Tea Cup Tuesday!

This is the very first teacup I ever owned~I received it as a gift in 1971, and am quite fond of it~it's very small and delicate, and I love that it's hand painted. My first paying job was working in the snack bar of a Ralph's grocery store; my boss was this no-nonsense Irish lady with a thick accent and a stern demeanor, and I was rather afraid of her at first. Three years later, when the snack bar had been remodeled into a deli, and I had moved on to become a checker at the market, Lena, my old boss, was leaving for another store, and she surprised me by giving me this gift. I don't remember the backstory of this cup; I thought she said it was one of hers in a collection she had and that she'd brought it from Ireland. I truly can't remember now. I do remember that my mother had her over to dinner one time at our house. As you can see, the bottoms of the cup and saucer are stamped with "Ucagco China-Made in Occupied Japan." Interesting to see the words, "China, Made in Japan," isn't it?

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Daisies"

The bi-weekly Gothic Arches Challenge theme is DAISIES. I thought this sweet image from Paper Whimsy fit the bill, as did this pretty scrapbook paper from My Mind's Eye. The caption "The poet's darling" is one of the lines in which William Wordsworth defined this lovely flower in his poem, To The Daisy. This was definitely a challenge for me, as at first, I didn't know what to do with the theme. It just sort of came together after I looked through my "image stash" and thought about it a little. Takes me awhile, that's for sure!!!!!

Tea Cup Tuesday!

I've been admiring all of the beautiful teacups that Terri of Artful Affirmations posts each week, and thought since I have a small collection that's been slowly growing for years, I'd join in! This teacup and saucer belonged to my paternal grandmother. It's one of my more unusual cups, being painted a very dark green and having the raised gold-leaf edging around the flowers, and slightly scalloped edges around the rim. My grandma's sister, my great aunt, was a nurse in the military during WWII and was stationed in Japan; she brought home several teacups when she came back to the States. You can see the stamps on the bottoms of the cup and saucer stating that they were hand painted in "Occupied Japan"~at the end of WWII, Japan was occupied by several foreign powers, hence the name. I don't know much about Fleur de Lis teacups, but I do think that they are beautiful.

Kard Krazy Tag Challenge-"Butterflies"

The theme this week at Kard Krazy's Tag Tuesday Challenge is BUTTERFLIES! My favorites!!! I have been fond of using butterflies in so many of my little projects for years--I just love them! The image I used on my tag is one from the Graphics Fairy. I thought it was perfect for this!