What Is Going On In The Tearoom?

Hello Friends and Happy Friday Night to You!

It is a warm summer night (finally) here in The Land of The Tearoom!

It's the perfect time to be planning for that extra-fun event of the summer, The Mad Tea Party at A Fanciful Twist!   Tomorrow is the big day!  I am putting my finishing touches on my post and can't wait for everyone to visit!

Who is this little girl and what is she wearing on her head?!?!?!

In other news from Velvet Revived on Etsy, here is my newest digital collage sheet :

I had so much fun creating these frames and borders from vintage postcards I bought from some of my new team members on Etsy!  Colleen of Postcards In the Attic,  Patricia of The Old Barn Door, and Marilyn of VintageNutsInc all sell great vintage postcards and I love buying my supplies from other Etsy sellers!

Here's an example I made of how these frames can be used.

Mommy looks even sweeter surrounded by pansies!

You know, the English word pansy is derived from the French word pensée, which means "thought".

This is very appropriate because my Dear Mommy Cupcake is in my thoughts each day.

Also, my Christmastime is Here collage sheet is on sale in the Velvet Revived shop and is featured in the Christmas In July treasury from the Forget Me Nots Daily Discovery Team!

My Rose Garden collage sheet is part of the Pacific Postcard's BNS this weekend!

And my Vintage Fruit sheet is part of this treasury by Pookie and Jack!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for The Mad Tea Party here at The Gossamer Tearoom!

Raucous Monday Morning Optimism Dance Party

Keeping my spirits up.
Hoping these do the same for you.



Life's What You Make It - Talk Talk



The Wildlife - Bananarama



Deep and Wide and Tall - Aztec Camera

What Is Happening in The Tearoom?

So many fun things are happening in The Tearoom right now!

The Fresh & Delicious 

Vintage Fruit Digital Collage Sheet

from my Velvet Revived shop on Etsy

is featured in a fun 4th of July BNS

from The Pacific Postcard Team HERE!

Not sure what a BNS is?

Read about them here

(If you scroll to the bottom of the page, Colleen, 

our team captain, gives a great explanation!).

When I created this digital collage sheet of

Beautiful Ladies of Paris, I knew I wasn't finished....

and, as it turns out, I wasn't!

I've also recently finished More Beautiful Ladies of Paris

in lovely shades of pink, green and sepia...

... and also

Beautiful Ladies of Paris - The Blue Hour

in gorgeous shades of

blue, purple, periwinkle and indigo

(you know this one is my favorite!)...

And, coming soon from The World of Velvet Revived,

a new collage sheet of Fruit and Flower Frames....!

In more exciting news,

Mr. V's Amazon shop VixMixx is back!

Please go check it out!

And last, but most certainly not least,

don't forget to mark your calendar for July 13th,

the day of The Mad Tea Party on A Fanciful Twist!

Some of our friends are already patiently waiting...

Tea With Hummingbirds...

Summers here in Maine are sometimes rainy, sometimes cold and always too short.  However, to their credit, they can be lush and beautiful and filled with life for the short time you are wearing shorts and t-shirts instead of jeans and hoodies.  The fact that hummingbirds come here for their summer vacation is just one of the things I love about this short, but glorious season!  We are very excited that they come back to us every year and even more excited that this year, the Mommy even has her teeny, tiny Baby come and eat too!

My mother bought a hummingbird feeder some years ago and that's the one I still use on the porch.  She also used to buy the pre-made hummingbird nectar, which isn't really very good for them due to the un-neccessary red dye which is added.  Also, they don't even like it very much (smart hummies!!).  So, I found the recipe for making the nectar yourself at home from the website of The National Zoo.  It's easy, not expensive to make and (here's the best part), they love it!  If you would like to try it, just click here.

So, now, if I am out on the porch having a glass of tea and I sit very still, I can hear them coming in for a sip of nectar and we can have our tea together!

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!!!

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.