And off to France we go!

I am just about ready now. Just finished packing the most important thing - a small suitcase full of crafty stuff! Can't possibly go to France without some craft supplies, can I? I have absolutely no idea where the nearest craft shop of sorts is, certainly not within an hour's drive. I expect one of the larger cities a couple of hours drive away might have some, I will definitely have to check it out.


Most of the other things have already been packed into the car. After so many years of travelling back and forth between England and France, I have perfected the art of packing the car to the hilt, lol. Quite amazing really, the amount of stuff you can get in there.


Keep your fingers crossed that we will be able to arrange internet access at the cottage really soon. One way or another ( the other way being using our friends' internet in another village, lol ) I will keep in touch!


I hope you all keep well, and have a wonderful Spring.


Hugs all round, toodlepip xxx

Who won the giveaway?

Gosh, this has all been such a rush! I wanted to do so much more, but with the very unexpected and extremely short notice move to the cottage in France for the next few months, I just couldn't do it. But I have picked a winner for the altered egg box with all the little goodies inside. At least I had time for putting all the names in my heart shaped giveaway draw box :-). The winner of this

is ROBIN, from A Robin's Nest. Please email me your address asap so that I can get it shipped before we leave for France tomorrow night.


I also picked a handful of lovely people from the ones who comment so often and regularly ( Dorthe, Suzy, Alexandra, Julia, Rhonda and Lynn S ). I'll send you a few pages from that gorgeous Italian 1713. I am in such a mad rush to get everything done before tomorrow though, I don't have time to include anything else, I hope you'll understand.


I will try my very best to keep in touch whilst we are in France. Keep your fingers crossed that we will be able to finally get broadband at the cottage!

Toodlepip xxx


PS - Can I just say that I immensely dislike the new blogger format? Of course it could just be me being a dumbo, but I find writing a post so much more fiddly now, placing photos etc. Dont like it. Why can't they just leave things alone, waahh??? dont like the home page either, making the intros to new posts from bloggers on my reading lists so huge is just silly, there is way too much from each blog, I constantly have click on view more because you almost get the whole post right there, lol. Well, not quite, but you get my drift. Can I change that? Does anybody know? I much prefer the old compact list.  Ah well, I supose I'll get used to it in time. Still don't like it though. Humph. AND WHATS WITH ALL THE HUGE GAPS ON MY POST NOW??? I HATE IT!

Tag Tuesday Challenge - Easter Eggs

Just this once, I am actually posting my Tag Tuesday tag, well, on a Tuesday! This week's challenge was 'Easter Eggs'. You know I love my bling, and this was THE opportunity to use lots of bling on a Faberge style Easter egg.


I covered a tag in gold foil, cut out an egg shape from thick card and covered that in silver kitchen foil. And then it was time to go a bit OTT with the decorations. I used bits and pieces from a gold coloured doily to simulate gold filigree work on the egg and then added lots of precious jewels. Well, paste gemstones, lol, but almost as good as the rubies, emeralds, aquamarines and diamonds.


So here you have it, my Faberge style Easter egg tag -

DON'T FORGET, TODAY IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY! I'LL BE DRAWING THE WINNER TOMORROW MORNING.

IF YOU HAVEN'T ENTERED YET, YOU CAN DO SO HERE - 

Thats all for today, toodlepip xxx

This week's inchie and tag challenges

Wrong days, but at least its the right week for these challenges. But before I show you the photos, I just want to give you all a quick reminder that the CELEBRATION GIVEAWAY finishes on Tuesday, so if you haven't entered yet, you can do so by clicking on the picture right here -

Now on to the challenges. This week's Every Inchie Monday challenge was "Garden". I decided to go three dimensional for this one, and dug out some tiny little flowers. I coloured the background green, in case the flowers didn't cover it completely, and then had fun planting the garden flowers -


I am happy with it.

The Tag Tuesday challenge for this week is " Goosey ". I think when I started making the tag, I was still very much under the influence of the beautiful wallhanging Alexandra had gifted me with for my birthday. It inspired me to use layers of lace on the tag in a slightly more random fashion -


I am happy with this one as well.

And while I am at it, here are a few more customer tags -


This one went with a little deer figurine -

This one went to a lady living in Versailles, but Versailles, USA! -

Another Beauty tag-

and a tag for a lady who has an apple orchard on Sheffield Road -


Enjoy this beautiful Sunday,

Toodlepip xxx

Second WOW and third WOW!

I told you yesterday that I had two more absolutely gorgeous gifts from very dear bloggy friends. Both of them are so beautifully made, they take my breath away.

From my very dear friend Dorthe in Denmark, I received this stunning package -

Isn't this card just the loveliest? So many beautiful little details

Dorthe is one of those people who are so good at wrapping everything with so much flair, just look at this -

Inside were these lovely pieces of ephemera, and some of Dorthe's stunning skeleton leaves -

And then there was this beautifully wrapped package. Aaah, those gorgeous jewel colours! -

and inside? I squeezed it very gently, and it was soft, and my heart skipped a beat, because I thought it might just be one of Dorthe's stunning fairies or mermaids. So I opened it carefully, and then a huge smile spread across my face, because it really really was one of Dorthe's creations. And in the same gorgeous jewel colours as the packaging! WOW. -


Isn't she the prettiest little darling? She is going to live with her sisters in France, of course. Dorthe is another one of my bloggy friends, who one of these days will get the biggest RL hug, hopefully in France.

And now to the third WOW. My lovely lovely bloggy friend Suzy also sent me the most adorable gift, you are so going to drool over this one as well. I adore her style, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to receive this -


This beautiful card is so typical of her, just gorgeous -

When I took the wrapping ( dressmaking pattern paper ) off, I found this inside, something wrapped in pieces of the most sumptious fabrics -

and underneath those fabrics was this, drooooool -

All those amazing little details -
on the back, her label -

Sooooooooo beautiful -


This lady is also destined to receive a great big RL hug, lol, as she is planning to travel to France next year!

I just love my bloggy friends. I know I don't say it often enough, but it really does mean so much to me, when I read your comments, get your emails, when we exchange or receive gifts. And my silent followers, of course, who may not say much, but who are there and keep me blogging. THANK YOU SO MUCH, EVERYBODY!

Which kind of reminds me to remind you that the CELEBRATION GIVEAWAY IS ON until next Tuesday. If you haven't entered yet, you can do so on this post -


Toodlepip xxx

Talk about WOW factor - White Wednesday No. 144

What I am going to show you certainly has that, in bucket loads! My wonderful friend Xela from Germany sent me the most extraordinary birthday present. I was absolutely dumb struck when I received it.

Last week the postman knocked on the door and presented me with this huuuuuuuuge parcel. I had no idea what it could possibly be. Had I ordered something this big? Errmm, didn't think so. And then I saw the sender's name, and the penny dropped. I have had the most wonderful packages from Alexandra before, so I knew I was in for a real treat, but what I found when I opened the package was beyond any expectations. I am just going to show you the photos with shaky hands, they will speak for themselves -

Isn't it just the most exquisite wall hanging you have ever seen? I was instantly totally in love with it. And then I realised that the pockets were actually filled with presents as well! -


I so wanted to open them straight away, but I thought I save the pressies for the actual day of my birthday.



I am sure you can imagine what I felt like when I saw all these beautiful things, made with love and friendship. One day, I will be able to hug this wonderful woman properly and tell her face to face what an amazing friend she is.

This would surely be enough to make anybody's birthday, but I received two more packages from two of my very dearest friends Dorthe And Suziq. You are going to drool when I show you those beautiful beautiful gifts tomorrow, so be prepared for another long post with lots of pics for you to feast your eyes on.

For now I am signing off, too much to do before we go to France next week.

I am linking this post to the fabulous White Wednesday linky party at the Faded Charm blog. If I haven't worn you out, do hop over there for even more white wonderfulness.

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY, DETAILS ARE ON THE SIDEBAR!