At This Time Six Years Ago....

...Mr. V and I were starting to welcome the guests to our wedding.

It was a very warm Washington night,

perfect for a wedding.

Waiting to walk up the aisle...

Thank you to everyone

who joined us on that memorable night

six years ago.

And especially,

thank you to My Best Friend,

who became my husband that night.

I love you.

B.

Oh Hoooray!!!! It's That Time Again.....

Dearest Dear Friends!

It is here, the invitation we wait for all year! 

The invitation to 

the Delightful Miss Vanessa's Annual Mad Tea Party 

at her blog, A Fanciful Twist!!!

I couldn't be more excited!

(And isn't Vanessa's announcement just too cute?)

Please remember to join us here on

Saturday, July 13th

for our party and also at

A Fanciful Twist,

as well as the rest of the lovely people who also

have Mad Tea Parties on this day!!!

You can keep the White Rabbit on retainer if you wish,

to remind you not to be late,

but I will be reminding you as well!

Best start planning what you will wear starting now! 

This is Eugenie....

...and she is my submission for the collage challenge at The Three Muses, where the prompt this week was "Black and White Stripes".

She is performing for the first time for Le Cirque de Bizarre, billed as "Eugenie, The Amazing Floating Wonder from Far-Away Purplandia!"  She is particularly graceful as she balances atop her Ball of Wonder, floating over the heads of the audience!  They seem a bit amazed!  I hope you are the same!

Most of the images I used for my collage were from sheets from the lovely Marsha of Tumblefish Studio.  The only exception was the face of Eugenie, which I adapted from my newest digital collage sheet, Beautiful Ladies of Paris - The Blue Hour, which can be found in my Etsy shop Velvet Revived.

And Still More New From The Gossamer Tearoom Shop...

The other day, I introduced you to the first of the new line of beautiful, fun and inspirational hand-made garlands featuring Victorienne.  Today, I'd like to introduce you to the rest...

First, this is the "Victorienne in Springtime" garland...

This one is decorated in the pinks, purples and chartreuses of springtime!

Victorienne is dressed in rompers depicting this lovely time of year, plus I added a rubber-stamped and glittered image of morning glories, rubberstamped and embossed images of daffodils, tiny purple birds flitting everywhere (also stamped and hand-glittered)....

All, in between the letters spelling out "spring", stamped and embossed with pale pink embossing  powder on black!!

I don't know about you, but I can't get enough of springtime!!

Next, the "Victorienne in the Rose Garden" garland....

Doesn't she look adorable in the reds, pinks, purples and sepias of the rose garden?

I started this garland by rubberstamping several images of roses and rosebuds

in various colors.

To some, I added embossing powder for gloss...

To others, I added some hand-coloring with 

stamp-pad ink and a q-tip...

And finally, I arranged them all together with the hand-glittered images of Victorienne

along with the letters of the word "roses", 

embossed in pale pink embossing powder on black!

And lastly, "Victorienne's Favorite Color" garland....

I started out with more images of Victorienne,

printed on glossy light card stock and then hand-glittered them!

I added rubberstamped images like this vintage teacup

and an angel asleep in a chair.....

....a  vintage candy label and a wiggly jello....

and strung all that together between rubber-stamped

ornate letters spelling "Violet", which I also

embossed with purple glitter embossing powder!!

I am having fun making these and they are all for sale in The Gossamer Tearoom shop on Etsy!

Of course, they would be perfect for a child's room
or a children's party, but honestly,
I made them as much for the child in us all as anything else.
I think they would make the perfect addition to
art spaces of artists and children of ALL ages!!

Climbing the Staircase...

Dearest Friends,
The challenge on Collage Obsession today had to do with stairways.  Since I'm in the middle of ever-more projects, I do so hope it will be OK if I re-cycle an image I made last summer for one of the Mad Tea Parties at A Fanciful Twist.

Actually,

the inspiration for this silly collage

 came from a dream I had where 

I was driving a tiny car 

like one in which you would ride at the carnival, 

UP THE STAIRS 

of some house I was in!!

Oh, the dreams...

You have no idea of how crazy my dreams are!!

So, if you'd like the see the rest of 

the Mad Tea Party this image came from,

please click

here .

Happy Mommy's Day...

This is my mother as a girl on a summer's day.

I'm sure Heaven is a much more beautiful place with her there.

Happy Mother's Day to My Dear Mommy

(frame adapted from my Still More Violets Digital Collage Sheet on Velvet Revived)

Something Too Cute This Way Comes...

New in Velvet Revived today...

...my newest, instantly-downloadable digital collage sheet, the Little Darling Buttons Card sheet!

I love finding little bits and bobs of vintage ephemera on Etsy and bringing it back to life!  This is the most adorable button card I have ever seen, probably made in the 1920's or 30's!  When I bought it, there were two precious little mother-of-pearl buttons left on it, just hanging by a worn old thread.  I captured them, tied them together so they won't miss each other and put them in my cherished collection of vintage mother-of-pearl and glass buttons!!  Then, the card, as cute as it was, was in sad shape and in need of some love from Photoshop!  So, on the trusty scanner it went,  and with a bit of tweaking, became a sheet of eight different-colored versions, with only enough of the age and wear digitally removed so she is perfectly charming again!  How many of your fun projects could you use her in?

Old Items Find New Friends....

Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,
I just have to tell you I am so excited today!  One of my vintage items that I sell in Mirabella Morello on Etsy has been featured on a very cool blog, The Junk Drunk!  They have done a feature today on decorating a white-washed porch in vintage items and they have included the dear little German Transferware pitcher and bowl that I found stashed way, way back on the very top shelf of the kitchen cupboard in our house.  That means it belonged to my Great Aunt Edith!!  I had to do a bit of detective work on this set and I write about that in the listing!!

So, won't you please go visit Erika and Cathy at The Junk Drunk?  Their blog is fascinating and features sections on Food, Drink, Travel, Leisure and Antiques!!

The Sunshine in The Tearoom Today...

Debuting today in The Gossamer Tearoom shop on Etsy:

This is the first of the banners, debuting today, featuring our charming little Victorienne... (click on each image to see even more close up!).

This one is 39 1/2 inches long, plus 16 inches of extra ribbon on each side for hanging!

It is called "Fruit and Flowers" and includes ornate rubber-stamped letters, decorated with glossy purple and magenta embossing powders, spelling out the letters, rubber-stamped and embossed images of fruit and flowers and in between it all, images of Victorienne in rompers depicting all sorts of juicy red and purple images, printed on glossy light card-stock and then each is hand-decorated with bits of glitter!

The perfect banner for your child's room or party, but also perfect in your art space to keep you company and make you smile!!!

Only available, here, in The Gossamer Tearoom Shop on Etsy!

Plus, keep watching for more banners, art dolls of Victorienne and her friend (who is a purple kitten) and brooches!!!