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Inspired from the toile wallpaper I grew up with on my Grandmother's and Mother's Dinning Room walls. For me toile is like comfort food, reminding me of family gatherings around beautifully set tables and delicious meals mixed with good stories.
This blank Teacup Greeting card was created with pen and ink, and watercolor washes of pale pink. Rose vines are watercolored in the background which continue on the back of the card. It comes with a Raspberry teabag inserted in the rim of the teapot.
I love the little gold feet that holds up this very sweet rosebud teacup. Meant to be given to a dear friend or loved one on Valentines Day, or any other day when someone needs to know they are loved.
Inside reads, "You are in my heart and thoughts today"
To spread a little LOVE, find this Teacup Greeting card in my store of Etsy shop.
Over on Flickr they're playing tag. If you get Tagged you have to tell 16 things about yourself. Teacup Mosaics tagged me…so here’s 16 things you may or may not know about me (aka: too much information)
1.I drink more coffee than tea.
2. I’m a
wife and mother of three creative kids (not goats, 2 girls and a boy).
3. I'm a homebody, but I love road trips.
4. I don’t
like my picture taken.
5. I’ve
drawn my whole life; I still love crayons and ask for coloring pages at
restaurants.
6. I
taught myself to watercolor.
7. I’m dyslexic.
8. I love
children’s books because they are usually happy, funny and illustrated.
9. My
favorite book when I was a child was “Mr. Pines Purple House.
10. My
favorite music is from the Hip Hop group “Grits.
11. I grew up water skiing and now I wake board.
12. Cheesecake
is my favorite.
13. Architecture
was my first profession. I was a space planner for several L.A. firms and loved
it. I still space plan: the dish washer, book shelves, groceries in the
shopping cart.
14. I prefer
old things over new: trucks especially, cars, dishes, furniture, architecture;
except cheesecake (old cheesecake isn’t good).
15. I love
God and see His handiwork everywhere and in everything: events, people’s
lives, flowers, the fact that we are spinning at 1000 mph on a ball of
dirt at a speed of 67,000 mph around the sun in the middle of nowhere...and we
aren’t flung off.
16. At
dinner parties I like to sit at the kids table or next to a grandparent because I learn the most interesting things from them.
Lets see...Now it's my turn, who should I tag....how about Melissa'sCozyTeacup
A Sales Rep in New Hampshire sent me this Spode Teacup for inspiration. It came in a padded envelope, the kind with the little bubble wrap inside. I was shocked it made the journey unaffected to California. The golden envelope was all crumpled up around the shape of the cup. Sometime in its lifetime it lost its saucer, so I gave it anew one on my painting. I watercolored this while on vacation in the California Delta, in a little cottage surrounded by roses. It comes with Harrison & Crosfields Raspberry tea. The inside reads, "Wishing you a speedy recovery."
With most everyone I know feeling "under the weather" ALL my Get Well Teacup Cards are now HALF OFF in my store.
This funny story is from Joan who used to work for me. Joan and her husband were missionaries in Indonesia, with their 3 small boys. Once when arriving at a restaurant in town to have dinner with friends, her son, Jonathan, excitedly ran ahead to see a lotus pond. Dressed in his nicest clothes, he got too close and slipped in. He sat in the restaurant wet and dirty from his adventure. Joan, knowing of the diseases that plague the water in their warm tropical climate, was so worried he would get sick. He didn't. Inspired by this lotus pond story, I painted a "Get Well Soon" Teacup Greeting card with Harney & Sons Sencha Green Tea. The inside reads: "Sending you warm get well wishes."
With almost everyone I know feeling "under the weather" ALL my Get Well Cards are now HALF OFF in my store.
A few treasures from my many voyages just around town over the years. Sounds adventurous, uh?
Actually, for this homebody, scavenging through estate sales means brushing my hair and putting on shoes, or in today's weather finding my down jacket.
Once I'm there, of coarse, it's hard to leave for all the decisions there are to make about which vintage finds to claim and which ones to leave behind.
Over the years I've claimed a few too many. A tea pot here, and a couple of teacups there. Before you know it, your cupboards brimming with too many wonderful things to enjoy them all.
So I selected a few vintage goodies I had planned to use as models in my paintings, and added them in my new Etsy shop called "KimberlysTeaCottage."
Now instead of trying to decide what to claim and what to leave behind in other peoples "estates," I'm making those decisions at home...and you'll never know if I brushed my hair, or not.
Katie, my friend's 18 year old daughter was asked, "What would you do if your boyfriend gave you red roses?" Katie's reply impressed me. She answered, "Then HE wouldn't be my boyfriend. If he WERE my boyfriend he would know I only love pink."
I'm
feeling a bit pink myself. With the help of a few vintage treasures I found in my favorite Etsy Shop, JensCloset (the Queen of Vintage), and the Camellias blooming this
time of year, the red of Christmas faded to a soft pink.
People are shivering dressed in their warmest boots and jackets these days. In Oregon my brother bragged facetiously the temperature reached a high of 20-degree mid afternoon. He had work but just couldn't get to it through the ice and snow that covered his town. My dad shoveled 2 feet of snow in the high desert to make a path to his shop. Normally my folks get a maximum of 4 inches of snow about every other year, melting by the next day. My Scottish husband who usually wears shorts all winter has long-johns on. Even our annual Christmas walk along the beach was halted due it icy rain (OK so I'm spoiled, but someone needs to do it). You who live where it's even colder and snows way more...yea, I've been reading your stories.
So you want to know who I think is responsible. Now, I'm not deliberately picking on any one individual. However, he did make a full length motion picture documentary seen in theaters and available in every movie rental store. He was the guy touring the nation and putting plugs on T.V. about his knowledge of the global weather. So, while I'm not pointing fingers, it was his own choice to put himself in the limelight, and I wouldn't trade places with him for anything. Why Al?
The Bible says, "because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools." - Romans 1:21-22
I believe God is showing the world whose boss and exercising His sense of humor with a little exposing at the same time. In the Bible God tells Job (Job 37:10-13);
By the breath of God ice is given,
And the broad waters are frozen.
Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds;
He scatters His bright clouds.
And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance,
That they may do whatever He commands them
On the face of the whole earth.
He causes it to come,
Whether for correction,
Or for His land,
Or for mercy.
One of the greatest gifts from Grandma is her Tangerines. They are better than candy. I decided to give them the high honor they deserve and placed the on the ledge in the kitchen.
I've been home this past week. I decided to give myself some time off. I was hoping to get a painting or two done, but haven't been motivated. I just feeling like a homebody moving things around and organizing little spaces. One day I stayed in my P.J.'s all day, which definitely kept me in, and made it easy when it was time to go back to bed. Hope you're enjoying the transition into the new year. Blessings to you all in 2009!
