friends and just those "oh gosh I totally forgot about so and so" gifts. It's always good to have a little stash of items around without breaking the bank.

These are a couple of altered composition books that I may keep for gifts or maybe list in my etsy store.
Yes, you read that right...
I finally got up the nerve to actually list some things in my storefront. I've been busy photographing items to list and then of course writing up the listings. I'm sure once I get a system down it will go quicker.

I can happily say I've made my first sale as well. If I'd known it would have happened that quickly I'd have listed stuff months ago.

Friday Freebie

Ah yes...Friday again.  I'm going to have to dig out some more images to scan because this tintype is the last in the folder. Yikes!

Enjoy!

(click to enlarge)

Tea Tuesday

I wanted something special this week since this will be my first Thanksgiving without my dad, so I borrowed this set from my mom.


This is one of my favorites from Dad's collection.  His collection focused on sets with scenery on them.

He was always on the look out for a nice scene but of course, would surprise Mom with a delicate floral set when he found one.

I love the thistles framing the scene, the scalloped edge and the handle. Drinking tea from this cup makes me sit up a little straighter and cross my legs at my ankles. Granted, this is not my usual style..I'm more of a curl up in a chair and sip from a steamy mug kind of gal but it's good to be "ladylike" every once in a while.

My parents have a very large tea cup and saucer collection. The funny thing was that they both had collections BEFORE they even met.  I'm sure you'll be seeing more of their collection...

Stop by Kimmie's blog to see what the rest of the Tea Tuesday gang is up to today.

Friday Freebie

This week I'm sharing a couple of images that would make great background or accents to your artwork.

Check out the price at the top of the first image.  I'm sure at that time $3 was a lot of money...and a cabinet card photo was a luxury to be afforded only by the wealthy.

And the winner is...

Elizabeth!!  Enjoy your online shopping...

 

Thanks to CSNstores for providing this opportunity for one lucky reader!

Tea Tuesday with Lefse

Happy Tuesday! We've got light snow flurries coming down at present. But nothing like the 10+ inches of snow we got on Saturday!! That was tree branch breaking snow...this is the pretty stuff.

Today I'm having my tea with another special Norwegian treat...LEFSE. So, of course, I had to drink it out of a Scandinavian tea set.

I made the lefse on Sunday afternoon. Each time I make it I get a little better at it. I don't use a recipe because I hate to measure. Growing up I was always around when mom made her lefse. She would talk about how it should feel, look and taste. She never measured either.

If you'd like to see what my Tea Tuesday friends are up to today, please stop by Kimmie's blog. You'll see the Tea Tuesday blog roll in the sidebar. 

**********  PS...my giveaway ends tomorrow! ***********

ATC storage

Yesterday, I ran across someone asking about ATC storage. Some people use trading card sheets in 3-ring binders, others have them in baskets and so on.


I have several storage methods.

My first option was to use this very old photo album. It was in rough shape. I decided to make it my own by stamping and painting randomly on the pages for visual interest. I used photo corners to attach each ATC. The thing I like about this album is that you can see the backside of the card through the opening.

This book filled up rather quickly so...

I came with with my own storage option by creating a book that can have my ATC's upright whether they are made in a portrait or landscape style. This was very important to me. Once again I use photo corners to attach the ATC's so they can easily be removed to look at the back.
I wrote a tutorial when I created a second one.

I recently acquired this vintage wooden cheese box for the sole purpose of housing my ever growing collection. I tend to put ATC's that are thick, uneven or heavily embellished in the box. This box sits on my desk right by the computer so I can hopefully be inspired daily.

Do you have an ATC collection?  How do you store yours?

Let it snow....

What a crazy snow storm! We've been hearing..."we'll be getting a bit of snow this weekend" but then yesterday they started changing their tune...

We'll be getting quite a bit of snow!

I was up at midnight and the snow was just covering the grassy areas.

This was the view of my garden box at 11AM.

This is what is looked like during summer... just a few short months back.



The snow had pretty much stopped for a little while but has once again started falling. The boys are out cleaning the ends of driveways now that the plow finally went through. Ah...the joys of living in MN, although I can't imagine it any other way!

Paper Bag Book

A good friend of mine has a table at a craft fair purchased and asked me if I wanted to send anything along with her. She suggested paper bag books since she loves the ones I made for her kids so much.

This is the only one I've gotten done so far... Hopefully I can get a couple more done before the deadline.

Friday Freebie

Since our weather is turning to winter today...I needed a touch of warmth.  Short sleeves on a picnic bench...ah, I feel warmer already!

                                                      (click to enlarge)

Tea Tuesday

Good Morning!
Well, the kids are off to school...my morning coffee is gone and now I need to clean the house!

Time for some comfort tea in one of my many, many Fiestaware mugs.
This particular one is a retired color called Juniper. When I dropped the matching dinner plate on the floor, I actually cried as I picked up the pieces. It was the first and only piece I've broken.  I'm not usually emotional like that but it was just the cherry on top of a really crumby day if memory serves.

Again...I am off track... We were talking about tea!!

I LOVE this Oh my! Chai.
It's my special treat. I hoard it and only drink it when I need some comfort or want to super indulge.

Point of information: I have no affiliation with Tastefully Simple at all...just love this product. :) Thought you'd want to know.

Stop on over to Kimmies blog to see what my fellow tea drinkers are doing today.

Christmas is coming....let's have a giveaway!

I was taken aback this weekend when I stopped to think about how close it is until Christmas. We've been turning to online shopping more and more each year.  You can really buy anything online...from fitness gear to kitchen bar stools and pretty much everything in between.

CSNstores has offered me the opportunity to give one of my readers $50 to use at any of their 200+ online stores! How cool is that!! Who couldn't use an extra $50?!?

I'm going to make this real easy...no hoops to jump through...

Just leave a comment on this post by Wednesday Nov. 17th  to have a chance at it.  I will use a random number generator to pick the winner the next morning.  Please make sure I have a way to get a hold of you to deliver your prize via email or I'll be forced to move on to the next person...

UPDATE: This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents only.

Friday Freebie

Here's another tintype to add to your artwork. I've dubbed him "Fancy Man".

(click image for full size)

A new book

Lynda over at Bloom, Bake & Create had a give away last month and I won!  The projects look like I can do them even though I am very directionally challenged. 

Thanks so much Lynda!

BTW-- Lynda is hosting another giveaway...this time for a jewelry book. Go check it out!