Queen Bee

With all the gorgeous weather and a glorious garden to enjoy we seem to head out to have a BBQ quite regularly now.

Well it has been a bit hit and miss but here we have the newly crowned BBQ Queen. Yes it all happened here, after a couple of trys I have to admit that I had the best BBQ in 3 years. Getting the fire right was a bit of a hit and miss, smoking out the neigbours not to mention the birds nesting in the hedges LOL
But with a little help from Uncle E and Grand pa pa this latest Barbie has to be magnifico!!

Yes I think youngest agree with the oldest here ~ Super!!



And the Deck which was remodelled last year with a little help can finally be used to its full capacity.





Last year the weather was so bad to even get a chance to use the deck properly





so finally it gets a christening.

SHE ~ me way back when

As my round robin takes on a frantic pace to reach deadlines for the end of July, I turn to Marie Antoinette once again and thoughts of beautiful France and in particular memories of Paris, not everyone likes such a busy city but there is so much to see and Paris has a little je ne c'est qui, je pense ~ magic.

20 years ago today I set off to France with my new husband to see all the sights of Paris and explore Versailles, we had a candle lit dinner on the Seine, visited the moulin rouge - Formidable!! and of course I shopped til I dropped. The weather was not so good, little windy an oohh la la my skirt blew up much to the amazement of the Paris traffic.


(excuse the quality of pictures and me )

I was particularly taken by Versailles and the poignant story of Marie Antoinette and the french revolution. Who would have thought all these years later I am creating all in the name of Marie Antoinette. To me it was a beautiful palace although some what empty of original furniture from the time. I hear that more furniture of the era is now in situ and more rooms to visit.

(this is a new room that I have not seen yet)

I would love to go back to see it again and I would definitely walk the long walk around the grounds and the tuilleries

I cherish my memories of this time, I am such a romantic but one day I shall return.

Here's Looking at you Kid !

Monitoring the stats at the bottom of my post I can see I have more than 45,166 visitors to my blog since I started it just over a year ago. It is interesting to see how many people visit my little English blog from literally all over the globe, I try to put great pictures up on here as you probably don't all understand English being as far away as Brazil, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Japan to Australia , lots from Sweden and Norway, and the USA. I have to say my biggest fans seem to be in the USA may be I was meant to be a US gal.

But you know apart from my own close family I don't tell anyone about my blog, except you lot and flickr. I wonder why that is, well I suppose it is a private and personal space that appeals to certain types looking for a little bit of artful whimsy, beauty, innocents, escapism, inspiration, and I would rather you found me on blog because you liked what I do.

Lots of you show pictures of yourselves but I never have and many of you have wondered who it is that produces all this creative stuff. Well today I am going to reveal me and the family that inspires me and makes me keep going against all the odds.

I am a mother of 4 and just have my last 2 youngsters - my twins - to see through to adulthood ~, and when my work is done I can sit back and let them all look out for me.
Funny how life revolves

Me and the cubs today ~:0))) (say what ??) HA HA

Well if I ever got reincarnated I would come back as a tigress!! Some say I am one already :)))

This beautiful tigress sits with her sweet little ligers - imagine that ~ crossbred with a lion.

and here's the Daddy ~ oooh I could hug him all day, what a gorgeous Daddy to watch out for them.

Any way I wouldn't tease you that much - so this is my brood today, and we are doing ok.


who's that Baby in every frame ?

Well here is my son-in-law with my beautiful baby granddaughter ~ you can see she takes up all our time ~ and is adored as she deserves to be and we wouldn't have it any other way.

and NEW FLASH her bunny is doing ok too :0))

(picture courtesy of Jenn at Sweet Eye Candy Creations)

By the way, ALL my music from my playlist is dedicated to my children (who have chosen some of it anyway) and the wonderful human beings who have literally come out of the woodwork to raise me up to a brighter place - XX

Ok this is me today - I might smile tomorrow - well it's another day LOL

squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel !!!!!!

The Kentucky Derby Hat Swap and Junque in my Trunk Swap finale

Presenting my final whimsical Swaps

News Flash - I came in 3rd at the Kentucky Derby - Ya Hayyyyy!!!!

The Kentucky Derby Hat Swap

The back

I think she approves
The Kentucky Derby Hat Swap was the great idea of Bristol of Cottage by the River go over to her blog and see links to all the other contestants, there is sure to be a load of inspiring hats.My partner was the very talented Adla of Vintage Delights - Hope you like it Adla
~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Junque in my Trunk Swap

The Junque in the trunk swap was hosted by the wonderful Heather of Pretty Petals and I was so very pleased to find out that my partner was Cheryl of Rosy Posy Confections

Cheryl you have been so patient with me, thank you for that x.

My inspiration came from the film Spiderwick.

Having just seen the film Spiderwick with my children, the family in the film were a little to close to reality, but the bond that kicked in when I shared a loving, knowing, look to my son warmed my heart so much and we all laughed at the similarities. It is a lovely film and don't we always have goblins around to mess up everything, however the fairies saved the day and inspired by them, I thought a magical flowering sewing box would be just the treat for Cheryl.

Here is the Cheryl's magical flowering trunk ~

The box is covered in vintage roses fabricribbon and tassels around the lida twinkle butterflyvintage millinery and tule and big velvet pink pad pin cushion attached and filled with lavender


Cheryl sent me this gorgeous painted trunk with G on the front especially for me
lots of wonderful trimmings, buttons, flowers.Even the inside is decorated.

We were an easy couple to match because everything Cheryl liked I did too. I hope she likes the sewing trunk. I will keep the goodies hidden for the moment ;0)

I can't wait to show you a very special item but will wait until Cheryl has seen it first.It's on it's way to you and thank you for your patience.

So that's all Folks

- I am bringing the curtain down on my swaps now, I have done a few over the year and thoroughly enjoyed them all and am so glad that I ended with 2 that were just up my street.

I have a few commissions to do now and will still be creating with my round robin pals either here or on flickr - so make sure you pop by again.

Just say hello, whatever language I know you are all out there X

For My Children

It snowed today ~ a white blanket of new snow ~ it was symbolic ~ a new page.

This is for my children.
I love you X


glitter-graphics.com

Remember Me

Well you might wonder where in the world I have been lately. .

This mug definitely prompted this post ~

Thank you to Lidy of The French garden house for stocking such pretty stuff oh and the sweet little bird nest is just in time for Easter thank you for including it!!

Well everything is happening all at once here and as the saying goes ~ you can wait for a bus all day and then 2 turn up at once or 3 or 4 LOL. I have 2 weddings imminent, a house upside down with decorating (that has been on going since September :0((( family visiting, new school for the kids to sort out for September. Oh and browsing websites and Etsy ~ that all takes time you know LOL.

I asked my sweet round robin friend Holly of Holly Doodle Designs to recreate one of her fabulous 'love lives here' nesting boxes.

She creates such magic and the colours are just beautiful, well she even included some extra millinery for me as I find it so difficult to get hold of. I know this stuff is as precious to you Holly so thank you so much for sharing ~ you have a wonderful heart!
Rhea from Miss Rhea creates some beautiful little creations too, I bought a little ballerina in a tea cup and this little box below, not to mention some cute little domes that will be put with my whimsical Easter display.

In fact I had to check what I had ordered as I could not believe all the extras, just look at it all. I think she must be physic as I have been looking for paper bells all over the place and the cards and ruffle are just gorgeous. LOOK at the little tag too!Thank you so much, you have a huge generous heart.
The Easter Bunny has arrived!!

Oooooo Sadie Lou where would I be without yooooooou!
see all Sadie's lovely creations HERE

This package arrived the other day, it seems a shame to open it.
Heather at Pretty Petals Boutique has some great hats for sale ~ well just in time for the Easter Bonnet parade I choose this beautiful pale blue creation ~ I love the ruffle round the edge.You might be wondering if I have been creating of late ~ well a sweet lady on the blog asked me to create a framed collage of Marie Antoinette in a paper doll style for her.

More detail here on FLICKR

Lets hope I don't leave it too long for the next post ;0)