Tuesday, January 20, 2015

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

28 comments:

  1. Lovely post today, that food looks good! Love your art work, too. Thanks for joining us at Art Journal Journey, Valerie

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  2. Love, love the Matisse rendition ~ and your valentine ~ great art work and relish recipe ~

    Happy Week to you,
    artmusedog and carol

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  3. Oh yes, I love your teacups... they are fabulous! Will have to check out the link and see what it is all about as Mr Mojo appears to have left the building so I am looking for ways to lure him back... Happy T Tuesday to you! Annette

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  4. Your sweet potato poriyal looks yummy, but I would NOT use even one hot pepper.

    I SO enjoyed your Matisse inspired tea cups this week. They are beautiful, colorful, and so well balanced. Great job.

    Sounds like you are having the weather we had last week. Not a good thing, especially when I see so much carnage on our roads when it gets icy and snowy.

    Thanks for sharing our tea cups and your yummy looking sweet potato poriyal with us for T this Tuesday.

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  5. Love your Matisse inspired tea collage! You are such an organized chef....no wonder everything you makes look (and I sure tastes) so appealing! Have a Happy T Day!

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  6. Lovely card Linda!
    My mojo seems to be hibernating so far this month.
    Nice to see you creating beautifully as always.
    I have a tiny shallow bowl collection that I like to line spices up in for cooking.
    Your blue and white dishes are so lovely and extra special too!
    Happy T Day
    oxo
    p.s. you've made me hungry!

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  7. Oh Linda, fab post this week!
    Those little dishes are perfect for what you use them for. We have some odds and ends that size that we use for dipping sauces.

    Your HM journal page is fantastic, love the simplicity of it. Your valentine is darling, I forget about that technique, thanks for reminding me. It is such a fun thing to do.

    Now for the food.........OMG that looks and sounds so good.!

    Thanks for visiting this week, glad you enjoyed the humor. Happy T-day.

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  8. Your art is wonderful, I love the tea cup one and the valentine script is beautiful. I too put all my ingredients into wee pots in prep for cooking. It does make the process much easier. Not that I'm a great lover of cooking, but I like to make it easy on myself when the mood takes me to do some.
    Thank you so much for your lovely comment on my blog post Linda x I am very fortunate :o)

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  9. Your colour-blocked teacups are great fun and they look as if they are having a good time.
    I must try that stamp pad technique, thanks for the reminder.

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  10. Love all your cups today and this delicious potatoes! The funny card ist great as well Linda!
    Thank you so much for sharing your Matisse inspired collage with us at Art Journal Joureny ♥♥♥

    xxx
    Happy T-DAY

    Susi

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  11. Everything looks lovely!!!!

    I could not to that cutting without my glasses - well done.

    Karen x

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  12. I have never jumped on the Tim Holtz bandwagon but BUT i have been watching some videos of the 2015 CHA and i can now say i GET it... He's a great little sales person too.... I'm off to buy some Distress Inks...lol Love your technique and i will definitely give it a go... :) Happy Tday! Hugs! deb

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  13. Love your take on Matisse today, Linda! And, yes, I love to smoosh my cardstock or tags into the distress inks; it is my favorite background to make! Flicking some water droplets over it at the end adds a lot of interest to it also. Your Valentine is super sweet!!

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  14. Cute little cups and steam swirls! The sweet potatoes look so good. I wouldn't have thought to use the tiny plates for spices! I tend to use small dishes to hold paints and inks--LOL! I have seen that technique with the distress inks on the craft mats but haven't tried it yet. Looks like a lot of fun, actually. Happy T-Day! :)

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  15. Love your Matisse inspired picture and you bright Valentine's card! Happy T Day, Chrisx

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  16. I'm impressed with your tiny cutting. I hardly ever use a scissor anymore since I got my digital cutter. We used to have a set of those blue willow plates. Lovely!

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  17. Adorable Valentine, and love the collage inspired by Matisse! great color choices and you've captured the essence of the steaming cup! happy T day!

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  18. Lovely cup art and I love your sweet tiny dishes too!

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  19. I love how your posts are a combination of creative at and creative cooking! That sweet potato dish looks lovely. I've never been a fan if Indian food as I don't like cumin or coriander (cilantro) which is used in abundance in most Indian dishes but I have tried to overcome my dislike since becoming vegan as a lot of Indian foods is vegan friendly. Turns out a dislike of cilantro is linked to certain genes in certain people so i guess I'll never acquire a taste for it! ! Anyway your tea cup collage is clever and i love the colour palette. X

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  20. Love the colors for your Tea collage. Those tiny dishes are too cute! Happy T day!!

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  21. Your teacups are so Matisse-like! He would have loved them.
    A while ago I bought some tiny, pretty dishes to feed my cats on. But now I grab them all the time when I'm cooking. It's so much more efficient to have spices and other small bits already measured and ready to go. Your great grandmother's dishes are lovely!

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  22. Love those cute teacups! The valentine project you created is lovely. :)

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  23. Oh Linda! Those little dishes are such a treasure ♥ Like your art for today also and those sweet potatoes look so yummy. I really need to try out some new recipes again. :)

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  24. Love your Matisse inspired art, and wish I could taste your cooking!

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  25. Ahhhh! Your Valentine card! I love her so much - so sweet and colorful! And I Love love love your little Spode dishes! I collect the blue and white willow patterns just like that! xoxo

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  26. I love your tiny plate from your grandmother.

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  27. Linda your cutouts are stunning and you are very talented in this! I would be not patient enough to do this ;) And aaaah I would love to eat a portion of your sweet potatoe meal! So why not cook my sweet potatoes tonight too? Great idea, thank you! Mix It Monthly ♥ Conny

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  28. Wonderful composition, I like this beautiful "Tea For Two"!

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Thank you so much for your comments; it's a pleasure to connect with you!