Nothing like a challenge to get me creating

I have been back from France for weeks now and still hadn't done any crafting/creating at all. Until yesterday. Thought about it, of course, and in my mind I made oh so many lovely things. Somehow, they never materialised. My friend JJ is still in Portugal and without internet there, so she couldn't give me the needed kick up the butt, and I was finding all sorts of excuses for not starting anything. But last week, Mary from Green Paper came to rescue! I had missed her previous challenges because I spent the summer in France, but I had promised myself to go for the next one. And her October challenge was just what I needed to get me going again.

This was the challenge, to take all three images, or parts thereof, and create something with it -


As I was somewhat immersed in lace and ribbons ( trying to tidy up all the laces ), it didn't me long to decide on a fabric collage. At first, I was going to make a wall hanging, and use one of Dorthe's beautifully tactile driftwood pieces for a hanger. But somehow I ended up making a cushion. No idea really how that happened.

I started by making a digital collage with parts of the three images provided. The girls, of course, they were easy enough. Then I cut out the flower motif from the little image at the bottom and used that to put 'lace' on the girls' collars. I used the wreaths from the green ticket (?) to make a faded border. I added the Eiffel tower as background and the 'Young Parisiennes' title, printed it out onto fabric and that was the start of this cushion -



I had so much fun making this cushion, choosing the laces, the embellishments etc. The top is stitched by hand. I found it rather nice and relaxing to handstitch the laces and embellishments to the backing, much nicer than using the sewing machine. Some of the laces are antique, 19th C laces. I also used sweet little antique mother-of-pearl buttons, crystal bicones, freshwater pearls, tiny little glass beads, single lace motifs and a capiz shell to embellish the cushion.



Now I want to make lots more little fabricy things, sigh, when I really ought to be sorting out the lace and linens etc. and listing them in the blogshop Hmm, we'll see what happens. In the meantime, a big thank you to Mary for the lovely challenge and getting me crafting again!

Toodlepip xxx

The Kindness of Bloggers

A little while ago I was lamenting the fact that I had never found any pieces of driftwood on our beach, and my lovely lovely friend Dorthe offered to send me a few pieces. I should have known that Dorthe wouldn't just send a few pieces of driftwood, but I was not prepared for the wonderful package which arrived for me today.

As soon as I saw this gorgeous piece of vintage wallpaper on the top, I just went "ohoh, what has she done?" and my heart went all bumpedibump

Now does this look like just driftwood to you? NO, not to me either

Alright, this is driftwood, but look what she has wound round the pieces, laces, vintage ribbon, stamped ribbon, velvet ribbon beautifully embellished with sparklies -

And so many pieces of the most tactile, smooth pieces of driftwood, omg, the wonderful things I want to do with those pieces -

See this? I would think this has come from an old game. I love the colours, the illustrations, just the feel of these gorgeous old pieces -

And what about these little tags? Aren't they the sweetest? Printed on vellum has given them such a magic quality -

Pretty velvet ribbons in lovely colours and sequin embellishments for me to use in projects -

And the most precious thing, a beautiful handmade tag with a lovely message from Dorthe attached to it -

It now hangs next to the tags which my wonderful blogger friend Diane sent me a while ago -
The shelves they are hanging from are next to my computer desk, so I can see them all the time. I do love being surrounded by bits and pieces from my blogging friends, it makes me feel close to them.

It just makes me smile so much when I think about these gifts, that somebody has gone through all the trouble to put together such a thoughtful package, made something so special, spent so much time, parted with such lovely things, and all just because. I adore this wonderful, generous, genuine woman so much and her friendship is so precious to me. And Dorthe, one day we WILL meet in person and I'll be able to give you a great big hug! All I can do in the meantime is say THANK YOU!

Toodlepip xxx

Last Few of the Vide Greniers Finds........ I think

Can I tease you a little to start with? Just a little, lol? Have a look at this pic, do you recognise the symbol/trade mark?

No? Perhaps it is easier to see on the side of the little box?

Alright, tease over, it is Swarovski Crystal of course. Probably the best crystal you can get. My mother used to collect the little Swarovski figures for many years and has a lovely collection. This gorgeous treasure is staying with me though, not gonna give it away, no way. I love it. Not the box, of course but whats in it!

Six absolutely gorgeous, sparkly little candleholders. You got to see them in real life to really appreciate their fabulous sparkle.

They are going to look so lovely at Christmas time, on the dinner table, can you picture it?

Of course I also brought home a few more very vintage button cards. They are becoming quite difficult to find as well, darn, these French are getting wise to what we like. I especially love the cards with the really big buttons on, they are so perfect for button closures on handmade bags and totes

After I had taken this pic, I found some more cards in the bag, oops -

The tiny little silk thread covered buttons are the cutest little things, so perfect for period dolls clothes.

And talking of tiny, I found a little bunch of tiny keys as well. Geez, these tiny ones cost a whole lot more than the big ones! So not fair, lol -

Oh, and little bit more sparkle! Just some odd drops, but they are so pretty -

I was really pleased to find this antique velvet cross as well, because it is in uncommonly good condition. Usually the velvet is terribly worn, but this one doesn't show any signs of wear. Somebody looked after it extremely well, it obviously meant a lot to them -

I also came across these two religious plaques,


Did you see the beautiful old glitter in the first plaque?

And how about these? Three little boxes of gorgeous Perl Cotton embroidery thread-


Now these things had me somewhat confuzzled. They are knife rests, but not like any I have seen or used before. They have these dinky little bowls at either end, and the only thing I can think of is that they were meant for individual salt and pepper portions. Which is quite sensible, then you don't have to pass the normal salt and pepper cellar round the table. I love using knife rests, btw and I have a few French glass salt and pepper cellars as well. I like taking a pinch of pepper or salt out of the cellars.


I remember taking a little milk urn like this one to the shop to get the milk when I was a little girl and I can still in my mind see the lady behind the counter pulling this enormous handle on the tank and the milk spurting out into my little milk urn -

And we are almost down the very last items now. These are a bit OOH LA LA. I do love vintage clothing and lingerie etc is part of that as well. I am always delighted when I find these 40s/50s undergarments-




Yep a gorgeous old corset and the cutest little garter belt, all absolutely unused and still with labels!

And last but most definitely not least, a really precious find, a beautiful small Art Nouveau ( end of the 19th C ) pewter tray, probably made as an ashtray, but far too gorgeous for that. Isn't it the prettiest little thing for a dressing table? -

Well I think thats it, if I find I have missed out anything else, then thats just too bad, lol. I haven't even photographed the things I have bought at the couple of bootfairs I recently went to. So thats next on my to-do list.

Have a lovely day, toodlepip xxx