Bottles and a splash of colour

Short post today, I am busy busy busy trying to find enough images, bits and pieces, embellishments etc for 12 ATCs for a swap with a very dear bloggy friend. 

The weather is still pretty horrid, not much rain today, but boy oh boy, it is so stormy. I was afraid some of our trees would come down, it was that bad on top of our hill. But all is well, phew, they bravely stood up to anything the weather god could throw at them.

Taking photos is a bit iffy at the moment though, because the light is still so very dull and because these old French cottages have small windows, it can get quite dark inside. So the picture of bottles on the windowsill, which I took for this week's theme at the Our Beautiful World blog, is not terribly exciting -

But also on the windowsill is a vase with some gorgeous and quite unusual roses, which my darling husband had bought for me last week. The colouring is quite amazing, splashes of yellow on the red, and once they had opened up, they looked almost like carnations from a distance -

They are a most welcome splash of colour on these dull days.

As always, thanks for stopping by, 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

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

Quick challenge catch up

After yesterday's very long wombling through Autun post, I'll have a very short post for you today, just catching up on a couple of weekly theme challenges.

Firstly, over at the Our Beautiful World blog, the theme is BLUE this week. I chose a photograph of a cornflower in a field near our cottage in France -

I adore cornflowers, and together with bright red poppies they make my heart sing when I see them growing alongside fields.

Second pic is of the tag I made for this week's CIRCLES theme over at the Tag Tuesday blog -

I used a champagne cork I had on my desk to stamp the copper circles with.

Thats all! I know, amazingly short post, lol, but I am so busy with my Etsy shop, I don't have time for anything else it seems. Long may it continue, lol, I am loving it.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, and thanks for stopping by,
toodlepip xxx

A most delightful swap and an autumn pic

Before I show you the swap package, I wanted to post a photo for this week's AUTUMN theme over at the Our Beautiful World blog -

Our little lane is covered in prickly chestnuts from the ancient trees in our top field.

And now the swap! -

A little while ago, my darling friend Suzy of the wonderful Suziqusthreadworks blog suggested a swap, her beautiful and sumptuous luxurious fabrics for my gorgeous old French laces. Took me all of a millisecond to scream YES!!!! Suzy has the most amazing collection of fabrics. If you have ever had the pleasure of holding one of her collages or corsages or fabric books, then you'll know what I am talking about. Silks, velvets, satins and lace fabrics in rich deep colours, absolutely to die for. I was so cross with my camera, it just wouldn't pick up the colours properly, but I hope that with a little imagination you'll be able to tell how beautiful they are -

I wish you could feel all these gorgeous fabrics! I would have loved to take lots more photos of all these, but my poor camera just couldn't cope. The colours are so much richer and deeper than my lens could capture them.

I hope that one day I will be able to do justice to the amazing fabrics.

And you know what else was in the package? One of Suzy's stunning collages! That one photographed much better, thank goodness -

All those layers, all those embellishments, I just adore her work so much.

Well, dang, I totally forgot to tell you all that we are at the cottage in France for a couple of weeks! It is so peaceful and quiet and I am so happy to be back here. Hopefully we'll have some good weather for a few days so that we can do the work in the garden. I didn't take any craft stuff at all with me, but I do have some crochet hooks, knitting needles and wool here. I love sitting by the fire with a bit of knitting or crochet, might just have to start another blanket ;-).

Toodlepip, xxx

Two weeks? TWO WEEKS???

Good grief, we have been back in the UK for two weeks already and I am only just getting around to doing a blog post? The days have just flown by. First, there was all the unpacking, and let me tell ya, there was A LOT to unpack, lol, all the brocante finds from the summer! Then the hospital appointments, family visiting us, us visiting friends, trying to get some sort of order into my craft room after unpacking my craftavan suitcase, tons of laundry, and keeping up with my Etsy shop. I have done very little in the way of crafting, I regret to say, just a couple of Tag Tuesday tags and some more customer tags. 

Shame on me, I have also neglected the Our Beautiful World blog, so before I miss the deadline again, I am going to post a photo for this week's theme, which is SMILE. I took the photo of our neighbours' son the day after the big party, he has the biggest, sweetest smile, don't you think? - 

Handsome lad, he will break a few hearts when he grows up!

The Tag Tuesday tags I haven't shown you yet are FAIRY TALES from last week, and STENCILS from this week.

For Fairy Tales I picked the story of THE SNOW QUEEN, which I have loved ever since reading it when I was a little girl. -

And this is my STENCILS tag -

This was a difficult one. I have two stencils, snowflakes and clock faces. Which one to go with? I really didn't want to do another wintry kind of tag, so I decided to go with the clock faces. Just the clock faces didn't look all that good, far too little showing on the tag, so I made a stencil for the word TIME, hand cut out of some thick card. The red ink makes it stand out nicely. But I still wasn't happy, it still looked too empty to me, so I raided my watch parts box and stuck a few bits on :-).

The weekend is going to be really busy as well, so I have no idea when I will be able to do some of the projects I would so dearly like to get on with. Might have to pull a few midnight sessions, lol.

You gals are so patient with me, thanks for hanging in there!

Toodlepip xxx

The Gate

.... and a couple of Tag Tuesday tags I haven't shown yet.

The theme over at the Our Beautiful World blog today is GATE, and I immediately thought of a photograph I took a couple of years ago. Probably because the scene was very much like it today when I took the dogs out for their morning walk ( not quite as early as in the photo though, lol ). We were in the clouds again, everything was misty and eerie and looking a little unreal. There was a little sunlight filtering through so you knew blue skies weren't far away and the day would be glorious once the clouds had lifted -

These are the Tag Tuesday tags for the last couple of weeks -

Two weeks ago the theme was SONG TITLE. The theme did give me a lot of headaches as well. Crumbs, there are soooooo many fabulous songs out there, and I have been around for a while, lol, so it really wasn't easy. I don't know why, but a few days ago, an old Cat Stevens song popped into my head, FATHER AND SON. Great song, but for me the best ever version of it was done by Peter Henn and Robert Steyl ( with Richard de Bastion and Hannjoerg Merklin ), friends during my days in Berlin 1973-1975 ), on the album 'To our friends in prison'. Oh my, that released a flood of memories, but thats a story for another day.

So, a Father and Son tag it had to be :-) -

This is my much treasured album -

Last week, the theme for the tag was FRUIT. I decided to fill a beautiful bowl with all kinds of fruit, and my mouth was watering while I was cutting out all those apples, peaches, grapes, pineapple, strawberries, lemons, errr, and whatever else I could find -

No brocantes for me today :-( , my poor darling husband has severe tonsillitis so we are staying home. I might get a little time in my crafacan though, yay!

Have a wonderful Sunday wherever you are, toodlepip xxx

A French chateau and a sign which makes my heart beat faster

Over at the Our Beautiful World blog, the prompt this week is SIGNAGE. Aaaah, there is one sign which always makes my heart beat faster. Want to know what that could possibly be? LOL, if you know me and have been following for some time, then you can probably guess -

Of course you got it right, it is a brocante sign! Whether it is a sign to a brick and mortar shop or a handwritten note pointing the way to a brocante held in the street or a field, doesn't matter, it makes my heart beat faster.

And that brings me quite neatly to the next subject. We went to a brocante in Vandenesse on Sunday, and as we entered the town, I spotted this oh so pretty little chateau -

Couldn't stop to photograph it then, had to get to the brocante, lol, but we did stop on the way back. There was this huge long drive leading up to it, didn't seem private as lots of brocante visitors had parked there, so I took a little womble up to the chateau. This archway seemed to lead to the main part of the chateau, as it had a Propriete Privee notice on it -

In front of the archway, however, was a huge circular drive and to the left this enormous building which looked much more like the proper part of the chateau -

I just love the iron bands around the tower. Do you think there were really needed to hold the tower in shape :-) ?

How I love round towers! They are just fairy tale stuff -

Back to the archway to the private part of the property -

The studded doors are magnificent -

Of course I had to respect the privacy of the owners and couldn't just go through the archway, but I did have to take a quick pic, because I spotted a fabulous old zinc slipper bath by their door! -

Sometimes I wish I was a little braver and would dare to knock on the owners' doors and ask whether I could take photographs. Sigh. I am too timid.

Have a wonderful week wherever you are, toodlepip xxx