HURRAH !!!!!

I am so excited, we finally got broadband at the cottage, woohoo! It will take me ages to catch up with everybody and everything, so please don't expect too much right away, but I will get there, yay.


Here are a couple of pics of my doggies, enjoying life in France, just for my DS3, who is missing them terribly -

How can a 40kg dog make himself so small??? - 

You may remember that I entered ArtJoyStuff's CELEBRATE SPRING ATC SWAP a while ago, and last week, I received Kimberly's letter with 6 swap ATCs. It was my very first ATC swap, and I was so excited when Kimberly's letter turned up in our mailbox here in France. I love the six ATCs I received. Of course, you will want to see them, right? Here they are - 


They were beautifully wrapped and came with this gorgeous tag from Kimberly -

Darn, I have put them up in my craftavan already, so I can't tell you right now who made which ATC.  Bother, lol, too eager to display them, lol. But they do look good in my craftavan, don't you think -

Oh, while I am at it, I might as well show you a few more pics of the craftavan, some of the beautiful gifts received from very dear bloggy friends -

These are by no means all my beautiful gifted treasures, some are in the bathroom, some in the bedrooms, and some are in England. They are all so dear to me.


This is so great, I am sitting in the cottage, in front of a roaring fire as it is so cold and rainy today, and I can do a blog post. I am a very happy bunny, lol.


Next post I'll show you some of the lovely old ephemera I picked up at the last vide grenier I went to. But for now, its toodlepip xxx

Aaah, vide greniers and brocante!

Thankfully, the French don't seem to mind the rain, unlike the English, who cancel everything if there is a possibility of rain. Sunday was wet, it was raining, not hard, but drizzly, and I almost didn't go, because I wasn't sure whether the brocante would be on. But hubby was willing to drive, so off we went, and boy, was I glad we did! I found some really lovely things. I don't have much time, I am still without internet access at our home, so I am at our friends's house again. I'll just show you pics - 

Thats it, gotta get back to our cottage so that Andy can mow the grass today, as the weather report for tomorrow is awful. I hope that it will stay dry for  a couple of hours in the morning, because there is a little vide greniers in the area. 


Thank you all so very much for your comments and emails. I'll try and answer everything as soon as we get our own internet access. I am not a very patient person, all this waiting is driving me nuts, lol.


I wish you all a very happy weekend wherever you are. I am thinking of you.


Toodlepip xxx

Big hello from France!

Hi everybody! I can't believe how quickly time has flown, we have been here at the cottage for 8 days already! I am at our friends' house at the moment, using their internet. BUT, we CAN get broadband finally, woohoo, and should be up and running in about a week's time. The long Easter weekend is delaying things somewhat, but what the heck, just knowing that I will be able to bug you all with my posts regularly, makes me smile. Fingers crossed.


I have managed a little bit of shopping at a brocante last weekend, and I'll show you pics of some of the things I have bought in a minute, but first I have to post my inchie for this week, which I managed to make a couple of days ago in my craftavan.The theme was RIVER - 

I stamped the background with green inks in different shades, as I didn't have any colouring pens, and used a piece of blue seam binding for the river. Stamped some paper with different blues and cut out tiny fish. Riviere is the French word for river. I cut it out of an old Larousse dictionary.

And now to the finds from last weekend. This is the most gorgeous candelabra with a very sweet cherub holding the three candlesticks -

A very large figure of Christ, which came from a cross which had rotted away. I believe this dates to the turn of the last century -

Some fabulous vintage French bakeware with the prettiest pattern - 

A magnificent solid copper bed warmer with brass fittings, very heavy and so beautiful -

A small figure of Christ, again minus the cross, perfect for a religious mixed media collage -

Some matching graniteware pieces in really great condition - 

A beautifully sculpted figure of Jeanne d'Arc. I really don't know what this could have been attached to, but it obviously was topping something -

A handful of gorgeous old keys -

I love the colour of this enamel ladle. The handle is solid colour, the bowl is speckled with white enamel -

This silver plated ladle has a very unusual shaped bowl, kind of squarish but with a very shallow lip -

A beautiful Madonna statue, very gentle colours and she has such a sweet face - 

Notre Dame de Lourdes, a very beautiful statue of Our Lady of Lourdes -

These two pill boxes are in fantastic condition with really rich colours and beautiful Art Nouveau designs -

The blues on this bon bon or cookie tin are GORGEOUS, don't you think: And the floral design is so sweet-

I fell in love with this metal rose, rusted to perfection -

I was incredibly lucky to be able to buy a whole bunch of these typical French window shutter holders. Usually you find one or two at a brocante. I managed to find 16 pieces! Aren't they fabulous?

These glasses were used by people taken the waters at famous Spas in France. The glass is engraved with the name of the spa on the front and with the amount in millilitres on the back. All carried around in this woven basket with leather straps -

These strange looking metal ornaments are part of the fittings on very old windows. They are so beautifully ornate -

And thats about it for now. I did buy a bunch of ephemera as well but I am saving that for another post!

Thank you all so much for your kind comments and emails. I hope that I will be able to reply to them real soon, but I don't want to take up too much time here at our friends's house. I hope you understand.

Wishing you all a wonderful day, wherever you are,
toodlepip xxx