Tea With The Doctor

These are tea cups I painted for the Reddit Doctor Who exchange. I got really excited when I saw that my match was a tea lover. I thought it'd be great to make a Doctor Who themed tea set. I brainstormed for a while what to.

I came up with four designs that I thought wouldn't be too hard to paint. I then went searching for a canvas and ended up buying a set of Gracie China, Ruffle Collection tea cups. The ruffled saucers are beautiful! I ended up dropping the first set I bought and broke a cup. (skillllz)

Luckily the second set I ordered came quickly and now I had back up cups in case I really screwed up painting. My next step was to figure out what kind of paint I needed for porcelain. The good people at Michael's suggested Martha Stewart's Glass Paint. I used the Michael's app to get 40% off a set of the gloss opaque paints which I thought had all the colors I needed. WRONG. After starting to paint the Union Jack, I realized what I thought was red was actually orange and what I thought was black was dark brown. Thankfully I had some extra cups!

I used the Martha Stewart Spray Paint System to paint all the saucers black. It was kind of like using magic! I didn't get the ratio of paint to primer right at first and it was a little runny, but I got the hang of it eventually. Then I used a toothbrush to flick yellow, orange, and blue specks on the plates to make them look like SPACE.

After letting the paint dry for a day, I hand painted the DW TARDIS on each saucer - some of them turned out better than others.

I originally tried using masking tape to cover up the white spots for the windows but when I peeled the tape off, a lot of the paint came with it. I ended up just repainting it by hand.

I also painted phrases on the bottom of each tea cup. The brushes I bought were nice because they had a VERY fine tip so that helped with the writing.

As you can see, my lines aren't all that straight, but I figured that way people will know they're hand made. I'm not sure if my Dalek cup is really recognizable - I wish the handle looked more like a toilet plunger - but I think the Exterminate! makes it better. 

This is probably my favorite one of the four. You can't really tell, but for each cup I painted the same design on both sides. I also thought the handle on the 10th's cup was looking a little lonely, so I added some 3D glasses. 

The paint takes 21 days to cure - or you can bake them for 30 minutes. Afterwards, they're supposed to be dishwasher safe. Though I'm not sure I would actually trust them in the dishwasher.

Oven time!

So that's the basic rundown of the Doctor Who tea set! I have 2 tea cups left that aren't broken/painted with an orange Union Jack so I think I may have to paint myself a TARDIS and 10th Doctor mug. And maybe throw a bow-tie somewhere in there. 

Wednesday Review: Martha Stewart Halloween Handbook

I have both the 2010 and 2011 Martha Stewart Halloween Handbooks. You can buy them almost anywhere that sells magazines. It is a little more pricey - but TOTALLY worth it. 

What I Like:

* EVERYTHING. She has the perfect mix of costumes, decorations, food, and templates for all of the above are of course included!

* Every year she dresses as something new and they are all awesome. I was googling past issues and she has done some creepy stuff!

* Martha really knows how to commit to a theme. Want spiders? (NO! who would EVER want those!?!?) Bats? Mice? For each she has different decorations and ideas on how to transform a whole room around the one subject. 

* There is a good mix of complicated and easy. The stuff in this magazine is not kitschy - it is done by professionals, and teaches you step by step how to do the same. However, I definitely don't have time to do all of the complicated projects. Luckily there are dozens of easy and equally cute ideas.

* All of the pumpkin carving ideas are amazing. Some include painting them, stacking them snow-man-style to create families of pumpkin people, and using Christmas lights to make them look like hedgehogs.. I mean the genius just never ends!

Seriously - if you love Halloween as much as I do - then just get one of her books - you will not regret it!

Wednesday Review: Martha Stewart Living

I realize this isn't a book but the February issue of Martha Stewart Living arrived in the mail yesterday and I can't stop looking through it! With sections on Healthy Living, Beauty, Cooking, Homekeeping, and Technology there's a ton of information you can glean from this magazine.

Each issue starts with "Martha's Month" a calendar with "gentle reminders, helpful tips, and important dates" for the month. Feb 1 - "Look through photos to determine which can be framed for Valentine's Day gifts." This is how Martha stays on top of her 'A' game. Though I am surprised that "plan menu for Super Bowl party" is 2 days before the actual Super Bowl. Maybe Martha is a procrastinator deep down inside just like me! She also suggests when to sow and plant seeds for different plants. (Something I would love to get into!) Some of the suggestions on the calendar however are things that will never ever apply to me: "Order baby chicks for the chicken coop."

There are great recipes inside with eye-popping pictures and step by step instructions. They even include detachable recipe cards for some of them. Nutritional information is provided as well which is always a plus for me.

I'm in full Valentine's mode (if you couldn't tell by yesterday's post) so my favorite section is on make-it-yourself Valentines. There are tips and how-to's for accordion cards, garland cards, and plain illustrated cards. A great thing about Martha Stewart is all of the templates are included online and there is also a "Workbook" section in the back for more step by step instructions on crafts found throughout the magazine.  I think I will round up all the Victoria's Secret tissue paper I can find to try to make the wall heart from the cover.

Martha is definitely the hostess with the mostest. She has wonderful tips about throwing parties and how to give them that extra "wow-factor." I love this magazine and look forward to seeing it in my mailbox every month!