A new page in the calendar...

Having worked recently on a website I'll share with you shortly, the notion of posting to this blog floated to the top of my list.  I think I still have very little to say that's meaningful, but to distract you from that, I'll try and post some pretty pictures...

Some time about mid-summer, not having my calendar pages for the next year becomes intolerable.  So I haunt Staples until the Day Runner Month-at-a-Time refills are in, and once purchased, begin filling in many of the little boxes.

But then, sometime about October, the blog posts about wall calendars begin appearing, and I start planning my purchases.

Here are the calendars I know will grace my walls this year:

The Collectible Teapot.  I've purchased these every year since the late 90s.  These are the only calendars I can't bear to recycle at the end of the year.  This one lives in my kitchen.

This is a new purchase this year.  It will hang in the bedroom.  I think the cover shot is the best one in the calendar, but it will be fun to see the others each month.  I also might need that dress.

This one is a mini-calendar for my office.  Every year when I see this line of calendars in the store, the images are drool-worthy.  My kitchen does not look like this.

This calendar was an impulse buy from Once Upon A Paper.  It came in the form of a digital download - a 32-page PDF that has the calendar formatted in about 4 ways for your printing pleasure.  Each month is a tree in a similar format to the image above.  I've printed out two months per 8.5x11 page on white card stock, and then an 11x17 poster size for work.  Beautiful!


Which calendars are destined for your walls in 2013?

Color Stripes...

Some time ago, I posted about my first Etsy purchase, a calendar from Kris's Color Stripes. I've just now bookmarked Kris's blog of the same name. Kris takes images and parses them out by color, like the one below:

I love this idea, have used it in some of the cards I make, and mean to do more of it. Sara Midda, one of my favorite watercolorist, uses this technique in her South of France book:

I love the idea of thinking about the color palette of an image, a wardrobe, a space. Mine would be black and purple and red/burgundy with occasional forays elsewhere.

A warm drink and a good book

Jenny once commented that my household is full of little collections. Or big collections. And she's right: rubber stamps, teapots, posy vases, Anne Taintor magnets. And tea books. I have a lot of them. Eighty-eight at the last count, including the little gifty ones and a few that are little more than pamphlets.

(Jenny points out that she actually said that my household is full of collections of little things, like said posy vases.)

The tea book collection started while I was in college. I'm sure Susie had books about tea before me, but I loved the illustrations in the books, and of course, the very event of the tea party, which we had to one degree or another most nights during school, and mostly in my room.

The collection grew slowly, winning me a 2nd prize book collector's award at graduation. And I haven't really stopped since. And now I have 88. Scary. Scarier still that there are 14 books on my list that I would love to add to my collection if I find them!

I have many favorites, but here are some highlights:

Tea at the Blue Lantern Inn - A social history of tea room - fascinating!
The Agony of the Leaves - Good book all round, but I especially like the bits about the author introducing good tea to Chez Panisse
A Decent Cup of Tea - an early one, written by a many with spicy opinions
A Proper Tea - good, solid recipes and fun party ideas
The Book of Korean Tea - most intriguing new book - Thank you Susie and MamaMooseNose

Next to read from the collection: Tea with Jane Austen

The tea book collection has expanded to include some off-shoots: books about entertaining and table-setting, manners, coffee, baking, jello dessert (it's just a thing, don't ask), flower arranging.

What does all of this say about me? What are your suggestions on how I can harness my craft lovin', tea drinkin', book collectin' ways into a career path. May I arrange your flowers for you?