Belleek Thistle Demi-Tasse Cup

Belleek Thistle Demi-Tasse Cup, originally uploaded by confections.

One of my favorite Belleek tea cups, Warholized.... This one has tinges of pink on the handle and the rim of the cup and saucer. I'm going to treat myself to tea using this cup this afternoon.

Welcoming Pot of Tea

Welcoming Pot of Tea, originally uploaded by confections.

I've been sifting through my archive of photos lately and turning some of them into pencil sketches with an application available at dumpr.net. Not all of them convert well; a few do. It's all a matter of experimentation.

Some of the more successful conversions are the images of tea cups and tea pots. The better to entice me to the tea table....

Collage of Tea Cups and Saucers

Collage of Tea Cups and Saucers, originally uploaded by confections.

My collection of tea cups and saucers is constantly growing. This collage represents one afternoon's harvest from a local thrift store--orphan tea cups and saucers. No matched sets were found that day, yet somehow they all work together. There's even a saucer commemorating Queen Elizabeth's 1953 coronation!

I totally embrace this aspect of shabby chic living, especially when it comes to items for my tea table.

Rainy Day (and NaNoWriMo) Comforts

Rainy Day Comforts, originally uploaded by confections.

It was a gloomy, misty day in San Diego yesterday, and I enjoyed a spot of tea in my "Cup of Knowledge" tea cup. The milk is served in a modern reproduction Russel Wright creamer found at the Salvation Army Thrift Store, and my handmade tea cozy keeps my Paris tea toasty warm in my favorite everyday tea pot.

Taking a tea break like this daily is helping me meet my writing goals in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I'm running low on my favorite Apricot tea and will have to retrieve some from Tea-upon-Chatsworth when they open again on Wednesday. Cheers, fellow NaNoWriMo folks!

Japanese Tea Cup, Sugar Bowl, and Matching Curvilinear Dish (three)

Japanese Tea Cup, Sugar Bowl, and Matching Curvilinear Dish (three), originally uploaded by confections.

Here are some more of my tea treasures that I've been documenting lately. This little grouping is probably a child's set; there is a tiny cup, a miniature sugar bowl, and a delightful curvilinear dish. I'm not sure the dish is part of the set, but I found it the same day as the cup and sugar bowl at one of my local thrift stores. The colors matched so beautifully.

They are photographed on a shabby chic tea table that I added to my ever-growing table and chair collection recently. A lovely woman has been shabby-chic-ing furniture here in San Diego for many years (Not 2 Shabby) and I have been happily collecting her whimsical pieces at our local craft bazaar a couple of times a year.

One of these days I will have a proper studio where I can showcase my pieces more elegantly than I can in my small cottage bungalow. But for now, I live with them and love them everyday, even in slightly cramped quarters!

Collectibles Collage

Collectibles Collage, originally uploaded by confections.

I am a collector of many things. I have Gemini at my midheaven, so I am known for my collections. I can't help it. I was born with this lovely affliction. Among the things I collect are books, tea pots, tea cups, sugars and creamers (really, all manner of tea accoutrement are fair game), Belleek, yarn, fabric, fiber, beads, baskets, buttons, sewing patterns, snails (they are my husband's and my totem animal), percussion instruments, jewelry, rubber stamps, stationery, scrapbooking items, photographs--whew! Many of the tools I collect pertain to my fiberarts--looms, spinning wheel, yarn skeiner, spindles, niddy-noddies, umbrella swifts. I'm sure there are a few more, but I'll stop the litany there. Collecting--it's what life's about!

The basket pictured below is one that I made at a workshop nearly four years ago. That was an addictive class. I may enroll in a basket-making class this fall to add to my ever-growing collection of Peterboro and other baskets. The class runs for six weeks at a time and you make a new basket each week. Sounds like a Gemini midheaven's dream-come-true!