Valentine Mailbox

This has been such a mild winter here in North Carolina.

We have enjoyed some very warm weather interspersed with showers and thunderstorms.

The rain is always welcome here, and I enjoy every thunderstorm we get.

Some of my daffodils are about to bloom, and there are buds on my Dogwood and Bradford Pears.

I hear many of you saying the same things about unusual weather in your area.

We have also had the luck to see a new bird couple at our feeders. We have not yet identified them. It is always exciting to see new visitors!

Enough about the weather...what you do think of my new blog look???

I engaged Karen from Valentine Design to give my blog a much needed lift.

And that is exactly what she did! 

I am loving the new header and the easier navigation. I hope it is helpful for all of you to get around.

I love Valentine's Day.

I have many fond memories of going to school on Valentine's Day and receiving cards from classmates.

I have always made cards for my kids and hubby, and have in the past created a mailbox for them. It was so fun for the kids to drop their letters into the box to be opened on the 14th. Such sweet memories!

I was in the mood to create a fresh new box as I am in a swap with Mary Jane's Farm. I am expecting 29 Valentines! Yay! My box is ready and waiting to receive them all happily : )

I got so interested in this process that I decided to share how I made it with all of you.

This rose was you average silk rose, until I hit it with Candy Apple Glimmer mist. Then I used Fabric Tac to glue down some of the petals after I pulled the green plastic base off. I tried to scrunch it down some to create a more open blossom. The G.M. gave it a nice golden shine which you can not see in the image.

I have had this vintage door nob for about 15 years, and now it gracefully adorns the top of the box.

Here is a free video in case you would like to see how I made my mailbox. Enjoy!

Have you been having a good weekend?
I love to hear about what you have been creating lately.

Tea Cup Tuesday-Romantic

Hello All!
Welcome to Tea Cup Tuesday once again where Martha and I pick out some of our favorite china to share with you all. As most of you know, we love tea cups and all things tea, and we love sharing with you as well as visit you and seeing your gorgeous tea cups!

I have Romance on the mind as I have been creating Valentine cards as well as a Valentine mail box
(which I will share in my next post).

So today I thought I would share with you my most romantic tea cups!

  

Beautiful edges...

Beautiful trims.....

Beautiful colors...

Beautiful age.....this one is fairly old...

Beautiful roses....

Having "tea" is a very romantic experience to me.

Having a beautiful and romantic tea cup to use makes it even more enjoyable!
Are any of you planning a Romantic Tea for Valentine's?

I hope you have enjoyed your visit today. Next week I have a new cup to share that sweetly fits in the "Romantic" category!

If you would like to join in this week, just go and create a post with a tea cup in it and then come back here and link that specific post to Linky Tools below. Martha and I will come over and visit you and see your lovely tea cup!

I am in the process of having a blog makeover and I am very excited about it.
This site will be easier to navigate and I will have larger images (Yay! No more cut off pictures!)
More about that next week ; )

And....I feel another giveaway coming on!

Oh how I love giving lovely things away!

 

Hello All

It is Valentine time!

Yay!

 

I find making these cards very enjoyable as they bring back memories of nights making them for my fellow class mates in grade school. I LOVED getting Valentines!

In fact, I remember we used to buy a large sheet of a variety of Valentines that we had to punch out....do any of you remember those sheets?....my favorite ones had gold trim! To this day, I am still loving gold trim! 

I have seen many vintage Valentines, but never seen the ones I loved best.I am still looking.

There is something very sweet about seeing something that brought one delight in childhood!

  This is where I began...

(cup of tea very important!)

I cut the hearts from a vintage lace placemat that had seen better days. I then sewed them on a water colored and stamped ATC card back with similar blue thread. I tried red first, but it didn't look fab, and now that I see the images, the blue thread is a wallflower!

with ATCs first...they are all done now. The coloring is a bit off.

This pic is more true to the coloring. See how much difference there is in where and when I took the photo? The first one was in the morning, and the second in the afternoon in two different places in my art room. It can really change the color!

 Then I began to make cards...and I used the same tea cup image. I began with a white scalloped card and card stock. I stamped dots on the back and used Shimmering H2Os on the oval card, then stamped with gold ink on a script stamp. Added a half paper doily, cup (with gold Stickles) and the saying. Voila!

And another card, smaller and with the same cup. A simple heart shaped card and a smaller one sewn in with script stamp. It also has gold Stickles on it but you can not see the accents in the photos.

It was a lot of work and a lot of creative fun!

Here they are ready to go out in the mail.

What are you creating lately? 

Hugs,

Terri

Tea Cup Tuesday-Blue

 Hello All!

Welcome to Tea Cup Tuesday with Martha and myself. 

We are so delighted to see you today!

I hope you enjoy what we have to share.

Today I am showing off a new cup to me.

I do love a blue cup! Especially what I call Martha Stewart blues and greens.

This cup is more of a robin egg blue, which goes so well with the scrolling gold designs and the gold handle.

It is slightly waisted, and is a generous size for a great cup of tea.

The flowers inside the cup are a sweet surprise, as the outside is less decorated. I found this cup when I went up north to visit my son and his family..and my new grandson.

The handle is very fancy all decked out in gold. You can see the scroll and two other embellishments, a spur and thumb rest just barely there.

The flowers inside the cup are very well done. Lovely vibrant colors of many different flowers.

I find this scroll design interesting.

Top view of a gorgeous cup!

The plate has complementary flowers gracing the center.

 The backstamp tells us this cup was manufactured by E.B Foley. A very fine maker of china. I have a few Foley cups, and they are all very high quality and beautiful. The reddish orange numbers were added later, 3583? And I am guessing it is the pattern number. There are also three gold dots. I think they may tell who the artist is. From my research I have found this cup was created somewhere between the 1940-1950.

(click on the image to enlarge and see backstamp better)

I also wanted to share with you a new tea I have found called Rip Van Winkle...Love it!

It is a beautiful organic blend...don't know for sure what is in it as the bag does not say!

But it is very tasty : )

The tea is so gorgeous itself! It looks very fresh and smells divine!

Thank you so much for stopping by today. Martha and I really do get a thrill coming to visit all of you.

We get to see your lovely posts, and beautiful tea cups! 

If you want to join in this week, just go and create a post with a tea cup in it that you would love to share, then come back here and link that post up to Linky Tools below.

Hugs,

Terri

What's Up?

Hello All

Here it is already the middle of January!

We have not had the weather we would have expected. In fact my daffodils have pushed through the earth and are up 4 inches now...I don't think they realize it is only the beginning of winter! Last year it was a few weeks yet before they showed up early. This is also the first year I still have herbs growing outside. Are you experiencing the same thing?

Now that the holidays are over, it is that time of year again, time to clean up, organize and clear out! I have been doing exactly that in my art room. I took before and after pictures....but turns out, I am too chicken to share just how bad it truly was : )

Now I am all clear to get moving on new projects. Yay!

Some jewelry...

 Today I was remembering back to the first jewelry i have ever made...and I was shocked to realize it was more than 40 years ago! Back then in the late 60s we were making macrame bracelets and chokers with shells and beads....do you remember that??? Then in the 80 I learned to wire wrap! Now I am learning to metal stamp and some other really cool things I have been experimenting with. I will show soon : )

 

Doing a little crochet.....

I am working on some Valentines with My favorite Paperwhimsy girl!

And I am hoping to start two new videos, free and a class at Creative Workshops.

 Art and Soul 2012 Virginia Beach

 I am getting excited about Art and Soul 2012 this March! This will be my first year attending. I have always wanted to go and I have always wanted to take a class with Sally Jean Alexander. So I am really thrilled that I am signed  up for 4 of her classes...wooohooooooooo! And, the best part....I am going with not one but two blogging friends, Jan and Marlynn! Super woooohooooo! If you are interested in a retreat filled with fabulous opportunities to be creative and mix with like minded people thank hop on over to the website and see all the amazing teacher to choose from! Just click HERE.

When the time comes I will be sharing my experience on my blog here so you can see how it is!

 Bye for now!
I am off to hop around and see your blogs!
Hugs,
Terri

Tea Cup Tuesday-Exquisite Cups to Dream About!

Hello All,

Welcome to Tea Cup Tuesday! It has been dark and rainy here, too dim to photograph my own cups.

So I went online to look for cups I wish I could own. Most of the cups I am sharing are over $300!

Some almost $500! It is fun to dream though! 

I am going to start with this absolutely gorgeous cup!

 This is the first cup I found. It is by Aynsley and called Athens Butterfly.
My sister Kathleen would love this cup too!

This golden beauty is attributed to George Jones, an English Potter during the 19th and early 20th century. I had not heard of this potter before.

 

This beautiful cup is an Aynsley.

 It was called Surreal Roses on the site I found it on.

It looks like a painting!

This incredible cup was made by Shafford in Japan. This company created china ware from 1940-1970.

The roses are the most gorgeous colors! The design so unique!

This dramatically stunning cup is also an Aynsley.
It was called Emperor Rich Gold on the site.
I would love a closer look at the bottom inside of the cup, what I can see of the flowers looks so beautiful!
The gold trims are so lush! This  is certainly a cup for a princess!

This beauty is also an Aynsley!

If you want to see where I found these cups I have "pinned" these images on my board at Pinterest.
Have you heard of "Pinning"?
It is so fun! You find something interesting and you pin it to one of your boards.
Here is the link to my page, then scroll to the bottom to find the board "Exquisite Tea Cups"  http://pinterest.com/artfullgirl/

The link to where I found the image is just below the pic.


If you would like to join in Tea Cup Tuesday, just create a post with your tea cup in it and then come back here and hook up with Linky Tools below.
Martha and I love to come an see your beautiful blogs and tea cups!

Hugs, Terri

Tea Cup Tuesday-Favorites...short and sweet!

Favorite New Cup

Favorite old cup

Favorite broken cup 

(booo hoooo....sniff

Favorite French cup

Favorite Blue Cup

Favorite unusual handle.

Thank you so much for sharing Tea Cup Tuesday with us in 2011!

I hope 2012 will be even more fun on T.T!

I have some new gorgeous blue cups to share...

and a new tea pot!

Hugs, Terri 

....if you want to play along, just create your post with your tea cup in it and then link up below...