Sunday 11 December 2016

A bit of altering

Been busy busy busy with helping out one of the animal charities I support online, and also listing lots of things on their auction to raise funds for the animals in their care. I always try to list plenty of variety so there is something for everyone, and just in case there were people who, like me, love vintage and shabby chic, I altered a large notebook -







Nothing too fancy or over the top, but isn't the image of the little girl with the big dog so adorable?


Friday 9 December 2016

Mail from the other side of the world

When the door bell rings and the postman hands me an envelope from Australia, my heart always beats faster, because I know it can only be from my darling friend Suzy. 

It is hard not to tear it open right there on the doorstep, lol, but I controlled myself. This is what my dear friend sent me this time -




I love Suzy's work so much, just look at this beautiful card she sent me. The details are amazing, the many layers -


The images are always so beautiful, soft and serene

and even the inside of her cards are always embellished

And when it comes to ornaments, I am just bowled over. These two beautiful ornaments for my Christmas tree also arrived in the envelope -




Thank you so much, Suzy, you know how much these beauties will be treasured.

Toodlepip xxx

Sunday 20 November 2016

A Christmas Wedding

A few days ago, a dear friend asked me whether I could possibly make her some tags to put on the Christmas tree which would be put up at the wedding of her son just before Christmas. Of course I said yes! It turned out that combining Christmas with Wedding and Vintage and Lace and Bling and digital collage elements which she liked a lot wasn't all that easy, lol. I can't do digital collages, I am strictly a cut and paste girl. I found some lovely vintage French wedding images to combine with the elements she had emailed me, and finding lace and bling is never a problem in my workroom :-). This is what I managed to come up with -







Finally finished them today. Fingers crossed that they will make it across the sea in time for the wedding.

Toodles xxx

Tuesday 15 November 2016

The Heart

When you look at the photographs below, you won't need me to tell you who created this stunning heart. It is immediately recognisable as her work, her style is unmistakable. 

A little while ago, we had a swap, this precious friend of mine wanted to make me one of her beautiful hearts in exchange for some fabrics and metal bits for her art. Of course I was absolutely delighted and I managed to send her some bits and pieces before we left for France. What I didn't manage to do was to take photos of the gorgeous heart which arrived the day we were leaving for France :-(. We got back a few days ago and I so wanted to take photos, but the weather frustrated all my plans, it has been horribly dark and grey and raining most of the time. I gave up waiting for a sunny day today, and took some photos anyway, so the close ups are not the best. But the heart is a ray of sunshine all by itself anyway :-). And here it is -








The back is so beautiful as well -



It hangs right by my desk, within touching distance, lol, so that I can feel the beautiful textures all the time -

Of course you all realised straight away that this heart was made by Suzy from Suzyqu's Threadworks ! Love, love, love it!

Toodlepip xxx

Friday 21 October 2016

A Vintage White Christmas ATC Swap

I am so pleased that thanks to Kimberly's ATC swap, I finally got a bit of my mojo back and started crafting again. Might have taken me two days to figure out what I wanted to do, get all the bits and pieces together and then make the ATCs, but it felt really good. 

This was the stuff I finally decided to pick from for the ATCs -

And this is what I did with the stuff -








And while I was at it ( and had some orders to get out ) I made some tags for the lovely customers as well -


Monday 17 October 2016

I am excited!

For the first time in months, I am really excited about crafting again. And I have Kimberly from ArtJoyStuff to thank for that. I used to love her ATC swaps and was so sad when she stopped, but......... the wonderful woman has just announced a new swap!YAY!


I do hope that lots of my blog friends will take part in this swap. You can find all the details here.

In my mind, I am already making a list of all the possible bits and pieces I could use on the ATCs, it will be so much fun to rummage through all my supplies again :-).Toodlepip xxx






Wednesday 5 October 2016

A Roman church in a tiny French village

A few days before we came back to the UK, we went out for lunch with our friends Frank and Christine at a little auberge in a nearby village, inhabitants approx. 150 or thereabouts. After the meal at the local auberge, which was delicious, we went for a little walk through the village and I managed a quick visit to the local church. The small roman church apparently was restored in the 16th and 19th Century. It was beautiful, totally unexpected in such a tiny village, and of course I had to take photos of it. They didn't turn out too well, because it was so dark inside, but I just can't bring myself to use flash, it is so harsh. I thoroughly enjoyed the quick visit, so I thought I'd share it with you -




















Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, but I only had the phone and as I said, it was so dark inside even though it was a beautifully sunny day -

(Christine, Frank and my DH )

We walked past this lovely old house -

admired the colour and fabulous shape of this fire hydrant -

and puzzled over this weird little building -

I miss being in France. Our dogs miss mornings like these as well -

Toodlepip xxx