Giving and Receiving

Decided to finish some jobs that had been hanging around quite literally tooooo long!


Take this shade for example, which has been hanging above me from a beam in my workroom for about 2 years!

You see it was out of site out of mind!


The funny thing is you get used to the weird shape hanging above you and added to that the poor lamp stand that I bullied my husband to restore and paint has stood with out its shade equally as long and that was in my bedroom, so I had enough signs.





















Anyway here is the finished lamp with the shade made with a pretty vintage German fabric.
Also finished off a favourite cushion with bobble trim. I LOVE bobble trim!

The light that it kicks off is really pretty. Anyway off to find some more unfinished jobs.

But in the meantime let me show you this fab rag bag that has been made to a high quality by Ragged Roses - yes everyone at Ragged Roses it was me who moved in there like a cat on a hot tin roof. Sheer luck and good timing - no special powers honest:o)


Half the fun of shopping is the special little goodies that come as a thank you and I have to say that Kim at http://raggedroses.blogspot.com/ has not disappointed.

I got the sweetest little corsage ornament a long with the bag and pom pom, a lovely card and all wrapped up in crepe paper and lace.

My daughter whisked the bag off to her room before I could say jiminy cricket. Well I did buy it for her but she's not getting the pom pom or all the other goodies - they're all mine.

Now continuing with beautiful things arriving through the post . Last month I arranged with Becca of http://bluebirdroses.blogspot.com to do a private swap. She sent me a selection of beautiful bluebird tags - but not any old tags these were 3d with the bluebird appearing like it was about to fly off into the sky.
They are so beautiful Becca, thank you.

In return I sent Becca a heart ornament.

Becca was an easy customer to please she wanted anything pink - well she had come to the right place.




I made her this little heart ornament with a ruffled frill from vintage 1930's eiderdown fabric and added another little heart attached within the larger heart and then embellished it with vintage costume trim.
Of course I made sure that it lived up to its name -

Twinkle Pink :))

Well all I can say is Dis may at the weather. Mind you the garden is saying thank you so what will be will be.

We have a pair of doves nesting in our tree, they take turns sitting on the eggs - they know I'm there and seem happy enough about it.

I go to great efforts to have a no fly zone over my garden for the crows and magpies and they always flap a bit faster when they see me coming:0)

The doves seem to enjoy this spectacle, but I am sure one day I'm going to fall flat on my face.

Hanging in the tree below is this wind chime ornament - it is made from vintage spoons and forks with large glass marbles. They say wind chimes that tinkle all the time means there is love in this place. Well these lovebirds seem to have chosen well.

I must tell you about a great website of shabby chic style to shop at http://frenchgardenhouse.com/ . I bought some gorgeous things from this lovely lady and the little gifts you see below were not the items I bought but a thank you for shopping with her. I was so thrilled with the little birds nest with eggs and some roses for collage. Can't wait to create with them. Thank you so much and I will return!
A lot of you have asked if I sell my boots and hearts that feature on the sidebar - well I do - although the ones shown have been sold or even swapped (but they can give you an idea of what I like to make) and at the moment I make to commission and word of mouth. I plan to put some on Etsy and would love to get a website sorted out - maybe in the near future.

I love making ornaments and sachets that have meaning behind them.

It makes them even more special. The lucky victorian boots make great Wedding tokens, the hearts are a sign of love and friendship as with the hand shown in the pic above (haven't tried to make that one though) and the ballet style boots are a big hit with dancers and the younger generation or anyone who likes the delicate ballet style.

Everything is made using vintage and antique fabrics usually English and French. However the ballet ones are made from vintage German roses cotton (my favourite at the moment - the quality of the fabric is great) and I use a modern linen from Cabbages and Roses too.

The logo is an idea that came from http://elfieandme.typepad.com and we are free to use it on our blogs as a way of promoting handmade items.

Lets face it many of us have a lot of mass produced in our homes but to prevent it turning into a catalogue home a little bit of handmade can inject warmth and spirit leaving us with a home and not a sterile living space.

Well ya know that's just my opinion :0))

Ye Hay It's May!!

What a beautiful day this 1st of May!

The birds all merry, what do they say,

Do they know it is the season for nesting,

resting and then rejoicing!

Well that's all the prose I can come up with.... yep I know it needs some work.

Went to a car boot sale on Sunday and came back with a few bargains.

Totally surprised to have found 17 ceramic little drawer knobs and matching ceramic discs all for £5.00, I could have got the seller to come down on the price but was so pleased to have found them I didn't dare.

I also found some great 50's beads for £1.00 to add to my jar.

The book was a real find at only £1.00, it is embossed on the front with beautiful birds and serpents, florals and scrolls.

This lady is on the inside cover is protected by a page of tissue and the page opposite her is entitled The Drawing-Room Album and Companion for the Boudoir.

and this ..... To the intelligent and intellectual ladies of Great Britain, the best patrons of the elegant literature of their country....... why thank you kind sir .... oohh arrr:))

Well hey then what do you say about this page - How eloquent - is this Darcy??

How I would love to have spent a day in the life of these ladies, the dresses, the hair do's, the corsets ...... hmmmmm...... not the corsets! ......

Anyway, anyway back to reality, I received some lovely goodies from Etsy just recently. I found these ladies through blog. The collage pack has some gorgeous old wallpapers and other papers, bits and bobs and came from Jen Duncan http://jenduncan.typepad.com/

and these scrap work goodies came from http://littlepinkstudiio.typepad.com/

Can't wait to use them all!! Now I have to put my thinking cap on and see what I can come up with using all my new scrap work goodies. But rest assured there will always be a bit of TWINKLE in my creations, now lets see what I could use.

This storage container is original 60's Tupperware. My mum used to use this for all my parties when I was a little girl, who would have thought I would be using it for all my vintage embellishments. My mother definitely got her monies worth out of it and so am I.







Oooooooooooooooooo bling bling Twinkle Pink!