It’s Day 16 of this Advent Calendar/Holiday Countdown with Teanzo 1856.  There are eight days left to shop!  Every year, I tell myself that I’ll start my shopping early, but every year, I end up waiting until the last minute.  (Sigh!)

For today’s artistic inspiration, I am turning to another piece that I received in a 12 Days of Christmas mail art swap.  The artist I’m featuring today is Gwynn Thoma, and she made this beautiful rustic heart ornament for my tree.

This is another one of those ornaments that’s just FUN to discover every year when I start “unwrapping” all my ornaments for the tree.  It’s so cute and there are so many neat little details about it that I seem to keep finding something new about it every year.  I also like the bit of rustic whimsy it adds to my tree.

Another thing that really stood out to me about this particular ornament was the packaging.  Gwynn stitched together little “envelopes out of Kraft paper and adorned them with bits of aged sheet music and a swatch of the burlap that she used to create the heart ornament.  It’s a very clever and lovely package and I love how it “matches” the gift that was tucked inside.

I hope that you guys are enjoying my art “roundup” as well as the countdown to Christmas with teas from Teanzo this year!

Seasonal Relief Herbal Tea

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Tulsi

Where to Buy:  Teanzo 1856

Tea Description:

In India, licorice root is used to soothe sore throats, and the tulsi plant is revered for its many health benefits. In this delicious herbal wellness tea, we’ve combined licorice root and tulsi with a powerhouse of helpers: peppermint, hibiscus, honey bee pollen, and eucalyptus. Not only is the tea delicious, but it is soothing too.  Enjoy this tea hot or iced.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I suffer from seasonal allergies that seem to last all year long now.  I never used to!  Before moving to the Pacific Northwest, I didn’t have allergies.  But I guess with all the pollen in this area, I soon started feeling unwell in the spring with allergy symptoms, but because I never had allergies before, I thought maybe it was something else.

Then I started taking allergy medication and my symptoms disappeared.  At first, I only needed these toward the end of winter, through spring and at the very start of summer.  Then I started needing it through summer.  Now, I need the medication year round or I start sneezing, eyes start watering and I’m just really uncomfortable with my symptoms.

So, I am always looking for a tisane that I enjoy that might help me alleviate my symptoms so that I don’t have to take so much allergy medication.   So when I saw that this was a Seasonal Relief blend, I was excited to try it.

Unfortunately, I’m just not enjoying this one very much.  Perhaps it’s the eucalyptus, but I feel like I’m sipping on liquefied VapoRub.

At first, I enjoyed the peppermint and licorice-y notes, and I could taste notes of tulsi that I enjoyed.  But after drinking about 1/4th of the cup, the flavor of the eucalyptus seemed to build and it got to the point where all I could taste was the eucalyptus and this does not create a very pleasant cup for me.

On the plus side, the hibiscus is not a heavy flavor or texture.  I think that this could be much nicer if maybe there was less eucalyptus, and maybe a little more peppermint and tulsi.

Overall, this just wasn’t my cup of tea.  They can’t all be, though.  Teanzo has had some real winners with this Advent Calender, this just didn’t do it for me, so hopefully tomorrow, we’ll have something yummy!