Handmade Gift/Banner & Tea Cup Tues.

For my banner, I used glass glitter, handmade lace flowers from strips of lace and my fathers vintage sheet music copied onto cardstock.

To see a tutorial on how to make this banner see, Terri at Artful Affirmations. She has the most beautiful homemade ornaments and teacups!! See Terri for Teacup Tuesday links.

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime. ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

I am also linked to this Tea Time Tues.

Teacup Tuesday

Lenox Teacup

I finally attempted this pretty little project inspired by Lauries Charming Designs. I have been watching her make her lovely pincushions on teacups and spoons. She makes her own birds from wool. I'm going to have to purchase some of those.

So I used my Lenox tea set, my little cardinal winter bird and added some vintage buttons to the pincushion I found at my flea market. I thought it was a nice spot to also display my white buttons cluster I made a while ago.

Behind the teaset sits a vintage, silver mini dustpan and brush set. It's so old and worn but the details are beautiful.

Please visit these wonderful ladies at Martha's Favorites and Artful Affirmations for more teaparty fun, beautiful treasures and a special giveaway!! The french vintage postcard came from Artful Affirmations. Thank you Terri!!

Journals

Here is a peak of last minute Christmas gifts going out to our wonderful teachers. My girls (almost 9&7yrs old) made homemade book covers for these journals. They colored brown paper bags with oil pastels. We crinkled them into a ball, wet them, sprayed the wet paper with walnut ink and glitter mist. When they dried, I ironed them but they stayed pretty wrinkled. It made it a little tricky when adhering to the book covers but once attached I sprayed them with Triple Thick finish before they decorated the tops. The spray is really strong, I did it in the basement with a window open.
They did a great job with creating the look they wanted for each teacher.

Teacup Tuesday

Queen Anne Bone China #5

Displaying an Ireland Scarf Buckle and a vintage pincushion.

I like how the thistle leaves look like holly leaves! This piece doesn't seem to have

a name like my last teacup post, Autumn Rose.

I want to share with you Martha's Favorites and Terri at Artful Afirmations
as they are the hostesses of this fun Teaparty.

These images are from loose pages of an 1844 Collier's Cyclopedia. I purchased this tin
the 3 magnets, the bottle and the tags from our Library's fundraiser.

The tags are made from old library information cards. So clever! All the papercrafts made from old discarded books were amazing.

You may also enjoy my 1912 postcard in my November post below! It was almost a lost treasure but I am enjoying all my vintage postcards and teacups from Gram and Gramps old farmhouse.

TeaCup Tuesday/Autumn Rose

Wedding Anniversary

is written along the inside of this

"Autumn Rose" Queen Anne Bone China England teacup.

This is one of many beautiful teacups within the family. This isn't one from my personal collection but one day it may be. As all my teacups shown so far, this one is also from the West farmhouse, the house that raised 5 generations, many collectables and antiques, but now rests at my mother-in-laws.

J & G Meakin

Hanley England
Iron Stone China

This creamy white pitcher has a story and from what I understand it was held by one of my husband's relatives, possibly great,great grandmother, protectively wrapped as she sailed to the free world. I love to believe this is true... it is in beautiful condition as it sits up high to adorn my mother-in-laws cabinets. She has many of the collectables from the farm as no one dwells in the old lonely farmhouse at this time.

J. & G. Meakin was an English pottery manufacturing company founded in 1851 and based in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. There are no signs of this being made in the 19th century such as "permanant colors or dishwasher proof" :)

Fall Whimsical Jars

I have really enjoyed making some of these jar toppers. I have a collection of 20 now. Most of them are decorated with winter or Christmas scenes. Stay tuned for those pictures soon to come. If anyone is interested in getting a sneak peak before they hit my Etsy, let me know. They are great for filling with homemade fudge, candy, or filling with crafts as a gift.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Give us this day our daily bread, O Father in heaven, and grant that we who are filled with good things from Your open hand, may never close our hearts to the hungry, the homeless, and the poor; in the name of the Father, and of the Sone, and of the Holy Spirit.
- from the abbey of New Clairvaux, Viña, California

Please visit Martha's Favorites for the last November Teacup Tuesday. Such beautiful rich fall colors!

TeaCup Tuesday/Tags/Leaves

I am really lovin' the display factor with Teacup Tuesday. Going through my big steamer trunk is so fun as I am finding some great treasures to display my homemade goodies with. This Crownford "fine bone china" was made in England and was displayed in my Gram-in-law's :) old farmhouse for a very long time. I am unsure of it's year but this yellow tinted glass plate and sugar bowl (below) came from her home as well. I am assuming from the 1920's to the 1950's time-frame just as the blue sugar and creamer from my last post.

Displayed here are some beautiful leaves my girls and collected in our Maine yard last month. A great way to preserve them is to soak them in 1part glycerin and 2parts water. They can be layered but covered completely by the mixture. I covered them with heavy bowls for 2 days. Then just pat dry and lay out to completely dry. They are now flexible and the colors are beautiful.

Also in perfect condition is my yellow tinted glass sugarbowl without a partner.

Excitingly, CatLady Kate's left me a comment letting me know that my blue tinted creamer and sugar bowl from my last post are the Fairfax pattern by Fostoria Glass. This is so cool to know!! Check out this very fun web-site with so many pieces and a guide to many types of glass.
Also visit Martha's Favorites and Terri to see the best teacup collections as these two ladies host TeaCup Tuesday.

I haven't made these layered tags for a long time. I went a little crazy with the details this time. They swing open to allow for a written personal message.
Below I had to show the details of each one and the secret little suprise that slides out of the bottom. These were very fun to make. I may put them for sale on my Etsy...if I can part with them!!

Teacup Tues #3

This Teacup Tuesday I have displayed a very elegant gold and white Queen Anne pattern 366.
The blue inside the cup is so pretty with the trim of gold around the edge.

I also displayed a portion of my antique cloths and doilies with their unique designs.





But the most fun was looking up vintage and depression glass. Depression glass seems to be worth more. I'm not sure which type of glass this sugar/creamer set is. It too is a very pretty blue tint possibly from the 30's or 40's. But the blue isn't very vibrant so I'm guessing it's depression glass.
"When new, Elegant Glass cost more than its often-confused counterpart, depression glass, because it was at least partially handmade, had a cleaner finish, and more vibrant colors. From the 1920s through the 1950s, Elegant Glass was an alternative to fine china. Most of the Elegant Glassware manufacturers closed by the end of the 1950s, and cheap glassware and imported china took its place".

I"m so excited Creative Home Arts made me an "honorable mention" to their Holiday Decor Contest. There are 2 of my Christmas/Winter whimsical jars in the magazine and one of my spring jars within the "web extras" on the site. These contests earn $750 for 1st prize. Maybe one day one of my projects will be one of the 3 top winners. Until then, I'm very happy with earning $25 as an honorable mention!!

These are the collages I sent to them.

Whimsical Jars

If you would like to see them closer just click to see the details. I used pieces of cedar, small pinecones and broken pieces of pine cones for stepping stones.

This is a new jar for the harvest season. It has daffodil bulbs ready to go in the ground. The jar can then store ribbons, buttons or other treasures.

TeaCup Tues

The hydrangea are hanging heavy on their limbs. Time to bring some in to dry and keep some color in the room for the winter. I thought I would show a few of my pitchers this week along with my featured teacup. You can see I also have quite a collection of very old doilies. The doilies and pitchers, other than the large one holding the hydrangea, are from hubby's grandmother's house. 5 generations of the West's were born and lived their whole lives there. So many treasures. I wish they each would tell their story.



Here shows a portion of the old silver. This napkin ring has an elegant W for the West name. These collections sit upon a 1930's bureau. My hubby's grandparents wedding gift to each other.



This is my second teacup Tues. I have Martha to thank for inspiring me to go through the collections I have put away for safe keeping.

I have displayed this pretty teacup from Japan in my living room with the hydrangeas and my father's pocketwatch. I found the watch yesterday...I will treasure it always.

Sharing another Golden Rule I'm trying to instill on my children:

"Eat what has been given to you because you are truly blessed."

Teacup Tues

I would like to share with you some beautiful teacups at Martha's Teacup Tuesday. Her last few week's posts have had beautiful teacups. I am hoping to learn more about the collection I am so blessed to have passed down to me. She has several other links attached to her posts as well. These ladies really know their teacups!!!

I chose this as my first cup to post because messsages on cups are Martha's theme today, Sept 28th.(It is keeping my draft date and can't change it). This one says "Love the Giver".

This lovely treasure was made in England. It is an English Castle. If anyone knows more about these cups than I do, I would love to hear from you. I found so many wonderful suprises when I opened my old steamer trunk, which is where I chose to take these pictures today.