A Tea Party in January

Welcome to another Tea Cup Tuesday.

Here we are in the middle of January and although we are having a bit of a thaw where I live, and my daffodils are poking up through the ground, I KNOW the cold will return.  So I thought I would bring out some floral tea cups to enjoy now that we don't have any flowers growing outside.

This week I have chosen two cup and saucer sets from my shop that I like very much.  They are even "sort of" similar in that they have numerous different flowers all around.  However one is the typical transfer ware pattern and the other is partially handpainted.

I am showing them on a tray with a pretty little doily underneath.  And including two porcelain flower vases.

The cup and saucer on the left is from Crown Staffordshire and is partially handpainted.  I love this one because it has a pretty little pansy on it, one of my favorite flowers.

For information on Crown Staffordshire china you can check out this eBay guide by clicking here.

I am assuming the painted on letters and numbers indicate the artist who added the paint.

This next one is shown on the right on the tray.

   .  It is fromOld Royal China. The pattern name is Swansea.

  From information I can gather Old Royal China was part of a company called Sampson Smith ltd. 

Click on the name to learn more about it.

This company had several names and one was Old Royal China. and this

 particular china pattern has a mark from c.1930-1941.  

 

 So join me for a cup of tea today and then visit the other tea parties that are taking place today.

 Here is the list of other tea parties in which I am taking part. 

 http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com 

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

                                                          
                                                              Rose Chintz Cottage

                                                 http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/

http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/

Folk Magazine blogging #2

I am back with the Folk Magazine Blogging Challenge of the Week

For this week they were wondering about what have you done you didn't think you would ever do.
At first I couldn't even imagine what to say about this.  I suppose you could say I NEVER thought I would go to a Nascar race and now we go to at least 1 a year and have been up to 4 one year.
I won't be riding motorcycles, jumping out of planes or any of those supposedly really "scary"  things.  I don't even like to fly in an airplane.  I would certainly never jump out of one.....   LOL

  However, I have started to simplify my life a bit.
So I suppose you could say I never expected to be willing to part with issues of old magazines that I loved.  Or books on subjects I "might" want to get back to. 

Last year I started a purge of unwanted items from my house and that got me to thinking about why on earth I am keeping some of this stuff (magazines in particular) especially since so many ideas are available on the internet.
SO.....  I started getting rid of magazines. They have always been one of  biggest weaknesses.  Some people like shoes, I like magazines.

Over the summer I got rid of well over 100 magazines, crafts ones mostly.  At first I went through all the magazines, pulled out what I wanted to keep and threw away the rest.  In the past few weeks I have been giving many of them away on Freecycle. (These are ones that I left intact.)  It feels good to have them go to someone who will appreciate them now. In case you were wondering, some of these magazines have been around since we lived in Maine, over 15 years ago!
This week I am getting rid of magazines likes Cook's Illustrated, Cuisine at Home and other similar ones.  I have taken out the recipes I want and they will go in a loose leaf notebook.  The others I am offering to my shop customers if they want them.  And then finally they will go to recycling.  If feels good to suddenly have empty spaces appearing!
So that is what I am doing that I never thought I would do!

What are you doing that you never thought you would do?