tea cup art journal…

back in March while digging through some of my art supplies I came across a set of blank chipboard tea cups (if you’d like a closer look you can click on the photos)…

so I got busy sharing my progress along the way with you here…

I did not concern myself with the order of the tea cups…

rather I worked on the fronts and backs of each cup as the spirit moved me off and on over the months…

it worked well that there was no official “cover” so the pages can be turned and left open where ever…

it really was fun and a nice little challenge to work around the handle of each cup keeping the designs on the simple side…

a shout out to Elizabeth our hostess with the mostess… I was the lucky winner of her second anniversary giveaway and here are the lovely goodies I received (I confess the paper hound in me really swooned over the lovely star tissue paper which reminds me so much of my German heritage)…

here’s wishing you a Happy T Day along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover…  thank you for stopping by I appreciate your visit very much…

Forget-me-not…

a pot of summer blooming Forget-me-nots that I planted last year has gently spread among our Japanese painted ferns just off the back porch…

it is such a sweet little flower and the delicate blues really speak to me…

the blooms that were hanging over the stone border into the lawn were begging to be picked and I just happened to have a tiny china boot that made a nice vase …

and then I remembered one of my basket girls from Japan (the beautiful English Bone China cup belonged to my sweet mother-in-law)…

as will happen one thing led to another and I finished another chip board piece in my tea cup journal using cut out blooms from some of my photos and a Lord Byron quote…

still deciding with the postage stamp or without as my thought was to keep each cup rather simple (it is a challenge for me sometimes to leave open space)…

just a couple more cups to go and I can show them all to you…

thank you very much for stopping by to visit…

here’s wishing you a Happy T Day along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover…

Love your neighbor…

a bunch of beautiful blue delphiniums jumped into my shopping cart the other day…

which led to some of them ending up in my flower press…

next thing I knew I was playing with flowers from the garden and making a mandala (I miss Dawn’s Mandala Monday’s and her beautiful organic creations!)…

I am in the midst of a long overdue clean out … it feels good to let go of things but it is a lot of work (we’ve filled up our car trunk several times dropping items off at charity shops and also recycling lots of bags of paper and cardboard)…

all of that has kept me away from the computer lately and I have missed visiting everyone as I normally would …

I did take some time to play and alter another cup in my tea cup journal using sprigs of pressed lavender with a piece of single ply tissue glued on top (the green background is one of the security envelopes I had in my vast “collection”)…

here’s wishing you a Happy T Day along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover…

“There’s no Black, White, Asian, or Latinos. The only “RACE” is the “HUMAN-RACE”.” -Henry Johnson Jr 

full of promise T …

thank you for visiting today as I join everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover for T Stands for Tuesday…

the garden is so full of promise and has grown alot after a recent heat wave which was followed by five days of lovely gentle rain…

after that we had some nice sunny and breezy days perfect for opening the windows and airing out…

another big warm up is bearing down on us and soon it will be time to start cutting the Lavender…

I put some finishing touches on another page for my tea cup journal using a piece of scrap paper for the background…

“Remember to breathe. It is after all, the secret of life.”  -Gregory Maguire

Travel makes one modest…

before our trip last month when I should have/could have been packing I played with my tea cup art journal adding this page using one of my gelli prints as the background…

bits of napkin and a postage stamp from my collection…

created my art journal page full of anticipation…

little did I know then just how blue and stunning the water … sky and beaches of Turks & Caicos would be…

I printed out one of the photos that Mr Magpie took of me with my traveling parasol on a secluded beach on Middle Caicos Island…

adding highlights and layers that are a bit tricky to show…

using various acrylic paints and pens for the layers (including a little aqua gelato)…

a favorite quote from Gustave Flaubert “Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” speaks for me…

her wings…

another tea cup in my chip board art journal (each cup measures about 4 x 7 inches)…

I found that by using a sanding block I can trim off most of the excess paper reducing the amount of scissor and craft knife trimming needed … working around the handle is a bit tricky…

my intention is to keep these cups rather simple but that said I spent a fair amount of time painting golden stars with a toothpick and resisting the urge to add more collage elements…

it was fun to see what names popped up on the piece of Virginia map I randomly selected for the background (there is even a spot called “Healing Springs”)…

I am joining Art Journal Journey’s “Things With Wings” challenge with my swan

dancing around the room T …

when a  set of chipboard tea cups surfaced while I was doing some clearing out I just had to play with layers of my favorite map tissue and my white acrylic paint pen…

the words are computer generated …

and speaking of cups … this photo of my Irish Shannonbridge cup that we brought back from Dublin in 2013 has nice hot Organic Choice Earl Grey tea in it (the elf/Zwerg really wanted to have his picture taken too as standing around holding wooden toothpicks all day can get a little tiresome)…

that delicious quinoa and spelt flour scone is something Mr Magpie and I treat ourselves to every now and then at our local Le Pain Bakery (their Chia Muffins are irresistible too!)…

wishing you a ♣Happy St Paddy’s Day♣ and a Happy T Day along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s T Stands for Tuesday…

(if you would like please feel free to help yourself to a copy of my 1909 postcard sent to Miss Raftery in New York, NY)

“When the first light of sun, Bless you.  When the long day is done, Bless you.  In your smiles and your tears, Bless you.  Through each day of your years, Bless you.”  ~Irish Blessing