Tea for Two-sday! Diane and Celeste!

Well friends, after the hurricane hiatus, I am tickled pink to bring you the latest installment of "Tea for Two-sday", where I bring together two creative gals who use different media, have different styles, or are from different parts of the world, and have them over for tea to meet each other and to have all of you meet them...




This week, I am incredibly honored to introduce these two lovely souls to all of you - turns out from closer investigation that they are already blog buddies, so instead of an introduction, this will be more of a reunion of two friends - but hey, who doesn't enjoy tea with an old friend? So, please welcome my friends Diane of Diane Knott's Musings and Celeste of La Rea Rose!


Diane probably doesn't have a clue how big a fan I am of her artwork - I have seen her images and name on calendars and greeting cards and fabrics for a long time now, and she is one of my heroes in the illustration/licensing world - what a talent! What you'll see on her lovely website and blog are beautiful images of Diane's sweet, expertly rendered watercolors and the myriad of products that they grace - like the adorable fabric collection below (just one of many) as well as the cute, cute nautically-themed Christmas cards...and so much more (she's even licensed by Universal like me!). And if that weren't enough, Diane is quite a quilter as you can see from the pumpkin table runner she designed and created. Apparently, this talent runs in the family, because Diane's daughter Holly is an expert quilter - she and Diane have co-authored a book called Quilted Garden Delights with eight incredible garden-themed quilt projects based on Diane's watercolor paintings!


Oh, and since Diane's not really busy or anything ;o) she also beautifully alters vintage bottles and sells them, along with art prints and other goodies in the Etsy shop she runs with Holly. By the way, you can click here to see how you might be able to win that very bottle pictured below!! Please drop by and say hello to Diane for me - I'm sure she would love to have you over for a visit!

(Photos and images courtesy of Diane Knott)
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Please also say hello to one of the sweetest gals in all of Blogland - Celeste of La Rea Rose! Celeste is such an incredibly talented decorative painter - her beautiful work is generously sprinkled with charm and grace and just makes you smile to look at it! Celeste's work has definitely caught the attention of some very high-profile folks - just so happens that Celeste's ornaments have graced the Blue Room Christmas Tree in the White House twice...and she has graced the Blue Room as well, being invited there each time to add her ornaments to the tree!!

Celeste also has a love for all things vintage and regularly scouts her favorite flea markets, tag sales and thrift stores for hidden treasures just waiting to receive new life from Celeste's brush - the cake cover is just one such example of the power of paint in the hands of a person with vision to see what can be in the most humble of objects... You can see (and buy) many, many more examples of her transformations at both her eBay Store as well as her Etsy Boutique!

Oh, and if this all wasn't more than enough, Celeste has an incredible knack (and love) for decorating. Her gorgeous and cozy studio seen below and in this blog feature just makes me want to climb in there and create! What an inspirational space! Click here and here to see two more examples of rooms in Celeste's home that she has lovingly appointed with warm and inviting touches that instantly put you at ease and say "welcome". I hope you will stop by and say hello to Celeste - I guarantee you will receive a warm welcome!

(Photos courtesy of Celeste Schaumburger)

Thanks so much to all of you for stopping by for this installment of Tea for Two-sday - and thank you for your patience as I muddled through the last few weeks and had to suspend this Tuesday fun. Please stop back often - I have SO much to share in the coming days. Plus you never know, I just might be asking YOU to tea!!