The Perfect Latte

The Tea LTC group decided to move on to coffee for the next round. I chose to do my favorite coffee drink-a latte (well, a skim latte with plenty of foam and a raw sugar sprinkled on top in a cup and saucer). The best lattes that I've ever had have been at a sidewalk cafe in Florence, Italy (I guess that one was really a cappuccino, but it was absolutely amazing!) and at a coffee house in Seattle. I love the artwork that the barista creates using milk and espresso. When I worked at a coffee bar in college, I would always try to create swirls and whorls every time I made a latte. I had to incorporate the coffee art somehow into the card. I created the stamp from a photo from the internet. It was absolutely amazing to see some of the coffee art that's been created-flowers, leaves and even a couple of characters from Miyazaki films.

The bottom card is an advertisement for Rajah Coffee from the late 1800s drawn by Henri Meuniere. It was also available for trade in a full-color version for non-trading group members. It was one of those images that the second I saw it , I had to carve it.

My First LTC

Yes, I've gotten into the whole LTC (Letterbox Trading Cards, although I think Letterboxer Trading Cards makes more sense since letterboxers are the ones making them and the stamp might not end up in a letterbox. But what do I know?) craze. It's not surprising really when you consider my little paper fetish. It gives me yet another excuse to buy pretty paper and carve stamps.

The one above can be blamed for getting me hooked on LTCs. It was created for a tea-themed swap last summer. I love carving Asian images and I love how this stamp came out. It's one of those that I just stare at every time I come across it while rummaging through my stamps and think "Did I really carve that?" I hate having it sit in my drawer o' homeless stamps, so I'll have to find a suitable place to hide it. Maybe in or near a Japanese garden. There are six different origami paper backgrounds to this card and I got quite the kick out of asking people which background they received. I had no idea which one I would would receive back, but this red one is one of my favorites. It was one of the patterns in a package of origami paper that I bought at Uwajimaya when I was in Seattle last July. I also love the T'ien Yiheng quote on the back:

"Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world."