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."

Halloween Matchbook Minibook/& other Diva's Challenges

Here is my version of the Halloween matchbook mini-book. This was really fun to make. Lori has the complete directions to making as she is having this as one of the challenges at Creative Scrapbook Divas BlogHop. The hinges, key and inside label are Tim Holtz grunge board painted black then wiped with a little copper.










This shows the opposite side, there will be enough squares for 12 pictures or journaling if you use both sides of the strip.





I also painted these chipboard letters but they are too big for the book. They will have to go on the page within the scrapbook. Right next to my little one standing next to a plastic ghost as big as she is!!

Tag Mini-book

This lay-out ended up a bit on the busy side but I'm posting it to show how the tag folds out for extra pictures.
I utilized my stickers but used my metal leaves, in the square, to satisfy my need for texture and dimension. This is an accordian paper tag held together with a decorative paperclip.

This is my second challenge with the Divas this weekend. This is with Ann. She has done a full lay-out using "recipe cards" bundled together for extra pictures on her lay-out. Very clever and has alot of character. This is my version of getting some extra pics on a lay-out. I also have used matchbox minibooks and my Handmade Envelopes. Can't wait to see everyone else's versions of these challenges. One more challenge to go for me.

Back-To-School Lay-Out Challenge

This page was inspired by Creative Memories and by Sandy's Challenge she is running for the "Diva's". I love the handprints and the wooden bus! I made sure to include an oval journal block. The opposite site will include her colorful nametag that was on her kindergarten desk all year and some of her stories she did in writing later in the year.
Check out Sandy's site, she has great tutorials on how to make gift bags. I'm going back to make one. See my last post for the other 2 challenges I took up and the link to the Scrapbooking Diva's.

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.

Faux Clay Seal Embellishments

This is a close-up of 3 out of the 5 in the next picture.
Plus I love how it coordinates with vintage style paper.

I put more rose clay seals on My Etsy after being so excited that I sold my last batch.
These 5 homemade faux clay seals are a wonderful embellishment for scrapbook pages, minibooks or collage art, and envelopes. The underside is flat. Two of the roses have white perfect pearls powder baked in, two have gold and the leaves have green perfect pearls. After cured they were edged it with pink and sealed with Ranger Glossy Accents. The "white roses" are also edged with walnut ink over the pink for an aged look.

Check this post showing my envelopes for examples of how

to use these seals.

Here is my thought for the week: When we are thankful, we are happy. It's hard to be thankful and angry at the same time. Find something within the chaos to be thankful for. Thank your child for something before correcting whatever it is in need of correcting.

The Golden Rule of Feeding your Family: We eat what is served and we appreciate what we get."

I'm still trying to instill this thankfulness into my kids hearts!

Scrapbook Diva Blog Hop

Join the Creative Scrapbooking Divas Pre-Fall Blog-Hop and tell them Lisa at Letters and Lace sent you!!

There will be tutorials and great ideas to inspire you and the chance to win prizes!!!

You will have until Tuesday 9/23 to submit your entries to be elligible to win...

It's Soccor Season!!





My little darling!!!

Scrapbook Pages/BlogCandy Gifts

Alecia from Creative Scrapbooking Diva's sent me a package of goodies for winning her challenge on the Diva web-site. Check out her home page as she has great scrapbook pictures to inspire you plus some super dicussions and tutorials.
Once you get started on the site, it's hard to stop surfing if you love to scrapbook. They have 150 members so the creativity goes an as well as the monthly challenges.





Have you ever made those little clothespin cuties? (http://www.klutz.com/ and click Chicken Socks) I have been making them with my 6yr old. They are so cute I had to make a little shadowbox for the completes ones and hang it on her wall. I used an unfinished bottom of a box, layered the inside and sides with pink PaperPerfect. It's like spreadable paper in a jar. We used a litte paint and glitter as per 6yr old.
Then I added the paper doily to the back and flowers to each corner. Cute!!! We have room to add 2 more.







These are pages I did months ago and just getting around to sharing them. This is a pretty simple lay-out but I wanted to extend to the outer portion of the pictures the characteristics of the bike. The whispies on the handlebars :) and the strings of pearls holding dangly gems around her seat.






This page includes one of my favorite quotes. I have made a mini-book with 17 quotes and 4 web-sites which is for sale on MY Etsy

Tomato-Basil Simmer Sauce

I tried my first batch of canning!! So I had to share this delicious recipe. I had to research some directions and terms as in non-reactive pot. These are nonmetallic pots used for high acid foods so the natural substances in the foods don't react with the metal. This can contribute to to food becoming black, brown, gray in the jar or giving the sauce a different taste.
The above links will give you the recipe and some great facts. My motivation was when I found an article in the July Better Homes and Gardens along with a few other recipes.

I also wanted to share my excitment in winning the "no pattern paper" contest in my last post. I thought it was a challenge but was happy to hear it was a contest...yay!!