Monday, August 24, 2009

Tea Party Birthday

Enjoy this blog post and along with its predecessors at http://www.artfultourist.blogspot.com/.


















I’m behind again…I have all these blog posts I want to make and yet the congestion of my mind is rivaled only by the congestion of my sinuses as I fight an infection. …sigh.

So, when all else fails just start one at time and go from there. August-October is birthday season in my world. Many family members and cherished friends were born during this three month period.

While I hope to post many of the birthday cards and gifts I’ve worked on I will just start with Miss Betty’s tea party. My dear and delightful friend Betty invited me to a tea party celebrating her birthday this weekend. Since the party was in Richmond and I couldn’t arrange a trip up there, I decided to mail in my contribution. Now Miss Betty said no gifts, so I decided to send a bit of presence instead of present. I just loving playing with words—grin.

The photos shown here represent the collection of items I mailed off to Miss Betty:

--A vintage navy hat that reminded me of my Aunt Minnie. Miss Betty says she wore it to work on Tuesday for her birthday and she channeled “Aint Bee” from Mayberry all day. I created a digital sign and used a hat pin to attach it so that it might be used as décor for the party too.

--A dozen green tea bags enclosed in print papers with stamped images of women’s faces and ribbon embellishments

--A mini pizza box filled with more little tea bags. I used the same pattern I worked with for Sir Henry’s father’s day gift but enlarged it. Our friends at Split Coast Stampers
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/pizzabox/ I provided the template.

--A 5” square card that coordinated with the tea bags—decorated both inside and out because I’m really in to decorating all of the card lately.

General overview of supplies: Spellbinder’s tea time die set, Ranger Inks, EK Success circle punch, Offray ribbon, Face stamps from Post Modern and Stamper’s Anonymous, sentiment stamp from A Country Welcome, solid cardstock from WorldWin, marbled cardstock from Murphy’s, print papers from scrap pile. I did all the scoring on my EK Success cutter with a stylus.



Regular Features
Surf stops—web sites I’ve visited recently:
If you ever read my newsletter, “Get the kNACk” then you might recall links to a kids’ web site called Making Friends. I visited there again recently thinking about some back-to-school projects for my neighbor girls. Take a look at the traveling swap book for Girl Scouts here:
http://www.makingfriends.com/scouts/travel.htm
Wouldn’t that be fun to do with some art friends near and far?

Get five free fonts from Scrap ‘n Fonts by clicking this link:
http://www.scrapnfonts.com/searchprod.php?showingonly=Free
I downloaded them this week and used the architect one on the two photo collages of Betty’s birthday. The dot matrix one would be fun for distress stuff, techno game layouts, and maybe even Halloween. Face it, fonts are just fun.
Touch of color—what color(s) influenced me— pink, pink, glorious pink. Miss Betty really isn’t a big fan of pink, but I didn’t have a lot of other colors working for me on this project. Turns out the china she’s using for the party has some pink in it…hurray for pink.
Most played song- “Wait and See” by Brandon Heath. You can hear it and see the lyrics on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJwlmb4V-0Y
Studio progress: Did I mention I’ve been bedridden with a sinus infection?
In the kitchen— Sir Henry went on a quest to find tea bags with Cardamom in them since I had read that this particular spice is good for infections. Turns out there are brands of Chai tea with this valuable spice in them. Whether it was the power of suggestion or the magical ingredient—the tea really seemed to soothe and help.

---Progresso chicken and wild rice soup is good for my pitiful feeling self and good enough for the husband to enjoy too. He fixed some Winn Dixie™ brand whole wheat canned biscuits with it and they were quite tasty too. Best canned biscuits we’ve eaten…Austerity Plan progress ($15.00 per month for art supplies and tools): Well, if I’m sick I can’t exactly get out and about to spend…Wait, before you think it, I also refrained from online spending and shopping channels too—grin.

Points of Interest: (random things I’ve paid attention to lately)
--- I’ve been resting and reading a lot as I heal. If you enjoy fantasy epics I have enjoyed the first two books in Tad Williams’ series “Shadowmarch.”
---I’m creating a book with the working title “Memoir Triggers” about creating your memoirs with word and image. I’m envisioning sort of an advanced “Book of Me’ that scrapbookers sometimes work on with a more edgy and universal appeal.
My opinion and where it may lead: Being kind to yourself makes you strong. It’s time for me to take my own advice, swallow my own medicine, and go back to bed.


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