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!!!

The Paper Doll In Residence...

To celebrate Victorienne's impending debut at
The Gossamer Tearoom shop on Etsy,
a short film:

Coming soon...

...banners to brighten any space you hang them...

...huggable paper dolls...

...purple kittens...

...lovable brooches...

Wishing you all a Happy Springtime Sunday!

Busy-ness at The Tearoom...

There are so many things going on here in the world of The Tearoom!

First, a reminder that you only have four days left to sign up to participate in the postcard swap for National Postcard Week!  The deadline to sign up is Friday, the 26th and you can get more information about the swap here.

Next, I have been busy adding new digital collage sheets in Velvet Revived:

This is my first sheet of inchies, inspired by my love of springtime and my wish that it would finally come to The Land of The Tearoom, so that we would stop having to send so much money to The Land of the Electric Company in order to stay warm!!

This is the sheet I made to share the fun I had making my logo and avatar for National Postcard Week! These letters I scanned from the fronts of some of the vintage postcard folders I have been collecting since I was very young and putting them together to form words is was just too much fun!

And this is the most recent sheet I have made shows our darling Victorienne in rompers depicting her summer vacation (lots of thinking ahead to summer here!!).

All are available in Velvet Revived on Etsy.

And what is our Princess of the Dimples up to here?  It's a secret for now, but soon, all will be revealed!

The Written Word...

Something different from me this week in the way of collages...

This is my collage for the collage challenge at The Three Muses this week.  The prompt was "The Written Word".  I decided to make a cut-and-paste work this week instead of a digital one.  I used strips from old book pages I have and pages from a shorthand magazine my mother collected.  I stained torn pieces of old map pages with purple chalk ink (and my favorite tool for staining, my finger!!) and then rubber stamped this inspirational quote from Franz Kafka with three different alphabet stamp sets I have.

I'd like to thank Kirsi of the blog Itkupilli in The City of Angels for her inspiration for this piece.  She posted this quote recently and when I read it, it planted the seed in my mind for this piece!  Thank you! Her creativity continues to amaze and inspire me!

A Word (or Two) Regarding....

Dear Friends of The Tearoom,
Most people who follow me here know I have a love of vintage items of many kinds.  But, of all the items that I have sold and bought, some of my very favorites are ephemera, especially post cards.

I was so fortunate to have inherited the postcard collections of my mother, my grandmother and great grandmother.  I have scanned much of it and transformed a great deal of it into the digital collage sheets I now sell at my shop Velvet Revived on Etsy.  But my own collection dates back to one that I began when I was in grade school!  My parents and I used to frequent a flea market where I grew up in Casper, Wyoming.  I just loved the old linen-finish postcards!  I love the colors and it seems to me that there are combinations and shades of colors used in them that don't seem to be used together anymore.

Last year, I started a new collection of postcards:  brightly colored French photographic postcards from the 1910's and 1920's.  Now, I use them, along with the vintage floral postcards I have inherited (and some I have bought from Etsy) in the digital collage sheet designs and other projects.

This weekend, I was very excited to have been invited to join the Pacific Postcard Team on Etsy!!  The team captain is Colleen, and it is from her that I learned about something very fun!  May 5th to May 11th is National Post Card Week, where people who appreciate postcards of all kinds celebrate their love of postcards by participating in post card swaps!  Colleen is hosting one as well and you don't have to be a member of her postcard team or even be registered on Etsy to participate.  If you are interested, please contact her, she will take your mailing information (only for use in the swap and no other purpose) and she will be sending each of us a list of all of the addresses of the participants.  Then, you either make or buy (or use vintage postcards you'd like to trade) postcards and send one to each of the participants and you will receive them in return!  Fun!!

I will be participating and am hatching plans to create some extra-fun rubber stamp postcards!!

You can learn more about National Post Card Week and the postcard swap on her blog Butterfly in the Attic.

Won't you please consider playing along?

Victorienne's New Dresses...

What a lucky little girl Victorienne is!  Here she is in her latest collections of adorable rompers!  You can see the rest of these collections by viewing the newest digital collage sheets from Velvet Revived.

Here, she is so happy wearing the myriad of colors found in a rose garden!

And here, she is wearing her favorite color, which also happens to be mine: Purple!

And,

very soon,

Victorienne will make her debut

at

The Gossamer Tearoom shop on Etsy...!

The Airship Impatience....

(please click for larger image)

This, Dear Friends, is The Airship Impatience, piloted by our own Violette!  She is so dear!  After hearing me complain endlessly about how long spring is taking to get here, she has gone to get me spring flowers!  I don't know where she has gone to get them, but I am grateful!  And, as is always the way just when you think something will never happen, of course, it does!  Today, in The Land of The Tearoom, it has finally been warm enough to feel like springtime!  Soon enough, I will be be planting little flowers in the pots on our porch in my favorite pair of barefeet!

(This is actually my submission for the collage challenge at The Three Muses this week.  The prompt was "Transport".  The background and airship of my collage come from Marsha of Tumblefish Studio's newest sheets!)

Another Twinkling Night in Paris...

Having fun, doing collages today...

Here is my entry for the collage challenge on Collage Obsession.  The prompt this week is "Cities".  Of course I can't miss a chance to create yet another collage having to do with my favorite city!  The background is from Marsha of Tumblefish Studio's brand-new kits inspired by the film-maker Georges Méliés.  You might remember him if you saw the movie "Hugo" or have seen his famous film from 1902 "A Trip to the Moon". The scene from Paris is from my private collection of vintage postcards of Paris.

Easter Greetings...

Dearest Friends of The Gossamer Tearoom,

Victorienne and I wish you the most wonderful Easter!

Betty

A Digital Paper Doll...

As promised, here are the first two digital collage sheets, featuring Dear Little Victorienne!

In this sheet, she is dressed in rompers of pink, green and purple, in shades of blue bird, pink roses, freshly-bloomed violets...

...and in this sheet, ripe purples and reds, shades of cherries yellow and red, bucolic gardens and even more violets and pansies....

Please visit her at her second new home Velvet Revived!  She is waiting to say "Hello" and show you all of her favorite new clothes for spring and summer!

Victorienne....

Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,

May I introduce to you the newest member of The Gossamer Tearoom Family?   This is Victorienne!  She is a magical little girl and sweeter than strawberries in July!  She is my most recent digital collage project, made from vintage postcards and a vintage paper doll.  But she will soon be making her debut in the material world as I am currently creating art dolls, silk art brooches, banners, as well as digital collage sheets with her image, wearing her extensive wardrobe of adorable rompers and soon, I will be debuting all of these items in two of my Etsy shops, The Gossamer Tearoom and Velvet Revived!  Please check back later today as I will be debuting the first two digital collage sheets of images of our new little girl!

Victorienne is such a friendly little soul and she can't wait to meet you in person!

Immediate Gratification...

In my Etsy shop Velvet Revived, I have super exciting news!  I have joined the Prototype Team for Instant Downloads of Digital Files!  Why is this so exciting?  It means that all of my digital collage sheets are now available for instant download!  As soon as your payment is confirmed, you will receive an e-mail from Etsy with the links to the sheets you have purchased, usually within just a few minutes!  So, with Easter only one week away, you still have plenty of time to order my Easter and Springtime sheets to make cards or decorations!

What could be better than finding what will work with your projects just perfectly and having it to use almost as soon as you order it?  Thank you, Etsy, for making this wonderful new service available for sellers to use!

To Inspire You...

Steampunk Spring...

Hello Dear Friends,
This is my collage for The Three Muses Collage Challenge.  The prompt this week is "Steampunk".  This is my Post-Winter Floral Initiation Machine.  Some places are seeing some signs of spring and even seeing some flowers blooming already.  I'm impatient!!  Here in Maine, we still have snow on the ground and I want flowers!!!  So, I built this machine to get the flowers started up!  I will put it in the garden and hope for the best!

(Sources of images for this collage:
Dials and watch parts from "Paper Doll Steampunk Digital Collage Sheet no 242"- Cemerony on Etsy
Decorations on the machine, including cream marble, corners and floral decoration from "Victorian Grunge 1 inch" - the House Across the Bay on Etsy (Thank you, Cheryl!)
All other tubes, lights, Victrola speaker and label I made into the machine from "Nitty Gritty" and "Nitty Gritty2" - Tumblefish Studios on Deviant Scrap
and flowers from "The Digital Valentine" from my shop Velvet Revived on Etsy.)

I Think The Sky Is Falling...

Hello Dear Friends,
This is my collage for the collage challenge on Collage Obsessions.  The subject this week is "Inspired by Fairy Tales and/or Children's Literature".    I have chosen to depict the moment after Chicken Little was hit by the acorn and is just about to announce "The sky is falling!!!".  What a silly!  Please check out all the other interpretations of favorite children's stories here.

(Sources of my images for this collage:
Chick from an image from friend Nigea's long-gone and sorely-missed free graphics blogs
Bucolic garden image from my collage sheet "The Rose Garden" from my shop Velvet Revived on Etsy.)

A Valentine Wish for You...

Hello, Dearest Friends!

Again, wishing all a wonderful

Valentine's Day!

It's a busy project day,

here at The Tearoom

and I would like to show you

some of what I have been working on.

This is Thursday.

Last year at this time, she was still packed away,

 in a box in the basement, in pieces,

as I had bought her at a flea market over 30 years ago.

As you can see from her face,

she has not had the easiest of lives.

When I bought her, she had many scratches

on her lovely face and no longer had hair,

only the glue that had once held a wig

on her dear little head,

which as it happens, is cracked.

But this summer, I started a project.

I decided to go in search of my mother's old dolls.

I found them, many of whom are 

in much sadder shape than

My Dear Thursday.

I also found where she was packed away,

restrung her parts back together

and began to hand-sew clothes for

all of these dear old things!

Who knows when was the last time any

of them had had new dresses!

I named her Thursday because of the old

children's rhyme:

"...Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go..."

This little doll had far to go to be loved again.

In spite of her flaws,

I love her just the way she is.

Today, she is modeling for you my most

recent outfit from her now-growing collection...

a drop-waist gown of deep red velvet,

with burn-out roses and trim of crimson satin,

an over-sized black taffeta bow,

decorated with one of my

glitter anatomical hearts,

and on her feet,

her favorite new accessory...

...a vintage pair of doll's rollerskates

I found for her on Etsy!

This is not exactly the first time

you have seen Thursday.

I posted a picture of her here this summer,

(along with her new adopted sister Bebé Agnès).

You will be hearing more about Thursday soon...

This is my dear little Charlotte Framboise.

I had wanted a Frozen Charlotte doll and last year,

I treated myself at Christmastime.

And, just recently, I decided that if I didn't make

a dress for her, she really would be

Frozen Charlotte!

It is really too cold in Maine to be

running around nakey!

So, I took some black taffeta, black tulle and

black and white cord and made her a 

festive little dress!

There!

That's better!

She lives on my bed-side table and here she is pictured

with her friends, the mother cat and kittens,

Boston Terrier puppy and teeny, tiny duckling.

Here she is again,

posing on top of my favorite lip gloss treat,

Sweet Cream by Tokyo Milk.

Sweet dreams are assured if you go to sleep

with the taste of vanilla cream cake

on your lips...!

And because I just can't be happy working on

just one project at a time,

later today, this new collage sheet will be available

on Velvet Revived on Etsy...

"The Rose Garden" is just the first of my new

collection of digital collage sheets

for spring!

And, what am I listening to on this

Happy Valentine's Day?

Something sweet,

just a bit trippy

and brand-new.

Enjoy two tracks from a new band called inc.

Their debut album will be released on 4AD on the 19th.

In the meanwhile, if you like what you hear,

you can stream the entire album on Fader.

A Rose & Violet Cream Tea...

Welcome Once Again, Dearest Friends....

....welcome to my special Valentine's Day Tea...

A Rose and Violet Cream Tea,

with a few unconventional additions

from London and Paris...

Princess Sugar Verbena,

wearing her

Drop-of-Cream Royal Crown,

 is sitting

 inside one of the giant roses

I found and brought into The Tearoom!

I thought they would be

a fun and comfortable 

(and not to mention, fragrant!)

place to sit

while having our treats!

I am so happy to see her again and

The Tearoom is very honored

she accepted our invitation for today!

dAdA doll Rose de Blanc

and her baby,

Rose Lapin

are here for

the Valentine festivities

as well!

Shall we see what awaits us in the samovar?

Harney & Sons

Valentine's Blend Tea

chocolate tea with rosebuds...

or,

perhaps you'd prefer

Fortnum & Mason's

Rose & Violet Hot Chocolate,

like Princess Sugar is having...?

In a cream tea,

scones are traditionally served with strawberry jam

and clotted cream....

....but may we try something

a bit more adventuresome than

the strawberry jam?

Today, shall we try

Confiture d'Amour 

from Fauchon of Paris,

 with rose petals, 

strawberries

and

passionfruit

instead?

Will you take cream or sugar in your tea,

whipped cream for your hot chocolate?

...And so, I take you for a few moments,

to my favorite cinematic vacation spot

"Les Vacances de M. Hulot"

(Mr. Hulot's Vacation)...

It is the night of the masked ball,

there at the hotel,

and the eccentric but always-polite Monsieur Hulot

has a chance to dance with that

charming young lady, also staying at the hotel!

(Notice how gallant he is as he tries

not to touch her bare back as they dance!!!)

If you have not yet seen this movie,

please do so.

If you have seen it,

please see it again!

...and something romantic and wistful from Duran Duran

Before you leave, please allow me to spoil you once more...

...from Paris, 

Fauchon's Saint Valentin Coffret of 

Rose-Vanilla Macarons...

or...

from London, Rose and Violet Cream Chocolates
from Rococo of London...

Thank you so much for joining me
and my guests!
Wishing you a Most Happy Valentine's Day!



Images used in my collages from:
The Graphics Fairy
Tumblefish Studios
and many of the images used
were from my collage sheets
from Velvet Revived,
my shop on Etsy.
The image of the scone from
my Pinterest board
"Tea at The Tearoom".

Don't Forget...

...tomorrow's Valentine's Day tea,

here, 

at

The Tearoom!