Mug Shots

I was going to do a craft post this time but I'm not quite ready with it, next time though. Whilst I was making the tea this afternoon it came to me that I could do a post about mugs instead - not nearly quite as exciting I know but a good filler whilst I finish things off. Tea for Mr. Bloom in the blue mug, and cappuchino (my once a day treat) for me in the pink mug.

These are the mugs we use for everyday, I bought a set of 4 in Matalan a few years ago. I didn't use them for a long time as the handles are disproportionately large, but I've got over that now and they are back in favour again.

There are certain rules about mugs in our household (created by me of course).

Rule 1. Mr. Bloom may only use the blue and yellow mugs for his tea and I use the pink and green ones for my tea.

I have been known to make Mr. Bloom transfer the tea to the correct mug if he has inadvertently used the wrong one. My tea just doesn't taste the same from a blue or yellow mug.

The blue and red stripe mugs used to be the ones used daily until I got bored of them and switched to the spotty ones.

Rule 2. The blue and red stripe mugs are to be used for visitors and must always be given with a saucer.

The pale blue mugs on the top shelf were in a Country Living gift basket I received one Christmas. These were used for a while but are a bit too heavy and chunky for my liking, as is the rose one. I have one Cath Kidston mug, bought at a Car Boot sale for 50p. It never gets used.

We also have various floral china mugs, these were acquired for their looks only.

Rule 3. The pretty floral china mugs are never used, whether for visitors or ourselves as they are too small to get a decent drink of tea, unless the visitor only wants a small tea in which case they can be used.

The white china floral cups aren't really mugs but they are a nice big size and you get a mug's worth of tea from them. They can be used on special occassions and tea tastes lovely out of them.

Lastly, this pretty crinoline lady mug might be mug shaped but it is the size of a cup and therefore useless for tea, it does display prettily though.

Most of the mugs live in a cupboard, the shelf I used to photograph them is one that I use for craft fairs (though I rarely do them these days). It's one of those bamboo type shelves that you see all over the place at car boot sales. I spray painted mine white, backed it with some Laura Ashley wallpaper (stuck to cardboard and stapled to the back of the shelf) and pink check wallpaper on the shelves, which I varnished for durability. I was often asked whether it was for sale.

When in use though, it might have looked something like this:

Just a few things I have been making to take to my stall in Marlborough later this week. I have also been doing some other crafting which I will post about next time. Here's another sneaky look though.

Thank you for your lovely comments about Pickle, writing that post did put me in the doldrums for a while, but I'm out again now.

Hope you are all having a lovely sunny week (so far).

Lucy x