tea lights

I found these small sized telephone pole insulation caps at a local flea marketI love them for the irregularity of the glassit's like someone at the factory said, "don't make them perfect, just make them."


I thought they looked pretty cool upside down


and with a candle in them too


they're hanging from my dining room light fixtureit wasn't a hard project ... just a little wire wrapping and twisting ... easy peasy

late to tea

I'm late to tea this morning!I think I'm coming down with something - and this peppermint tea is really helping



I almost always drink bagged tea - I know it's not very sophisticated -but I save the tea bags


I love the dried and tea stained tea bag paper for art projects


aren't they pretty in the morning light?I'm already inspired!

what ordinary thing out every ordinary day inspires you?taking time for a cuppa is a good time to be inspired :)

I hope your day is going well so far!

printed fabric

I played around a little with one of my hand carved stampsI really like creating a repeating pattern with it


and then I thought it would look great on fabricI used some flour sack towels I had picked up a few months agothey're big - and the loose weave soaks up the paint readilyI used an unevenly mixed orange and yellow combo of acrylic paintwithout mixing the two colors perfectly, I got a nice variation of color


then was the question, "what to make with it?"








the Japanese crane .... bird of happiness .... and symbol of peace

after school tea

(I write all of my "tea on tuesday" posts on monday afternoon or evening, so while you are having tuesday morning tea, I'm having monday afternoon tea)


it's as if you all lived in australia :)


my tea this afternoon is at the kitchen tablewhich is dressed in a table cloth I picked up at the goodwill a few weeks agoI can hardly believe it was unwantedit was only $3!and it's pure linen!we have already begun dreaming about visiting there some day


the girls have parked their stuff on the table ... a deluge of school books, snacks, projects ....


today it all seems color coordinated .... like this nancy drew bookand the bane of my existence .... tumbled jumbled bead binsbut through my camera it all looks beautiful


I hope your tuesday is as beautiful as my monday was :)let me know in your comment if you're having tea today and we'll be sure to visit your blog to say hi!

rubber stamps

I have a small collection of my own carved rubber stampsand yesterday I wanted to carve a crow


only problem was, the rubber had become brittle and was impossible to carveafter a little bit of research, I found out that a non-petroleum oil will recondition the rubber(what I use for stamps is rubber gasket material from the hardware storeit comes in 6 inch square sheets that I cut into fourths)long story short ... I used coconut oil to recondition the rubberin fact I reconditioned my four other stamps as well... just a little helpful tip for my stamping friends :)(p.s. I think vegetable shortening would work just as well)

the day was warm ...

well it wasn't REALLY ... warm, that is ...but with a little imagination, it seemed that way:)


and the dahlias ARE blooming ... and the bees ARE still buzzing


and with a window or two open(while wearing the first woolen sweater of the season)and the kettle on


all was well:)



ingredients:7x10" book coverwatercolor paperbetter homes and gardens cookbook page (1950's)tea bag papersearly reader primer text (1960's)tea bag stringphoto transfer of my very own dahliasbee stampgesso, paint, beeswax, ink, stitching, tearing, cutting, gluing

twilight tea

take a twilight tour around my backyard with me


these are the sweet peas .... still blooming ....their fragrance fills this corner of the garden




the grass is beginning to brownthese september days are warm and drywe enjoy relaxing out here on a sunny afternoon




this is my favorite spotunder the maple treemy weathering chair in the winter time .... a reading nook in the summer




evening is here nowmy red clover tea has cooledI think I'll go in now ... thank you for stopping by!






enjoy your tuesday!are you having tea too?tell us about it :)

life's remembrances

ten years ago - not today - but yesterdaywe received the gift of hilary


her presence was a comfort to me in those daysand in the anxiety I felt about our "new" world


it is a new world in many ways... not in the evil acts of men ...but in the birth and hope of life


blessings on your day as you remember many thingsand hope even more

lightweight hanger

in my last post, Suki was wondering how to do the same type of wire hanger after the fact
for these lightweight collage assemblages I like a copper wire hangerand if I remember to do it midway through the project,I can add the wire directly through my backer board


but in this example, I wasn't thinking ahead, and had to add it after the factI ought to explain that the wheat thins cardboard was left face up on purposeit's a tongue in cheek nod to recycling and was meant to cheer the person this piece is for


as Jean pointed out to me at one time, this kind of thrift and recycling was known as tramp art in the last centuryI like the idea of tramp art :)

what it became

I really had fun with this


on the woven background from my previous postI attached this page from an old pentecostal hymnalit says 1885that's even older than my little town


I glued the page to watercolor paperpainted the edgesadded stitchingand tea-dyed it


before attaching it to the woven backgroundI added this wire hanger to the book cover backing I had chosenthe book cover was the perfect size!


and very very old!it all just fit togetherjust like it was "meant to be"


***I'm taking a new approach with this school yearI'm focusing on my art from when the kids get off to school to when they get home(just as if I were putting in time at a job)and now that it's the weekend and I can relax .... which includes catching up with you guys!I look forward to seeing what everyone is up to!

replicated substrate

I made this collage a couple of years ago and wanted to do something similar





here's the step by step for the woven base:
1) save your cereal boxes;


2) sand and ink the cardboard (I used two colors of ink - purple and green);


3) apply black paint to one of the cardboard pieces;


4) when the black paint has dried, scratch lines into it with a sharp tool.


5) tear or cut one of the pieces into lengthwise strips and the other piece into crosswise strips (I use a straight edge for tearing - and my widths are purposely random and uneven);


6) weave the strips together;


7) apply gesso if desired (in my example at the top of this post, there is no gesso).


now it is ready for the next phaseI love collage and mixed media projects because they grow as you build and build and build upon themthis is my "slab foundation" for what I hope will become a pretty cool "building"

***

I was a flurry of creative activity today, celebrating back to school time:)

dew

it is a late summer morning


and the sun is just peaking up over the rim of my teacup



the shadows are long and golden


and dew is over everything


a string of gems on every leaf
* * *
school starts tomorrowand "dew" becomes "do"it has been a happy summerbut, as happens every year, we are all happy to get back to our work


wishing you all a happy tuesdayfilled with the refreshment of dewand the inspiration of doing

do you have a tea post to share?mention it when you leave a comment, and we'll pop around to say hi:)