Roosters for Tea Time Tuesday

Welcome Friends to another Tea Time Tuesday. Today I want to share a darling rooster teapot and mug set I found a few years ago while treasure hunting.
Since I like to decorate my Tuscan/French style cottage with roosters, this little set was perfect for a touch of that style.

Made by Bay Island and perfect for times shared by two with coffee, tea or hot chocolate.


To share this set I have displayed it for you with two favorite rooster prints, a collectible hand painted rooster and a darling glass Fitz and Floyd favorite.




Today's treat is a little bowl of raspberry vanilla creme cookies. Delicious with raspberry tea.



Thank you for stopping by for a visit and tea today. Please visit our wonderful hostess Sandi of Rose Chintz Cottage for a list of the many participants and their gorgeous tea sets and accessories. I hope you can stop by again soon as my summer giveaway is coming for August. Till then~~have a wonderful Summer's Day.



Blessings to you from Texas, Celestina Marie

The Praying Hands

Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children.

Eighteen~~ In order merely to keep food on the table for this mob, the father and head of the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at his trade and any other paying chore he could find in the neighborhood.

Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two of the elder children, Albrecht and Albert, had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew full well that their father would never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the Academy.

After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy. Then, when that brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years, he would support the other brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by laboring in the mines.

They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg.

Albert went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate sensation. Albrecht's etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works.

When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht's triumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honored position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition. His closing words were, "And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn.

Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you."

All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over, "No...no...no...no."

Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, "No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look...look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush.

No, brother...for me it is too late."

More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Durer's hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches, watercolors, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer's works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office.

One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother's abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply "Hands," but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love "The Praying Hands."

The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a second look. Let it be your reminder, if you still need one, that no one - NO ONE - - ever makes it alone!


In my home we also own a beautiful praying hands sculpture made by my dear hubby in 1972. While in college, he prepared and cleaned, fired and hand painted this gorgeous ceramic bisque praying hands for my parents that Christmas. They loved it and enjoyed it to the day they left this world. Now we display it in our home here in Texas as a reminder, the power of prayer.

I received this wonderful story from a dear friend who is also a devoted and faithful prayer warrior. I thought it fitting to share it with you today. I hope you have enjoyed this bit of artistic history.
For more information of this incredible artist, visit HERE to read more and view Albrecht Durer's many works.

Have a special Sunday and blessings to you and yours.
Celestina Marie xo

Beach Cottage Inspired! ~By the Sea Dreams~

By the sea, by the sea! Oh I so enjoyed to design and paint these beautiful large oyster shells the other day. I love beach cottage decor and when mixed with pink roses, it's all dreamy.

While treasure shopping last month, I came across these wonderful Oyster shells that I shared in my trip post yesterday. Measuring 4" wide by 6" long. I decided to paint 2 with seaside scenes and roses on the backside, and one, with roses inside and rose bud on the front. These are in my shoppe now with Free Shipping.



Oh how I wish to drift away in this sail boat and return to this rose cottage by the sea. Where roses are planted and the water so blue. Where days are lazy and the nights full of stars that twinkle off the water.



I will dream as I create, with pink roses that grow outside my window.


Also the wonderful Cindy Adkins has an on line magazine and she so kindly featured me last Saturday. Please stop by and view her great blog magazine and visit me and other artists she has featured by clicking on her name.


It's always special to have you visit.
Have a wonderful Summer's day full of Seaside Dreams!XO Celestina Marie

Vacation Days and Treasure Hunts!

I just love day trips and especially those that take me to my favorite antique markets to hunt for great finds for redesign.
My dear guy enjoys treasure hunting with me and has a great eye for just the right items for me to paint, redesign and create with. He even sees goodies I miss. So together we make a great team to go junkin!
Last month we had some extra vacation days, so off to one of our favorite spots in Fort Worth, Texas we went and hit the road with great expectations of treasures to find.


As we traveled our beautiful Texas countryside, we passed scenery like this~

And the Tractor Supply here~

The Silo's there~

The Pink Smoothie here~ which wasn't open even though the sign said it was, but next time it's on my list!!

Finally we arrived at our destination, at this spot with the awesome gazebo in front.
No pictures to be taken inside, so I will see you in the next paragraph with my new treasures.

But first, we stopped for lunch here and had a wonderful time~~



Here are my great finds~~







Can't wait to tackle creations with these goodies.
So homeward bound we go, happy for a wonderful vacation day, past the beautiful countryside.

Past the lake and golf course~


Back home to our waiting Miss Beazy Lee~

Looking forward to more vacation days and I hope you enjoy a few day trips too.
Till next time,
Happy Junkin,
Hugs from Texas, Celestina Marie

BLOG PARTY WHITE CHRISTMAS IN JULY, & A TREASURED STORY FOR TEA TIME TUESDAY!

TREASURED STORY FOR TEA TIME TUESDAY
When I was a little girl, I used to admire a gorgeous treasure when we would visit my dear grandmother, who I always called Nana.
In her kitchen, she had a lovely hutch that stood so grand in the corner of the room. It was not a large hutch, for her kitchen was small and cozy, but it was grand in the eyes of myself, the child who loved pretty things even then.

Through the glass doors I always admired her pretty gold tea pot, sugar and creamer and 6 demi cups and saucers. I thought it was magnificent. Nana told me it was from Italy and a gift brought back to her from a dear friend when visiting her home town of Naples. I knew it was very special to her in just the way she spoke of the treasure.

Nana only used the set for special occasions when company would visit. I remember a time when she had a gathering of her special friends and my mother and I were included. The ladies enjoyed an espresso coffee from the demi cups and of course I was given juice. oh well too young~~~ but I thought I was so important to sit with the ladies while they talked in a mix of Italian and English.

As the years went forth, the treasured set remained secure and beautiful behind the glass doors of the small grand hutch that stood so proud in Nana's kitchen. As I grew older, I continued to admire the set and the special spot in Nana's heart that it would fill. The treasure that came from her home town of Naples, Italy. The town she would never visit again while on this earth. I used to feel sad about that, thinking that my dearest grandmother would never go home again to visit. Back then, it was a world away, expensive to travel and a very long trip by ship. When talking about this to her, she told me, that although she missed her homeland, her home was where her family was now and that was all that was important. That God had blessed her coming to America, and for this, she would always be grateful.

In August my dear best guy and I will celebrate thirtyeight years of marriage. My how the years have flown by. Remembering back to that special time just before the wedding, I visited my Nana often to talk and share my dreams of our wedding and plans of a world to come.
On one visit before the wedding, I walked over to the hutch like I had always done my whole life up to that point and I quickly noticed the treasured gold set with the darling demi cups were missing. "Nana", I said, "Where is the set from Italy?" She motioned for me to follow her into the living room.

As we sat on the pretty light green brocade sofa, she handed me a wrapped box to open. I looked at her puzzled, but proceeded to open the package to find the gorgeous treasured set from Italy inside.
As I began to cry and tell her, no Nana, this is yours and I could never take it. She held my hand and whispered it is for you and will be in your care from this point on. I was so excited, promising I would always take good care of it and cherish it forever. She said, she knew, I would take good care of the set because she watched over the years how I had always admired the delicate beauty of gold.

Yes, I had admired the beautiful set and never imagined it would someday be mine to cherish. I never would have imagined the many years of looking through the hutch with admiration, that I was gazing at a wedding gift. Nana gave me a part of her heart that day and it was in her plan to do so.

Today with my anniversary upcoming, and today, being Tea Time Tuesday, I share this story with you. We calculate the set to be nearly 80 years old. It means as much to me today as it did when I first admired the delicate treasure as a little girl. And today 107 years ago, my grandmother was born, Celestina Marie, July 19th 1904.
Happy Birthday Nana, I love you and miss you everyday!







Thank you for stopping by, sharing my tea time story and letting me invite you to shop Christmas in July at my etsy shoppe here with early treasures with Free Shipping.Blessings for a wonderful summer's day and wishing you the joys of remembering times in your life that are cherished and loved.
With Love, Celestina Marie
Please visit our gracious hostess Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for more tea time participants.

Where Bloggers Create July 15th 2011~ A Blessed Journey Through My Creative Space!

Hello and Welcome Blog friends. So happy to have you visit once again for the 3rd annual party to visit Where Bloggers Create. This is my third time to participate and this year I have some changes and additions to share from my toile studio.

Yes, I still have the toile and it still inspires me each day. You may remember from past WBC, the source for my studio design was from the talented and creative FiFi O'Neil who did her own studio in black toile and it was a feature in Romantic Country a few Springs ago.

With the room rearranged to be more workable, I have a new area to design and write, finish paperwork and positioned to view my gorgeous roses right outside the studio windows.

To be organized is very important to me and I seem to work better when I am not in the middle of a mess as to where supplies are. I have heard it said, this goes against the grain of an artist, but I'm one who just has to have my supplies straight and organized to move forward.

That doesn't mean this space is neat all the time. Just the opposite, in fact, it gets messy and upside down as can be, most of the time. Yes, it is a real working studio with paint brushes galore, water bins, paper towels about and on some days, lots of confusion! But, I love every minute of it, clean up and start all over again.

Finding different and unique ways for storage is always something I am on the lookout for and a few months ago I found a hanging jewelry bag which is perfect for bits and pieces to create with on each side.

Another storage cabinet is fashioned from an old floor standing jewelry box with paint holders and vintage style jelly cabinet. Big old mayo jars hold lots of trims, easily visible.

I call this treasure my "House of Paints" which is a house shaped shadow box my father made for me about 20 years ago. It holds nearly 200 bottles of paint, easy to see and handy.

On the back wall, I have cabinets which also hold tons of stuff and above those cabinets even more stuff in coordinating file boxes. You see, I have lots of stuff to create with, but it's all organized stuff. You get my stuff? LOL~~ LOL!

Before this room was my studio, it was a third car garage, converted, so the bank of cabinets covers the sealed garage door. Except for the garage door runners, you would never realize it was a third car garage converted. It really never held a vehicle for I claimed this space when we first moved in this home nearly 16 years ago.

Vintage large pink lazy susan holds many paint brushes ready to swing ~~ all placed in my love for Lucy mugs.

The Paris cup holds my favorite brushes ready to create with!

My sweet Miss Beazy Lee wants to say hello. She is waiting for her little window lizard friend to visit her today. I hope he comes to say hello. It is very HOT here in Texas.


~~One of my favorite quotes was said by my father many years ago. He said, "Find what you love to do, and you will never work another day of your life"So I hand painted this quote above the wall of windows here in my studio.
I see it daily as I create, remembering, doing what one truly loves is a joy and pleasure, a blessing and gift from God. It hardly seems like work. The quote continues across the wall above the windows and chandy.


Paint shirts hang from a vintage coat stand and of course, a Texas studio must have a pink Cowgirl Hat with a Crown! and the crown lights up too!

This special place to create is full of art and music, keepsakes stored in pink rose cases and a Dream board for holding momentos. Yes, this girlie girl loves La Job!



Of course with any business, there has to be a place for the computer work, tending the shoppe and blogging. So my desk area and office machines fill a wall by the door with under and over cabinet storage for paperwork and supplies.


Now moving on, I'll take you to a few more areas that have become additions to my creative space with much needed room to grow.
As we take one last look here~~

We leave this room, past my store room that holds many treasures waiting for a redesign. A storage room where my treasures found on junkin trips will live before they reach my creative space.

As we walk past the store room, we will also pass by my little shipping department. The place my creations stop before they leave for another home.

And, before pretties get wrapped and shipped, the newest treasures will line the shelves in my etsy shoppe right here. I call this "La Cottage Closet" full of hand painted and created treasures for the home and gift giving.

Our last stop takes us to my newest area for creating. I think of this as my extension to my studio being just a few steps away from where I paint.
It is for sewing, creating, planning and also holding lots of storage in unique ways.
I am just beginning to put this space to the best use as I add new designs to my line in the coming year.
I love this old vintage printer box to hold thimbles, next to a gorgeous toile paper doll made by my friend and blogger, the talented Marie Antoinette. Shelves full of supplies, inspirational books and design board with handy tools easy to reach. The toile pillow bed under the work table is for Miss Beazy. Of course she has to have a designer bed, right?!






More storage drawers underneath the work table with toile panels, which I created to neaten the clutter.

A new and useful much needed sink my Best Guy built. It is wonderful to clean paint brushes and make tea stained lace and has lots more storage underneath.

A romantic and French inspired area for storage with pull down ironing board and corner cabinet to hold decorative treasures. Altered art glass canisters and more collector thimbles. Some I collected and others I hand painted all live here. The sign above reads "Our Family is BLESSED by the grace of God"




We've come to the end of my creative space party tour and Where this Blogger Creates.
I so enjoyed having you visit to share in a bit of my world. Before I get back to some designing, I invite you to visit Karen our awesome hostess, at My Desert Cottage where she has the list of participants this year on her right sidebar. Many bloggers have shared their studios and creative spaces. It will probably take the rest of the summer to visit everyone. How fun it will be to see the special places used to create. Thank you Karen for all you do to make this day so special for all those sharing their creative space. And, I want to say a special thank you to my wonderful husband and son for all the support you give me in my artful and creative journey. Because God blessed you, you have blessed me to enjoy a journey that is my pure joy.
Also, a big thanksgiving to my many wonderful customers throughout the years. You have encouraged, inspired and brought me more joy then you will ever know. You have truly blessed me and given me wings to soar.
Until we meet again, I'll be creating, painting, designing, filling the shelves of my rose inspired shoppe and having fun not working.


Love from Texas and Celestina Marie

"Find what you love to do, and you will never work another day or your life" Thank You Dad!
Where Bloggers Create 2011.