ROSES come in all forms!!

I particularly love ribbon work roses, I find it difficult to get hold of the vintage variety so I have decided to learn the craft. This skirt is so inspirational with all the lovely big colourful roses. I think I will start big. Millinery Roses - I have finally been able to get hold of loads of velvet roses at a reasonable price.
This beauty arrived from a favourite web store - http://onehundredwishes.com/

Pure eye candy for the eyes and the mouth - thank you :)
Paper roses - thank you Lidy of http://frenchgardenhouse.com/

the little book inside this beautifully wrapped package was gorgeous but equally beautiful is the Roses Birthday card - I bet you didn't know it was my birthday - but how apt:) thank you - x

and then DRUM ROLL !!!

COR!! LOOK AT THESE ~ just got these delivered~ no note?

taking a closer look there is one white rose ~ I know who it is:) XXXX

It used to get the flower shop talking but they know who it is now.

Sweet hubby is known as the roses man who always leaves his message of 1 white rose:)

Only thing is the sweet delivery man ( who looks like Santa Claus) said we know your secret now giving me a wink. Wondering if he was meaning the signature white rose I smiled but Hubby bought as many pink roses as my age. gulp ..... how nice dear:)

Happy Birthday to all you lovely girls celebrating this month - you know who you are :)

V for Virgo

I love September, and it's my birthday month too!

I thought it might be fun to find out what Virgo's are supposed to be like. I googled this:-

The Virgo motto could be "Perfect is almost good enough." On one hand, this trait makes you very employable, for you're not likely to do shabby work. On the other hand, you can be so finicky that you put limitations on your interactions and experiences before they happen. You'll be happier if you can learn to be selectively less critical, both of others and yourself.
Actually I agree with reference to my arts and crafts as I spend so much time trying to make something perfect that others have created a hundred and one things compared to my one. However I disagree about the not likely to do shabby work - I love SHABBY!! :)) And of course no one is perfect. But this image below always makes me smile:)))

Endless patience is required to reach perfection ...:)))

This part of the year seems to be filled with birthdays in this household and in fact I share my birthday month with 2 of my children and so we seem to have a dining room filled with the remnants of parties all the way up to December. This is the way our dining room chandelier looked last September and it stays like that all through autumn up to Christmas.

I must just say a BIG Congratulations to Holly of http://hollydoodledesigns.com/ on the launch of her revamped website. If you don't know her go take a look and if you already know of her you will know she has a knack of creating the most beautiful creations and presenting them in a way that can only be described as pure eye candy. She seems to include everything I like in beautiful creations with vintage millinery and costume jewellery literally oozing out from everywhere. This picture above was a bundle of vintage wallpaper but you wouldn't know it from all the ribbon and the sweet little bird and buttons. I LOVE it!!
Now you must all know Niki by now of http://nostalgiaatthestonehouse.blogspot.com/
She has the most gorgeous selection of dolls and in particular some really enchanting hatstands with little heads on. The ones I particularly like are 1920 hatstands with a flapper head made in Germany

This inspired me to look out for one on eBay, like the one below. Well I was shocked to see what high prices they go for - nearly £100.00

Well Niki makes some of hers and decorates them in completely unique way, like this one below. She encouraged me to have a go and I was completely surprised to receive this lovely little package from her.

Such a sweet hatstand and beautiful little french card. Thank you so much for it Niki.

Well suppose I better get to work then.

Samsung Customer Care (uk) - DON'T CARE AT ALL !!!

Sugar and Spice n everthing nice. WELL NOT TO DAY!!!

Yep the day has turned pretty grey and it's not the weather!!

It comes in the shape of this.

Yes my lovely new fridge that I have treated like gold dust ever since it graced my world.

I bought it from a respected shop that will not be named or used in the same breath as SAMSUNG.

Well the most important feature of my lovely fridge is the icemaking feature. I only bought a fridge like this for that reason. My only crime is to have bought it straight off the shop floor ie: slight scratch marks on the handles, bit of dust etc ( bit of money off but not much - that'll teach me ).

Well I had one day of happiness with the ice making part but then a small part similar to a washer came away within the ice box (not the lever on the outside ) which meant condensation got into this section and froze over the exit for the ice cubes - a job that could have cost about 50p ($1.00) to replace.

BUT OH NO!! according to the customer care man they didn't cover shop soiled goods with broken levers that were sold in the shop as is...... (?) Did I mention broken lever? Well we didn't have a broken lever and everything was absolutely great for 1 day AND

AND why oh why would I buy a fridge with a broken ice making feature (????) I wanted the fridge because of the ice maker!

Well our conversation escalated to the hierarchy of the customer care and then spiralled downwards into the darkest area's of the deep blue where the sharks hover :(((

Rules for customer care - how to keep your customer calm and collected -

1. The customer is always right - well not in Samsung UK?

and if (not on this occasion) their not right don't proceed to tell them in sarcastic manner that they are wrong, it puts their back up.

2. When the customer is really upset and will never buy from them again .... please oh please don't tell them that Samsung corner the market by 80% and you don't really have a choice.

3. When the customer says they will take the problem higher. Don't say it doesn't really make a difference.

You are only undermining the top guys ie: the Company Director who worked so hard to get the product out to the customer and also pay your wages :)

NO STOP right there .... I the customer pay your wages and without me none of you would be paid each month and Samsung wouldn't even exist either.

YEAH!

and if you are in a job that you don't really care about why don't you get yourself out of there and give the job to someone who does care !!!

Well we made one good decision we took out a ' what ever happens insurance' with the shop we bought the item from,

They are going to replace the fridge and speak to Samsung UK - I am NEVER going to buy SAMSUNG again not that the customer care CARED AT ALL!

Ooh Mr Postman look and see - any more parcels for me!

Yes he's coming down my path, YES the Postman has delivered!!

I have been shopping on some fab sites lately, yes and the wonder of it all is that they are right here on the blog, many of you probably know of them already.

Firstly I have been searching for a pink frothy prom dress for ages now and who should have the very thing on her gorgeous website but sweet Heather . We were swap partners for the tiara swap and here is the gorgeous tiara she made for me along side this pretty prom dress. It was meant to be.

Next some lovely chunky parcels.

Oh wow, pink tissue and ribbons.

Clare has a great site
http://vintage-home.co.uk/


Next is Rhea - she makes the most gorgeous bird houses, and embellishes them with vintage twinkle - take a look at her site as her photo's are MUCH better than mine. I can't get good light in my dining room so this is the best I can achieve. They look 100 % better in the flesh believe me!
http://sweetnshabbyroses.blogspot.com/

and Rhea included this beautiful set of cards that included a hand painted tag and the most sweetest little vintage baby cards - how did she know that I collect these cute cards.

Well next to arrive was this parcel - hand painted no less - it must be Laurie of
http://lauriescharmingdesigns.blogspot.com/

Yes here they are, lovely little birdy pin cushions sitting in pretty teacups.

They all live very happily with my bird houses and you can also see in this picture top right is my tiara from Heather.

Talking Tiara's - this arrived today, a book from Amazon called Crowns & Tiaras: Add a Little Sparkle, Glitter & Glamour to Every Day by Kerri Judd (Author), Danyel Montecinos (Author).

Talk about eye candy!! here are a couple of my favourites.

This first crown from the book is my favourite and I have to say it has the MOST GORGEOUS TWINKLE ..... I love this crown - when I think of Twinkle Pink this is what I envisage. The palest pink and vintage rhinestone jewellery.

My second favorite in the book is this one, the palest blues, because I am a twinkle blue too, in fact I am very fickle I like lots of colours.

Another lovely package arrived for me while I was on holiday. I was so thrilled to open it that as I had it open as I flew in the door with the luggage. It came from June in Italy for the Matchbox swap that Natasha hosted.

You can see these pics along with all the other matchbox swappers in the matchbox flickr group on my side bar.
June sent me some gorgeous things including jewellery beads lace old Italian paper and crepe I loved it all - thank you http://serendipity-werx.blogspot.com

What have I been up to lately - well I am currently putting together a journal inspired by Marie Antoinette, and will be taking part in a Round Robin that will span 3 continents.

Holly,http://hollydoodledesigns.com/ (USA)

Heather, http://prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com/ (USA)

and Natasha http://natashaburns.com/ (AUSTRALIA)

and me (UNITED KINGDOM) are all taking on this project and I am so honoured to have been asked. I love all their creations with a passion so I feel I am in safe hands.

Heather has already given us a taster of what she wants to work with so I think we will all be giving some sneek peeks on our blogs from time to time. The final look see will be after Christmas and I can't wait to see what everyone has created.

I have gathered a huge amount of fabrics, papers, notions and twinkle. Even found some great ribbons on the blog from a website called One hundred Wishes (what a great name)http://onehundredwishes.com/

I love this shade of blue.

These papers are the body of my journal and have been given a light wash of icecreamy colours.

I've also been playing around with some fabrics, to create cupcakes and gateaux.

The creamy looking part is made from hand dyed degummed silk cocoons, with the rest made from velvets and sheers. I love dyeing velvets and working with them. You can see more of this kind of stuff on my other blog - Textile Art Post.

In the mean time more inspirational ice creamy colours for my Marie Antoinette project

Didn't we have a lovely time the day we went to Brighton!

Brighton famed for its Pier,rock the Pavilion, great architecture and the lanes.

Chocolate, Roses , Cake .......... yes.......YES........... !

Off I went to Brighton yesterday with all my girls. We decided to go by train to save the hassle of parking. Well I haven't been on a train for years and now its all new. No slam doors, (my problem there is what if the system has a glich and the doors don't open at your station - yeesss, I go on to the next station der....). The seats are different too, individual seats now, (I preferred the triple seats ..... y' know .... like the Harry Potter train), and they give you 3 tickets now instead of one - a receipt, a single up and a return back. Seems like a bit of a waste of trees to me??? I prefer the good ole fashioned one ticket.

Added to that I didn't realise until I put my single ticket in the machine and proceeded to hold everyone up at the turn bar waiting for my ticket......that it wasn't coming back.

Next we all went off to the loo at the station, the machines have replaced the old lady that sits with her little dish collecting your small change.

IS NOTHING SACRED!!!!

Oh well having been bought swiftly up to date into the 21st century we set off. Luckily it is down hill to the town. We headed off to the lanes and the first place we came across was this gorgeous cake shop. Out of this world and to add to that inside the shop was a huge plate of chocolate cake for you to sample. Way over the top cakes for all. Absolutely Fabulous Darling!!!

The place is called Choccywoccydoodah ....oooo yess Whooorar :)) I LOVE IT!!

They have one shop in London and 2 in Brighton ...... lucky Brighton.

We went off in the direction of the North Lanes but took a slight detour to show the girls this beautiful Brighton Pavilion in all its glory.

The Royal Pavilion was originally built in the 1780s when the Prince Regent (who became King George IV) built a villa for his mistress Mrs Fitzherbert. This original villa was simple in style, designed by architect Henry Holland. But as the Prince's flamboyant taste grew, he then commissioned John Nash to rebuild it in a more extravagant style - and the Royal Pavilion is the result. A bizarre mix of influences, most notably Chinese and Indian, the Pavilion is a unique piece of architecture and well worth a visit if your ever visit Brighton.

Once I found myself back in the lanes we found some gorgeous little shops including this place (picture from their website) The Lavender Room.

Firstly it smells divine as you walk around and they play some great music too, it sets the scene for some tranquil shopping and I just had to bring the smell home with me.

NO SMELLY VISION ....... SORRY ...... BUT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. ......

What makes this shop so special is that they have selection of vintage goods mixed in with new, beautiful boudoir night gowns from the 40's mixed in with new, vintage rhinestone brooches, some furniture too, lots of little gifts. It is so lovely and the girl that served us was very sweet wrapped up my goodies beautifully and recommended a great place for Lunch called Bills.

Bills looks like it was as old warehouse and Wow, from the road it looks like a big fruit and veg stall. If you walk behind the stall you will find a huge busy place, decorated like an old refectory with an open kitchen. They create the most artistic salads I have ever seen and have a great selection of pies, tarts and cakes, oh and even the smoothies were beautifully made and presented. We sat up on the balcony, high above the hustle and bustle, so had a great view of the food counter:)))

If you carry on down the lanes there are various individual shops, one quite arty textile shop - selling some great Jan Constantine cushions. I love the tactile cushions from her latest range which is called Pop Art - see her work at http://janconstantine.com/popart/index.htm . The shop had a lovely collection of textile artists with wall art and felted jewellery - but don't stick your great big boot in and say in a completely innocent way Oh it's all gorgeous but I could make that at home ..... OH BIG NO NO - I should have known better - I hate people saying that to me ..... I could just feel the eyes of fire piercing into me .... I tried to claw my way out of the rubble with some conversation and am glad to say I live to tell this tale.

I found a great old fashioned friendly Indian fabric shop - their window was crammed with ribbons, feathers, millinery and fabrics. I could have spent a fortune in there. I would show you it all but am saving it for a project that I am working on .... soon:)

Well the girls wanted to get back to the high street shops and off we went ugggg .......... I hate high street shops but I did lovvvve the Disney shop. After all that we picked up some cold icy drinks and walked back to the station . I came home to find hubby had made us all a great dinner.

Then ending the day as one should ........... with a big bubbly.