Mix and match for tea cup Tuesday

It’s 4pm in England and I’m having my tea, thinking about mix and match and hanging out in the garden.

For my tea I made a lovely mixed up bowl of fresh Greek yogourt, dried fruit and nuts and fresh peach slices drizzled with a little Agave syrup. It tastes even better for being in this beautiful Alfred Meakin celadon green desert plate.

I’ve bought some lovely glass beads and silver bracelets for my daughters to mix and match. These are not Pandora or Troll beads or any other type of that expensive “of the moment” jewellery, but these are silver and hand blown glass and affordable fun.

And the beads remind me of special little treasures, like this little Foley Tulip tea cup.

The thing I really love about this combination is that the cup is pale blue while the saucer is pale green and together they reflect off each other giving depth and unusual colouring. A sort of deliberate mix and match.

I’m thinking about taking out my oils and painting a small canvas later this week and so brought this little painting of the chalk downs and fields to contemplate. I painted this a couple of years ago now.

I’m looking at my sketches in my sketch book, these done with watercolour. I know I love to sketch on odd bits of paper but a pure white piece of paper in a beautiful sketchbook is so lovely to work on sometimes, isn’t it?

And guess what fell out of my sketchbook! My friend Dodi’s beautiful photograph which she gave me for my birthday a few years ago…

And my friend Matt’s beautiful photograph which he gave me for Christmas. Isn’t that shot amazing?

I love other artist’s work, and I especially love collecting works from my friends.

And, speaking of mix and match, this might be the ultimate mix and match. I saved this orphaned tea cup and saucer from the mixed porcelain bin at the little antique store in Burford. They have nothing to do with each other at all. The cup is Royal Doulton and the saucer is marked with a blue M and an embossed “Minton” dating the saucer to 1926.

But don’t they look lovely together?

Not linking with Terri today because the brave girl is having a whole month off from blogging, but linking with Martha who is showing the most exquisite black lacy and red rose tea cup I’ve ever seen! Way to hit the mother load Martha!