Tea on Tuesday

Well, here we are again, and only one more Tea on Tuesday before the end of 2010.

Did any of you get up/stay up to take a peek at the lunar eclipse? For the first time in 400 years, the lunar eclipse happened on the Winter Solstice. I should have been holding my Yule log over a bonfire to singe it, sealing in the good luck for the coming year. But,

                                                           I  

                                                                 was 

                                                                                 sleeping............

Only 4 more shopping days 'til Christmas, and I am proud to say, I only left the boonies only ONCE, to venture into the mad crazy crowds at the mall !  This year was less buying, more handmade, or making use of the internet for purchases.

Speaking of internet buying, I have been on eBay, a little too much!! After announcing my teacup exchange (click link to play along!), a friend got on eBay and started enticing me with all these fabulous finds of hers!!!

Below is a pic of only PART of a lot she scored on eBay- and who knows, one of these lovelies may end up in the teacup exchange!!! Or, maybe not!! I know I could not bear to part with any!!

She managed to win quite a few more auctions!! And, in the process, got me sitting in front of the computer, scrolling thru eBay on a search for the perfect teacup!

I have not been so lucky - I lost out on a lovely Willets Belleek cup and saucer, by 50 cents!!!!! I set a limit, and it was not meant to be, I guess. The other bidder got a VERY good deal! I would love to have a piece or two of Willets Belleek - Willets is my maiden name. I have 2 or three pieces of Shamrock Belleek that my mom gave me.  My mom has a few pieces of Belleek of her own- including a Neptune beauty just like this:

She found hers in an antique store a few years ago for a mere (!) $30- they now go for a low of $50 up to $100+- for ONE cup and saucer!!!! Yikes!!

Now, to play in  our teacup exchange, we don't expect such high end teacups - but, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all afford to give away such niceties -LOL!  Just a pretty thrift shop find, or vintage one, or one from your stash that you are willing to part with. You could even buy a new one, if you desire! It's up to you. Only requirement is that they be in good condition, no cracks or chips, and have a matching saucer.

The exchange will be open til the next Tea on Tuesday, then I will throw the names into the proverbial hat, and match each player up with someone - this  will be a one on one exchange.

Teacups should be in the mail by January 15th, after the excitement of the holidays is over!
Leave your name and email in the comments in that post and start thinking about teacups!!!

Thanks for dropping by, and make sure to visit Kimmie and Patty for a list of other Tea on Tuesday folks!

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Quote for the day:

Art is a guarantee of sanity.-------sculptor Louise Bourgeois  1912-2010

Tea on Tuesday

I am late again, and just arriving for afternoon tea,sharing just a few pictures of tea worthy thrift shop and flea market finds.............

Above is my "new" thrift store tea cup stand, with some thrift store tea cups. I was actually going to paint this stand, and use if for something else, when my mom walked by, and said," You do realize that this is a tea cup stand?" I didn't - but I do now!!! It found a perfect home with me!!

Don't you just love this pair of delicate, vintage, almost translucent,  blue transferware/flow blue teacups that a friend found at a very famous flea market in England( the name escapes me at the moment!). I can't believe she gave them to me!!!! If you look closely, you can see the saucers are uneven, a true testimony to their age. I do love them!!!

My very vintage, thrift shop treasure, a Japanese lustreware teacup filled with dried peony petals. My friend told me, in some of the very vintage Japanese teacups, when held to the light, a tiny image of a geisha will appear. Sadly, not in this one, but I will continue to search for her!!

When company was here, we had a delicious lunch of paninis filled with brie, chocolate and fresh basil, iced caramel coffee, lemon ricotta cookies, and lovely store bought European cookies meant for dipping in coffee!!!

My daughter made the lunch, and insisted great grandma's vintage desert server wouldn't do - she needed a two tier server- so I put together one of my upcycled china pedestals with some daffodil thrift shop plates.

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And, did you know (or care) that Lady Gaga is a real tea aficionado? She takes her own purple teacup with her everywhere- and even sent someone back to get it when it was forgotten!!!
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Please visit  our other tea partiers, and join us on Tuesdays! See Kim's blog for a list of Tea on Tuesday participants!

Tea on Tuesday

I was setting up my booth at the antiques mall yesterday. Had to go back twice, because the previous vendor had not yet vacated! Going twice meant twice as much shopping!!! I knew there was a reason I had stayed away when I closed my booth last year- unbelievably good prices, and no will power on my part when faced with goodies with unbelievably good prices!!
Here are some of the found treasures that are tea (and coffee) related:

Oops- these are not from the antique shop - pictured above are two gorgeous pottery Chinese tea sets that I found Saturday, at our huge annual Ruritan yard sale - for $1 each!! couldn't pass them up - one set might end up in my Etsy shop.

See the little yellow scalloped bowl above- I have several of these in different colors - this is the first one I have discovered with the plate! It looks like a flower - very cute. The teeny little juice glass has wildflowers including teasel all around- a great addition to my vintage juice glass collection. I use them all every day - no paper cups in this house!!! The scalloped milk glass plate will soon be a cake pedestal.

Above is a nice little set of iced coffee cups - they sit inside copper (?) handled inserts that say "cafe". The blue print to the right is a wonderful vintage bib apron with pockets and rickrack- wore it  last night while making dinner.
My favorites of the day - have to be this pair of limited edition 1996 Bailey's his and her cups!! Soooo cute!!!

Well, today promises to be an iced tea day!! As we get closer to drought status here in Va, the temps today are going to be 100 degrees- with the heat factor near 105!

Where ever you are, stay cool, and drop in to visit Kimmie and Patty for a list of all the other Tea on Tuesday participants!!

And The OWOH Winner Is................................

....................................Well, first, I want to thank everyone who took the time to stop by and visit! Especially, the few who decided to follow me. Altho, that was not a requirement of the OWOH contest, I really do appreciate it! I am hoping that some of the others who entered, will find me interesting enough to come back and become a follower!!!

I installed a blog counter at the time of the contest, and am astounded at the number of people who do actually stop by! It will be interesting to see if the numbers stay up there, now that OWOH is over.

I love comments, but I love my "lurkers" too!!! Thanks to the blog counter, I now know that people are visiting, and that makes me happy!!!

I am sorry I did not get around to all the OWOH participants- and I am sad to say, I did not even get to visit MY winner's blog!! She had such a lovely giveaway too!!!
Over time, I do promise to try to make it to all the participating blogs. I am a follower of almost all the blogs whose contest I entered- there are so many interesting and talented folks out there in cyberdom!!

And, we all MUST thank Lisa over at Whimsical Bohemian (click on the OWOH logo on my sidebar to visit her) This was an amazing undertaking!!!! She had well over 1,000 participants(beating last year's total!), and I don't know how she kept it all organized, without some hair pulling and late nights at the computer!!! Kudos to Lisa for a job well done!!! Hopefully, we will get to participate in this again next year!

Now, enough chatter- the winner was picked by a disinterested (very!)third party-when told to pick a number between 1 and 221( and that wasn't counting my own comment in the list):

THE WINNER IS #111:

Trianna's Treasures

I looked thru your blog this morning - and have an idea of what you like - now I have a better idea of what to fill the teacup with!!!

On Sale Now!!!

I'm so excited!! My teacup bird feeders are in two shops in town, Turner Ham/Fulks Run Grocery and Julieanna's!! Hopefully, they will be in two more shops next week. If I can figure out an inexpensive way to mail the taller ones, they will be in my Etsy shop soon!

I have some "new" vintage finds, ready to be upcycled into bird feeders, pin cushions, and shabby chic cake pedestals! Orphaned teacups and saucers are matched with new mates, slightly chipped or worn china is given new life and new purpose.
No two pieces are the same.

The bird feeders come with a starter packet of bird seed, and the cups are easily removed from the stake for cleaning. This way, you don't have to pull the stake out of the ground each time you need to clean or refill the cup.

They will come in two or 3 sizes- the smaller flower pot size would also fit nicely within a bushy garden plant - with just the teacup peeking out. It could be filled with seed, a small plant, or water for the birds to drink!

Feel free if you want to order one, if you can't make it to either of the local shops, to just contact me directly, and we'll work it out!!! Think spring!!!!!

Recycle, Upcycle, Make-do's!

Just a few other things I am working on - some will be in Etsy, some will be available locally.

I love vintage teacups, and sometimes they just aren't suited for tea anymore. I turn them into pin cushions, soap dishes, and now bird feeders.

Think spring!!! Aren't we all ready???The cups and saucers are on garden stakes- and can be put in the garden or in a flower pot. The stakes range from 3' down to flower pot size. They are easily removable from the stake for cleaning.As I was posting this, I realized I forgot to take a picture of the completed teacups on the stakes!! LOL I'll edit that in later!!!

I am also recycling vintage items and turning them into shabby chic pedestals - for cupcakes, candy, or jewelry. Here I combined an orphaned rose chintz saucer with a candlestick and found bobeche with prisms.