Tea Stands for Tuesday 11/14/23

Happy Tea Party Day.  We've been at the River House for a bit.  It is a beautiful time of year in California.  The sun is out but it isn't too hot.  Great porch sitting weather.

I've posted views from the porch before, even some with the same cup.  I don't think I've ever caught this tree dressed in red before.  We don't get the kind of leaf colors found in the North East so even this much is a delight to the eye

Our front porch was just made for spending time on.  It is wide and deep, plenty of room and pretty much sheltered.  I think it is the reason we bought this particular place.  I usually take my morning cup of coffee out there.  Sometimes I even knit out there,

Now that you have my report, please join me at Elizabeth's blog to visit everyone.

Tea Stands for Tuesday 7/18/23 10th Anniversary

Time to celebrate 10 years of Tea Stands for Tuesday.

Such a big THANK YOU to our hostess, Elizabeth for keeping this going.

You can visit Elizabeth and previous Tuesday posts here.

As part of the celebration, Elizabeth hosted a Swap.  My swap partner was Iris Flavia who is in Germany.  We decided on exchanging a postcard along with out two tea bags.

I was excited to see mail from Germany.

Here is a closer look at the stamp.  It looks like there is a bar code attached to one sside.  I havent seem that before.

Iris created a postcard for the exchange.  I love how colorful it is.  If you are familiar with ther blog you will recognize the lion as her signature animal.

The two tea bags she included are  Tuddel, a blueberry tea and the second one is Sunshine in Cup, an herbal tea with lemon grass.  I have not tried them.  I wanted to be sure to get pictures  before opening them.   I will of course be saving the tea wrappers for mixed media art.

Last of all here is the well decorated back of the envelope.  Notice the lion once again.  Thank you Iris for everything.  I will think of you as I enjoy the tea.

My computer has not been cooperative this morning but after numbers of tries I think I have a post,  I'm going to make that cup of tea now and have it with a nice big cookie.  I'll be heading to the Tea Party to see what people swapped and visit all the gang there.

 

Tea Stands for Tuesday 7/10/23

 July is becomming a very busy month.  

I discovered this tea at Sprout's grocery.  I'm afraid it doesn't taste as good as I expected it to.  I actually had to steep a slice of ginger in it to get much flavor at all.  I think I fell for the colorful packaging.

A few days ago I had cataract surgery on one eye.  I will have the cataract in the other eye fixed later this month.  Every thing is so bright.  I can't believe how dingy the cataract was making things look.  

Since I can't see well enough to drive and I don't have a car I've been back to walking the neighborhood,  I don't go as far as I used to but I'm trying to build up my stamina. The insurance from my car has been settled and soon I will be car shopping.

Three family members have birthdays this month and a wedding is coming up next Saturday.  It is Party Central here.

Speaking of parties, lets hop on over to Elizabeths blog and check the Tea Party there.

Tea Stands for Tuesday 5/23/23

Tuesday and time for tea.  We have been at our River House recently.  I don't have internet there so I have to catch up on things when we return to the Bay.

This is the view from the back of our property.  The river is running really high for this time of year.  That is due to the snow melt from record amounts of snow in NoCA this past winter.

It is so enjoyable to sit our our front porch and drink my coffee.

The jasmine around our courtyard is in full bloom and smells wonderful.  Everything is quite lush.  The gate is open, come on in. 

Here is a closer look at the vine that covers the trellis over the gate.  I don't know the name of it, do you?

Join me in visiting everyone having tea at Elizabeth's blog.  There is always something interesting going on there.

 

Tea Stands for Tuesday 3/28/23

 Hello Tea Party friends.  It is nearly noon at my house so I'm going to sneak in at the last minute.

I've been drinking lots of tea and saving the tea bags to experiment with in my art.  

Two tea bags, one on top of the other, enclosing a piece of dried flower.  This will be nice for a nature journal.  I will surely be drying some flowers in the future.  I didn't have much dried material to use in my eperiment.

 Here I used square tea bags.  I slit them from the back and put my dried bits inside.  The bags were a darket color and I didn't get all the tea out.

This time I again slit the back and inserted some small stamped and water colored pieces.

All the tea bags were covered/sealed with Golden's mat medium.  I had fun with the idea and will be saving tea bags and dried flowers to try the process again.

That's my tea talk for this Tuesday.  Best hurry over to see Elizabeth's blog before Tuesday is over.

Tea Stands for Tuesday - 1/17/22

 The Bay Area is still pretty soggy but the sun is breaking through today which gives me hope.  I think Wendesday is going to give us a little more rain but after that we are looking at a good streak of dry days.  I'm ready for that.

"We're made of star stuff" Carl Sagan

This is a card I made for my adult Grandddaughters birthday.  We both share an interest in the study of space and Carl Sagan's work.  I couldn't get a great photo since there was such poor natural light.  The background square is a gelli print and the drawing/writing is done with Poska pens.

Today I'm trying to dye some papers with beet juice made from leftover beet skins.

Here you see some regular copy paper drying.  I'm drinking my tea in a cup said granddaughter sent me some time ago.  I really like the color of the paper although it will probably lighten as it gets dry.  I did try a sheet of caligraphy paper which turned to mush almost immediately as it got wet.  Always something new to learn.  

Please join me and visit our Tea Party Hostes here.  There are some great people posting there.

Tea Stands for Tuesday 12/13/22

 We are having a wet December here in NoCA.  That is my excuse to stay in and drink tea.  I think I should ask Santa for this tea pot, isn't it lovely.

I did have a bit of time for art this past week.  Nothing holiday related.  Kind of dark in my workspace and no tea, just my trusty water bottle.

I'm working on my Altered Playing Cards again.  If you look closely you can match some of the paper bits to the cards below.

I pretty much failed at photographing these three.  The ones left and center have gold  that I painted on tissue paper and then tore out and glued to the background.

Lets go visit Elizabeth's blog and see if anyone is into holiday ideas.

Tea Stands for Tuesday 11/7/22

 It is time to get the party rolling.  I'll bring food.  Today my post is all about the food.

You have seen my Nana Banana cup before.  Same cup, same coffee.

Have you seen the Land O'Lakes flavored butter?  I had that on a piece of toast earlier.  It was good, not to sweet.  I admit I could easily accomplish the same thing without the packaging.  Toast, butter, cinnamon and sugar.

Some tiimes I get so bored when grocery shopping that I would buy almost anything I haven't seen before.  Marketing people have me in their sights.  LOL! 

Never mind that stuff in the background, I will be making chicken noodle soup later.  Just lining things up.

To make up for all that foolishness I baked lemon cakes.  I used our own lemons picked from our tree this morning.  See there?  I can be thrifty,  I can get 6 small loaves out of my recipe.  They freeze really well and it is nice to have something on hand when the urge strikes.

That's me for today.  Lets all go over to Elizabeth's and bother everyone - or, er, - see what they are talking about.

Tea Stands for Tuesday 10/31/22

 Hello to all those at the tea party today.  If you don't know what party I'm talking about you will find it going on at Elizabeth's blog.

I'm drinking my tea out of one of my many Blue Willow teacups.  I've collected Blue Willow dishes for years and while the theme is the same, not all china companies use the exact design.  I like to see some of the older varitiations.

Since it is actually Halloween in the U.S. as I'm writing this I couldn't resist sharing a bit of fun.

I

That's it for me this time around.  I have a shoulder problem and pretty much need to stay off the computer.  I should still be able to get around and visit everyone though.  Just a little at a time.

Tea Stands for Tuesday7/19/22

 Hello friends.  I was unable to participate in the napkin exchange and I think I missed an ATC exhange as well.  I can't depend on meeting deadlines or getting out to mail something these days.  I do enjoy seeing all the things that are being traded though.

I'm drinking a berry tea (forgot which one) this morning.  I found some glass mugs on a very high shelf in the kitchen,  I bought them about 30 years ago and they are marked Made in France.  I think tea looks pretty in them so they are now in my regular mug rotation.

Then there are those playing card.  I decided to turn them into ATC's.  Some call them Altered Playing Cards.  Either way, I had fun making them.

As always, I look forward to what is posted on Elizabeth's blog and what the Tea Party participants post.  See you over there.  

Tea Stands for Tuesday 7/12/22

Tea Stands for Tuesday is nine years old.  Can you believe it?  Many thanks to our hostess Elizabeth.  Visit her here.

Hope everyone is enjoying mid-July.

Mixed Media 9x12  Scraps of paper and oil pastels

Today's art work is all about using what I have.  I had a 9x12 canvas board I had painted on some time ago.  It was art effort I didn't care for.  I appied a layer of acrylic medium and used a bunch of random scraps to cover the board.  I then applied a very thin wash of white acrylic to knock back some of the brighter colors.  I used oil pastels to create the flowers and to "age" some of the edges.  It was an enjoyable process.

I know the Tuesday Tea Party regulars will have some interesting posts so I'm going to visit Elizabeth's blog and catch up with the activities.

Tea Stands for Tuesday 3/8/22

 I'm keeping with my Alice in Wonderland theme from last week.  This image is from The Graphics Fairy site.  One of my favorite places to look at free clip art.

Alice in Wonderland.  Graphic Fairy site.  

We have a bit of wonderland going on here at home among our grape vines.  A few weeks ago DH spotted a tiny hummingbird nest with two eggs.

And this week we can see two tiny chicks barely fitting in the nest.

I feel like it is such a privilege to watch this process.  Sometimes nature restores my faith in the world and its doings.

Now bring your morning drink and join me at the Tea Party at Elizabeth's blog.  Always something interesting going on there. 

Tea Stands for Tuesday 2/8/22

 Hello Tea Party friends.  Today I'm having my tea in one of the "Nana" cups my Granddaughter has given me.  I love the glasses on the banana, LOL. 

Here is the Valentine I just put in the mail to her.  She's all grown up and she appreciates hand made cards.  I don't make as many cards as I once did.

The key dangles down the front of the card, I just pushed it to the corner so the words could be read.   You Own The Key to My Heart. There is a tiny heart charm attached to the hand the girl is holding down to her side.

Last but not least is a postcard I printed using my gelli plate.   I'm getting a little jump on Valentines Day.  I have to mail early to be sure they arrive on time. 

If you haven't joined the party at Elizabeth's blog, please join me there.

Tea Stands for Tuesday - 1/4/22

internet photo

Good Morning friends.  Lets have a cup filled with roses on this first Tuesday of the  new year.  Maybe later I will have Earl Grey in a cup while I visit Elizabeth and the others  who gather for a weekly tea party.

I have been working on an art book.  I had a nice video saved but can't seem to link it here.  I'm challenged when it comes to technology.  I've fiddled with it but no luck and I'm about to run out of "Tuesday".  So here is a peek at what I created.  It is the best I can do.

Here is the book laid out.  It is based on a long strip of brown paper.  The art is all mine, mostly gelli prints printed on rgular computer paper.  The center pages are sewn in and fairly plain so they could be added to or used for journaling.

I included a number of pockets so things could be tucked in.  I could write a note on the piece of paper tucked into this pocket for instance.

This is the first inside page.  Again there is a pocket.  See the blue folded paper coming out of a somewhat hidden area?

This was my first experiment with this kind of book.  It was fun and I'm sure I will be making another..

Tea Stands for Tuesday - 10-19-21

I'm running late but it is still Tuesday where I live so I have time to join the tea party at Elixabeth's.  If you haven't visited the party before here is the link.  

I have plenty of tea.  This morning I'm drinking Lady Grey.  One of my favorites.

As long as I don't care if my house is clean, I think I'll play.  Did you play with paperdolls when you were a child.  I did.  One of my favorite things to do.  I believe if you click on the image and save it then you can print a page of Halloween paperdolls for yourself.  

Enjoy a cozy autumn day.

 

Tea Stands for Tuesday - 10/12/21

 

(from somewhere on the internet)

Hello Tea Party friends.  The above picture seemed perfect for our Tea Tuesday.  I am so glad Elizabeth continues to hold this get together every week.   Anyone can visit her at Altered Book Lover.

Some time ago I was given a Gelli plate for monoprinting.  The idea has been quite popular but I wasn't really on the bandwagon.   I haven't been creating much art for awhile and I think the person who gifted me thought it would be a nudge to get back at it.

 

My first try.

Prints done so far.

You can see I tried it on one card.  I think it would be useful for backgrounds in collage work.  I'm not sure where the technique will take me but it was fun to experiment.

If anyone creates Gelli prints I'd love to hear your ideas for creating and using them.

Tea Stands for Tuesday 8/3/21

Good morning.  Here I am joining everyone at Elizabeth's blog for a cup of tea.  I don't manage that every week so I'm kind of proud of myself.  Lol!

My tea is ready and there is a  slice of this bread in the toaster.  I like to try new to me breads.  This one is called Honey Rye Porridge bread and has just about every kind of flour in it you can think of.  It is tasty but I was hoping for more rye flavor.

Here is my latest watercolor.  I find painting with watercolors a little challenging.  No covering up errors.  On the other hand, I like the delicate or fragile feeling I can sometimes capture.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Tea Stands for Tuesday - 7/13/21

It has been a busy July for me.  I am enjoying being social a bit more since I have my shots and some things are opening up in our area.  Fourteen of us were able to get together in a private room at a restaurant to celebrate my birthday this month.  

Meanwhile, back at the studio, I pulled out some paper scraps and created this collage.  I found the part of a cigarette carton (bottom of piece) blown up against our fence at the river.  That was my inspiration.

I think my post will make it just under the wire for Tuesday.  I'd better hurry if I want to join the tea party at Elizabeth's blog.