1st March 2007 Let The Nostalgic Heart Swappers Heart Party begin!!!!

~~~~~~~~~ WELCOME TO THE HEART PARTY~~~~~~~~


These are the hearts that I have received from my swap partners in my group that participated in the Nostalgic heart swap hosted by Anita. If you click on the photo it will hopefully enlarge to show better detail of all these enchanting hearts.

Nicole from Germany was the first to send the glorious paper heart with beautiful PINK rose, a pretty bluebird in the middle and a lovely little flower a top it.Maria from Finland sent me a lovely white heart with my initial embroidered in PINK on the front and delicate crochet work on the reverse and all beaded. Beautiful!
Anita our host from Germany sent me a truly nostalgic heart with PINK roses and embroidery and the cutest little vintage photograph.

Unfortunately Carols heart has not arrived yet but as soon as it does I will show it off. I have had a sneaky peek on Carols blog and am taking a guess on which one is mine, but I will wait and see if I am right. If I am wrong it won't matter they are all glorious.

Come and visit all the participating blogs (see links below) and have a right hearty time!

See the links below for the ladies in my group.
Anita in Germany -http://ein-stueck-garten.blogspot.com/
Maria from Finland- http://redlupin.blogspot.com/
Carol from Germany - http://carolsgarden.blogspot.com/
Nicole from Germany - http://smalltreasures.blogspot.com/

Anita will be showing off both groups of swappers on her blog.

I have had fun playing around with this post today in celebration of the occasion. I hope you browse the blogs and like what you see from everyone. Enjoy!!

A fitting end to a truly hearty month!!

The Nostalgic Heart Swap - my hearts have been sent off to new homes

This month I took part in a Nostalgic Heart Swap hosted by Anita of 'My Country Cottage Garden' http://ein-stueck-garten.blogspot.com/ .

I have swapped with 4 other ladies and on the 1st March I will be taking part in a Heart Party !

All the ladies concerned will be showing the hearts that they have received. Lets hope they received mine in time.

In the meantime here are the ones that I have sent off to Germany and Finland. I won't say who got what ..... wait and see.

All the W's - Weekend, Wonderful Wales, Wedding.

OH YIKES .........
Wedding in Wales ......
don't forget the hairdryer, the outfits, the camera's, make-up, maps, present, cards, pj's, food for the house, tea, milk.... what else....THE UNDERWEAR!!!
There is something else ...... it'll come to me in a mo......
GRANDMA!!!
OH HECK.......Can we leave now!!
Memories of the Railway children come to mind while recounting this little tale –( remember the children’s arrival to the house in the country). Let’s set the scene – we were travelling for 8 hours on some of the most treacherous roads in England, road works and just sheer weight of traffic helped us to arrive late.

It was a cold stormy dark night deep in the heart of north Wales. We had been on this winding road with no street lights for what seemed ages. We really had a sense of complete darkness, the rain was beating on the windscreen making visibility difficult, we should be thanking our lucky stars, a week ago this road would have been 8 inches thick with snow.

Looking in the distance there had to be a sign of life out there somewhere – suddenly a light in the darkness showing the outline of a little cottage and other descriptions to look out for indicated that this could indeed be the place. We proceeded to park the car on the steep gravelly driveway. I went first with my tiny torch, tackling the shallow steps scrabbling around for the key and lock.

As I entered through the door I was almost expecting to stumble into the wrong home (now that would have been embarrassing) I was greeted by the most cosy sight. I lovely warm country kitchen and a great big kitchen table – all lit in subdued lighting with a big tray of cups and teapot ready and waiting for tea to be made.

I went from room to room excitedly, everywhere was beautifully cosy and quaint. I had no idea what it was like outside but when morning light came this is what I discovered.

The scenery was stunning. No sign of sheep, they were right at the top of this hill. No wonder what a great environment up there, all that lush green grass. Right at the bottom of the hill is a fast running but shallow river.















 
The floors downstairs were traditional slate. The wooden floors upstairs were slanting and bouncy and the windows uneven, the ceilings slanted with beams everywhere – this was definitely a crooked house.
It's decorated vintage Laura Ashley style.

 



























 Hubby and I had a lovely room with an antique iron bed. You step up into it and was so comfortable.

 My mother's quaint room, a little seat at which to admire the view. Her big bed was covered with a thick Welsh hand stitched quilt.
The children had lots of room in this big room, decorated in pale blues.










 The garden was ready to bust with daffodils, some flowers had already bloomed.





















It’s so lovely to see spring flowers at last.






























Anyway back to business, we have a wedding to attend.
We had so much to do before the wedding and were then rushed to get there, horse and cart then tractor did nothing to calm the nerves.

Then parking. We quickly tottered off in our heels swinging camera bags and other paraphernalia around us.

Well we made it squashed into our pews and waited for the bride to attend – she was late – another horse and cart. Oh well it is fashionable for the bride to be late after all.
First glimpse of the married couple -
JUST MARRIED!!

The party begins- and my youngest girls get into the swing of it

 



























But hey .... YEH!! look, my eldest daughter caught the brides (other) bouquet - they don't use the brides one anymore ? ( suppose they just cost to much). But it was a rather shocking moment for all. 
The wedding was organized over 2 years and in one day it was all over, at least we have the memories.

So raise a glass to the newly weds. Congratulations and may all your dreams come true.















I do love a Wedding!!

A few thank you's to make

I think this post will be a bunch of thank you's (excuse the pun). Well just a few.

Thank you dear hubby for my lovely flowers and
to my dear little ones too - well they do vary in height and all ages, but they will always be my babies.

Thank you for the lovely cards - you'd think it was my birthday but anyway we all had a good valentines day and made more of it than we usually do. Probably because my week has been filled with making hearts ...... they could'nt escape it.




Also a big thank you to Louise http://louise@louiseloves.co.uk for the lovely little kitty called Twinkle - how apt and soooo cute . Twinkle was delivered with this beautiful vintage valentine card. It is always a great pleasure to shop with Louise and everything is always given her personal attention.



























Oh and a big thank you to everyone who has left a comment with me since I started this blog in December. Like a lot of you out there I always have great excitement everytime I have a comments on my blog, you all leave such sweet encouraging comments too and am absolutely thrilled that you come from all over the world . The wonder of technology.

Now I have to quite literally rush off. We are going to a wedding in wales. Yes .... I will take some pictures.

DREAMING HEARTS

Valentines day will soon be upon us and I must say I have been happily indulging in heart making for the last couple of weeks.

Actually I indulge in hearts ... and roses throughout the year but February seems to be the time that I can go la la over them without questions being raised ..... !!!

In between all the usual chores of running a busy family I have managed to take some time out, listen to my new radio (an early valentines present) sip tea and indulge in one of my favourite passions ..... making hearts.

Not only are hearts in abundance throughout the house and workroom for various projects but I have also joined a nostalgic heart swap and am making 4 hearts for my swappers. I can't wait to see my swaps from Germany and Finland and hope and pray they will like mine.

There is an element of shabby chic about my hearts, they are all made from antique durham quilts and I like to embellish them with vintage jewellery, diamante and/or buttons.

Roses and hearts are my most favourite combination


I might even add some of this gorgeous ribbon that came from Cupcakes - http://cupcakesdirect.com/

Just look at the sweet little heart that came with my ribbon.

I love this little heart brooch and ceramic pommander, I'v had them for years, great inspiration..

Well time for a tea break.... will just grab a biscuit and I'll be off .... whoops not more hearts!

Don't you just love 'em!!
Can't let you see the finished heart swaps yet ....... its a surprise .... but all will be revealed soon.