Well, what can I use this crown for?

Actually, it is not a proper crown, it is a crown shaped candle holder, which I bought in France last summer. I had it sitting on my desk for a while and it got filled with all sorts of things over the weeks. One week it might be ribbons, another it might be little bags of beads, or just anything lying around needing to be stored. Then, a few days ago, I received a second set of stamps from my favourite handmade stamp supplier, norajane on Etsy. They are dinky little things, perfect for tags and the best thing about them is, they have these lovely long thin wooden handles which makes them so easy to hold and use. I adore them. And then it struck me that they would fit perfectly in my crown shaped candle holder! What do you think? Neat way to store them? -

They don't roll around in the drawer anymore now, yay!

Toodlepip xxx

Just what I needed

It seems like I haven't done any creating for months. Apart from tags, that is. Dozens and dozens and dozens of them in the last couple of months, going out with orders. And Tag Tuesday tags, of course, because I love the weekly themes.

But a couple of days ago, I read Anni's blog post about the Fragile Paper challenge at Paper Artsy. That intrigued me. I have lots of antique and vintage ephemera, some of it very fragile indeed. Anni's beautiful creation for this challenge really inspired me, and I hopped over to Paper Artsy to check out the details for the challenge. Loved it!

I pulled out all kinds of papers and was going to go with a tattered piece of a very old Parisien map but somehow the other bits and pieces to go with it didn't do it for me. No inspiration. And then I looked through a little bag of sweet treasures I had received from dear Sandy at Qill Cottage and there they were, the pieces I needed to inspire a little creation - a very old fragile book page, pieces of handwritten ephemera and the most intriguing kind of see through plasticised paper, which had a very unusual feel. The size of the page determined the size of the collage. I also used some vintage dress making pattern paper which had come all the way from Australia, wrapped around a pressie from my dear friend Suzy. Some stamping, a tiny bit of Treasure Gold, some words and a couple of embellishments later, and all that was left to do was make a hanger out of twisted paper -

Oh, and talking of Treasure Gold ............ I treated myself to some of the gorgeous colours.They arrived yesterday and in the evening I finally got a chance to play around with them just a wee bit. Whilst chatting with Marie from Lost Bird Studio, lol. I used a couple of embossed tags and just messed around with some of the colours. Gosh, this stuff is fun!! So beautifully shiny! I have a couple of little metal pieces which would benefit from a little Treasure Gold treatment :-). Anyhoo, here are the two tags I played around with -

I think I will have to play a bit more with these lovely colours.......... tehehehe.

Toodlepip xxx

From America with love... via Germany... via London and Brighton!

A few days before Christmas, I got the bestest Christmas present any blogger could get......... meeting up with a bloggy friend, yay!!!

My wonderful friend Lanette (Betsy's Heartstrings) and her husband from the States were spending Christmas with one of their daughters and her family in Germany, and they all decided to spend a few days in London. That was too good an opportunity to miss! They wanted to take a day trip to somewhere as well and Bath, which they had thought about, was too far away, so they decided on Brighton and we were determined to meet up there. Can you imagine how excited I was? It was amazing when we spotted them on the platform at Brighton Station, coming through the barriers. And that was it, Lanette and I didn't stop talking until it was time for them to get on a train back to London again, lol. Here we are at Brighton station, having just met up -

 left to right - my DH Andy, moi, Lanette and her DH Kim

We went to visit the Royal Pavilion, which was just awesome. We weren't allowed to take photographs inside, but google images for Brighton Pavilion and you'll see it in all its glory

We didn't stop talking when we were walking, and we didn't stop talking in the restaurant where we had dinner either, lol -

 Whilst the others were enjoying their drinks and their food, we were pouring over something which Lanette had made for me, something she called a Project Board Collage -

OMG, she had collected many many pieces of beautiful old silk ribbons, lace, embellishments, tiny keys and shell beads, trims and millinery and beautiful threads and collaged them all together so beautifully. I can't bear the thought of taking things off and using them. We spent ages in the restaurant going through every last thing on there :-). What a wonderful thing to have and it is hanging in my craft room now and being admired by me every time I look at it. Of course I just got to show you lots of detailed pics of all the wonderful treasures in this collage -

It is very precious to me, but even more precious are the memories of our meeting :-).

They also gifted us with some of their awesome cider ( omg that stuff tastes soooo good and it is alcohol free ), and my DH now proudly wears an Empey Brothers jacket and cap when he takes the dog walking in the Firehills.

It was over all too soon. A couple more photos on the way back to the station -

and then the final wave goodbye -

Most of the photos of the visit were taken by Lanette or one of her family. I guess I was too busy chatting away, lol, to remember my little camera. Doh.

That was last year, tehehehe, doesn't that sound incredibly long ago. I am hoping to meet up with Lanette and Kim again this summer in France, fingers crossed.

Toodlepip, xxx

From Australia with love

A few days ago Canada, yesterday Denmark, today Australia, I am blessed with dear friends all over the world. Post from Australia can only mean one thing - a package from Suzy! Again, no words necessary, the photos speak for themselves -

Biggest thank-you-hugs, Suzy!

Tomorrow, I'll have one more Christmas pressie to show you, a really amazing and totally unusual one.......

As we see in the New Year tonight, I'll be thinking of you all, my dear bloggy friends, and wishing you the very best for 2015.

Toodlepip xxx

From Denmark with love

You know that when something from Denmark lands on your door step, it is bound to be something gorgeous, made with love by our oh so talented friend Dorthe. This is what arrived a little while ago, no words needed -

THANK YOU, my dear dear friend!

Tomorrow, I must show you a very splendid gift received from another much loved bloggy friend....

Until then, toodlepip xxx