T is for Tea Cups

  It's another Tuesday and time to share with Bleubeard and Elizabeth and friends over at T Stands For Tuesday. It's a wonderful gathering so go have a peek at the varied links and please feel free to join in any week. We really are a nice group to have a cuppa something with :)

                                                                    "Tea For Two"

  I have been having so much fun since discovering Henri Matisse's "cut out" art that I am continuing to explore the simplicity of the concept. You can see my first one here if you haven't seen it and I also have links about this master and the art. Of course, I am keeping it VERY simple but it still takes some thought on theme, composition and color. And I must say that I am proud of the fact that I was able to cut those tiny, tiny paper swirls AND glue them in place without a magnifying glass:):) There is another I'm working on and will most likely post it on Friday.

 Linking this to Art Journal Journey(theme is to be inspired by the masters); Inspiration Avenue (theme is purple) and Mix It Monthly (theme is color blocking).

 Finally I have gotten back to some Indian cooking which I had also posted about awhile back. You can see the beginnings of it in this post.

 This is a set of tiny dishes I got from my great
grandmother. As you can see, they are not quality makes and were most likely given away for some particular purchase or something but I adore them and use them all the time-mostly for this purpose:

  They are the perfect size for putting all the 

spice ingredients in place ( the term I use

and most will know is "mis en place"-the French term for "everything in place"). It makes cooking SO much easier! So, what did I make?

  Sweet Potato Poriyal! And I must say that it tasted divine! The combination of spices (not too much -I go easy on those), and sweet , and the coconut....YUM!

 We had a terrible day of icy roads in the northeast US which even closed down bridges and highways so I stayed put and made a few more Valentine cards like this one:

 For the background I played with a technique I hadn't used in quite awhile. I smeared several Distress inkpads (Tim Holtz-Ranger Inc.) onto a craft mat, spritzed it with water, then dragged card stock over it. If you haven't tried this yet you must! If you don't have a craft mat use a piece of glass instead. The image is from Retro Café Art. The stamps are pretty old and I don't know the manufacturer.

 Off to hop along with my coffee and visit some friends:) Have a great day!

" Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious."
                                                                                                                          Oscar Wilde