Prayer Flag (JAN, DON'T PEEK )

Before I show you photos of the prayer flag I made, just a quick note about yesterday's post. 

Well dang and blast, lol, I really thought one of you would know what that second lot of weird white bits could be. I was banking on it, lol. The first photos are fairly easy. When you think of France, you have to think of food, the French LOVE their food. Typical French food - snails! Very often after a good long rain, you will see the farmers out and about along the lanes or the fields with big buckets, collecting the snails. Hmm. They can keep them, lol. Anyhoo, these little white pots are for cooking snails in the oven, as shown in this photo, which I found on Google images -

BUT...... I have no idea what the other white thingies are. Still, I don't mind, I love their shape, they are tactile and they look great displayed. 

Now on to the prayer flag. A little while ago, I saw a post on Jan's blog Jan's Arty Junk about prayer flags. You can see the post and the lovely  prayer flags she created here. She asked whether anybody else was interested in a prayer flag swap and I had to say me me me of course. Errrmm, what exactly are prayer flags? I jumped in there without knowing anything about them, but Jan pointed me in the right direction and a one on one swap was agreed. We both thought a surprise one would be nice, no theme. Now, living (part time) in this beautiful area of France, I had to chose Nature. And as preserving nature for future generations is so important, the key word for me had to be PRESERVE -

It is on the way to Jan now, shouldn't be long before it gets there. Can't wait to see the prayer flag she is making for me.

Toodlepip xxx

A Whiter Shade of Pale

When I was thinking about a title for this post, the old Procol Harum song, A Whiter Shade of Pale, popped into my head. And I now I can't get it out of there, lol. Ah well, its a good tune, so I don't mind really.

I promised you two White Wednesday ago, that after all the French lace posts, I would post something totally unlacy, unfabricy and unbuttony.  Still lovely old shabby brocante finds though.  Lets see whether you can guess what these things are. 

Lets start fairly easy -

I think these little whatsits would look so sweet on a dinner table, next to each plate, with a small white blossom in it. Or in the studio, filled with little oddities.

Getting difficult now -

I am linking the post to WHITE WEDNESDAY NO. 167 at the wonderful FADED CHARM blog. Thanks to Kathleen for enabling us to check out so much gorgeous whiteness.

Tomorrow, I'll post pics of the prayer flag I made for a swap with Jan, so JAN, DON'T PEEK!!!

Toodlepip xxx

My mail man is working hard

He had to come all the way up the hill again this week to bring me another package. And OMG, what a package!!!

Let me explain a little first. Errm. I love fabric journals. Well, I love the idea of fabric journals. The thought of making one scares the pants off me. Never held one in my hands, never made one, but have always hugely admired the fabric journals my bloggy friends have shown on their blogs. Especially Suzy's journals, they are in a class all of their own. Whilst skyping quite a while ago, I mentioned to her that I would like to make one, a mermaid one, as I love the watery blues and greens, and she sent me the most amazing fabrics. Now don't get too excited YET, because this was just before we came to France when I was really busy, and of course I didn't photograph them. DARN.

But, I also mentioned my mermaid fabric journal plans to Julia from Vintage with Laces last week when we were skyping, and she wanted to send me a few bits for my journal as well. And it was her package which arrived this week. Can I say OMG again? When you see what she had sent me, you will understand why it took me absolute ages to unwrap things. The way she wraps and embellishes her gifts is just so beautiful. And boy, did she nail the watery blue green theme I am aiming for! Ok, I'll just shush now and show you the photos, they say it so much better than I can, lol -

The box -

The beautiful tag -

The altered matchboxes filled with goodies -

Gorgeously soft paper pouches filled with fabrics, fabric images and trims -

And once I had taken everything out, I could see the beautiful lining of the box, which is a real treasure in itself -

Aren't these just the most gorgeous blues? I managed to get some photos taken in between thunderstorms. After the heatwave we had a couple of days with one thunderstorm after another.

I tell you something though, the pressure, the pressure!!!! Lol, What if I am not up to the task? What if I make a horrid mess of the journal? I just can't get my head round how to actually construct it. Poor Suzy has tried her best to explain it to me, lol, but I am so much better at WATCHING and learning. Still trying to talk her into making a video which we can buy, tehehehe. This is going to be my major project for when I get back to England.

Gotta get back into the kitchen, we have friends coming over for 'Apero' later on. 

Toodlepip xxx

The lady in white

Once again, I am joining Kathleen for WHITE WEDNESDAY No. 166 at the Faded Charm blog. At the last brocante I went to, I found this white statue of St. Theresa. It is beautiful. I love to touch it because it is so smooth and rounded and tactile, and the stone it is made from is wonderful to touch. I don't know what it is, the stone glitters a little in the sunlight and is softish. Perhaps calcite,hmm. 

I would love to know exactly what it is she is made of, so if you have an idea, do let me know.

It seems that at one point she had been painted, there a tiny remnants of the paint visible, but I have to admit that I much prefer her all white as she is now.

I am editing pics for a post with amazing blue eye candy at the moment. It makes my mouth water just thinking about those glorious shades of blue, those wonderful............. oops, mustn't say anymore, lol. you will have to wait til tomorrow ;-).

Until then, toodlepip xxx

The mail man's visit

Because we don't live at the cottage all the time, we don't get a lot of mail, so it is always so exciting when the postman pulls up in his yellow post office van. And what did he bring this time?

A package from Robin, thats what he brought me. Some time ago, Robin won my giveaway, and this lovely girl decided to send me a something as well. OMG, did she ever spoil me!

I adore this altered spoon necklace -

Next, I opened this beautifully wrapped little package -

and found this gorgeous fabric collage inside -

It is so delightful, and I love it. It is already feeling very much at home hanging up in my craftavan!

Thats not all though, she also sent me some great supplies -

How thoughtful and how generous was that? Thank you so very much, Robin.

I have said it so many times before, but I can't say it often enough, bloggy friends are the very best!!!

We have had visitors from England staying with us over the weekend, which meant no computer time for me ( but of course tons of fun with them ). I'll try and catch up somehow this week. :-)

Toodlepip xxx

Altered French Chocolate Box

You might remember that a little while ago, I found some lovely vintage fabric covered chocolate boxes at a brocante ( you can see them here ). Of course, those are just beautiful as they are and I wouldn't mess around with them. But I also bought a third one, which was covered in paper instead of fabric. And that paper was torn, missing bits and pretty ugly. The basic structure though was exactly the same, with the same beautiful gold edged bottom, so I decided to prettify it. 

I covered the inside with pages of a hundred year old French dictionary and some music paper. I used some vintage fabric to cover the lid. The focal point just had to be the gorgeous little lace doily I showed you on yesterday's White Wednesday post. A few flowers, leaves and MOP buttons and a piece of sturdy lace as a contrast to the very fine doily lace, and the lid was done -

But of course, an empty box is just not good enough, so I decided to fill it with a few bits and pieces as well. So much nicer to look at when you open the lid. 

I might just have to look out for some more torn paper covered chocolate boxes, I thoroughly enjoyed altering this one.

Toodlepip xxx