Saturday, July 12, 2014

A Mad Tea Party Adventure...

Welcome, Dearest Friends of The Tearoom to the annual Mad Tea Party, hosted by our Dear Friend Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist!!

I have participated in this fun blog party now since 2009 and I have met so many lovely new friends here!

And what fun is in store for you all today?

Well, our own Dear Paperdoll Daughter Victorienne is going to have an adventure today of the Very Mad Variety!!


Victorienne is driving her toy car across the lawn tonight 
with her friend Purple Kitty.  
They are on their way to The Hotel Wonderland!
They have been most kindly invited to A Tea Party!!



Their little car toodles its way to the entrance of the Hotel 
and they are directed by that dapper doorman 
to drive right into the elevator!!  
Oh boy!  
How exciting!




The floor of the elevator begins the lower....

        And down we go...

                Down...

                         Down...


                                  Down....





"Look Kitty!", exclaims Victorienne!
"I was on that street when I went to Paris with
my Mommy and Daddy for Christmas!"


They must go down this dark tunnel in order to get to their room.

They park their car at the end of the tunnel and go in . . .


Victorienne and Purple Kitty find themselves 
in an interesting round room.

On one side, a lovely place to sleep!

(Kitty is testing the bed and finds it cozy!)


On the other side, there is a tiny door,
with a note tacked next to it . . .


"Ooh, these instructions look most serious and so I must read
them most seriously," Victorienne wisely decides.


"What odd, grumpy instructions!"


There's the key and the bottle that are spoken about in the sign...


One swallow...

          Two swallows...

                        Three swallows...

(It's not bad you know.  That cherry-tart, custard, pineapple,  roast turkey, toffee and hot buttered toast flavor  is rather interesting!!

                                     And as expected...


Victorienne feels a bit dizzy, so she closes her eyes...


...and when she opens them again, she feels herself getting smaller...


...until she is the same height as Purple Kitty!!


"C'mon Kitty!  Let's go!"



The first person they see is this interesting Blue Caterpillar Man...
Very politely, Victorienne asks the man for directions.

"Excuse me, Sir Caterpillar.  
Do you know the way to The Tea Party?"

Mr. Caterpillar continues staring off into the distance, but answers
her question, albeit vaguely:
"You could go this way," he states, pointing to the left.
"Or, you could go this way," he adds, pointing to the right.
"Because the Earth is round, you can go either way and end up
at the same place."
Victorienne ponders his advice, but she doesn't want to be late
and she knows that going one way, especially if it took you all
the way around the world, would take a very long time!
"Well!" she thinks to herself.  "That advice wasn't very helpful!"
But, because she is a polite little girl, she still thanks 
The Caterpillar Man graciously, but decides they can find
the party themselves.


So, Victorienne and Purple Kitty look one way...


...and then the next.

Thanks to inheriting her father's good sense of direction
and her mother's love of purple pansies,
Victorienne chooses to go this way!
Kitty agrees!


Is it my imagination or are the pansies getting bigger?




"I think it's this way, Kitty!"



"We're here!  Finally, we have made it to the party!"

Victorienne and Purple Kitty are so excited!

"We've been saving seats just for you," Alice explains.


Here are Alice, Victorienne and Purple Kitty, 
happily seated at the table!

Tea will be served momentarily, but first,
let us say "Hello" to all the other dear friends at
the table with us this evening!


Here is Kitty with The Cheshire Cat.
I do so wonder what sorts of kitty cat gossip will go
on between these two between sips of tea!
The Dormouse looks like he invented unruly behavior!


And sitting next to the mischievous little Dormouse
are the all-too-serious White Rabbit and March Hare.
Perhaps some sweets will sweeten their attitudes.


And finally, the Mad Hatter and seated next to him,
his Great Uncle Zero!
It was Great Uncle Zero who convinced The Hatter
to take up hat making!
They are both rather stylish, don't you think?


Tea is served!



And what sort of tea are Victorienne and her new friends
enjoying this evening?  They are having a yummy
strawberry tea, sweet like ripe berries in July!


And just look at all the lovely pastries!
Which one would you choose?


Let's see what tea-time treats everyone is having, shall we?
Dear Alice is having the tangy sunshine-y lemon cake...


...our Darling Victorienne is having an almond meringue,
decorated with candied violets...


...Purple Kitty is having a cherry-flavored shortbread cookie
with pistachios and dried cherries on top...


...the ever-charming Cheshire Cat has chosen a lovely piece of 
layer cake, with two vanilla layers with a chocolate layer
sandwiched in between and frosted with an almond
buttercream...


...Perhaps that yummy-looking vanilla custard tart can
distract that mischievous Dormouse from concocting
any of his shenanigans!


The White Rabbit has wisely chosen the cheesecake topped
with cherries...


Simple, but wonderful chocolate cake with vanilla 
buttercream is a favorite of The March Hare.


Great Uncle Zero's selection is an orange cake.
(Do you suppose he was influenced by his creative
and flamboyant jacket?)


And finally, our friend The Hatter has chosen a
delicious vanilla cake topped with decorative strawberry icing!

And, here's some lovely and inspirational music
from the brilliant and creative Ödland to enjoy while
we have our treats.





(You may remember I introduced you to them here.)


"Would you ladies like some more tea?" asks the nice
young gentleman who is serving.
Victorienne is charmed and Kitty hurries to finish her
tea so she can have more!  
Is is any surprise that her favorite part of the tea is the cream?

This is a most lovely party!
However, it is very late now and the party shows very little sign 
of ending anytime soon.
Victorienne and Kitty are getting a bit tired.
As if to read her mind, Alice whispers to Victorienne,
"When you are ready to leave, I know a shortcut back to your room!"
"That would be most helpful.  Thank you", Victorienne responds
most gratefully, stifling a yawn.


"I can see from here that Luminaria, The Queen of the Fireflies
is resting in that flower over there.  She has volunteered her
services to guide you to The Magical Looking-Glass at the end of
the garden," advices Alice.


Victorienne finds The Queen very accommodating and she
and Kitty find themselves at The Looking-Glass.


"Look Kitty!  I can see us, in our room!  


Victorienne and Kitty thank everyone for the lovely tea
and they step through the mirror...


...And everyone bids them good-bye.
They hope their new friends will return and have tea again
with them one day.


Meanwhile, Victorienne and Kitty have safely arrived back
in their room!  
"Look, Kitty!  I am regular Victorienne size once again!"
Kitty is happy to have stayed the same size throughout
their adventure.  


Oh!  Such a comfy bed!
And we are so tired from our adventure!
But we will spend a few minutes whispering to each other
about it all until our eyes become heavy with sleep...
Good-night!

Thank you so much for joining us here today for
our very Mad Tea Adventure!!
Please visit with Our Very Dear Hostess Vanessa
at her blog A Fanciful Twist and then visit with 
the rest of the participants at their parties too!

Wishing all Friends of The Tearoom a delightful rest
of your day and a Happy Mad Tea Party Weekend!

Images I used for my collages today from the following
lovely sources:
Vintage Images from my personal collection

Friday, July 11, 2014

Goings On At The Tearoom (Including News of a Giveaway!!!)


Hello Dearest Friends!
Giveaway??  Did you hear me say it??  Yes you did!!  My friend Colleen of Butterfly in the Attic has put together such a fun Christmas in July giveaway!  Many of the artists and vendors she networks with from Etsy and Artfire have gotten together and donated so many lovely items!  You can find out more about it and register for the giveaway HERE!  You don't want to miss it!

I made up a special package of my Christmas Digital Collage Sheets from Velvet Revived especially for Christmas in July!  It is the same package of sheets that is included in the giveaway, but you can take a look at what's in it here in my shop!

And, just so you don't forget (although I simply don't know how you could!), tomorrow is the day we have all been waiting for:  The Mad Tea Party!!  Be sure and come back here to The Tearoom tomorrow and see what we have planned for you and also be sure and visit our friend Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist at her party and to see the list of all the other participants you can visit as well!!!  Little Victorienne will hardly sleep tonight from the excitement of her adventure in Wonderland tomorrow!!



Wishing all Dear Friend of the Tearoom sweet dreams under the light of the moonily-moon tonight!




Monday, July 7, 2014

I Love Summertime (Part 2)...

Oh Yes, Dear Friends of The Tearoom,
I do so love Summertime!  Sitting out on the porch, watering the flowers, tending to the hummingbird feeders, walking through the grass barefoot, drinking iced tea and limeade, not to mention all the foods that we love in the summer!  But, as it turns out, I am not the only one who loves this time of year!  My Doll Family takes after their Mummy and they enjoy a day out in the fresh air and sunshine as much as I do!

Here are some pictures I took of Dear Thursday, enjoying the pansy garden!






Thursday and I would like to wish you a lovely
summer week ahead and remind you to come back
and visit us here at The Tearoom on Saturday
for the Mad Tea Party!

We can't wait!


Monday, June 23, 2014

An Introduction and a Gentle Reminder...

Hello Dear Friends,
I do so hope your summer is going well!

Life is busy for us here in The Land of The Tearoom, but I wanted to take the time to introduce you to something fun that has been inspiring us here as of late and also to remind you of something fun coming up.

First of all, we have discovered a wonderful band from Lyon, France called Ödland.  Their music is comprised of beautiful melodies and gorgeous vocals in French and English, piano, violin, but also various vintage toys and items such as a typewriter and a saw!  Entirely fun to listen to and great music to create to!  Many of the tracks from their first album "Ottocento" make references to Alice in Wonderland...







...which leads me to my reminder!  I hope you are as excited about the Mad Tea Party on July 12th as we are!!  Such hurryings and scurryings about to prepare!  So, here is just a tiny taste of what you might expect when you come back to visit with us on that day!


Now you see who the other part of "we" is when I speak of us 
getting ready for the Mad Tea Party!
I am so excited for you to see the rest of her adventure!

And coming soon, more on my love of Summertime...

Friday, June 13, 2014

A Full-Moon Friday the 13th Sale...

Dearest Friends,
Here at The Tearoom, we like things a bit sweet, but also a bit spooky, so we don't tend to have a tendency toward being superstitious regarding Friday the 13th!  However, this one is a bit special!  Dear Old Friend of The Tearoom, Mademoiselle Moon will be full tonight as well!  It's not something that happens just everyday and even though here in The Land of The Tearoom, it is rainy once again today and quite unlikely we will actually get to see it, that doesn't mean we don't want to celebrate it anyway!

So, here are four collage sheets on sale this weekend in Velvet Revived...



(this one is featured in the BNS on Butterfly in the Attic!)



...and three items on sale in The Gossamer Tearoom shop...





We always say that Everyday is Halloween here at The Tearoom!

Wishing all a lovely weekend!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

A New Toy...

Today, I have a fun new online toy to play with!

Colleen of Butterfly in the Attic is amazing at finding new networking opportunities!  This week, she introduced me to Amazine, where you "clip" pictures and articles, magazine-style, to make your own online magazine!

I'm actually a recovering magazine junkie, so I'm having a lot of fun with this!


I found a cool photo I took a couple of years ago to use as the wallpaper and I've added a link in the sidebar, so please take a moment to check it out!

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

I Love Summertime (Part 1)...

Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,
Today is once again a bit gloomy, but we did have four lovely, summer-like days in a row this past weekend here in The Land of The Tearoom!!!  So nice!!  I was very inspired by it and was thinking a lot about how I spent my summer days with my mother when I was a child.  I will say that I did not enjoy the heat of summer as much when I was little as I do now, but my Mommy was very good at distracting me!  First of all, we spent a lot of time on the lawn in the backyard of our little house, surrounded by flowers and later, with my little dog Blinken romping around along with us!  We also spent time sitting around the round patio table, which sat on the patio next to the garage, bricked with large very pink bricks!  And it was here that we would have our lunches of cream cheese and olives on white bread and orangeade!  Such a treat!  It was also here that we had little tea parties with my little china dolls dishes.  My Mommy made the best "tea" to serve (it was really only sugar water, but I thought it was just too lovely!).  So, being inspired by these memories, I made these two new collage sheets:

This is my newest printable invitation design

It is based on my Floral Tea Party Digital Collage Sheet and 
it makes me think of warm summer afternoons having tea
with my Mommy!


My other new collage sheet is another digital tea set!
I designed it using a 1920's button card I bought from
an Etsy seller last year and some vintage postcard images.
It reminds me of other lovely times as a child when I had
play tea parties with my dolls!

I included both of these new sheets in my friend Colleen's
Postcard Party today at her blog Butterfly in the Attic, along with
(Keep checking back because my next collage sheet
might be featuring our Dear Little Sweetie Victorienne!)


Won't you go take a moment to take a peek at Colleen's blog?
She has great networking opportunities for small businesses
for each day of the week!
She makes networking fun!

And getting back to thinking about tea parties,
don't forget that July 12th is the date for
The Mad Tea Party at A Fanciful Twist!!!

Now, back to our party planning!

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Seven Years Ago Tonight...

I walked through these doors,
 into this lovely garden, 
on a very warm Washington night...

(image from Pinterest)


...and married my best friend.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Oh Hurray!!!

Dearest Dear Friends of The Tearoom!
It is a Most Special Day indeed!  Finally, Our Dear Friend Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist has announced the date for The Mad Tea Party!!  The very best things are the ones worth waiting for, after all!!!


Secretly and with much excitement, we here at The Tearoom have been busy pulling things out of attics and from behind secret bookcases, already preparing for another Extra Special Day of Great Madness!! This year, our preparations include packing a little suitcase for a Special Little Someone who is very dear to our hearts!

Won't you please mark your calendar, inform your social secretary that you will be unavailable for any other appointments on July 12th and whatever else you must do to prepare!  And, if the spirit so moves you, won't you consider joining as well?

We can't wait to see you there!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Still Wishing for Summer...

Oh Dear.  It's another rainy day here in The Land of Tearoom!!  Of course the rain is making everything a lovely shade of what Mr. V and I call "Hurt Your Eyes Green"!  Having grown up in the West, this shade of green simply did not exist in our world until we moved to the East!  But what I do miss the most about the West is the sunshine!  Over 350 days of it a year!  We could do with some sunshine here!

So, as we wait (sometimes not so patiently) for some lovely things to occur in our lives, we do what we can here in The Tearoom as well!

First, I have planted so many lovely pansies on the porch!  I'll take pictures of them soon!  We do so love having friends come to tea on the porch in the summertime!


Next, I have re-arranged my Pinterest boards around so that my Summer board and the one I created called "In A Dreamlike World" are closer to the top!

Click here to take a wander through my
Pinterest boards!

Next, we still eagerly await the announcement of our Dear Friend Vanessa's Mad Tea Party on her blog A Fanciful Twist!!  Oh!  It's so hard to wait for this one, but I'm turning all of that impatience into creativity and already have part of my blog post started!!!!  I can't wait to show you what I have planned for the festivities this year!!

And, finally, last, but by no means least, we find ourselves at Tuesday once again and if you have spent much time here, you know that means we are participating in Our Friend Colleen's Postcard Party at her blog Butterfly in the Attic!!  Sending a big "Thank You" to Colleen for being so nice and featuring my new Floral Bottlecaps Digital Collage Sheet in the party today!  In the spirit of encouraging summertime to finally come to this part of the world, I'm linking two of my collage sheets which include images of summer!  And because she brings us sunshine even on the rainiest of days, they both are sheets of images of Our Own Dear Paperdoll Daughter, Victorienne!



Keep watching for even more about Victorienne 
in some of my up-coming projects!!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

News from The Tearoom...

Hello Again to you, Dear Friends,
It's been a busy time for Mr. V and I as we prepare to move this summer.

But I have found the time to develop some new digital collage sheets for Velvet Revived!  Here are the three newest designs:





And since it's Tuesday, of course I'm participating in my friend Colleen's Postcard Party today at her Butterfly in the Attic blog (where she very kindly has featured my Floral Butterflies Collage Sheet this week!).  Won't you please stop on by and check out the postcards there and if you sell postcards or something made with postcards yourself, won't you consider adding some links to your items there?  It'a a fun way to promote what you do!

And...that time is very nearly here again!  Our Dear Miss Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist is getting ready to announce her annual Mad Tea Party Blog Party!  We are so excited!  I say we because, well, someone will be having an adventure this year!  I won't say who, but I will give you three guesses!  Keep checking back here for more details!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Happy National Postcard Week!

Hello to you, Dear Friends!
Lots of Real Life things occupy my days, but I'm still working hard to keep My Life in The Tearoom up and running as well!

First, I would like to thank all of my Fellow Fans of Vintage Postcards a Most Happy National Post Card Week (May 4th-10th)!  In honor of this week, this is the postcard I designed:


I am participating in a postcard swap for the second year in a row with Colleen from Butterfly in the Attic and this is the design I am using for the postcards I will be sending out this week!

And, if it's Tuesday, you know it's the fun Postcard Party at Butterfly in the Attic as well!!  In keeping with the fun, eclectic feeling of my postcard, I am linking these fun collage sheets this week at the party:




Please don't forget to visit with us at the Postcard Party and celebrate National Post Card Week by sending postcards to your friends and family!

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Portrait of a Circus Family

I haven't been able to participate in any of the collage challenges lately because we are in the process of packing all of our belongings real and imagined as we prepare to move!  I will still be doing my best to keep up on all of the goings-on in The Aether, but if you don't see me for a while, this will be the reason.

I'm happy that after much time of cleaning and organizing our house and putting it on the market to sell, I had time to participate in today's challenge on Sunday Postcard Art!  The prompt today was "Life is a Circus" and for some reason, this family of circus performers appeared in my imagination.

Today, I have used images from the following:  Itkupilli Imagenarium, Tumble Fish Studios and The Graphics Fairy.

Whew!  My work here is never done these days and now, along with more Real Life tasks, I also have a Mother's Day card to design and make for my mother-in-law as well as a design for some postcards I am making in honor of National Post Card Week!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Better Late Than Never (I Hope)...


Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,
Our Further Adventures in Real Life have kept me away a bit recently, but I didn't want to miss out in wishing all of Our Dear Friends a Most Happy May Day!

I do so wish we were all gathered together this evening in a café in Paris, nibbling on muguet macarons and drinking lime-blossom tea.


Here's hoping it it will be a lovely, creative and productive spring for us all!