paperlicious: recycling teabags

(stitched teabag paper, teabag tag, teabag string)

I ran out of the tea stained muslin scraps for my Gulf Spill Quilt

so I reused the teabags themselves

and the tags

and the string

Here is Mr. Brown Pelican:

Today Rebecca @ recuerda mi corazon is hosting a fun papertrail

Paperlicious

reveal your favorite paper art

(your own or someone else's)

paper touches us all

folded

torn

stained

painted

sketched

written

crumpled

decayed

Tea and Butterflies

I'm drinking tea today with 7 butterflies that I made yesterday.

Each butterfly represents one in 1.5 million children that perished in the Holocaust.

I'll be sending them to Two Dresses Studio

in participation with the Butterfly Effect project

at the Houston Holocaust Museum

Click on the butterfly below 

to learn more about how Trudi Sissons at Two Dresses Studio 

is collecting butterflies to send to the museum.

* * *

In honor of our newest Tea on Tuesday blogger, Gayle of Bliss and Gesso, I'm drinking Madura Tea from New South Wales, Down Under.
(Gayle may join us this week or next - it's a little confusing with the nearly 36 hour time difference.)

(It was on Gayle's blog that I first read about "The Butterfly Effect" project.)

I just love how this tea is described as 

"a unique, coloury, flavoursome tea." 

"Flavoursome"

what a fabulous attribute for a tea!

"Coloury"

I like that!

especially for tea dying techniques :)

* * *

I hope your Tuesday is flavoursome and coloury!

Please visit the other tea blogs listed in my sidebar for more

flavour

and

colour!

Cheers!

what "a little talking to" will do

I had lunch with my Dad today.

I wanted to show him my photo transfers - knowing I would get his honest opinion.

I have to say that I've been like a stick in the mud getting my etsy shop back on track

even with this next "big idea" I had (of the photo transfers)

I get an idea and then a little voice says,

sheesh

big deal

that's not going anywhere

what a waste of time

and effort

there's way better stuff

than yours

etsy is big

you are little

no one will see it

no one will want it

no one will buy it

etc

etc

etc

do you know that voice too?

That's when you need to talk to someone like my Dad.

He's like a kick in the butt and a hug all at the same time.

Thanks Dad.

my etsy

oil spill quilt progress

I started with basting the watercolor patches to my muslin:

The watercolors are from my sketchbook over the summer

(posts labeled: oil spill series)

I used a "light fabric transfer paper" (Avery brand) that I just ran through my inkjet.

I scanned all of the original watercolors first 

and flipped them to mirror image before running the transfer paper through the printer.

I must say that I am very pleased with the quality of the transfer ...

... and the ease of the transfer process

- easy peasy -

I dyed the muslin scraps with tea

(green tea, black tea and hibiscus tea to get the different colors)

and have started stitching them between the images

this is where it's really getting fun

it's just so peaceful to do handstitching

very similar to knitting

pick it up

put it down

stitch and think

think and stitch

thanks for looking :)

special tea

One of our stops in Seattle (see yesterday's post)

was The Vital Leaf tea shop

It's a tasting room where you can 

enjoy sampling all sorts of teas that

you might not ordinarily try.

The first question the host will ask is:

"what is your favorite type of tea to drink?"

(I said black)

... and then they proceed to show you the best way to brew it ...

 the idea is to start out with what you already know and like

and learn how to improve it by a better brewing technique.

For instance,

with black tea,

she said that traditionally the hot water is run through the tea first to warm it and wash it,

then it is steeped - only briefly - about 1 minute.

The teas I tasted: 

lychee black, coconut green, dragon well, 

siberian rose and osmanthus, jasmine pearl, and hibiscus.

I think my favorite was the coconut green tea.

Oh my goodness .....

yum!

***

For more yummy tea, please visit the "Tea on Tuesday" blogs listed in my sidebar

pictures from my weekend

These are pictures from Saturday in Seattle

this one is the of the north end of Pike Place Market

(Seattle's Public Market is the oldest and longest running farmer's market in the country)

This sign was made famous in the movie Sleepless in Seattle:

This is the sign at the south end of the market

the one you're more likely to see on a postcard:

All along the way, don't forget to look up:

And of course, inside the market, lots of good food:

Here we are (mom, sister and mom's good friend) enjoying a bite to eat:

(I am 2nd from the right)

Looking up again:

A good day to get married - no rain!

I have no idea who these people are - but isn't a cool place for wedding photos?

Some of those posters are VERY vintage (Rolling Stones for instance)

A back alley behind the Market:

And this is what we found there:

Yup, lot's of germy a.b.c. gum:

I couldn't have said it better myself:

gulf spill project

I'm revisiting this heartache

maybe it's because The Thing will be permanently capped tomorrow

now THAT makes me happy

I've used iron on transfer stuff

and have muslin squares ready to piece together into a quilt (like the Gulf?)

 the muslin pieces that go in between it all (like booms?) 

will be tea stained (like oil?)

and I am inspired by many other fiber artists out there in blogland (like kindred hearts?)

with their magnificent threads and stitches (like the essentials of life?)

I am so excited about this project

this is what I love about creating

... when something just feels right ...