Tea & Inspiration!

It's very late, I know, but that's when I usually have tea. The kids are in bed so I made myself a nice cup (decaf, of course!) and headed into my craft room to finish my Inspiration prompt. I'm joining artsymama's tea party later than most, but the day's not over yet (for me in Minnesota)! Welcome!


This lovely tea party inspired me to dig out my old tea set that was given to me as a little girl by my great aunt. I haven't seen it in years, and when I found it in a box in my basement and unwrapped a few pieces, I realized I hadn't remembered the pattern or just how small it was! It truly is a miniature tea set, meant for a little girl, but I can't wait to wash up all the pieces and introduce my son to the delights of a tea party, complete with milk, sugar, and cookies, of course! I have such wonderful memories of my mom making tea to pour into my little tea pot, filling the creamer with milk and the sugar bowl with sugar, and placing little cookies on the plates. I loved it and it made me feel so grown up! Those tea parties were extra special because my mom kept my tea set high up in the kitchen cabinet, safe from little hands that always wanted to play with the set, but could easily break the delicate china! So when we brought the set down to have tea, which wasn't very often, it truly was a special event.


(Notice how small the tea cup is next to my "normal" sized cup. And the tea pot is the same size as my mug!)

Thanks for joining me in a fun walk down memory lane. I hope you enjoyed your tea. Happy Spring!


(I'll post better pictures of my Inspiration pages after I take pictures in the light of day tomorrow!)

Wonder

I'm on a roll! I completed my page for prompt #4, Wonder. (Actually, I completed it two days ago, but Blogger was having issues with uploading photos...) For this prompt, we were supposed to "scraplift" a style from a favorite artist and I chose this scrapbook page by Ali Edwards. I just love her simple, clean style. She really has a great eye for design.


I really love the way my page turned out, and of course it helped that it's all about my adorable boys and also uses Basic Grey paper.

Dream

I finally finished prompt #3 for the Cabinet of Curiosities challenge. I really loved this prompt because it gave me the perfect opportunity to do a collage about a place near and dear to my heart. I first went to Paris (my first time out of the U.S.) with my then boyfriend (now my husband) and fell in love with it. I remember stepping out onto the streets of Paris from the Metro underground and just being transported back in time. The sights, sounds, smells. I was enchanted.

Then in June, 2001 my husband and I were married outside in the courtyard of a lovely 13th century chateau in a very small town in the Loire Valley. Pure magic.

We returned to that same magical place in 2004 to celebrate our 3rd anniversary with our one-year-old son. And we can't wait to return with both of our boys.

We dream of France and Paris all the time. It's a very special place for us. We are francophiles, for sure! My husband speaks fluent French to our children and reads to them in French, too, so our three-year-old understands French and can speak it, too! Someday we may end up living in France, but until the next time we go, I'll rely on "my dreams of France".

Scrapping & Snow!

Well, I still haven't finished the prompts for the Cabinet of Curiosities challenge (although I'm almost done with the Dream prompt), but I had time to do a scrapbook page for my father-in-law, who just turned 80. I mounted it in a black shadowbox frame for him to hang on the wall. I was happy with how it turned out and love the theme for the page, which I give my husband credit for (thanks, Mark!). I was thinking of just doing my two boys (my in-laws' only grandkids), but the theme of 'generations' is great.


And I just had to post this photo I took a few days ago during our crazy snowstorm. My 3 1/2 year old went out to help Daddy shovel. I didn't set up this picture, but just happened to snap it at the perfect time. Too cute!