Happy May Day

As with many holiday traditions, May Day had changed many times since it began maybe two thousand or more years ago. In past years our children have made may cones and danced around the May Pole.
I was once lucky enough to be a part of a May Pole dance with a group of wonderful women, and it was a beautiful site to behold with all the pretty skirts floating and the may streamers colorfully weaving around the pole.
For me, May Day is about celebrating joy!

Today is a day I will celebrate Spring, beauty and being alive!

I remember reading about May Cones in the Dick and Jane reading series in school when I was little. Do any of you remember that?
May cones are hung on friends door nobs on May Day.

The pictures are of a French inspired May cone I created. This cone was made using a tissue paper transfer of a hundred and thirty year old French document. The flowers that adorn the top of the cone are from a vintage hat from the 50's. The pink roses are some of my first flowers in my back yard.

Happy May Day to you!
May you have a day of Joy!
Hugs,
Terri

Postcard Art

Hello All,
What a beautiful week it has been here, lots of clouds, rain and wind...which is what we need, and is so very helpful when I am welcoming my muse back home!

I tried some post card art for the first time...nothing like giving a new project a go when I am ready to get my creative juices flowing again.

The swap theme at Paperwhimsy.com forum is "Spring Friends" and I immediately thought of my sisters. So I joined the swap and began with this piece. I want to do much more of this, it was very enjoyable! The images are from Paperwhimsy. They have so many fabulous images and supplies. I do love to shop there!

I do hope that each of you are doing well,
creating art and looking out for beauty!

Hugs,
Terri

Artist Share!

Today I would like to share the beautiful artwork of two artists.
I was blessed to be in a tea cup swap with Terri G. She is a very talented artist and she sent me a gorgeous tea cup (to be shared for Tea Cup Tuesday soon!), and two very lovely pieces of art.
The first is a wall hanging with a tea theme.
It is such a beautiful blue, and the tea sentiment is so sweet!

The second thing she sent me is this Charlotte Angel! She is exquisitely crafted!

Every bit of her is adorable!

And the fabric wings are really special, the back says "Angel Friends" so I have decided she is the Angel of Friendship!

Thank you so much Terri for your very beautiful and generous gifts! To see more of Terri's amazing art work you can visit her at Designs by Terri Gordon it will be well worth your visit!

Below, is the art of a young man. His mother Eloisa created a fairy School house after watching my free video series, and I shared her school here. This school below is by her little son! She said he is a very active and very intelligent 4 year old. He picked out the colors and everything! Isn't it just amazing?!

I love the visiting lizard!

He has even created furniture and just look at the lesson on the board!

He has added a sweet birdie and her nest on the top of the school. Sounds just right for a fairy school to me! Eloisa's blog "I Love Crafts" is full of fab art too and worth a visit.
Thank you for sharing your art with us!

Thank you all for visiting today!
Hugs,
Terri

Tea Cup Tuesday Easter Tea and Swap!

Hello All!
Welcome to Tea Cup Tuesday!
What a delightful and Renewing Easter it was here at my home.
I give great thanks for my family,
our home and our health.
After hearing a healing Easter message from the Chapel at Duke University my family and I enjoyed a lovely tea and talk. So much fun!

Everyone received a small present, as our children are no longer little ones wanting baskets.

(This little sweetie is from Martha!)

I have been lucky to be in 3 Easter tea cup swaps this past month and today I am sharing the baskets, goodies and tea cups. I will share the tea cup Martha gave me today and only a little of the other two so I can showcase them in the next two Tea Cup Tuesday.

I received this adorable bunny basket full of goodies from Martha! She made the spoon art, isn't it lovely?! The lace, buttons and bookmark are so pretty and the little bunny is wearing a sweet angel pin! Which I will be wearing next! There is a beautiful "wonderland card as well that I adore. Thank you so much dear Martha!

This large wicker basket with a wooden top, plus all these goodies are from Sylvia at Sylvia's Simple Life. She is my Tea Cup Tuesday Easter Tea Cup swap partner. Sylvia sent me a lovely table runner, which is on my small tea table now, and a bunny tea towel as well as the beautiful bunny family figurine! She also sent me wonderful tea, chocolates, a pen and note pad shaped like a tea cup, and silver spoons, a beautiful tea cup and a handmade card!
I will showcase the tea cup and spoons next T.T.
Thank you so much Sylvia!

And these beautiful wrapped gifts and a tea cup from Terri (I am keeping what was inside as a surprise to share soon!, just wait till you see what is inside these packages!!!)

Now back to this sweet cup from Martha....Look at this beauty! Abundant flowers and gold trim!

Little wild flowers on the inside rim.

I think my favorite part of this trio (other than the fact that it came from my dear friend Martha) is the wavy edges of the plate and saucer as well as the swirl design on the outside of the cup.

This cup is a Coalport, a fine maker of china. The pattern as you can see is called "Junetime". Coalport used this backstamp post war in 1926, but this cup may be much later than this.

Thank you all who joined in the Easter Tea Cup Swap! I have seen some of your posts of your baskets and I can't wait to see the rest! I hope you all had as much fun as I did.

If you want to join in Tea Cup Tuesday. Create a post about a tea cup you would like to share with us. Tell us about it, share the backstamp, we love hearing about how you came to have your cup too! Then come back here and sign up with Mr. Linky below. After your link is created, click on it to make sure it goes to your Tea Cup post. We don't want to miss visiting any of you.

Thank you again for stopping by!
Hugs,
Terri

Vintage Easter Egg-Spring Renewal

Spring is a time of year that is often full of hope. The trees are in bud, the daffodils bloom and brighten the bleak colors of winter. Each week brings more color and beauty for the eye to behold. No wonder hope is in the air. It is a time of renewal and rebirth.

It is also a time for cleaning house, brightening up indoors and freshening dark dusty corners. For me, Spring is a opportunity to freshen up my inner home, the temple that houses my soul.

This Easter egg is an visual of the intention I have for the renewal of my inner life. A time to clean out thoughts that no longer serve me, a time to brighten up the darker corners with beautiful thoughts and fresh clean ideas and goals.

It is a new year, a new Spring, a new chance to seek out beauty and create joy!

I want to thank Lisa for inspiring me to create an egg. I am sharing this art with Theme Thursday..."Girls".

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and visit.
I appreciate you.
Hugs,
Terri

Tea Cup Tuesday-Peachy Pink!

(click on picture to see better)
Welcome to Tea Cup Tuesday!
Martha and I are once again reaching into our china cabinets and bringing out cups to share with you all. We have been out to visit each and everyone of you who link up with us, and we enjoy so much seeing your beautiful tea cups! We love seeing them, and hearing about them.

Spring is truly here! The greenery is stunning against the blue sky, and trees and shrubs are bursting out in clouds of colorful flowers! What a pleasure to be out of doors after the long winter.
So I have placed my cup in a bed of violas to celebrate the new season.

Here we have a lovely peachy rose colored cup with a dainty pattern of floral posies and garlands in gold.

It wears a elegant split loop handle with a prominent thumb rest,all defined in gold.

The gold garland design dances all around inside the cup as well as the plate.

Vibrant posies of flowers sit above the garland.

The plate design mirrors the inside of the cup.

I do love the simple gold touch on the top of the handle.

The flowers could be Marguerite daisy, Forget Me Nots, Bachelor Buttons, Marigolds, roses and daisies.

This sweet spring cup is by Paragon. A company known for it's high quality china. This backstamp was in use from 1957-1963, and during this time period the company was taken over by a larger one, and eventually an even larger company named The Lawley group that later changed it's name to Allied English Potteries. Paragon was being made by Royal Doulton under the large umbrella of AEP in 1972. Royal Albert took over the patterns and name in 1989, and the name Paragon came to an end in 1992, until the main company ended the Royal Albert line.
Does this sound convoluted? It does to me! ...but as with most pottery companies, there were many changes and owners over the years.

One of my little "Marie" domino books...yes really...made with two dominos for cover and back!

I have had some e-mails asking me how to create these tiny domino books.
So forgive me for posting the pictures again.

Holly is hosting a Domino book swap at Marie Antoinette Mail Art Ning Group. That is where I got inspired to create my little books in the previous post and the pictures above.
She has a beautiful blog, "Paper Pieces of Me" with many amazing pieces of art to see.

Holly has very kindly put a tutorial on her last three posts on making these domino books. Go and see her absolutely gorgeous little books!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!
If you would like to play along, just go and create a post about one of your tea cups and then come back here and fill in the two blanks with Mr. Linky. After your link is created, click on it yorself and make sure it goes to your post. Last week there was a link I could not figure out who it was supposed to go to because it did not work! Booo Hooo! We don't want that to happen to you. We want to come see everyone of you!

Hugs to you All!
Terri

More Time Please?

I would like to put my order in for more time....
who ever it is that handles the time department, I would like to order 4 more hours a day....thank you very much! (4 should be enough, I don't want to be too greedy...)

O how I wish it was as easy as that! I have so many lovely projects dancing round my head right now that I can hardly sleep! So some extra hours would be just wonderFull.

*sigh*

A few short years ago I realized that I needed to create something each day. It felt so good to create...and so I began my journey into mixed media art. When I get a new idea or have been inspired by another artist to try a project, I feel so ALIVE....
Creating things adds such vibrancy to my life.
Does it feel that way to any of you?

*breathe*

Sometimes I am so in a hurry to get get things done before I must lay my head down on my pillow, I need to remind myself to breathe. Slow down, and be with the process of creation. That feels good too!

*Embrace*

I once heard it said that "You can't get it wrong and you can never get it done" and while this statement may seems sad, it also is very liberating. Life itself is perpetual, creativity is ongoing...
So it is o.k. if I don't get everything I want done right NOW...it is o.k.

*smile*

It is o.k. because for me it is about the moment...the JOY of creation in the moment! So when I get concerned about "getting it all done" I breathe and remind myself why I am doing this...and that is because it feels good! And when I get back round to this thought...maybe I don't really need anymore time...just awareness of my own moments of JOY!
(maybe I need to change the title of my post!)

The photos are of a project I am working on for a little book swap as well as another swap at MAMA. The front and back covers of this book are made from dominos.

I have never created a domino book before and I am finding it quite enjoyable.

Thank you so much for listening.

Hugs,
Terri