Every Inchie Monday - HOME

When I read this weeks prompt for the inchie challenge, the saying "Home is where the heart is (or lives)" immediately came to mind. I also remembered all the little drawings the boys used to create of our home, the crooked little house etc, and I wanted the inchie to look as if it was made by a child. Thats my excuse an I am sticking with it, lol. So here you have it, a very simple, nostalgic HOME inchie -


I am almost caught up with all the posts I had missed, I am on yesterday's now. I really didn't have time to comment on the many hundreds of posts I have read over the last couple of days, but normal commenting should resume shortly ;-).

Have a grand day/evening wherever you are, toodlepip xxx

Ah, forgot to mention that I will also have news of the promised GIVEAWAY at the end of the week. Gulp. So much to do, lol. But I am working on it. xxx

Tag Tuesday Challenge - SPOON, late again, sigh

It seems I have spent all my time either on the computer reading blogs or catching up with the various challenges since we got back from France on Saturday. Well, you had the late Every Inchie Monday post this morning, and now you are going to get my late Tag Tuesday Challenge post. This time, we had to use a spoon on our tag, in some form or other.

I decided to use a small vintage mustard spoon on my tag, as it is so dinky and doesn't weigh an awful lot. First, I covered the tag with a piece of kitchen foil. For the background I used an image of a Victorian cruet set, showing the mustard pot with a spoon like mine. I tied the spoon on with silver string and embellished the tag with a piece of lace, a lace flower with MOP button and little crystals. Instead of string or lace I used a small bracelet chain for a hanger on the tag, to keep the metal theme going.


Back to the craft table again now, a new inchie challenge is due today. Toodlepip xxx

Every Inchie Monday Challenge - SOLITUDE

Somewhere in the US it is still Sunday I hope, just. We got back from France Saturday night, but I spent so much time trying to catch up on my blog reading, I only got round to making last week's inchie this morning.

I took this photograph 4 years ago. It shows my youngest son standing next to the cross my husband built to replace the one which had been hit by lightning and burnt to the ground nearly 40 ago. It was quite an emotional day when we raised the cross and it was certainly celebrated in style. The whole neighbourhood was invited, we had a wonderful ceremony when the cross was blessed by the priest and the celebrations went on til late at night ( having started at 10am ). This photo was taken a few days later, with this amazing sunset creating the stunning background, and the silhouette of my son deep in thought providing the perfect picture of peaceful, contemplative solitude. It is one of my most favourite photographs.



That's it, on to the next one now, lol. I'll be back later with another post. Toodlepip xxx

Back from France and Etsy Cottage Colour Party - YELLOW

Yep, we got back to the UK last night, and have gone from glorious summer sunshine to cold and drizzly English weather. We had a great week, I did find one (small) vide greniers not too far from us, we had a geocaching outing which took us up a little mountain we hadn't been to before, and I planted my tomato plants, woohoo! I did take some photos, but I have so much catching up to do, it will probably take me a few days before I get round to posting them.

This morning I started working my way through all the posts I had missed while we were away ( I am still 4 days behind, sigh ) and realised that I am almost out of time to participate in this month's Etsy Cottage Colour Party, with the theme YELLOW.


Ten minutes of frantic searching for yellow vintage stuff finally produced this mixed bag of French and English YELLOW antique and vintage items -

This gorgeous set is Malingware, and I guess it was made to hold soap in the smaller, lidded part and a sponge in the larger one, with the bowl underneath to catch the drips, whilst washing. I love the delicate blue and gold design -


Next up is this vintage box of DMC embroidery threads, which I had found at a French vide greniers, errmm, last year, I think -


oh, and I had forgotten that I used this delicate yellow glass flower to photograph the box with


This Art Deco vase has the most delightful rose design and is a deep, rich golden yellow -


And last but not least is this 19th Century French lampshade cover. I had to stuff it slightly to show the shape of it, as I haven't found a lampshade to fit it (yet) -


That has got to be it for right now. I have an inchie to make before the new challenge goes up tomorrow, a challenge tag to make before the new one goes up on Tuesday, and WHITE photos ( from our week in France ) to sort out for White Wednesday, on Wednesday I guess. Apart from that I have to finish a fabric collage I started before we left, 7 tags to make for a tag book swap organised by the lovely Karla over at Karla's Cottage ( link to the swap is on my sidebar ), photos to edit ( stuff I found at the vide greniers and an Emmaus visit ), photos to take of the stuff I found at the boot fair this morning and a million other things.

Toodlepip xxx

Halfway through packing............. Tag Tuesday STRAWBERRY

Yikes! I was just packing the last bits and pieces for our trip tonight and suddenly remembered that I hadn't made this week's challenge tag yet. I had already missed one a few weeks ago when I was ill and I sure didn't want to miss another one, so I dropped everything and sat down and made my STRAWBERRY tag for this week's Tag Tuesday challenge over the Blog Challenge Garden.

Here it is -

I used a gorgeous label which Heidi had posted along time ago, a piece of vintage French red striped ticking, a teeny bit of red fringeing, and I made a couple of strawberries out of felt and stuck those on as well. All done and it didn't take me all day this time, lol.

Now I am back to the packing, a couple of hours sleep and then the drive to the cottage. YAY.
Back soon, toodlepip xxx

PS - AND JUST BECAUSE I AM SO HAPPY WE ARE GOING TO THE COTTAGE, I HAVE DECIDED TO HAVE A GIVEAWAY WHEN WE GET BACK! ALSO, 300+ FOLLOWERS IS MOST DEFINITELY WORTH CELEBRATING AS WELL. SO WHILE I AM AWAY, HAVE A THINK OF WHAT YOU MIGHT LIKE IN THE GIVEAWAY AND LET ME KNOW IN YOUR COMMENTS!

A gift and a goodbye

My dear friend Sarah of Red Gingham in New Zealand sent me a beautiful gift! I had admired her quirky rabbits for ages, and guess what arrived in the mail? Yep, a sweet little rabbit! A gorgeously girly rabbit!

She arrived wrapped in the loveliest fabric and tied with a bright pink ribbon -


with a sweet pink card -


And here is my beautifully rabbit -


she has a gorgeous flower in her, I was going to say hair, but I suppose its fur, lol -


and she is wearing the cutest little dress, made from a vintage doily -


She is adorable -


I really don't know how you found the time to make this one, as you were so incredibly busy with the Christchurch appeal. Thank you so much, Sarah, for spending precious hours making this little darling for me!

And now for the goodbye bit.........................

We are off to France again for a week or thereabouts, and as I don't have internet access at our cottage, I won't be able to post or read blogs for the next 7-10 days. Make the most of it, lol, I'll soon be back with way too long posts, lol. If I do get the chance to sneak onto friends' computers then I will of course post a quick hello. Perhaps I ought to ask you all to stop posting for a week, lol, otherwise I will be spending DAYS catching up when I get back, tehehee.


Toodlepip xxx

White Wednesday - Victorian Jelly Moulds

Occasionally, when I am at boot fairs, I come across these fascinating Victorian jelly moulds. I love all the wonderful patterns, all so very different, some geometric, some floral. It makes collecting them such fun. Usually they are different shades of white, every now and then I find a brown one. Some are in great condition, others have little chips from being used many times, and some have intricate crazing. But all are beautiful to me.

Here is a selection of mostly white Victorian jelly moulds from my collection -

I am linking this post to the wonderful Faded Charm blog and the 100th White Wednesday post over there. What an achievement!

Toodlepip, xxx