Lululiz in Lalaland

UNIVERSE inchie and some ephemera

2012-01-25T20:51:00.003Z

The Every Inchie Monday challenge for this week was "UNIVERSE". I could really think of anything outside the box really, so had to go with the obvious.

I had some bits left over from a tag I had made last year for tag tuesday challenge, ( circles ) and they came in quite handy for this inchie. The background is a photograph of a nebula, errmm, I think, can't remember what it was, and I cut a piece of an image I had of our beautiful planet and stuck it on. I used tiny tiny gold and silver micro beads for lots of star systems etc.

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Can't just stop here, lol, thats far too short a post for me. Instead, I'll show you a few pieces of lovely American ephemera I got from a lovely Etsy seller -

A whole bunch of vintage Holden, Plaid and and Top Value stamps-

1940s prescriptions -

and ration slips -

Fascinating.

They came from this lovely shop - http://www.etsy.com/shop/58andGrace.

Maybe tomorow I'll be in the mood for some proper crafting. We'll see, it would be rather nice if my muse decided to come back from her holiday.

Until then, toodlepip xxx

Tag Tuesday "VINTAGE" and a beautiful gift

2012-01-24T19:33:00.008Z

I did warn you yesterday that you would be shown another tag today. It is Tag Tuesday after all. This week's theme is VINTAGE, and of course for me that meant lace. You know how much I love my vintage lace,lol.

I used a piece of very wide vintage French lace to cover the tag. It is one of my favourite pieces of lace, the colour is so delicious ( cafe au lait ) and it has such a beautiful, intricate pattern. I had some very fine scalloped fabric, which I attached to both edges of the tag. As the sweet little girl in the Edwardian image is wearing a green dress, I used green ric rac, green velvet leaves and a little bit of green bling as well. I added a few coffee stained vintage lace motifs and here is the finished tag -

You may just escape another tag post until next Tag Tuesday, lol, fingers crossed.

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What do you think of when I say SUZIQU??? Beautiful fabric collages, wonderful rich and deep colours, the most precious fabric books, and above all the sweetest person. Right? This beautiful lady gifted me with the most beautiful cards for Christmas. Prepare yourself for a serious drool fest -

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Aren't they absolutely fantastic? Even the inside of the cards have been embellished in typical Suziqu style. Big thank you hugs to you wonderful woman! I think I am going to frame them and hang them up so that I can admire them all the time.

Well, thats it once again. I totally forgot to make my inchie yesterday, so thats on the agenda for tomorrow, along with pics of some more lovely Etsy finds.

Toodlepip xxx

The only things I seem to be making......

2012-01-23T15:31:00.008Z

...... these days are tags and more tags, lol. They are tags I like to include with the stuff I send out from my Etsy shop. They are not the most elaborate tags, I really don't have that much time, but I try and make them pretty and appropriate to the purchase. As I haven't made anything else, you'll have to put up with a small selection of tags -

This one was fun to make, it went with a 1930s cocktail shaker, to a mixologist/barman -

With a silk wedding handkerchief -

A couple of blue tags to go with blue items -

A pretty little altered box to carry a French blue glass flower brooch safely to the new owner -

For a Japanese customer -

To go with some of the French luggage tags I sent out ( made WITH French luggage tags, so the reverse shows the original printing ) -

No special reason tag -

Mostly, I forget to photograph them, lol. Which is just as well, because otherwise you would be inundated with tags. Ah, tomorrow is Tag Tuesday, so guess what? Yep, you will get another tag, tehehee.

Now I am off to make this week's inchie for the Every Monday inchie challenge.

Toodlepip xxx

More of the same but different

2012-01-22T16:12:00.009Z

When I said more of the same, I meant more delightful gifts and more supplies I treated myself to.

I don't think there is anybody in my circle of bloggy friends who doesn't know Dorthe, and doesn't adore her beautiful blog and creations. But just in case you are new to my blog and haven't met her yet, then you really should have a look HERE.

This is what my lovely friend sent me, a gorgeous winter cone, which is now hanging on my shelf -

Isn't it just beautiful? I love all the glittery embellishments, the sweet image, the style. Thank you, dear Dorthe!

And on to more supplies, lol. I found another Etsy shop I just couldn't resist. I had to buy some of these gorgeous tea stained, stamped fabric ribbons. I am not very good with stamping myself, never seem to get it even, sigh, so this is a much better way of acquiring some lovely ribbons -

Beautiful Spring collages spring, oh good grief, spring, sigh, well, spring to mind, lol. Sorry 'bout that ;-).

This is the lovely Etsy shop they came from, click HERE.

And off I go again, I seem to have gone a bit pink today, and taken pics of pink laces and stuff, which I need to list in my Etsy shop. I'll show them on the vintageland blog later. Probably quite a bit later, lol, I am so slow.

Until the next time, toodlepip xxx

Feast your eyes

2012-01-20T21:27:00.009Z

Yesterday I promised to show you some more sweet treats. You are so going to drool over these, I sure did!

My very lovely German friend Alexandra surprised me with a gobsmackingly gorgeous collage. A lot of you will already know her and her beautiful blogs, but just in case you haven't been there yet, go check them out HERE and HERE. And this is the totally exquisite collage she sent me -

All those beautiful layers, all those amazing embellishments, it really is an exquisite piece. KNUDDEL, liebe Alexandra, ich hab dich auch ganz lieb!

And as if that wasn't enough eye candy, I am also going to show you a couple of things I treated myself to from the amazing Parisgal, Rhonda! I just can't resist her beautiful things, everything is so beautifully presented, so imaginative, just sheer pleasure to receive. I had ordered a couple of packs of cardstock scraps from her, and this is what I received -

Isn't that just absolutely delightful? The wonderful girl also sent me these adorable pouches and tags -

You are a very generous girl, Rhonda, thank you so much, I'll be back in your beautiful shop soon. I am sure you all know her, but for those few of you who don't, here blog is HERE
and her irresistible shop is HERE.

More treats tomorrow, my friends, until then, toodlepip xxx

Treats

2012-01-19T21:25:00.006Z

Over the last few weeks, I have received some beautiful gifts from friends, and also treated myself to a few lovely crafty bits and pieces found on Etsy. I'l try and show them all to you over the next few days, if I did it all in one post, you would surely go on strike, lol!

A few days ago, I received a totally unexpected parcel from my dear bloggy friend Sonya. She creates beautiful collages amongst other things, which you can see on here blog Counting My Blessings.

This is what I received completely out of the blue. The first thing I saw was this beautiful tag -

I do so love tags, and this one is a beauty.

And then I had the great pleasure of unwrapping this, one of Sonya's beautiful collages !!! -

The details and embellishments are fabulous, the background is a map of the UK, I mean, how much more perfect for me could that be?

Ah, and this delicate handmade flower, it is exquisite -

I am sending you a HUGE thank you hug, Sonya!

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Did I mention I treated myself to a few crafty bits and pieces from Etsy? I did, yep, wanna see? I'll show you 1 lot today, don't want to make this too long. I found these gorgeous handmade script buttons, absolutely spot on for crafting with. Tags, collages, sachets, all sorts, I think they are absolutely darling -

They came wrapped in this sweet piece of fabric stamped with script. Lovely presentation. And the seller is the sweetest as well. You can find her shop here - http://www.etsy.com/shop/abbyspaperiegarden.

Ooh, I think this post isn't all THAT long yet, lol, perhaps I'll quickly show you this week's tag tuesday tag, tehehe. Theme was WHITE, and here it is -

There, thats much better, now I feel like I have done a proper post.

Until tomorrow and the next instalment of treats, toodlepip xxx

Every Inchie Monday - SHADOW

2012-01-16T14:29:00.005Z

This has got to be a first, lol, me posting my Every Monday Inchie on a MONDAY, woohoo! This week's theme is SHADOW. When I photograph all my bits and pieces, tags, etc, I often get a bit frustrated because where I have decent daylight, the sunshine sometimes interferes with my pics, throwing big shadows. So I had to giggle to myself when just this once I wanted those shadows badly. Fortunately it is a lovely sunny day today, so in principle it wasn't too difficult. In principle. HAH! Finding something to throw a decent and recognisable shadow was VERY difficult. I lost count of how many things I tried, lol. In the end, I held up a doily at just the right angle to get this lovely shadow on the table -

Hmm, annoying how the different backgrounds mess with the colour of the inchie, and that is after the printer has already changed it somewhat. This is the original picture I took -

If I get a chance, I'll post some tag pics a bit later, but don't hold your breath, lol, you know what happens to the best laid plans..............

Toodlepip xxx

This week's challenges

2012-01-11T10:59:00.009Z

This week's inchie challenge was "CITY". I think I went a quite predictable way with a city scape, but perhaps combined with the sunset it is acceptable -

And an old, new challenge, or should that be new, old challenge? Errmm. Thanks to my bloggy friend Anni ( Fabric Art blog ) I found out about a new Tag Tuesday challenge. If you know my blog well, you know that I took part in a different Tag Tuesday challenge last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was so sad when that one finished, so you can imagine how pleased I was to find a new one, yay! We post on a separate blog - Tag Tuesday . If you hop over there, you will find the most amazing tags made by very talented people, I am thrilled to bits to be in such good company there. But of course I just have to show you my tags on here as well, lol, you didn't think you would escape that, did you now?

Last week's theme was "SNOW" and this is the tag I made for it -

Our cottage in France is in the middle of nowhere, and when it snows, the snow stays pristine and sparkly and beautifully untouched all around us until it melts away. I wanted to capture that wonderful sparkle of pristine snow on my tag.

I used a piece of vellum which had sparkly flowers on it, tiny white satin roses, white net from a piece of vintage lace, little gems and German glass glitter in white and silver to simulate snow below the flowers.

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This week's challenge is another wintery theme - " SNOW SPORTS AND GAMES ". I love vintage and antique illustrations, so I chose a pair of Victorian skaters for this one -

Toodlepip, xxx

A whole new year of INCHIES!!!

2012-01-08T08:37:00.004Z

Just when I thought I was done with making inchies, along comes another year of inchie challenges! HURRAH! Of course, in the best Lalaland tradition, I am late posting the first one, sigh. This week's theme was GOLDEN, and here is my golden inchie -

I used a tiny piece of a golden paper doily, golden German glass glitter and a few little golden gems.

I have been making quite a few tags to go out with Etsy orders as well, but I keep forgetting to take pics of them. Ah well, you are probably sick of seeing tags anyway. I need some new challenges, weekly or monthly ones, I think, to get me crafting properly again. If you know of any that might be ok for me, I'd love to hear from you. I have been away for a whole month and haven't had a chance to read many blogs yet ( but I will ), so I probably missed a lot of info about new challenges.

Thats all for today, have a relaxing Sunday, toodlepip xxx

Last two inchies of the year

2011-12-29T11:50:00.004Z

I haven't been around for a couple of weeks, and it will probably take me a week or two to catch up with all the blog posts. I hope you all had a good Christmas.

I took part in the 52-week long inchie challenge right from the start and really wanted to finish it. So here are my last two inchies of the year -

GREEN inchie -

YELLOW inchie -

Toodlepip xxx

Should I call this a hybrid?

2011-12-13T10:52:00.006Z

This is what I meant to include in yesterday's post, but that one got quite long, so I saved this for today. I suppose this is a kind of hybrid really, not really a glue book, and not really a tag book either, but a bit of both. The pages are chipboard and larger than tags. Ah well, you can judge for yourselves, lol, and decide what you want to call it.

Here it is -

I liked the cover but thought it was lacking something, so I added a little key. Does that make it better?

The beautiful lady is embellished with a real feather in her elaborate hat and proper bling, of course -

And that whatever you want to call it book thingy is going with this tag

and these little bits to another friend. Hope it arrives before Christmas, but if not, then perhaps it will make it for New Year's Day -

I wish you a stressless day, toodlepip xxx

Inchies, tags and little presents

2011-12-12T15:17:00.009Z

Dang, can I cram everything I have to update you on into one post? One can but try, lol, just hope its not going to be too trying ( sigh, sorry, couldn't help myself ) for you.

Now that we got that stupid bit out of the way, I'll start with two week's worth of inchies. Last week was RED and this week is BLUE -

Ahem, you can probably tell that I have only just finished making the BLUE inchie......... the darned glue hasn't even dried yet, lol!

Tags, oh my, I have been making so many tags, and way too often I forget to photograph them. Like yesterday, when I made a tag specifically to go with the three miniature books I sold on Etsy. I was so chuffed to have found good pics of Blaise Pascal and Victor Hugo, and made a tag with those to go with the books, wrapped it, posted it this morning and then realised I hadn't taken any pics. Poo. Did take pics of a couple of others though -

This fun tag went with a vintage French madeleine baking tray -

This one went with a "manly" gift a customer bought -

And now I am going to show you a much much more beautiful tag, a BIG Christmas Card tag! I received this in the mail from my bloggy friend Lynn, from Trash to Treasure Art, and it is absolutely delightful. Aaahh, the details! It is embossed, has the sweetest image of two gorgeous young girls and the embellishments are twinkly and sparkly and perfect -

and all lit up with a golden glow from a stray ray of sunshine this morning -

Gorgeous, isn't it? Thank you, Lynn!

I have more to show you, but this post is already rather long. I think I will leave the other stuff for another post. If I get time this evening, I'll post it tonight. Thats a rather big if though, lol, don't hold your breath!

For now its toodlepip, xxx

Another gift on its way...

2011-12-07T20:32:00.004Z

... to a lovely person. I am not a very fast worker, lol, I am rapidly falling behind. Ah well, if things don't get done for Christmas, then there is always Valentine's or Easter. Yikes, did I really say that? That really sounds way too laid back. Before I get myself into even more trouble, I'll show you the one thing I managed to get into the post today -

This is a little heart shaped lavender sachet, made with a sweet little angel image printed onto fabric, and surrounded by lots of lovely lace.

No time to chat, sigh. Things to do. Just enough time to link this post to the fabulous White Wednesday link party over at Faded Charm. Lots of lovely whiteness to look at.

Toodlepip xxx

Making Christmas Gifts

2011-12-03T15:39:00.004Z

I am having so much fun making gifts for family and friends at the moment. Only drawback is, it is keeping me from commenting on your blog posts. I have tried to catch up, but if you haven't seen me on your blog for a little while, it is not because I don't wuv ya anymore, it is only because I am busy busy busy. Like everybody else, lol.

This is one of the pressies I have made, a little blackboard for making notes, or a shopping list, or doodling, whatever takes her fancy -

Winging its way to a friend as we speak.

Aaah, I love Christmas. Toodlepip xxx

Inchies and Tags ( yep, more tags, lol )

2011-11-30T13:13:00.013Z

The year long inchie challenge is almost at an end, just one month and 4 inchies to go. So far, I have met every challenge, even though quite often I have been somewhat late. Ahem, like with these two inchies.

Last week's challenge was "PRETEND". That wasn't too difficult. Hasn't every little girl at one time or another pretended to be a Princess? I found an image of a sweet smiling little girl and made her a crown with a tiny snippet of a gold paper doily and some bling, and gave her a gold necklace as well -

This week challenge was "AMUSEMENT". Ok, so we are probably not the most grown up of grown ups in our household, but we do like to have fun and at certain times of the year, the whoopee cushion provides oodles of amusement. Sigh. Ok, don't say it, I know.............

This year at the Christmas dinner, we are not going to put whoopee cushions under Nanny and Popeye's chair cushions, we are going to put them under our own, tehehehe, and see what reaction we get from Nanny and Popeye ( who are in their very late 80s btw ). Should be a hoot.

And now that I have completely embarrassed myself by admitting how NOT grown up I am, I had better very quickly get on to the next thing, TAGS. Yep, more tags, lol, but I put that down to the ETSY EFFECT, lol. I like to include a pretty tag with purchases from my Etsy shop. Great excuse for a tagaholic like me to keep making them!

Most of the images I have used you will have seen before, but they are such sweet winter images, I can't stop using them!

this one is not a winter tag, but it was kind of a special request -

I think I have to set a whole day aside for catching up with all your blogs, I have had so little time to read, and I miss catching up with all of you. Perhaps tomorrow I'll lay in a few supplies ( of the food and drink kind, lol ), and settle down to a good read.

Thats all for today, have fun! Toodlepip xxx

Two lovely packages

2011-11-28T16:57:00.005Z

It was a lovely morning, even though it was grey and windy. Why? Because I received two lovely packages in the post!! I had ordered a couple of things and they arrived today, and they put a huge smile on my face.

You probably know Pat Winter from her beautiful Gatherings blog. She is such an amazing crazy quilter, her beautiful creations take my breath away. I ordered her magazine a few days ago, and boy, did it arrive quickly! It is brilliant, packed full of great tutorials and gorgeous photographs. The only problem is.............. now I really really want to crazy quilt as well, lol.

Here are a couple of pics of the magazine -

You might recognise this -
yep, Suzy's Tattered Lace fabric journal.

This is one of Pat's great tutorials -

and tucked in between the pages was this -

one of Pat's sweet images printed on fabric and a length of beautifully matching hand dyed silk ribbon. Sooooooooo pretty. Thank you very much, Pat, I am so pleased with the magazine and so happy to have received such a lovely gift.

That was beautiful package No. 1. Now on to package No. 2. Dear Rhonda, our wonderful ParisGal is the sweetest and most generous person. I had ordered a couple of things from her gorgeous Etsy shop, which is full of the most tempting French themed goodies. This is what arrived in the post today -

Packaged in true ParisGal style, three little packages came out of the envelope. Hmm, 3? I had only ordered two things. All will become clear in a minute, lol. I had ordered a couple of her fantastic faux tin types, and they arrived in a sweet little bag with yet another tin type decorating it -

They are so cleverly done, they really do look like the real thing. I started planning immediately of course, whilst unpacking the second little package, which held the little fabric bits and pieces which I had ordered -

Great variety of textures and colours and sweet little printed snippets as well. Delightful, and so perfect for my little projects.

Ah, and then there was the third package, the mystery package............... look, it even brought out the sunshine for a little bit -

And right now I wish I could give Rhonda a proper huge hug, because she really really spoilt me rotten and sent all this along with the order -

I am truly amazed, and also quite humbled by the generosity of this lovely woman. Thank you so much, Rhonda, I am going to have so much fun using all these beautiful little treasures.

I'd say that was a good Monday morning, don't you think?

I am so behind with my inchies, yet again, sigh. Haven't done last week's and this week's is due today as well. I am promising myself to do both first thing in the morning. Tonight I have orders to pack and things to list.

I wish you all a great week, have fun creating! Toodlepip xxx

One lonely little tag

2011-11-27T16:54:00.007Z

I was suffering severe withdrawal symptoms, so there was nothing for it, I had to make a tag. I should be doing other stuff of course, but when one suffers from tagmania, as one of my bloggy friends called it, then one just has to go for it.

I did restrict myself to just one tag though, and here it is, a little bit of red and white ( and a little bling, lol ) -

I hope your Sunday is a restful one. Toodlepip xxx

No crafting!

2011-11-26T23:41:00.004Z

Isn't that just terrible? I haven't managed to do any crafting at all the last few days. I got quite caught up in the Black Friday thing, and I don't even live in the States! It is quite difficult though not to get caught up in all the hype. I have spent far too much time online looking at lovely lovely goodies for Christmas presents perhaps, or maybe even a little treat for myself. And yes, I succumbed and bought a couple of things. I'll show you when I receive them.

I have also been a bit busy with listing a few more things in the Etsy shop. Why does it all take me so long, lol? I suppose because I tend to spend ages deciding whether I can really bear to let something go. Then the photographing, editing photos, weighing the stuff, listing it, and before I know it hours have passed. Thank goodness there are only two more days of this Sale madness, lol, then I can safely return to doing some Christmas crafting. I do have a looooooooong list of things to make.

This is what I have listed on Etsy today, btw. Might as well show you here, because I have no crafty stuff to show you, sigh.

Now what should I list tomorrow? Anything in particular you would like to see? What can I make myself part with? Perhaps one or two of the gorgeous 1940s Eiderdowns, which are so snuggly on a bed, especially now that winter is setting in. Ah well, I shall think about it in the morning. It is nearly midnight here in the UK, and I am ready for bed, lol.

I wish you all a nice evening/morning wherever you are, toodlepip xxx

Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday

2011-11-25T00:14:00.002Z

First, I would like to wish all my American friends a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope you are all having a fabulous time with family and friends, getting stuck into the turkey and all those yummy things that go with it. We don't have Thanksgiving here in the UK, but I know how important a day it is for the Americans.

It seems that another rather important day is the day straight after Thanksgiving, Black Friday! Until a couple of years ago, I had no idea what this was all about, but I know now, lol. Its the start of a huge 4-day sales event in the States! And because I think that is a fabulous idea, I am also having a 4-day sale in my Etsy shop, right HERE -. I have listed some more things today and will be listing more over the next 4 days.

It is way past my bedtime now, lol. Have a wonderful long weekend, toodlepip xxx

Winter White tags for White Wednesday

2011-11-23T15:57:00.006Z

What do you do when you don't have any new white goodies to show for White Wednesday? Of course, you make winter white tags, what else?!?

I wanted to make some more tags for Christmas anyway, so I dug out some more beautiful French lace, a little bit of bling and some pretty wintry images and put everything together on some white tags -

Happy White Wednesday! For more white wonderfulness hop over to the Faded Charm Cottage.

And I am going back to sorting out some more stock for my Etsy store, in preparation for the big weekend sales in the States. Fingers crossed.

Toodlepip xxx

Two very late inchies and whats been keeping me busy

2011-11-17T18:48:00.011Z

Oh dear, I have been neglecting my inchies with all this thinking about and planning for Christmas. But I did make last week's LIFE inchie and this week's DARING inchie this afternoon. Of course it was pitch black dark by the time I got round to photographing it, so I had to use flash and that really doesn't do anything for photographs. I'll take some pics of the inchies in daylight tomorrow morning and replace them. In the meantime, here is the LIFE inchie for the Every Inchie Monday challenge from last week -

This photo was taken by one of my tree surgeon son's friends, and shows the tiniest little shoot, a sycamore just sprouting into LIFE.

The next inchie, DARING, for this week's challenge, is another photograph. Tree surgeons really are daredevils, the way they climb and swing and work on those huge trees. This is a photo I took of Paul, Nick's work colleague as he was working on one of our 200+ year old sweet chestnut trees -

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And this is whats been keeping me so busy over the last couple days - a tag book!

You all know how much I love my tags, and since the Tag Tuesday challenge finished, I've been a bit lost. I needed to make more tags to satisfy my muse, lol. So, one of my friends is going to get a little tag book as a Christmas pressie ( thats one off the list, lol, phew ). I can't mass produce, it takes me ages to select just the right image, the embellishments, the ribbons, so it has just 8 tags, more or less covering the 4 seasons of the year -

The first tag is a friendship tag -

Christmas -

Valentine's Day -

Spring -

Easter -

Summer -

Halloween -

Winter -

The end, lol

I probably end up making a few more of these, once you are a tagoholic its difficult to quit.

Back to more thinking and planning, and a nice cup of tea. Toodlepip xxx

A little pink box

2011-11-15T14:48:00.006Z

Ask me what I have been doing since my last post, and I would have to say, heck, I really don't know, what HAVE I done? It seems not an awful lot. I reckon its the Christmas thing, you know, browsing for presents online, planning presents to make, making endless lists about all sorts of things. Somehow actual doing has taken second place to thinking, dreaming, planning.

At least I managed to make a sweet little box to hold a tiny little something for a lovely kind bloggy friend. It was good to get the glue and papers and sparklies out again, I have to say.

Here it is -

I totally forgot my inchie last week as well, bad bad me, and this week's Every Inchie Monday inchie is overdue as well, sigh. I shall sit down this evening and make them, this afternoon will be spent with my two gorgeous granddaughters!

Toodlepip xxx

What a great way to start a new week,

2011-11-14T09:34:00.005Z

... with the biggest blog candy giveaway I have seen. The fabulous folk over at the The Craft Barn are celebrating 600+ followers, well, over 700 now, lol, by giving away blog candy worth in excess of £200. OMG, what fantastic early Christmas pressie that would be. Can you blame me for trying to win this? Of course not, lol, and I expect you wouldn't mind winning all these gorgeous goodies either. Just click on the pic below and it will take you straight to the post where you can enter this giveaway as well -

Not entirely sure I should wish you all good luck, lol, ah but then you are such dear friends, it would be very unkind if I didn't. So good luck to you if you enter as well.

Back later today with some catch up posts.

Toodlepip xxx

More Christmas Tags

2011-11-09T18:06:00.005Z

I can't help it, I love making tags. I love the whole process of choosing the images, then finding the right paper for the backgrounds, laces and ribbons which are not too wide and not too narrow, and sweet little embellishments, usually bling, lol. Thats why I never get much done, sigh, I spend so much time fondling lace, and picking through embellishments.

But here are four more, and again, I'd love to hear which one is your favourite.

I used some lovely vintage metallic lace fabric on these.

Toodlepip xxx

White Wednesday

2011-11-09T17:53:00.004Z

Earlier this afternoon, we were sitting in our drawing room, when all of a sudden the room was bathed in beautiful soft sunlight. After yesterday's very grey and dismal weather, this was such a beautiful moment, and I managed to capture those few minutes in a few photographs.

This gorgeous German vase was a wedding present to us 30 years ago, and I love its timeless look and elegance. The sunshine which burst through the half drawn curtain lit the vase up and threw a sharp shadow on the wall behind it. I loved that moment so much, that I picked this vase for this week's White Wednesday over at the Faded Charm blog -

The strong light produced some intense contrasts, the room is normally very light, with very light pink walls, nothing like these pics might suggest.

Have a look at the Faded Charm blog for fabulous Whiteness. Make sure you have a cup of tea of coffee, lol, there is so much to see.

I was going to post pics of more completed Christmas tags on here as well, but I think I will do a separate post for those after all.

So, toodlepip for just a little while, I'll be back in a jiffy with the Christmas tags!

I have started!

2011-11-07T16:30:00.008Z

Yep, I did kinda surprise myself as well, but I have started on Christmas stuff. In a fairly gentle way, lol, nothing too big, complicated or time consuming yet. Just some Christmas Tags. But before I show you the tags I made yesterday, I want to show you something which arrived in the post on Saturday.

I was thrilled to bits when I found out that I had won one of Laura's absolutely stunning ATCs during her month long October Trick or Treat event on her blog Artfully Musing. She really is the most incredible artist, have a look at her blog, and you will be absolutely gobsmacked by her creations, and not just ATCs.

This is the fab Halloween ATC I received -

Even the back is so beautifully done -

Pretty darned good ATC, don't you think?

And here are some of the tags I made yesterday. Three in fairly neutral, muted colours -

And a couple with bright colour accents, Christmas colours, of course, ruby reds and forest greens -

The green one -

The red one -

I'd love to hear which one is your favourite.

Thats all, folks, gotta get back to making more tags :-). Toodlepip xxx

PINK SATURDAY

2011-11-05T18:03:00.004Z

I haven't been to any vide greniers or boot fairs in ages, so I had no new pink acquisitions to show you. But........ I had a look through my collection of mostly Victorian cards and found some beautiful pink roses to show you! They are 19th Century Christmas and New Year cards, and it does seem strange to me today that they used summer flowers etc for their cards and not Santas or Angels or nativity scenes.

Here they are -

And while I was in a pink frame of mind, I made a little tag as well. This one is special to me for reason - almost two years ago, my wonderful bloggy friend and gifted artist Diane from Diane Knott's Musings sent me a little pressie. I had just started making very basic tags and had great admiration for her tags, so she sent me one along with a tag making kit. I had kept this kit all this time, not wanting to use it all up, but I finally decided that sooner or later I would make a display with all my own tags, and I very much wanted a tag made from her kit to be part of that display.

Do you remember some of the bits on this tag, Diane? -

I had to scan the tag in, because it was too dark to take photographs.

If you want to immerse yourself in more pinkness, hop over to How Sweet The Sound!

Happy Pink Saturday! Toodlepip xxx

Every Inchie Monday - GRAFFITI and news of a fab giveaway

2011-11-04T19:22:00.006Z

I finally got round to making my little inchie for Every Inchie Monday last night. I wanted to photograph it this morning in daylight, because I dislike flash intensely. Of course I forgot. So now you are going to be presented with 2 rather crappy pics of my inchie, taken with flash, sigh.

There is a fun little story attached to this inchie though. When I looked up the theme for this week on Monday, and saw that it was Graffiti, I wanted to find a cool font to make the inchie with. I looked at loads and finally found some which I thought suitable, but................. neither myself nor my son could download them for some weird reason. So the inchie got put on the backburner for a couple of days. I knew that I wanted to use my son's nickname for me on the inchie in graffiti, but that was as far as I got with the plans.

Yesterday evening after dinner, I came upstairs to find my son sitting at my desk, with a big grin on his face, and a very colourful graphic on my computer - yes, this one! You see, he often leaves me fancy messages with my nickname on the computer, just for fun, and he had done it again. He had no idea that I wanted to use my nickname, ahem, SHORTY, on the inchie, he had just done his usual lets-get-Shorty-narked bit, lol, and used my Hippie font, but it was perfect for my inchie! And all I had to do was shrink it, lol.

There you go, my no work, no worries GRAFFITI inchie for this week.

Now you know that short posts are not really my thing, and a few sentences and two pics is just not enough. So what is a girl to do? Post news of a fabulous new giveaway, of course!

You all know Lynn of Trash to Treasure Art, don't you, and this lovely lady is celebrating her 3rd Blogaversary with a not-to-be-missed giveaway. You can check it out HERE, but I am going to show you a couple of pics anyway -

There is more still, but you go and check it out for yourselves! I am so hoping that I will be a winner. Fingers crossed.

Have a great weekend! Toodlepip xxx

New technique

2011-11-03T19:06:00.006Z

A couple of days ago, I saw a great tutorial by Mary Green of Green Paper on the Gingersnap Creations blog, for creating rather interesting backgrounds on ATCs.

I didn't have any blank ATCs to hand, but I so wanted to try her technique. I did have lots of blank tags though...... :-)

Have a look at her fabulous tutorial before you have a look at my effort. I am not quite in her league, lol. But, here you go, my first try, I am hoping that I will improve when I make a few more of these.

This is what the background looked like before the main image went on -

And this is it with the main image added and a few stamped bits to add a little bit more interest -

I think this technique really works well, even though this is not exactly a masterpiece. I need more practice, good excuse to make a few more, lol.

And while I had the blank tags out, I started making a few Christmas tags. Scary how close the holiday season is and how quickly it creeps up on ya. I gotta get my act together if I want to get everthing on my to-do list done in time.

This is one of the little tags -

The sweet little cherub was an image from Karla's Romantic White Christmas workshop last year. I just coloured it a little with a silver ink Gelly Roll pen and a light blue Promarker. Simple music sheetbackground and a little Merry Christmas tag, and that was about it. Just had to be true to self and add a teeny bit of bling, lol.

I also finally got round to making this week's inchie. There is a bit of a story to go with this one, so I'll leave that for tomorrow. For now, I wish you all a lovely day/evening.

Toodlepip xxx

WHITE WEDNESDAY and a couple of lovely surprises

2011-11-02T15:58:00.010Z

It is time for another WHITE WEDNESDAY post again. I was looking through my bits and pieces to see what I could show today, and I thought I'd show this fabulous Wedgwood jug. I know I posted some pics of this a year ago, when I first bought it, but even if you saw it then, you have probably forgotten about it by now, lol, and I wasn't participating in White Wednesday then.

I love this jug because it has the most fabulous dog shaped handle, and it reminds me so much of our beautiful Hector ( Rhodesian Ridgeback ).

I also adore the magnificent scenes on the jug.

Isn't it a beauty? Even the little chip on the rim doesn't do anything to lessen its charm and appeal.

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I also want to show you a couple of things my very nice postman brought me. A little while ago, I had a giveaway on my blog, and Lynne of Adorn, and Lynn of Trash to Treasure Art were both winners. And both lovely ladies sent me a gift!

From Lynne I received this gorgeous card, which now resides on the mantle piece behind my computer with lots of other pressies from bloggy friends -

Thank you, Lynne, for such a lovely gesture.

And from Lynn I received a much anticipated package. She told me that it was on the way, and you know what does to you, don't you? I love looking forward to mail. This is what arrived -

A sweet little box with.......... oooh, I love unwrapping gifts with all of you -

no, not a mummy, but this -

A fabulous soldered pendant! I am over the moon with it.

Thank you so much, Lynn, for this spooktastic charm! It has also joined the other gifts from bloggy friends, on the wall behind the computer. That way, I see these beautiful things every day.

I am linking this post to the WHITE WEDNESDAY link party over at the fabulous FADED CHARM blog. Go immerse yourself in wonderful whiteness!

Today was a geocaching day

2011-10-31T21:20:00.006Z

One of our geocaching friends suggested doing a 20-cache series today, while the weather was still fairly clement and as my DS3 wasn't working today, we decided to give it a go. It sounded like a great little series, as a number of tools were required, like spanners, magnets, string, and a liter of water. Water? That turned out to be a really clever cache, actually. 7 1/2 miles later, we made it back home just as it was getting dark ( which is very early now that the clock have gone back again ). Feet and back are sore, but we did it, yay! 20 caches in the series, as well as an extra one which was close by.

But it didn't leave me any time to do my inchie for the Every Inchie Monday challenge or do any crafting. So instead, I posted a few little treasures on my Vintageland blog -

A gorgeous little French crown pin -

An Edwardian pocket size shoe horn and button hook set -

and a very collectable French 1930s hat pin -

And now I am just about ready to fall into bed, lol!

Toodlepip xxx

Happy Pink Saturday!

2011-10-29T16:23:00.008+01:00

Aah, I do love PINK SATURDAYS. PINK is such a cheerful colour and makes me feel smiley even on a grey and rainy day. Not that today is rainy, it has turned quite nice this afternoon, I can see sunshine and a bit of blue sky.

But back to Pink Saturday, and a question - Do little girls dream in PINK? This silly question kinda planted itself in my head while I was making this PINK collage. The image is from a French postcard, which I found at a vide greniers this summer. I dug it out the other week for the inchie I made for Every Inchie Monday, but I love it so much, I wanted to use it in a few other projects as well. So here is my DREAMS collage, a tad bigger than an inchie :-) -

Can you stand a bit more pinkness? I was happily collaging away with my bits and pieces, and thought that in honour of Pink Saturday, I could make a little PINK inspiration kit for my Etsy shop. Here it is, my Little Bag of PINK Happiness -

Inside this bag

you will find
morceau of French damask ticking
morceau of 1930s silk fabric
page from a 19th C. French book
music paper

as well as

I am planning to make some more Little Happiness bags over the weekend in different colours.

I am linking all this PINKNESS to the PINK SATURDAY LINKY PARTY over at How Sweet the Sound.If I haven't outpinked you yet, then hop over there and check out the other PINKS.

I have finally done it!

2011-10-28T20:18:00.005+01:00

It has taken me a long time to finally get round to opening an Etsy shop, but I have done it! I had my first sale there, woohoo, which is very encouraging. Some of you have already noticed and sent me such kind comments, thank you so much for your support. I have put a link to the Etsy shop on my sidebar, if you fancy having a look.

But I don't want to neglect my blog shop either, so I have listed some of my recent finds on there this evening. Things like these -

All this has meant that I haven't had any time for crafting, or, even worse, visiting your blogs! Might have to pull an allnighter today, lol, in order to catch up. I also have some crafty pinkness on my brain, so I had better get on with that as well.

Wishing you a happy weekend,

toodlepip xxx

White Wednesday - mother-of-pearl buttons

2011-10-26T20:30:00.007+01:00

Is there anybody out there who doesn't love MOP buttons? Well, to be fair, I suppose there could be one or two people who are not at all moved by the beautiful shimmer of those delicate beauties. I just haven't come across any in blogland yet.

I dug out a few of my buttons for today's WHITE WEDNESDAY over at the beautiful FADED CHARM blog. There are French MOP buttons in all sizes on cards -

There even are English MOP buttons on card -

There are huge MOP buttons -

and there are tiny little MOP buttons -

There are MOP buttons with shanks -

square buttons -

and there are very shiny and colourful MOP buttons -

This is a gorgeous old French MOP cufflink -

My favourite ones are these beautifully carved buttons -

Sweet little things, which give me great pleasure.

I am linking this post to WHITE WEDNESDAY at FADED CHARM. Take a lot at all the other beautiful white posts.

Toodlepip xxx

Etsy Cottage Colours - AQUA and Every Inchie Monday - ENCOURAGEMENT

2011-10-25T13:15:00.008+01:00

Both of these challenges were really quite difficult for me. Etsy Cottage Colour for this month is AQUA and it seems I have very little of that gorgeous colour in our home. Hmmm. Perhaps I ought to do something about that, because aqua is such a beautiful colour.

Here is what I could come up with for AQUA -

First is this beautiful vintage trim in beautiful shades of aqua/sea green

Next, beautifully soft tattered aqua silk ribbon and a fantastic vintage trim with aqua sequins -

Aaah, antique bottles, they are the most delicious shade of aqua -

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The Every Inchie Monday challenge this week was exactly that for me, challenging. The theme was ENCOURAGEMENT, and I did struggle a little with that. For some reason, I saw messages on a beach in my mind ( I know, lol, huh? ), so I used Distress Stickles in Tattered Straw to simulate a sandy beach, and put my message both on a little pebble and on the beach -

I am linking this post to

and

Nature's Bounty

2011-10-24T21:37:00.005+01:00

When my DH took the doggies to the Firehills this morning for their daily run and play, I decided to go with them and pick sloes. Have you ever tasted sloe gin? It is the most delicious liqueur and luckily doesn't taste anything like gin. I don't like gin, don't even like the smell of the stuff, but sloe gin, thats a totally different matter. I'll start it tomorrow, and it will be ready in time for Christmas. Oh, I can't wait to get it going, seeing the beautiful deep rich red colour develop in the big wine making jar over the next couple of months.

I adore the rich purply blue plum colour of the sloes as well, with that gorgeous lighter blue waxy bloom on them. So I got a bit carried away taking some photos after I got them home -

I have also made my inchie for this week's challenge, but not before it got dark, sigh, so I'll have to wait til tomorrow to photograph it in daylight.

Toodlepip xxx

Pink Saturday, on a Sunday again, oops.

2011-10-23T15:46:00.005+01:00

I was looking for some trims to make a collage with this morning, and realised that I had some pink trims which I hadn't shown before. I had better make this a short post, so that I can go and get crafting with those trims!

This next one is my favourite though, a very old trim, ever so soft, and in lovely muted shades of old gold and dusky rose -

Found a pair of vintage tassel ropes as well, delicously shell pink -

and I will be using some this gorgeous antique French damask ticking fabric as well -

I am glad I found some pink today, pink makes me smile.

I hope you are enjoying your day, wherever you are. Toodlepip xxx

Linking this post to PINK SATURDAY on How Sweet the Sound, where you can find loads more pink loveliness.

Thank you!

2011-10-22T15:41:00.004+01:00

I don't think I will ever get used to the kindness of bloggers, however long I'll be in blogland. I got mail from Kimberly from ArtJoyStuff, and this lovely lady sent me this -

Why? Just because I had put a link to her gorgeous giveaway on my sidebar. You all know how much I love tags, so I was delighted to be able to add another tag from a much admired blogger to my collection. YEAH! -

This is only part of my little collection. The gorgeous birdsong tags from the swap I had been in, are on a different shelf. I still have to find a good place for all the tags I have made myself for the Tag Tuesday challenge. Now that the weekly Tag Tuesday challenge has finished, I feel somewhat lost, so if anybody knows of another tag challenge anywhere, do let me know.

I have to go now and have a rummage through my stuff to find something pink for Pink Saturday, lol. Quite shocking really how quickly I have run out of pink stuff. If I am successful, I'll be back later with a Pink Saturday post.

Toodlepip xxx

White Wednesday - Pearls, Girls!

2011-10-19T14:56:00.004+01:00

I was playing with some pieces of costume jewellery earlier, well, actually I was trying to get some order into the heaps of stuff, and I realised that I had quite a few faux pearl necklaces. Pearls, aaah, they are such tactile little things, round, smooth, cool and softly shimmering and I love running strands of them through my hands.

So, for this week's White Wednesday over at FADED CHARM, I took a few photographs of my pearls. The first few are of a necklace which I really adore. Pearls combined with Swarovski crystals, doesn't get much better than that -

These gorgeous vintage pieces always have such wonderful clasps -

This is so much fun, piling them all up and playing with them -

Happy White Wednesday to all who are playing along as well. For more beautiful Whiteness, hope over to the FADED CHARM blog and check out the links.

Every Inchie Monday Challenge - DREAMS

2011-10-18T18:50:00.005+01:00

DREAMS, hah, that should be easy, I thought. It is nothing abstract or complicated. Yeah right. Once I tried to project all the ideas I had on to a one inch square, things didn't look quite so easy anymore. In the end I decided to use part of one of my most precious French postcards, a very sweet little girl fast asleep on a pile of cushions, and have her dreaming of Christmas.

Of course then there was also the usual dilemma of which background to use, lol, so once again, I photographed the inchie on three different backgrounds. You have got all three here, because again as usual, I can't decide which one I prefer.

I'll have to make this post short and sweet, as I want to list some more French treasures on my Vintageland blog in a little while. Here are some of the little treasures -

A fine quality rosary from Lourdes

So hard to find these days, vintage parcel carry handles-

Some precious French religious medals, including this beautiful blue glass one-

as well as this sweet cherub one-

and an absolutely gorgeous French fabric covered chocolate box-
I should be making a tag today, but alas, the Tag Tuesday challenge is no more, the lovely Rebecca who had set us the weekly challenges had to stop due to health reasons. I need another Tuesday challenge! Any suggestions?

Right, I had better get on with things, toodlepip xxx

At last, some French Brocante/Vide Greniers finds listed

2011-10-18T00:10:00.005+01:00

It has taken me a while to get round to it, but I have finally started listing some of my French finds from this summer on my Vintageland blog.

Some lace, some tins, some pretty things and some things PARIS, lol. It is only a small start, I'll try my best to list lots more over the next few days. Here are just a few pics of what has been listed so far -

More tomorrow!

Goodness, I am up way past my bedtime! I am off, lol. Toodlepip xxx

Pink Saturday - 1930s Lingerie Lace Trims

2011-10-15T11:13:00.004+01:00

Just a very short Pink Saturday post today as my DH and DS3 are returning from France this afternoon, and I am way too excited to sit on the computer for long.

I found these beautiful lace trims at a vide greniers in France this summer. I have them in the sweet light sky blue as well, but the ones I am showing you today are a very lightest soft shell pink and so beautiful. I was planning to use one on a really dainty lacy collage or pillow or perhaps even a small bag. What would you do with some of these? -

Have a great weekend wherever you are, go find some fabulous bargains, craft something wonderful, and above all have fun!

Toodlepip xxx

Linking to PINK SATURDAY at HOW SWEET THE SOUND. Oodles of pink goodness!

White Wednesday - Vintage Shaving Mugs

2011-10-12T11:56:00.005+01:00

For this week's White Wednesday at the fabulous Faded Charm blog I wanted to show you a small collection of vintage shaving mugs. Yes I know, yet another collection, lol, but there was a good reason for this one. I am a soapmaker and have used these shaving mugs in soap photo shoots.

The majority of my shaving mugs are Wade, but this white one is an Ironstone Mason's one, which is of course part of the Wedgwood Group -

Toodlepip xxx

Every Inchie Monday - CURIOSITY

2011-10-10T14:50:00.003+01:00

Perhaps it was because I had seen so much Halloween stuff around lately, but when I saw this week's theme for the inchie challenge, I immediately thought of the saying ' curiosity killed the cat ' and of gravestones. So, this week's inchie is slightly on the dark side -

Have a great week wherever you are, toodlepip xxx

Pink Saturday ( on a Sunday, oops )

2011-10-09T15:03:00.007+01:00

I meant to post these photos yesterday, but......... didn't, lol. DH and DS3 went to France very early yesterday morning (3am), so that was it for me as well, no more sleep. Then I had a town walk with a group of German school kids in the morning, then the doggies demanded my full attention because they were already missing Andy and Nicholas, and I was just too pooped to even go anywhere near the computer, lol. So I am late with my Pink Saturday post.

I found this sweet little tin at a French vide greniers in the summer and loved the gorgeous shade of pink -

I went to a boot fair a couple of weekends ago, and came across a lady who had a small box full of fabric scraps. Of course anything fabricy is like a huge magnet to me. I started digging around in it, and found some really beautiful vintage and antique fabric pieces, most of them from period clothing. I spent way too much time there, according to my poor long suffering DS3, who usually comes with me, but oh, it was such a pleasure fondling these wonderful old bits and pieces. Fabulous beaded inserts from Flapper dresses, silks, lace, little bits of velvet, it was delightful. And yes, I did buy some scraps, because when you make fabric collages, you sure don't need huge pieces. Amongst all the other delightful bits, I found these pieces, fabulous patterned shell pink silk embroidered with fine metallic silver thread and gorgeous turquoise silk thread -

This piece of silk crepe fabric is a much richer pink and embroidered with much brighter colours -

These vintage fabrics have such an amazing texture, they feel so soft and drape beautifully, and I can just imagine what it must have been like to wear such dresses. One of these days I must bring out all my vintage dresses again and have a good ooh-and-aah session. My favourite vintage dress is probably a 1940s dress I bought in Paris, on a school trip, when I was 16 years old, my very first vintage buy and the start of a life long passion for treasures of the past.

But now I have to get back to my craft table, my fingers are itching to make another little domino book.

I am linking this post to the wonderful HOW SWEET THE SOUND blog for the weekly PINK SATURDAY linky.

Enjoy your Sunday! Toodlepip xxx

Bird Domino Book

2011-10-06T10:15:00.004+01:00

I think I am becoming just a little bit hooked on these tiny little treasures. I made another domino book yesterday, and just looking at it makes me smile. And I am already planning the next one, lol. So please bear with me if I get somewhat carried away with photographs.

I used some really gorgeous bird graphics for this domino book. The front is decorated with a bird image, a tiny little real feather found in the garden, a little silk flower, an embossed paper leaf and a piece of a black feather from a vintage hat. For the background I tried to get that gorgeous vintage green and gold which you find on old original Lloyd Loom chairs. Like the one I have in the cottage in France.

The front -

The back-

Inside -

Outside -

I suppose I had better get some chores done before I start on the next one. DH and DS3 are going to France Saturday morning to get the cottage ready for the winter and to take some trees down on our property. Nick also has some work lined up with neighbours, hopefully that will keep them out of mischief, lol. Soooo, I should have plenty of time to list lots of the treasures I bought in France during the summer on my Vintageland blog or Artfire.

For now I wish you all a very good day and happy crafting. Toodlepip xxx

Tag Tuesday, White Wednesday and a BIG THANK YOU

2011-10-05T11:33:00.011+01:00

Before I show you what I have come up with for this week's Tag Tuesday challenge, or post pictures of some lovely whities for White Wednesday, I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to two very special people.

When I visited Cindy's Shabby Chic Girls' Club blog yesterday, I saw that I was one of her featured artists. I was thrilled to bits of course. Cindy is an amazing person. I don't think I have ever come across anybody like her, she has energy enough for ten, she is a fantastic artist, a published author, and one of the kindest, encouraging and supportive people you could ever meet. If you haven't met her yet, do visit her at her blogs, you will be amazed at the creativity of this lovely lady -

Thank you, Cindy, for being such a wonderful friend to so many people.

The second person I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to is Suzy, of SuzyQ' Threadworks. It was such an honour to be featured on the same blog post as Suzy, because she really is an amazing artist. Her fabric books, journals and collages are drop dead gorgeous and I absolutely adore her work. It is very different from mine, most often she uses incredible jewel colours in her work, and the richness of her pieces is just stunning. Have a look for yourselves and be prepared for a serious drool session -

This wonderful woman wrote such lovely things about me in her Thank You Cindy post, I still haven't stopped smiling. Thank you so much, Suzy, you have no idea how much such kind words from an artist like you mean to me.

And now on to the TAG TUESDAY challenge at the Blog Challenge Garden. The theme for this week is TATTERED ROMANCE, and for about 10 seconds I though, omg, this is going to be a really difficult one. But then I remembered a post card I had bought in France, which I knew would be just perfect to show the emotions of a romance in tatters. The post card had really touched my heart when I found it. It is from the 1st World War, when so many young women saw their beloved sweethearts going off to war and were left broken hearted, their romances shattered and in tatters. The background is the actual writing on the back of the card, and because it is quite a sombre tag, just this once there is no bling -

For WHITE WEDNESDAY, I have picked a few more pictures of this summer's vide greniers finds. yep, I'm afraid it is more lace, lol -

If you go to the wonderful FADED CHARM blog, you can visit many fabulous blogs showing off their lovely whites.

I hope you are having a good day wherever you are. Toodlepip xxx

Every Inchie Monday - DESTINATION

2011-10-03T16:16:00.004+01:00

It really wasn't difficult to decide what to do for this week's inchie challenge. What is the favourite destination of so many of you gals? Paris, France, of course!

Here it is, my DESTINATION Paris, France inchie -

Here is the link to the Every Inchie Monday blog, check out the fabulous inchies which had been made for previous challenges.

Have a wonderful week, toodlepip xxx

We have a winner!! Or could that possibly be winnerS?

2011-10-02T20:08:00.008+01:00

You know, it takes an awful long time write out all the names of the good folk who entered the giveaway. And to visit their blogs ( you will find out a bit later why I did that ). And then to fold all the iddy biddy pieces of paper. Only to find that the heart box I normally use for drawing winners is now full of inchies. Arrghh. And I didn't want to mess them about ( fragile little darlings ), so I used a very pretty little flower tin for the draw instead. I had to take the photos of the draw with flash, which is a nuisance.

My DS No. 3 picked the winner for me. I was so excited!!! Are you? Before I announce the winner though, I just want to remind you all what was on offer -

The collage, made with lots of antique and vintage French goodies

The vintage Eiffel Tower

The vintage French ephemera

the lace and trims

And those goodies are going to -

LYNNE MONCRIEFF from the delicious ADORN blog. Congratulations, Lynn, could you contact me please with your addy?

When I was thinking about the draw this afternoon, I realised that it would be a bit of an anticlimax after the draw had finished and the winner announced. I thought I'd be feeling a bit deflated. Can't have that on a Sunday evening, can we? Sooooooooooo........................

I decided to have two more winners, yay!!!

I prepared two little packs. A few bits of ephemera in one, and a few bits of lace in the other.
I wanted to make this draw a little bit different though. I decided that firstly I would have a separate draw for the very lovely people who had put my button with link back on their blog, even though I had said it wasn't a requirement for entering. That is why it took me sooooo long to prepare the draw, lol, I visited all the blogs!

The winner of this category receives the little ephemera pack. I suppose I had better show you pics, lol -

There are pages from an 1888 French book and a couple of music pages

pages from a very old French religious book and two 1960s French communion cards

vintage French blank luggage labels, Larousse dictionary pages and a page from a 1928 "agenda"

And the winner of this little ephemera pack is -

none other than

Congratulations, Lynn and thank you so much for putting the button on your sidebar. Her blog is just fabulous, if you have not seen it yet, do pay it a visit, you'll love it. Can I have your addy, please, Lynn? Oh, and yes, I WILL add some wine labels as well, lol, I just forgot to get them out.

For the little lace pack, I thought I'd have a draw amongst the lovely people who started following my blog in the last couple of months. The winner of that draw will receive -

Some of the fabulous antique coloured lace

A gorgeous little silk embroidered motif from the 30s, probably for lingerie-

a little bag full of vintage French mother-of-pearl buttons

and of course the fabric, a piece of gorgeous vintage French damask ticking-

The winner of this is

Terry from Terry's blog. Now here is a co-incidence. Terry is a new follower who came over from Lynn Stevens' blog, because she had seen the button there! Congratulations, Terry, please contact me with your address details.

Well, thats all folks. Thank you so much to all of you for entering and making this so exciting for me. I am sorry I had to disappoint so many of you, but don't worry, I am sure I will be having another giveaway before too long.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, toodlepip xxx

THE FRENCH GIVEAWAY FINISHES TODAY!

2011-10-02T14:07:00.007+01:00

It is 2pm on this beautiful, very sunny Sunday afternoon, and it is almost time to close the giveaway. I will be closing it at 5pm UK time, that is in approx. 3 hours, and I may have some little surprises.............

So, if you have only just read about it, it is not yet too late, you can click on the photo below and leave a comment.

I am so excited, I will be writing out the names of everybody who has entered and put them in the usual heart shaped box. I much prefer this method to an online generator thingy. You know, I think I might just have a small glass of wine when I am finally ready to draw the winner. Later on this evening. After dinner probably.

Good luck!

Toodlepip xxx

PS I had a lovely morning at a boot fair today. I think it was the last outdoor one. It was scorching hot, and there were too many people, and I got all hot and bothered, but it was worth it, I did find some lovely little bits and pieces. I'll show you tomorrow!

A (slightly) pink Domino book for Pink Saturday

2011-10-01T10:19:00.006+01:00

I finally plucked up the courage to tackle a domino book. I had been admiring the beautiful books I had seen on other blogs and really really wanted to try my hand at one as well. They are so small though, the thought of making one scared me! I know, very silly. Anyway, yesterday was domino day. I wanted to use some really sweet original 19th Century Victorian scraps I had bought a while ago. They are tiny, really tiny, and I thought they would be perfect for a domino book. I found some gorgeous pink braid in my stash, the prefect size for the side of the dominoes, and thats why I am linking this post to Pink Saturday over at the How Sweet the Sound blog -

The side -

The front -

The back -

Inside -

The outside -

For a first try, its not too bad, and I am pleased with it.

Just a couple more pics, lol, because I am so excited about it -

DON'T FORGET, THE GIVEAWAY FINISHES TOMORROW!!!!

Toodlepip xxx

More from the summer brocantes/vide greniers

2011-09-29T15:40:00.008+01:00

HAVE YOU ENTERED THE GIVEAWAY?, DETAILS ARE AT THE END OF THE POST !

I meant to post these photos a few days ago, but as usual, lol, I got carried away with other stuff and forgot. I did say I would post some of the gorgeous old metal bits I found in France, so perfect for mixed media collages.

First up, these fab old clock parts, so hard to find these days -

I love these fabulous 19th Century French curtain clips, aren't they just adorable? These are exceptionally pretty, they have such a lovely ornate top-

And just look at these gorgeous metal rosettes, so precious -

How about these metal tags? -

And last but not least, these sweet old pastry tins, such a lovely shape and just perfect for altering. Christmas decorations spring to mind -

I have other metal bits, but I didn't photograph them in France, and I hate to admit it, but I haven't unpacked them yet! They are still in a box with lots of other French goodies.

I AM DRAWING THE WINNER OF THE BACK-FROM-FRANCE GIVEAWAY ON SUNDAY, SO YOU ONLY HAVE A FEW DAYS LEFT TO ENTER IT IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO. JUST CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW AND IT WILL TAKE YOU TO THE POST WHERE YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR COMMENT. GOOD LUCK!

Enjoy your day/evening wherever you are, toodlepip xxx

Tag Tuesday and White Wednesday

2011-09-28T16:25:00.008+01:00

This week's Tag Tuesday Challenge was " SCHOOL RELATED ", but not just any old school related stuff. Oh no,, not that easy, lol, we were given a list of different subjects from which we had to pick, and I chose HISTORY CLASS.

As we spend a lot of our time at the cottage in France, it had to be French History of course, and knowing that so many of you love Marie Antoinette, I made her my subject for the school tag. The background is a French school book cover, the building is of course the Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette's residence at Versailles, and the beautiful image of her is from the Graphics Fairy, who else, lol -

On to WHITE WEDNESDAY. I didn't really have anything apart from yet more lace ( and you don't want to see more lace, do you? ) to show, but I was in crafting mood, so I decided to make a small collage on canvas. I used vintage music paper, a sweet little image of a young girl, a lovely old doily, lacy bits, a couple of jewellery elements and a few sparkly accents -

Here are the links -

Tag Tuesday Challenge on the Blog Challenge Garden Blog

White Wednesday on the Faded Charm Blog.

Until the next time, toodlepip xxx

Second post today, can you believe it? Every Inchie Monday

2011-09-26T22:02:00.003+01:00

I really wanted to get my inchie posted on the proper day just once, I hope it is not too much of a shock for you ;-).

The theme this week was WISDOM. Perhaps it was because I have been looking at lots of Halloween posts and images, but the first thing which came to mind was.......... Wisdom Tooth! Slightly bizarre inchie, I know, but what the heck!

Thats it, short and not exactly sweet, lol, but hopefully you'll find it funny as well.

Toodlepip xxx

Collages

2011-09-26T17:55:00.010+01:00

I spent a few hours today creating a couple of collages. I do so enjoy working with gorgeous old lace, vintage images and lovely little bits and pieces.

I can't get away from soft colours though, I find them so soothing and gentle. So, the first collage is made with neutrals, soft whites, creams and little hints of darker caramel. Vintage sheet music, a sweet old doily, a snippet from a Vintage French Missel, coffee dyed lace motifs, MOP buttons, vintage French seam binding, a tiny antique French key and of course a little bit of sparkle, and there you have it -

I like combining soft blues with the creams and soft whites, so for the second collage I used blue braid, fringing, seam binding, and a gorgeous vintage lace motif over the background sheet music and the rather beautiful doily. Of course, this one had to have one of those darling little French keys as well. See those tiny little blue butterflies in the bottom left corner? They were part of a little paper bag my lovely friend Dorthe sent me ( with a card inside ) last year.

And just because I had so many bits and pieces out on the table, I decided to make a matching tag for this one as well -

Yikes, I just realised that I haven't made my inchie for Every Inchie Monday yet........ oops. Hmm, it might have to wait until tomorrow.

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

A "PINK SATURDAY" Vintage Dress

2011-09-24T15:32:00.004+01:00

Oh if only I could turn the clock back a few years and be a couple of sizes smaller! I love this dress!!! It is an original 1960s dress by Peterson Maid of London. It is pink and floaty and absolutely gorgeous and I so wish I could wear it. I would, you know. I can see myself prancing around in this, well floating around in this -

Happy Pink Saturday! I am linking this post to Beverly's How Sweet the Sound blog. If you have some time, go have a look at all the other Pink Saturday participants, soooooo much pink loveliness!

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO. JUST CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW AND LEAVE A COMMENT ON THAT POST!

Toodlepip xxx

More French Vide Greniers Finds

2011-09-23T21:08:00.008+01:00

I did mention before that because I couldn't get onto the internet much, I spent the time on editing and sorting my photos instead. And ended up sorting them into lots of categories, lol. I thought today I would show you the metal and enamelware finds.

I found another old copper kettle for my collection, I like the kind of fluted design -

Next is this pair of hooks. They are quite amazing, I just love those faces. I have never seen any quite like these before -

This coat and hat hook is one of my favourites, I love the feel of the wood, and the shape is so pleasing -

Curtain rings, I adore these big old gold metal rings -

A sweet old tray, perfect to use as a little pin or brooch tray -

and a gorgeous little PARIS souvenir tray, featuring the EIFFEL TOWER, of course -

I love love love old French enamelware, and I can never resist buying a piece or two when I am out and about. The colour of this pitcher was such a good match for the green French chair -

These gorgeous old French lunch pails are fabulous for kitchen storage, I love seeing them in a row on a shelf. The colours are just so delicious -

I'll try and post some more pics tomorrow, of little metal bits for mixed media collages etc.

The weather forecast is good for tomorrow, so we will be tackling the horrendous jungle in the front garden tomorrow. Almost 3 months worth of weeds and brambles of all things! YIKES! Serves us right for spending the summer in France, lol, right?

IF YOU HAVEN'T YET ENTERED THE BACK-FROM-FRANCE GIVEAWAY, YOU CAN DO SO BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK AND LEAVING A COMMENT ON THAT POST -

I hope to see lots of you lovely people entering!

Until tomorrow then, toodlepip xxx

White Wednesday, Tag Tuesday and the last catch up inchies for Every Inchie Monday

2011-09-21T17:38:00.011+01:00

You may have guessed from the title that this is going to be a fairly long post. I have such a big backlog of things to share with you, I just have to cram more than one thing into each post. I hope you can stay with me though, because at the end of the post is the link to the giveaway, just in case you didn't see yesterday's post ;-)

Ok, I'll start with WHITE WEDSNESDAY. Kathleen over at Faded Charm is hosting the 118th White Wednesday and as usual there are sooooo many fabulous links to explore. Do check them out if you have a little while to spare. My White Wednesday post is about one of my most favourite things. Lace. French lace. Again, lol. I found the following pieces at a vide greniers in Perrecy Les Forges -

TAG TUESDAY, oh my, we had a wicked challenge this week - RECYCLE THE TRASH. Funny how it turned out to be a rather foody looking tag. I used the label from a French cheese box ( very smelly but delicious cheese, thankfully the tag does not smell of it, lol ), a bit of a chocolate bar cardboard cover, a little bit of the foil the chocolate was wrapped in, and the leaves are from a Magners cider box which I retrieved from the recycling as well. The two little flowers are punched out from another scrap of the chocolate foil. The "string" is made from twisted up tissue paper, which I had discarded and fished out of the bin in my craft room again -

And on to the rest of the inchies I had to catch up on, the last 6 of the ELEVEN inchies I needed to make to get up to date again. Working backwards through the weeks -

For STRENGTH I chose to use the chinese symbol -

For RUST I used a tiny little rusty key, found at a French vide greniers -

SUNSET was proving really difficult. I love the sunsets we get at our cottage in France, I photograph them all the time, because each night they are so very different. I really couldn't decide which inchie I preferred, as the colours are so different. So I am posting both, and you can decide for yourselves which you prefer.

NEST was so much fun to make, but tricky. Have you ever tried to make the tiniest little nest out of a few strands of dried grass, lol? It took me ages, but I got there in the end. Three tiny pearls made good little eggs -

For BOOKS I made a tiny little book with a scrap of paper from a French Missel. It had very small writing, so was ideal for this -

And lastly, 11 weeks ago, the challenge was LOVE, and fondly remembering the Hippie days of Love and Peace, it just had to be this -

I POSTED A BACK-FROM-FRANCE GIVEAWAY YESTERDAY. IN CASE YOU DIDN'T SEE THE POST, CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ENTERED -

Thank you all for stopping by and good luck in the draw if you decide to enter.

Toodlepip xxx

Here's the promised Back-From-France Giveaway!

2011-09-20T18:48:00.008+01:00

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED !

Finally, right? I still have such a backlog of things to post about. There are the last six inchies I made last night to catch up with the Every Monday Inchie challenge, there are so many photos of vide greniers finds from France to post, and the usual daily challenges to keep up with as well. Who is going to do my housework, lol??? But I didn't want to wait any longer before posting the little giveaway, a small thank you for staying with me despite my long absence.

Here goes then, the Back-From-France Giveaway -

One of the first things one thinks of when talking about France is, of course, the Eiffel Tower. So I had to include a vintage Eiffel Tower to bring a little bit of Paris into your home -

Some lovely vintage French wine labels, a few pages from a beautiful old French religious book, a Missel, a tag made with another page from this Missel, and, not shown in this photo but you can seem them in the first photo, some very vintage French luggage labels -

No French giveaway would be complete without a bit of French lace and braid and some lovely old mother-of-pearl buttons in a little glass jar -

Of course, I wanted the winner to receive something made by me as well, not just haggled for at a vide greniers. I made this large collage with French lace, a tiny little French key, and lots of other little bits and pieces. The image of the beautiful young lady is framed by a really exquisite antique French doily. It is made from the finest silkiest fabric and beautiful handmade lace, just have a look at the close up -

The Giveaway is open to all my followers and I will draw a winner on Sunday, 2nd October. If you want to put the link to the giveaway on your blog, that will of course be very much appreciated, but is not a requirement. Good luck, girls!

Mega Inchie Session!

2011-09-19T10:56:00.007+01:00

Two months in France put me way way way behind with the weekly Every Inchie Monday challenge. I did some crafting in my cosy craftavan, but inchies were too much of a challenge, lol, I didn't have the right things with me. So, including today's SPARKLE challenge, I need to catch up on 11, yep ELEVEN inchies. Yikes!!! But it seems I am in the swing of things and have made 5 inchies this morning already. I am working backwards from today's challenge, so the first one to show you is this week's challenge, SPARKLE.

SPARKLE, aahh yes, that immediately put jewellery in my mind, diamonds, emeralds, saphires, rubies....... I found a tiny little broken emerald and diamond pendant in my stash. It was the perfect size for an inchie. I used a glitter pen for a very subtle shimmer on the lace flower, and of course had to add some sparkly crystals and glass glitter -

Last week's challenge was KISS. It was really difficult to pick one graphic from my collection, but in the end I settled on this one, it was just too sweet to ignore. I used a tiny scrap of lace, a teeny bit of border from a French Missel page and a square jewel ( I do love my bling, lol ) -

The week before that, the challenge was COSY. I knew just the image I wanted to use. It is a tiny portion of a photograph taken last winter in our cottage in France. My son was stretched out on the settee, and Hector had settled down on top of his legs. Both were snuggled down very cosily under a blanket -

Going back another week, the challenge was CHANGE. I thought about acorns and oak trees, tadpoles and frogs, but whilst I was rummaging around in a little box of bits and pieces for something else, I found this very old French coin from 1931, 5 centimes, which is very small change indeed. Aha, small CHANGE, lol, methought, and the coin just had to be used. For the background I used a tiny section of an old French banknote, not quite such small change, lol, it was a 500 Francs note -

And the last one I am showing in this post is the IMAGINE challenge from 5 weeks ago! My imagination always runs away with me, and I can spend many happy moments imagining fairies, unicorns, giants etc etc -

Thats it for this post, I am already thinking about all the other inchies I still need to make, so I had better get myself back to my craft table before my muse deserts me again.

Toodlepip xx

Oh, I had such a busy day yesterday with a boot fair to go to, family visiting and all sorts of stuff, that I totally forgot to give you details of the Back-from-France Giveaway as promised. Ooops. I had better edit some photographs, lol, and get that post up as soon as. Tomorrow. Promise. xx

Finally catching up with things

2011-09-17T22:03:00.005+01:00

We got back from France a week ago, and I have finally managed to work my way through all the missed blog posts. Oh man, you girls have been creating such wonderful things while I have been away! I have drooled over so many beautiful things. It really got me itching to get creating again as well.

I had put aside a few little French things for a Back from France Giveaway, and was waiting for inspiration to strike for that special something to add to it. Well, it struck and I crafted and now I am ready! Tomorrow I will post the Giveaway!

Today, however, I need to post the final two tags so that I am back on track again. Last week's tag challenge was MOON, and as much as I wanted to make it in France, I couldn't find anything remotely moony in my little stash or anywhere round the cottage. I had to wait til we got back to England before I could finally make it.

I had photographed the moon and moonlit sky last summer, when we were sitting out under the trees in the garden with friends, enjoying some good food and good wine. The clouds looked quite amazing because the full moon was so very bright -

This week's prompt was FLOWERPOT. Now, Rebecca, the lovely lady who runs the Tag Tuesday Challenge on her Blog Challenge Garden blog, wanted something " outside the box ", and mentioned bread, fish and lightbulbs................. so guess what she got? Of course, she got a bouquet of bread, fish and lightbulbs in my flowerpot, lol. I made this one late this evening, so had to photograph it with flash, which I really dislike, but I need to get these posts done! The flowerpot is made from Fimo and the fish, bread and lightbulbs are stuck to thin little wires and fixed inside the flowerpot. The background is a bit of scrap paper I had previously used under some other tags and cards I had painted. No idea really why I picked it, probably because it was on my desk, lol, and I couldn't find anything else I liked.

So here is my flowerpot, filled with Rebecca's requested bread, fish and lightbulbs -

And now it is way past my bedtime, so I am going to womble off.

Toodlepip xxx

The Oh-La-La Shabby Chic Girls' Club Link Party!

2011-09-16T09:30:00.008+01:00

I am sure most of you will know Cindy Adkins from her Whimsical Musings blog, but whilst I was away in France, she also started a new blog, which I found out about as I was working my way through a million and one missed blog posts - The Shabby Chic Girls' Club. And she is having a Linky Party today! For anything shabby chic of French inspired. Oh my, having just spent 2 months in France, I have one or two French inspired photographs, lol. What to show, what to show?

Well, I have decided to show you a few shabby chic lavender sachets and an altered old French glass bottle. Oh, it was so lovely sitting outside my craftavan, doing a little bit of al fresco sewing and crafting -

And when I was feeling peckish? No need to go back to the cottage for a snack, I had plentiful supplies growing right next to the sewing machine -

I made these lavender sachets for Christine with some of the lace found at a vide greniers we both went to -

I finally found some lovely old bottles at a vide greniers, I had been looking for ages but had never been lucky before. Some of the really old ones are too nice to alter, the embossed writing on them is decoration enough, but I had fun with the plain ones. Well, one of them, lol, the others are still awaiting their transformation.

The bottles I found -

and the one I played around with -

Sigh, I want to be back in my little craftavan.

If you would like to see more pics from France, the cottage etc, you will find plenty on the blog, lol.

I am linking this post to the link party, of course

Have a terrific weekend, wherever you are, toodlepip xxx

Guess who is back in Blogland?

2011-09-14T16:06:00.008+01:00

YES! That would be me, lol. We got back from our summer in France on the weekend, and ever since then, I have been trying to catch up with what seems like millions of missed blog posts from my favourite blogs. I am suffering from numb bum syndrome by now, I have spent that much time sitting here reading, and I am still about 3 1/2 weeks behind. I was so determined to catch up with all your news first, before writing a blog post, but heck, I can't wait any longer, I have so many photos to show you. Because I couldn't post much ( I really didn't want to impose on our friends too often ), I spent lots of time doing silly things like editing pics and putting them all into neat little folders, so once I start posting properly again, you will probably get a lot of one-themed posts, lol.

I know, I'll start with pretty flowers, how's about that? It is really difficult for us to plant or sow anything new at the cottage, because we are not there all the time, and young plants/seeds etc need a lot of looking after. So, flowers are not in abundance, in our garden/field, but I was delighted to see that a few of the seeds, which I had sowed in May had actually grown into flowers. Woohoo! I do have a few roses round the cottage as well, and they were flowering beautifully all summer long. They were still full of buds when we left. I do love wild flowers, and always pick some when we go wombling down the country lanes. They look so pretty in old French enamelled pitchers or glass bottles.

Here goes, French fleurs -

Leek flowers, wild daisies and those white lacy wild flowers which seem to have a hundred different names -

No idea what these wild flowers are called, but they are the prettiest shade of purple -

More stuff growing wild in the lower field, and I have no idea what these flowers are called either. But aren't they just the prettiest blue? And that tiny little pink tongue is just so delightful -

A tiny mixed bunch of wild flowers on an outside window sill -

And wild honeysuckle on the kitchen window sill -

One of the roses in the garden -

The packet said that these flowers would grow anywhere, and they did! Without being looked after! -

This is thyme, which grows wild in the top field. Can you imagine the wonderful scent when you walk through it? My craftavan is in the top field, and I always made sure I walked through a patch of thyme on my way to it -

And now I am going back to reading more blog posts. Only 3 1/2 weeks' worth to go! Tomorrow I need to post pics of a couple of Tag Tuesday challenge tags which are overdue, and I'll show you some vide greniers finds, if you like........

Toodlepip xxx

Aaah, French lace and a Tag Tuesday Challenge tag

2011-08-31T14:37:00.007+01:00

Here I am, sitting in our friends' garden yet again, and thinking of all of you. I have some lovely French laces to show you from one of the vide greniers we went to. My heart always goes pitterpatter rather alarmingly when I see lacy bits on a stall. Crazy, yep. But you gals who love lace will understand.

I have also made the tag for this week's Tag Tuesday challenge over at the Blog Challenge Garden this morning. The theme was Have a Heart, and the heart had to be the focal point. I had just the thing in my little case of supplies, a gorgeous little silver filigree heartshaped locket. I'll start with that, shall I?

And then there is the French lace, aaaahhh..............

Isn't the lace just exquisite? Some of it os very old indeed, and beautifully handmade, incredibly fine, detailed work.

Thats all for today, miss you gals. Toodlepip xxx

Doggies loving the life in France

2011-08-28T08:45:00.009+01:00

My DS Nick couldn't come with us to France this year due to work commitments, and he is really missing the dogs. The doggies are loving it here, of course, so much space to run around in, wonderful country smells to snuffle at, and cows to watch. So this post is just about the doggies, enjoying la vie en France -

This is their best friend and playmate Rosie, Frank and Christine's dog -

Aaaahhh, love my doggies!

Toodlepip xxx

Catching up with Tag Tuesday challenges

2011-08-25T14:44:00.011+01:00

I have tried hard to keep up with at least one challenge whilst I am in France. Its not easy with the very limited craft supplies I have in my craftavan here, it really is a challenge every week, lol. I'll try and post all the tags I have made for the various challenges, hopefully I won't run out of time before we have to go to the evening vide greniers.

Right here goes then. I am not sure whether I have got them all right, because I usually phone Nick back home in England on a Tuesday to read me the challenge. But, being somewhat scatterbrained, lol, come the next day when I have time to craft, I have usually forgotten most of the instructions....... sigh, old age creeping up on me, no doubt.

The first one I need to post is " THE FACE " from a month ago, yikes!

Next was the POSTAGE STAMP challenge. By the time I got round to making the tag, I wasn't sure about the details anymore. I steamed the stamp off a vintage postcard and then made this tag with it -

But then, after thinking about it for a few days, I thought that perhaps the stamp should be more prominent, so as luck would have it, a letter arrived from Dorthe, and I used her stamp to make a new tag -

Next was the VINTAGE PHOTO challenge -

And this week, it was the LETTER A, where we had to pick a subject which started with the letter A and use that for the tag. Being in France, I had to chose A for Amour, of course -

OK, thats it, no more time, gotta go to the vide greniers. It is the last evening one, boohoo. Wish me luck!

Toodlepip xxx