Fourth Tea Cup Tuesday in April

Another Tuesday, another Tea Cup,  well, three actually.

While visiting my daughter for Easter we found a couple of yard sales to visit on the Saturday we were there.
AND I found some Cup and Saucers to buy.  I was very interested in these because they are from Canada.  My husbands family is from New Brunswick so we always enjoy finding things that represent that area.

This group represents the Canadian Provinces.  The first cup and saucer is one by Paragon that shows all the Provinces and their coat of arms and emblems. This shows the 10 provinces but doesn't mention the three territories.  Maybe they don't have emblems and coat of arms.

Since we have a lot of family in New Brunswick I will show the cup and saucer from the province of New Brunswick first.  It is a Royal Albert teacup and saucer, always a favorite of mine.

I noticed, on the bottom of the New Brunswick cup and saucer,  the mention of "The Loomcrofters."  They are the company that created this particular tartan.  I can't tell you a whole lot about it however I have visited the Loomcrofters.  They are located in a small town called Gagetown that is located on the St. John River.  Just up the road a bit from where my husband's family is from.  We have visited Gagetown many times and visited the Loomcrofters on a couple of different occasions. I know bought a couple of things from them but it was a long time ago and don't remember exactly what but I do remember doing it. 

I found this information on CanadianTartans.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW BRUNSWICK
New Brunswick was named in honour of King George III, who was from the House of Brunswick. Designed by the Loomcrofters company in Gagetown - a village on the Saint John River - the tartan was adopted as the official tartan by a provincial Order in Council in 1959. The tartan is registered at the Court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms of Scotland.
The colours are forest green for the lumbering; meadow green for agriculture; blue for the coastal and inland waters; and an interweaving of gold, symbol of the province's potential wealth. The red blocks signify the loyalty and devotion of the early Loyalist settlers and the New Brunswick Regiment.
The brown band commemorates the 'beaver' from Lord Beaverbrook, the press baron who commissioned the first weaving. Although not born there, he published his first newspaper in the province at the age of 13 and always regarded it as home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 I found one for Cape Breton where I have never been. (It is an island off the coast of Nova Scotia and a part of that Province.)  I already had this little tray to match.  I think I bought it in Canada on our last visit.  It is a different maker but the design is identical. The cup and saucer is Royal Albert, once again, a favorite of mine. 

  And the little tray is made by Adderley.

And here is the information, again from CanadianTartans.com about this Tartan.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CAPE BRETON
Cape Breton Island lies off the southeast shore of the province of Nova Scotia, and is a part of that province. But like most Easterners, Cape Bretoners are an independent lot who take pride in their unique heritage.
In 1907, Mrs. Lillian Crewe Walsh, of Glace Bay, Cape Breton, wrote a poem in praise of Cape Breton. She gave that poem to a Mrs.Grant in 1957 who designed a tartan that reflected the poem.
Grey for our Cape Breton Steel
Gold for the golden sunsets shining bright on the lakes of Bras D'or
Green for our lofty mountains,our valleys and our fields
To show us, God's hand has lingered
To Bless Cape Breton's shores.


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I hope you have enjoyed seeing the items I had to show you today.  

After you visit my post   be sure to check out  these other tea posts today.  And please come back again next week!

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

or http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com

   ALSO: Rose Chintz Cottage

The Prince of Pillows

Recently our male cat Bentley was found up on our bed surrounded by decorative pillows.  Doesn't he look prince like.  He definitely lives up to being a Siamese by considering himself quite royal!

Caramel Corn

My daughter's wonderful mother in law has given us a gift of a big tin of Caramel Corn for the last couple of Christmases.  My daughter decided to make some on her own and got the recipe.  Then I asked for the recipe and now I am making it. 
The reason I am writing about this is because this week I made it a MUCH easier way, thanks again to my daughter.
When visiting her at Easter she had her wonderful husband make some for us while we were out yard sailing.  (Yep we even yard sale when visiting her.)
Upon our return we got to enjoy the results and learned that they used an AIR POPPER to pop the corn.  Wow, what a difference in the popcorn.

 So we ordered an Air Popper for ourselves and once it arrived I set about to make some Caramel Corn the NEW way.

And here is the outcome........

It is YUMMY, cheaper to make than to buy and tastes better too. And using the air popper it is fast! 

NO, I won't be sharing the recipe since it isn't mine to give out but I'm sure you can find it on the internet.

Third TeaCup Tuesday in April.

 Since we are well into spring now  there are pretty little wild violets sprouting up all over my yard.  Even after mowing you can still see many of them.  Since I love violets and have been enjoying them I thought I would feature them here on Tea Cup Tuesday.  
This is another one of the Cup and Saucer sets I found at the flea market a couple of weeks ago.  Didn't buy it but did take pics.

 Sorry about that shadow.  I just couldn't get a decent picture in that view but I wanted you to see the shape.

 In this picture you can see the side better.

 And finally the mark.  It is Old Royal Bone China made in England.  A search of the internet didn't give me any specific info.  Perhaps one of you reading this will know.

And finally, here is a pretty little Violet tea set.  I was snapping pictures so fast I totally forgot to check out the mark.  It is a very dainty sized set.  The china itself is pretty sturdy though.


So, I hope you have enjoyed all the pretty violets.
 
After you visit my post today be sure to check out  these other tea posts today.

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

or http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com

   ALSO: Rose Chintz Cottage

Crafting with old maps

 

I just can't get myself to throw away this old road atlas after we bought a new one.  If has served us well but maybe a bit too well since it is falling apart and hard to use sometimes..
 (Yes we still use maps because GPS can occasionally prove itself WRONG and at least with the map as back up we have a better idea where we are!  Mapquest isn't much better by the way.  Sometimes we end up having to use all three but that is a story for another day.... LOL)

      I went to the search engines to find some ways to use them in crafts.  Anyone with other suggestions?  
Be sure to come back later to see what I finally figured out. (if anything)

http://www.favecrafts.com/Christmas-Crafts/Around-the-World-Map-Ornament
http://greenkidcrafts.com/crafting-with-old-maps/

These are some of the ideas I found. 

1. Maps make great envelopes! Just use an envelope template, and you're ready to rock! Since your address info might not show up so well on the busy map paper, you may need to use a label for the address. You can use a sticky label or cut labels from reclaimed, plainer paper and glue stick them onto your envelopes.
2. Make glue-free bunting. We've talked here before about making your own party decorations. Next time you're planning a shindig, you can use an old map to whip up some glue-free bunting to decorate!
3. Map tree centerpiece. This lovely paper tree would look great if you cut the leaves out of old maps!
4. Create a map cork board. Over at Design*Sponge, the BBB Craft Sisters show you how to turn an old road map into a super sassy cork board.
5. Weave a map basket. The folks at Make:Projects show you how to weave old maps into a functional basket.

Second Tea Cup Tuesday for April

For this tea cup Tuesday I will be sharing pictures of some tea cups and saucers that I saw at a Flea Market recently.  Because I can't buy every single cup and saucer I find I do at least like to take pictures to remember them by.

The cups and saucers for this week are ones I found all at one table.  

 This first set is a hand painted beauty.  It's mark says that it is from Occupied Japan.  If you want to know more about occupied Japan and what it means check out these sites.
  http://www.occupiedjapan.net/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Japan

Another interesting cup and saucer set is this one.  It is apparently one from Avon collectibles.  Unfortunately according to the mark on the bottom it is not useable for drinking tea, just for putting on a shelf and looking at it.

Here is a nice Royal Albert cup and saucer.  RA will always be my favorite bone china maker!  This one must have been older... it doesn't have the name of the pattern on it.

And finally here is a little, probably demitasse type cup.  It was made in Japan.  

I have never seen the mark before. But the cup is very pretty.  I tried to find out about this type of china but never did.  Maybe someone else out there knows something about it.

After you visit my post today be sure to check out  these other tea posts today.

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

or http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com

   ALSO: Rose Chintz Cottage

Another Wednesday, another flea market

Yes, we went to our favorite Wednesday flea market yesterday, in Leesport, PA.  The weather was supposed to be iffy but it turned out to be a beautiful day, sunny and mild temps.  And the place was loaded with dealers so there was lots to see.    Click here to see their homepage.

There were pansies, tulips and other spring flowers everywhere for sale.  So pretty and spring like fresh.  I bought a few little pansies to put in one of my gardens.  I will probably wait another couple of weeks before I buy anything else.  I usually make my big garden purchases around Mother's Day.

I didn't buy a whole lot of other things but enjoyed seeing all the things that were available.  I did see a lot of cups and saucers so I will feature them on Teacup Tuesday.  But here are some of the other things I found.

These little Amish Dolls caught my eye.  This area has a large Amish and also Mennonite population  so it isn't a surprise to find the dolls.

 I thought the use of this buggy to hold some flowers was a clever idea.

 If you need some planters this was the place to be.  I admit it, I bought several!

 Here was one of the table where there were a lot of pretty spring plants.

 

And I did buy some of the veggies.  Always a great selection.

And finally a Mantle.  No fireplace at our house but if we had one, this would be nice.

I hope to get to another flea market over the weekend.  If I do I will report next week.  Also check back on Tea Cup Tuesday.