Officially old!

According to my darling husband that is, lol. It is my birthday today, my 60th birthday, and he gleefully told me that now I am officially old. I did try to tell him that 60 is the new 40, and that I am only middle aged, but he wouldn't have it, I am now an official member of the Old Fogey Club :-). Thats quite enough of that, though, I'd much rather show you something pretty than talk about age.

Just before we left for France, I received a little package, which had travelled all the way from Australia. Judy from Judy's Fabrications had a giveaway a little while ago and I was one of the lucky winners. I love her rich and exuberant, colourful style, and I was thrilled to receive one of her amazing hearts -

Isn't the beadwork just amazing? 

She also gifted me with this pretty French themed tag, perfect for my French craftavan -

And talking of gifts..... I received some beautiful birthday gifts from very dear bloggy friends, which I'll show you over the next few days. They are a real feast for the eyes, so check back soon :-).

I am off now to do a little bit of birthday shopping with my DH. He wants to buy me a plum tree for my birthday, isn't that just the bestest present?

Toodlepip xxx

Back at the cottage

Yes, we got back to our little cottage on the hill on Thursday and I am so happy. I brought one suitcase full of crafty stuff with me, but I haven't even unpacked it yet, the first few days are always so busy with major shopping, organising, cleaning etc.

What I did unpack though were some beautiful gifts I received from dear blogging friends, which had arrived shortly before left the UK for France. Of course I'll be showing you the gorgeous things over the next few days. I'll start today with something which arrived from Germany, from my wonderful friend Alexandra. She is an expert seamstress, I am always bowled over by her sewing prowess. She has made beautiful clothes for herself and others and she also makes the most amazing bags. And she sent me one of her bags, woohoo! Take a look at these pics and you'll understand why I am so delighted with it -

I can't get over all the amazing details, it really is a fabulous bag and I love it!

You know that over the winter, while we were in the UK, I didn't get to any flea markets or antique fairs, and I was having severe withdrawal symptoms, lol. But what do you know, there was a little brocante on Sunday about 50mins drive from our cottage and it was sheer bliss being able to womble along stalls with lovely old things and haggle over a little treasure or two :-). I didn't get much, but I'll take pics of what I did get and show you later in the week.

Thats all for now, its great to have you visiting, thank you and toodlepip xxx

Just one picture

Yep, thats all, one picture for this Sunday's Our Beautiful World theme of Black and White -

It is a piece of antique French crochet work against a piece of vintage black lace.

There. Done :-).

I am spending most of my time reading the forums on Etsy at the moment because there are some weird and not so wonderful things going on with Search and categories. Oh man! If its not one thing, its another, sigh.

Have a wonderful Sunday and thank you for stopping by, toodlepip xxx

Paper Artsy Challenge - Miniature Art

Hmm, I wouldn't exactly call my little project art, but it is miniature. A miniature book, to be precise. I was inspired by a really gorgeous miniature book one of the designers on the Paper Artsy blog had created ( HERE ), and once I had book in my head, I couldn't get it out again. Oh, but my muse is still playing dark and dirty games with me, I think she must be keeping really bad company lately. Look what she made me do! -

A little book of creepy dolls

( and I have to admit that damaged doll heads really do creep me out, shudder shudder )

 

Do you love or hate damaged dolls? Do they creep you out or do you want to cuddle them better? :-)

Toodlepip xxx

ATC Swap Parisian Beauty

You may remember that I made some ATCs for Kimberly's Parisian Beauty ATC swap quite a while ago, see this blog post. Unfortunately, my little package never made it to Kimberly, perhaps the very severe weather conditions had something to do with. But, being the fabulous hostess Kimberly is, she still included me in the swap and sent me some extras she had received. I am sure they were meant for her, and I am so very grateful that she passed them on to me. And here they are, together with a beautiful gift from Kimberly -

This first one was made by Cassie and it is fabulous -

The next one was made by Sylvia. So beautiful, and it came with some lovely little paper treats -

The third one was made by Maggie and what a beauty it is! I also loved the way it was sent, with this gorgeous fabric ribbon wrapped round the tissue paper-

And as always, Kimberly included a gift from herself. I couldn't believe what she had sent to us swappers! I received this sweet little dress form holding the most delightful blingy danglies! Aren't they the prettiest earrings? -

Thank you so much, Kimberly, for being such a very generous, kind hostess, I love your swaps!

In the package I also received a couple of items I had bought in Kimberly's Etsy shop. A while ago, she had an incredibly generous sale, which enabled me to buy a couple of things without risking going over import threshold (£15) and incurring huge charges. I am thrilled to bits with the two beautiful collages I got from her,beautifully wrapped in this gorgeous tissue paper -

I just loved the quote on this one, maybe because I brought up three sons.

And isn't this one just so delightful? -

You can find her blog HERE and there are links which will take you to her beautiful Etsy shops.

I am getting ready to go back to our cottage in France next week. Oh my, decisions, decisions, what crafty stuff will I take? One suitcase, thats all. How to condense a whole craft room into one suitcase? 

Toodlepip xxx

Anything but Paper

ANYTHING BUT PAPER is this week's theme over at the Tag Tuesday blog. I love it! It gave me the opportunity to mess around with mixed media bits and pieces, metal and such. Tadaaaaa -

I started with some scrunched up and steamrollered alu foil for the background, which I coloured with various Treasure Gold waxes -

For the focal point I used a tiny frozen charlotte doll, gilded with Classic Treasure Gold. The Golden Child was then framed with one half of an antique French curtain ring ( took me ages to prise them apart ). I added all sorts of metal bits, mother-of-pearl pieces and of course some bling as well -

Toodlepip and hugs to you xxx

Sneaking in before the deadline

I am so late with my Tag Tuesday tag, only hours to go before the new theme is due. I had a bit of a stressful week. If I mention tooth, abscess, hospital, dentist etc, does that give you an idea? Nuff said, lol.

The Tag Tuesday theme was 'IN THE STYLE OF'. Well, one of the artists in blogland whom I most admire is Suziqu from the totally amazing suziqusthreadworks blog. I just adore her fabric books, collages, fabric brooches, hearts etc etc. She uses layers of the most beautiful fabrics, old laces and delightful images in her projects and embellishes them with beaded trims, fancy jewels and often rusty, weird and wonderful metal objects.

I have tried to make my little tag in her style by using a pretty image, layers of lace, beaded trims and funky metal bits like the disk from an antique grater and a brass flat ring thingy, onto which I stuck a beautifully carved MOP button. Suzy would have sewn her fabrics and laces to the tag, but mine are glued, because my sewing machine is packed away at the moment.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful week everybody, toodlepip xxx

A mixed bag

I am back in the land of the living, sort of, lol, but enough said, no more talk about horrid colds.

I hadn't played over at the Our Beautiful World blog for some time, it seems I only get the camera out for things other than Etsy shop goods and tags when we are in France. This week's theme is ' what light through yonder window breaks ', and yes, of course, it was taken in France, lol, through the kitchen window in our cottage -

A storm was approaching and the sky was turning a very dark grey in the distance, yet our little cottage was still bathed in glorious sunshine. I love that kind of light, just before a storm breaks.

Next, this week's tag for the current challenge over at the Tag Tuesday blog. The theme is TEXT. I think I must have had Spring on my brain, because I used four different Distress Inks in pretty pastel Spring colours for the blended background. I made a stencil with different sized holes and used my favourite metallic ink ( copper ) on it and then printed some handwriting text in black ink here and there. The focal point of the tag is a torn piece of TEXT from a wonderful ( but sadly broken) 1713 Italian book. I edged the tag with a gold ink marker and added a seam binding ribbon-

And last but not least, a few photos, taken recently with my phone,whilst out walking with the dogs in the Firehills, our Country Park right on the cliff tops -

Occasionally, these beautiful shaggy ponies are right up on the cliff tops as well. Hector couldn't care less, lol, but they drive Poppy nuts, so she has to go back on the lead when we get close. I do love these beautiful, their rough coats, their beautiful colour and their big soulful eyes. They are so friendly as well and don't mind the dogs one bit.

Enjoy life, stay warm if it is still winter for you, and stay cool if summer temps are soaring where you are. Toodlepip xxx