The Oh-La-La Shabby Chic Girls' Club Link Party!

I am sure most of you will know Cindy Adkins from her Whimsical Musings blog, but whilst I was away in France, she also started a new blog, which I found out about as I was working my way through a million and one missed blog posts - The Shabby Chic Girls' Club. And she is having a Linky Party today! For anything shabby chic of French inspired. Oh my, having just spent 2 months in France, I have one or two French inspired photographs, lol. What to show, what to show?

Well, I have decided to show you a few shabby chic lavender sachets and an altered old French glass bottle. Oh, it was so lovely sitting outside my craftavan, doing a little bit of al fresco sewing and crafting -


And when I was feeling peckish? No need to go back to the cottage for a snack, I had plentiful supplies growing right next to the sewing machine -


I made these lavender sachets for Christine with some of the lace found at a vide greniers we both went to -


I finally found some lovely old bottles at a vide greniers, I had been looking for ages but had never been lucky before. Some of the really old ones are too nice to alter, the embossed writing on them is decoration enough, but I had fun with the plain ones. Well, one of them, lol, the others are still awaiting their transformation.

The bottles I found -


and the one I played around with -


Sigh, I want to be back in my little craftavan.

If you would like to see more pics from France, the cottage etc, you will find plenty on the blog, lol.

I am linking this post to the link party, of course

Have a terrific weekend, wherever you are, toodlepip xxx

Guess who is back in Blogland?

YES! That would be me, lol. We got back from our summer in France on the weekend, and ever since then, I have been trying to catch up with what seems like millions of missed blog posts from my favourite blogs. I am suffering from numb bum syndrome by now, I have spent that much time sitting here reading, and I am still about 3 1/2 weeks behind. I was so determined to catch up with all your news first, before writing a blog post, but heck, I can't wait any longer, I have so many photos to show you. Because I couldn't post much ( I really didn't want to impose on our friends too often ), I spent lots of time doing silly things like editing pics and putting them all into neat little folders, so once I start posting properly again, you will probably get a lot of one-themed posts, lol.

I know, I'll start with pretty flowers, how's about that? It is really difficult for us to plant or sow anything new at the cottage, because we are not there all the time, and young plants/seeds etc need a lot of looking after. So, flowers are not in abundance, in our garden/field, but I was delighted to see that a few of the seeds, which I had sowed in May had actually grown into flowers. Woohoo! I do have a few roses round the cottage as well, and they were flowering beautifully all summer long. They were still full of buds when we left. I do love wild flowers, and always pick some when we go wombling down the country lanes. They look so pretty in old French enamelled pitchers or glass bottles.

Here goes, French fleurs -

Leek flowers, wild daisies and those white lacy wild flowers which seem to have a hundred different names -

No idea what these wild flowers are called, but they are the prettiest shade of purple -

More stuff growing wild in the lower field, and I have no idea what these flowers are called either. But aren't they just the prettiest blue? And that tiny little pink tongue is just so delightful -

A tiny mixed bunch of wild flowers on an outside window sill -

And wild honeysuckle on the kitchen window sill -

One of the roses in the garden -

The packet said that these flowers would grow anywhere, and they did! Without being looked after! -

This is thyme, which grows wild in the top field. Can you imagine the wonderful scent when you walk through it? My craftavan is in the top field, and I always made sure I walked through a patch of thyme on my way to it -


And now I am going back to reading more blog posts. Only 3 1/2 weeks' worth to go! Tomorrow I need to post pics of a couple of Tag Tuesday challenge tags which are overdue, and I'll show you some vide greniers finds, if you like........

Toodlepip xxx

Aaah, French lace and a Tag Tuesday Challenge tag

Here I am, sitting in our friends' garden yet again, and thinking of all of you. I have some lovely French laces to show you from one of the vide greniers we went to. My heart always goes pitterpatter rather alarmingly when I see lacy bits on a stall. Crazy, yep. But you gals who love lace will understand.

I have also made the tag for this week's Tag Tuesday challenge over at the Blog Challenge Garden this morning. The theme was Have a Heart, and the heart had to be the focal point. I had just the thing in my little case of supplies, a gorgeous little silver filigree heartshaped locket. I'll start with that, shall I?


And then there is the French lace, aaaahhh..............


Isn't the lace just exquisite? Some of it os very old indeed, and beautifully handmade, incredibly fine, detailed work.

Thats all for today, miss you gals. Toodlepip xxx

Doggies loving the life in France

My DS Nick couldn't come with us to France this year due to work commitments, and he is really missing the dogs. The doggies are loving it here, of course, so much space to run around in, wonderful country smells to snuffle at, and cows to watch. So this post is just about the doggies, enjoying la vie en France -

This is their best friend and playmate Rosie, Frank and Christine's dog -



Aaaahhh, love my doggies!

Toodlepip xxx