Halloween Swap

Just a very quick post, as I am soooo busy at the moment.  I was very late in putting my name down for Kimberly's September swap, I had somehow missed the original post. So the first thing I had to make after we got back, was the set of Halloween tags for the swap. Lol, oh the frustration! I know that Halloween is way more popular in the States, but I thought that I would at least be able to get some Halloween themed papers, stickers etc locally without resorting to the internet. Nope. Nada. Silch. And there was no time to order off the internet.

I didn't even have any plain orange paper, but I did have some scrunched up orange tissue paper an Etsy purchase had been wrapped in ( tehehe, thank goodness that I save just about everything ). I glued it to some paper so that I could run it through the printer. I used Glossy Accents on some of the  cut out images, like the cat and the skull, tinted the little witch green, and used some black lace and orange ribbons.  I also made a little orange bead dangle for each tag. I was surprised that I managed to find a few orange bits and pieces in my stashes, even though orange really isn't a favourite colour of mine.

I made five, only very slightly different tags -

If you are in the States, you still have time to enter the swap on Kimberly's blog. Tags are due Oct. 1, 2012.

Toodlepip xxx

Back in the UK!

Yep, back in the UK and missing France already. A few super busy weeks and then we will back in France again, to do all the autumny stuff which will need to be done.

The drive back is always quite tiring, but it was so good to see our youngest son, who still lives with us, and the doggies were so excited to see him again as well. That kinda energised us again, at least for a couple of hours, lol. Another thing which put a big happy smile on my face was a little package which was waiting for me. I was sure it had to be the prayer flag from Jan, and I so wanted to open it straight away. But it was dark by that time, and I don't like taking photos in artificial light, so I made myself wait until this morning. And here are the photos -

Prettily wrapped and with her original artwork card -

And here is the beautiful prayer flag she made, it is so perfect for me with the subtle colours and gorgeous embellishments, all the things I adore -

She also enclosed this fabulous tag -

and all these sweet things for me to create with -

Without Jan I wouldn't have found out about prayer flags now and I am so glad that I did. I love the idea behind them. Big thank you hug to you, Jan, for this fabulous swap. There is just a gentle wind here on the Channel coast today, so I will hang the prayer flag in the garden for a little while and let the wind carry the message away.

If you missed the post where I showed the prayer flag I sent to Jan, you can find it HERE.

Right, no more time to chat, gotta get busy busy busy! Toodlepip xxx

Master Packer at work!

I have been packing up ( most of ) the wonderful brocante finds from this summer. All day long. Trying to get it all into the car along with two dogs and the usual stuff you travel with, like clothes, dvds, cameras etc, is a daunting task, but........ I have been doing it for almost ten years now, and I am getting good at it ;-). You wouldn't believe the amount of stuff I have managed to get into the car. Now I need a break. And while I am resting for a few moments, I'll show you a few more pics of some of the brocante finds. Quite a few, actually, lol, I hope you don't mind. Randomly picked really, because I am too tired to do it in an orderly fashion.

A gorgeous large chalice kind of thing -

Gilt finish ornate curtain rings -

Fabulous metal ornate frame -

Lots of great vintage kitchen stuff -

A precious little lace motif from The Louvre Shop, Paris -

Some rather beautiful lace doilies -

Great metal pieces, originally from a chandelier I was told, awesome for mixed media projects -

I love the small gilt metal ornaments and the shabby white keyhole plate -

Amazingly intricate old stamp -

The prettiest little souvenir tin from Nancy -

A firm favourite of mine, this enamelware kitchen rack with matching ladle etc 

Beautifully tactile old wooden measure -

Victorian era photo album filled with cabinet cards -

Stunning monogrammed silver plate cutlery of exceptional quality -

The most beautiful Madonna I have found to date -

Beautiful old handwriting -

Two huge rosaries, very different from your usual ones -

Art Deco era pharmacy tin, love the lilac colour!

My most favourite tin, because it is even prettier on the inside -

Antique roller stamp ( to create the beautiful broderie anglaise work seen on nighties and French undergarments -

Curtain rings with clips -

I gotta get back to the packing, finishing up whats left and then start the big clean up.

Early start tomorrow morning. Drive all day, hopefully get to our UK home early evening.

And I see you gals probably on Monday! Until then, toodlepip xxx

Flipping heck, look at this!

This is a very short post, as I am in the middle of packing up everything to go back to the UK tomorrow. But I wanted to show you this amazing Giveaway before its too late to enter, as I had a very good experience with this company.

Giveaway pic first, then I'll explain -

Isn't that the most fabulous stash of craft goodies? You can find the Giveaway post HERE.

This is why I am telling you about this. Often it is really difficult finding the supplies which are readily available in the States, for example, Oxford Impressions stamps, which are VERY hard to find in the UK. Craft Barn seemed to be the only company I could find.

I emailed the Craft Barn yesterday to see whether they had a couple of OI stamps in stock which I couldn't find on their website. Sandy replied quickly, telling me they didn't, but were ordering them and would I like to be emailed when they were in stock. YES, PLEASE! She immediately acknowledged that email, and this was nearly 10PM!!! I'd call that very very good customer service indeed.

Now I am keeping my fingers crossed for the Giveaway. I'd sure like to get my hands onto all those goodies.

Toodlepip xxx

Eyeing up the world through a window

Yep, another cheeky and totally misleading post title, lol. I have been a bad incher, I missed the last two weeks of inchies and today the third one is due, so I spent some time in the craftavan catching up. And of course I wanted to get all three themes into the post title.

Two Mondays ago, the theme was "EYE". When I sat down at my little table today and started thinking about what to do, I immediately decided that I wanted big lashes. Nice, curly 3D lashes. I drew the eye, and was going to make the lashes out of black seam binding as I didn't have any black paper, but that didn't work out. Finally found some nice glossy black on the back page of a magazine. It is a steampunk kind of eye, lol, I used a washer, a tiny crocheted ring of sorts and an even tinier nut for the pupil -

Last Monday's inchie challenge was "WORLD". I really didn't want to draw a globe, errm, perhaps it was more a case of not being able to draw a globe, lol, so I decided to go with the saying - the WORLD is your oyster. That was much more fun. I used a real pearl inside the oyster! -

I wanted to show the beautiful WORLD surrounding us here at the cottage, but photographing such a teeny thing kinda killed the background. Just use your imagination and think of the pics I posted of the view many times before, lol.

And today's theme for the weekly inchie challenge is "WINDOW". Our cottage here in France has shutters, and I couldn't resist making shutters for my WINDOW inchie. I found the perfect size image of a man in a French antiques magazine, drew the window frame on him and attached the shutters -

(photographed on a brick to make it look like a house wall).

I am so glad I finally caught up with this challenge. 

We'll be returning to England on Sunday, with a car packed to the hilt with lots of lovely French treasures which I will be listing in the Etsy shop from Monday or Tuesday onwards. If I get the chance, I'll show some more recent brocante finds tomorrow!

Until then, toodlepip xxx