Midwest Tea Fest 2015: Part 2 – The Haul!

Now on to Part 2 of my ‘review’ of the Midwest Tea Fest! Oh, what goodness lies ahead!

TeaHaul1What kind of tea person would I be if I did not take home a massive haul of tea back with me? I packed very light for the trip, but brought a giant suitcase to hold it all in. When it was all packed tightly away, I just made the cut off size for a checked bag. 49.5lbs of nothing but tea, teaware, and toothpaste!

I know how it looks, there is a lot more teaware than there is tea. I waited too long to snag anything, and a lot of the teas being sold were essentially all gone. But! I fell in love with more teaware than I think is healthy for just one person. It was pretty crowded around all of the booths the majority of the time, it was a madhouse! Just watching the folks at the Queen’s Pantry feverishly weigh and pack all the teas that were flying off the ‘shelves’ was almost nauseating. I overheard the people at Shang Tea how they only prepared for 300 people, and there was easily twice as much in attendance.

TeaHaul2The few teas you see are mostly samples, the Rishi and Harney were in my goodie bag, and I got samples of Pomegranate white and gunpowder mint from Single Origin. I did purchase Single Origin Tea’s Jun Chiyabari, the last one on their table. There is a small round tin of Bingley’s 10yrs Oven Roasted Aged oolong, and I did pick up some of Shang’s Aged White. (Not at the actual festival though, I took the short walk to Crowne Plaza to their brick and mortar store to pick some up, they were not selling them at the fest.)

TeaHaul3I ended up doing something I never do, and that is indulge in any whim I had along the way. I bought three pieces from Pi Ceramics, a sweet goblet cup, a cha hai (sharing pitcher) for gongfu, and a short and stout kuysu! They are great looking pieces and have a good home here with me. I bought another sharing pitcher from Bingley’s, as well as a small glass teapot. The two small white cups are from Shang Tea, as well as the white infused mug, and the Tea Seed Oil. (Fun Fact: Tea Seed Oil has a smoke point of 455F. You could healthily fry with it!)

The two books you see are the darlings of my collection from the fest. The first is Nichole’s own book, Tea Log: Chronicle your journey of Tea which a very useful tool I know I will be filling up very quickly. And the hardcover 30th edition of Tea Lover’s Treasury by James Norwood Pratt was signed by the legend himself. I was overjoyed by the welcoming attitude he and his wife Valerie had towards everyone they talked to.

PRODUCT REVIEW: Vintage China Clipart Set from Zboooh Design Studio & MyGrafico

Product:

Romantic old fashion vintage china clip art set available in JPEG, PNG, and EPS Format.

Designer:

Zboooh Design Studio

Where To Buy:

MyGraficO

Direct Link to this product in their shop is located HERE

Product Description:

Romantic old fashion vintage china clip art set, ideal for crative paper craft for invitation cards or any other card designs. Retro pots ant teacups with original retro stylish decoration.

Format: EPS (editable with  Adobe Illustrator,  Corel Draw)

300dpi JPEG and 300dpi transparent PNG

Product Review from TeaEqualsBliss:

Anne and I are not only into tea and writing we are both into arts and crafts.  A couple of weeks ago we were chatting about a few new features to SororiTEA Sisters and we decided to include Tea Related Art and Crafting Supplies and Outlets within our Product Reviews!

We felt there was a lack of joining the two interests – Tea and Arts/Crafts – online and on other Tea Review Sites so we decided since we try and include anything and everything TEA here at SororiTEA Sisters we would incorporate them here from time to time.

I have been a fan of the designers over at MyGraficO for quite some time!  I have been and are on a few design teams and can’t get enough of their Digital Stamps, Clip Art, Digital Papers, etc.  Lately I have noticed that MyGraficO has one of the better selections of Tea Related Digital Arts & Craft Components online.  This made me VERY HAPPY!

As you can see from the images above I decided to make a card from this set!  I make at least 3 Handmade Cards a week and I’m always looking for Tea Clipart and Digital Stamps to incorporate in my projects!  I have been getting into some hybrid and altered paper projects as well and I’m sure I will blog about that down the road.  There are some really neat things you can do with these sets!  I have made Tea Swap Envelopes, Packages, Storage Containers, Album Title Pages, Altered Boxes and Tins, the list goes on and on!

Anyways, I hope you like my first card.  And I hope you take a moment to visit MyGraficO!  There are TONS of things on that site!  The Designers are great and the shop owner is even a TEA FAN herself!

If you would like to read more about Digital Stamps – what they are – and how to use them – take a look at this article!

Stay tuned to SororiTEA Sisters for more Tea Related Arts and Crafts along with more Tea Product Reviews!