Divas de Mayo ~ A Swapping Fiesta! My Goodies!

This is the latest haul of goodies that my PBS Diva Margaret sent me. The Diva's are a group I am a part of through the PBS site. We all share a love of books and get together to chat about anything and everything and also swap goodies.

Recently we have started to have twists to go with our monthly swaps, this time it was...

FESTIVE! You must send at least one item this month you feel is festive. It can be a color (red is festive) or a flower (think Tulip Festival), candles are festive or anything you think is fun and festive. The choice is yours.

Margaret blew me out of the water with the gift she sent!

First I want to share some of the note that she wrote me...

...I tucked some usable packing material that you might be able to use. The odds & ends of yarn are leftover from projects I've made. I keep them and now hopefully you or someone you know can us them. The lace and ribbons also are left form projects....

The Post Script is the best though...

I hope you don't think of the odds and ends as a stupid gift. Please feel free to toss anything you don't use.

So at this point I am highly curious as to what all the "odds and ends" are, so I pull back the tissue paper and OMG I squeal like a little girl!

Have you ever seen a full ziplock bag crammed with so many scrumptious art goodies??? I just couldn't contain myself, I ripped into it right away, completely consumed with the fabulous odds and ends, totally forgetting about the rest of the box thinking there's no way whatever is buried under all that bubble wrap could top this part of the gift.

WRONG!

Yes that is Sugar, my four legged helper, checking out the fabulous odds and ends. She of course found them all worthy and tried to sneak off with one or two. Needless to say she didn't get very far, it's mine all mine!

There was not one, not two, but four tea cups all lovingly wrapped hidden under the bag of odds and ends.

The picture I have at the top of the post shows all four but I've decided to just feature one today and link it to Tea Cup Tuesday this way I'll have three more fabulous cups to share with you over the next few weeks.

Okay so onto the fabulous cup. I selected this one because today is a rather grey and rainy day and this cup, while grey (a fabulous shade of grey) is also very bright, so I hope the sun comes out soon to join me for tea.

There is no stamp on the bottom of the cup but there is a number. I'm pretty sure it is from occupied Japan.

Check out all that gold brushed down the sides, I love that it looks like random brush strokes. And isn't the foot fabulous!

But just wait, the cup is exquisite on the inside, it has a kind of opalescent coating inside that reflects pinks, purples and yellows to match the lovely painted bouquet on the inside. It is going to be so much fun to drink tea out of this and watch the pearly sides and bouquet appear as my tea disappears.

Now onto the saucer, the flowers from the inside of the cup are mimicked here as is the random brush strokes and a bit of the pearlescent shimmer but wow those cut outs! Each cut out is highlighted with gold.

The final detail that I want to showcase is the delicate and lovely handle. I love the mix of swirls with a touch of what I think looks like leaves. And like the rest of the cup it has wonderful gold highlights.

I will cherish this cup and the other three which I'll be showcasing over the next few weeks. This is the first cup I have received from a PBS Diva and I know every time I look at it or use it I'll think of Margaret.

Thank you beyond words!