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.

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!

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!

Victorienne in Summer

Victorienne in the Rose Garden

Keep watching for even more about Victorienne 

in some of my up-coming projects!!

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:

Floral Bottlecaps

Grungy Typewriter Keys

Floral Butterflies

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!

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:

Entrance to Dreamland, Coney Island

Bottlecap Beauties

Flying Fish - An Original Digital Collage

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!

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!

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!

In the Gloaming...

Gloaming...isn't it a funny word?  It is a rather archaic word meaning "dusk" or "twilight".  I am reminded of words like this when visiting at Butterfly in the Attic today, where our friend Colleen is hosting her weekly Postcard Linky Party!  Today, she is showing some night scenes in vintage linen postcards, for sale in her Etsy shop.  They are so beautiful.  You might take a peek!

I'd like to thank Colleen, as she has very kindly named my "Victorienne in The Rose Garden" Digital Collage Sheet as her featured ephemera at the party!

Victorienne in The Rose Garden

These are the sheets I picked to link to for today's party!

They are all made in the colors of twilight,

dusk or as it used to be called

"The Gloaming"!

Vivid Violets & Purple Pansies

Scenes of Paris Past

 Beautiful Ladies of Paris - The Blue Hour

Won't you join us at the party today?

Could it be you?

Will the next beautiful collage sheet you purchase from my shop Velvet Revived on Etsy be my 50th sale there?  And if so, what lovely gift is waiting for you?

What's New in The Tearoom...

Outside, the blustery wind huffs and puffs, but inside, we remain cozy, waiting for the rest of spring to arrive...

First of all, I have just finished a new sheet for Velvet Revived, this one an original collage called "Flying Fish":

Flying Fish Original Collage, available now at Velvet Revived

Also, I have applied the new layout to my Twitter account.  If you haven't seen it, there are lots of new changes.  If you had a background wallpaper, that is now gone from your background of your home page.  However, your avatar is bigger and there is a large area at the top of your page for a new wallpaper panel/logo.  This is my new design, which I have added today:

Wishing all Friends of The Tearoom a

swiftly emerging springtime!

A Most Happy Easter...

Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,
Just look what our Dear Victorienne has discovered for Easter:  a nest of peeping, fluffy little chicks, in a nest made of pussy-willows and lavender!!

Here at The Tearoom, we would like to wish all of Our Dear Friends, old and new, a Most Happy and Beautiful Easter!!

With biggest hugs from Betty, Mr. V and Victorienne

P.S.  Please don't forget to come visit with my friend Colleen at Butterfly in the Attic for her fun Networking Saturday Linky Party!  You can add one link for each of your Etsy shops, your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any of your other social media contacts and discover new shops and sellers too!

A Rainy Tuesday with Tea and Networking...

Hello to you, Dear Friends!
Here at The Tearoom, it is a quiet, rainy afternoon.  I sit here, sipping my Breakfast in Paris Tea by Stash (yummy flavors of bergamot, lavender and vanilla), enjoying the sound of rain on the windows of The Tearoom, knowing it takes away the last of the snow and brings green to the lawns!  Spring may finally be here!

And today, being Tuesday, is our day to visit with our Dear Friend Colleen at her blog Butterfly in the Attic!  Tuesday is the day that she brings to us another of her wonderful networking opportunities when she hosts her "Wait A Minute Mister Postman" Postcard Party!!  Everyone who is a Friend of The Tearoom knows how much I love vintage postcards, so this is one of my favorite days of the week!  About a year ago, she very kindly invited me to join her Pacific Postcards Team on Etsy and I am so very glad I did!  Colleen is such a nice lady and she's always coming up with new ways we can network to get more sales in our shops!

This week, she has featured my Spring Wishes and Apple Blossoms collage sheet.

Spring Wishes and Apple Blossoms,

available now in Velvet Revived

So, this week, the sheets I have selected to post at the Linky Party today are some that can be used for your last minute Easter cards or decorations!  Remember, all of my sheets are instant download, so there is no waiting to receive them!  You begin creating right away!

Victorienne's Easter Parade

Easter Bouquet

Floral Bunting

If you love vintage postcards or if you sell them, won't you please come pay a visit to Butterfly in the Attic today?

A Small Exercise in Minimalism...

This is my collage for the challenge at Sunday Postcard Art today.  The prompt was "Still Life". Thank you to the folks at Sunday Postcard Art for featuring my collage from last week "The Hotel Unusual" as one of the samples of work for the prompt last week! 

In January, I made a collage for The Three Muses, also based on the topic of still life.  I'm including it today, as I designed this second still life to match the first and I think they look pretty fun together!

The images I used in my collage today are as follows: background from Shadowhouse Creations, tulips and yellow moth from Rijks Studio from Rijksmuseum, cherries and French postcard from my personal collection.

A note about the Rijks Studio from Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam:  Did you know that this museum has made 150,000 of their works of art into open source images that artists can pretty much use for whatever they wish?  You can register on the site and make your own collection for your projects.  Also, the museum holds a contest every year, asking people to enter their submissions using these open source images.  I entered this year and this was what I submitted:

This is my five-panel design, made of images from 26 works of art from the Rijksmuseum open source collection.  I printed one out, assembled it and sent it to my mother-in-law for her birthday.  She loved it, so, perhaps later this year, I might have this produced for sale in The Gossamer Tearoom shop on Etsy.

A Less-Than-Scientific Explanation....

In anticipation of the lunar eclipse next week, I present you with my collage today.  Here, our new friend Madame Noire is travelling from one point to the other in a Moon Balloon, trailing the haunting scent of black roses behind her.  What a lovely way to travel!  And with contraptions like this floating around up there, how do we really know that the "scientific" explanation of what will temporarily block our view of The Moon is actually the real one?  Perhaps Madame Noire's diaphanous red scarf will trail out behind her, giving the appearance of The Blood Moon?  Who knows?

(This is my submission for the collage challenge at The Three Muses.  The prompt was "Transportation".  Images I used in my collage came from Tumble Fish Studios and Itkupilli.)

Don't forget to keep your eyes open for the eclipse on April 14th-15th!

Tuesday, Once Again...

Hello Dear Friends,
Today, in spite of the clouds and the gloom, the sun is trying so hard to visit us here in The Land of The Tearoom!  Bit by bit, the mountains of snow are melting and underneath, we can already see green grass!  We couldn't be more excited to see it!

And, today being Tuesday, of course once again I am participating in the "Wait A Minute Mr. Postman" Postcard Party on Butterfly in the Attic!  Once again, I would like to thank our host Colleen, for hosting this fun networking event.  If you sell postcards or artwork using postcards, won't you please consider joining us?  And once again, thanks go out to Colleen for featuring some of my artwork from my blog post of last week!

On her blog post this week, she shows us some vintage postcards showing some very cute little children!  So, how could I resist?  Of course, the first sheet I'm featuring in the Linky Party today is one of Victorienne, Our Own Dear Paperdoll Daughter!

Victorienne's Easter Parade

The next sheet I will feature will be my newest:

Floral Tea Set

The last sheet I will show at the Linky Party today will be one of the first I made when I opened Velvet Revived, just about two years ago:

Spring Wishes & Apple Blossoms

(because we still need all the spring we can get!)

All sheets, as always, are available in Velvet Revived on Etsy!

The Hotel Unusual

(Please click to see the entire image.)

Welcome to The Hotel Unusual!  We are glad to welcome you!  As you can see, each room has a lovely view!  Our new friend Madame Noire is here to greet you, as is our own Dear Victorienne.  Oh, and don't worry about the large friend who is shown here nosing about on the loggia on the second floor!  He just wants to be friends!

(This is my submission for the collage challenge today at Sunday Postcard Art, where the prompt was windows.  The images I used here are from Tumble Fish Studios, Itkupilli, Cemerony and my own personal collection.  And, thank you so much to my new friends at Sunday Postcard Art for having featured my collage from last week!  You can see the other beautiful samples here!)

Saturday Again at The Tearoom...

Dear Friends,
Can you believe another week has gone past us?  This week has been a good one for us here at The Tearoom and in spite of receiving another skim of snow last night, we had a couple of warm days, have had lots of melting and have more warm days ahead!

Per usual, I have been working on another new digital collage sheet and here it is:

Floral Tea Set in my Velvet Revived Shop on Etsy

(Oh, and this sheet comes with a fun free bonus sheet!)

And, if it's Saturday, you know that The Tearoom is participating in the weekly networking event at Butterfly in the Attic!  It's a great way to promote your Etsy businesses!  You can leave one link for each of your shops, plus one link to any of your social media sites as well!

Wishing you all a beautiful weekend!

For My Mommy

(Click to see image larger.)

This is a photo of my Dear Mommy Cupcake, surrounded with flowers!  This was always one of my  mother's favorite times of the year because she loved all kinds of flowers!  And all of the flowers I have used in my collage today were some of her favorites.  She lives in Heaven now and I'm sure she is surrounded by flowers there.

(This collage is my submission for the challenge on The Three Muses today.  The prompt this week asked us to surround a vintage black-and-white image with color.  As soon as I read it, I knew what I would do for my collage!)

Bonne Poisson d'Avril!

Or, in other words,

On April 1, when we are celebrating April Fool's Day by playing various pranks on each other, in France and Belgium, people are running around pinning paper fish on each other's backs and yelling "Poisson d'Avril!" or "Fish April!".  The folks in Italy have their version of this as well!  Above, I have included one of the vintage postcards from my personal collection, which celebrates this fun holiday!

And, today being Tuesday, of course once again I am participating in the "Wait A Minute Mr. Postman" Postcard Party on Butterfly in the Attic!  Once again, I would like to thank Dear Friend of The Tearoom Colleen for hosting this fun networking event.  If you sell postcards or artwork using postcards, won't you please consider joining us?  Again, Colleen is featuring some of my work from my blog post of last week. (Thank you for that, as well, Dear Colleen!)

So, in honor of April Fools and the silliness that ensues today, I am including three of silliest and most fanciful digital collage sheets:

Victorienne in Wonderland

Entrance to Dreamland

Spring Chicken Easter Parade

Wishing you a fun and festive April 1st,

however you celebrate it!

Spring is on its way!

Under Prairie Starlight...

(Click to see image larger.)

shhhh.....

We must be very quiet.

We are witnessing something very rare.

Under the light of a million stars,

Out on the prairie,

The jackalopes and their queen converge nightly.

She lovingly guides them on the travels

Over sagebrush and ground-cover cacti

She even gives a little hug to those that require extra encouragement

The jackalopes are rarely seen

(Some say they don't exist, but I don't believe it.)

But this is the first time the Queen has been captured in an image.

shhhhh...

Don't let them notice we are here...

We will just sit here counting the un-countable numbers

of stars and watch in wonder...

For those who have not seen them before, jackalopes are purported to be mythical creatures, a cross between an antelope and a jack rabbit.  They have become a symbol of popular culture in places like where I grew up in Wyoming.  First-time visitors to the area are convincingly encouraged to keep looking out for them during their travels across the prairie!  

(This is my submission for the Take a Word Collage Challenge.  The images I used in this collage are from the following sources:  Tumble Fish Studios, The Graphics Fairy and my own personal collection.)