Wishing for summer sun

Reminiscing on our last summer hols in Greece we are all just willing the sun to come out over here

So you can imagine when the Sun reared its head over here in England this bank holiday, well mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun ( old English joke ~ sorry lost on some of you I am sure) LOL.

Anyway the whole British nation head out and do as much as they can. Well if its not the beach then it has to be the BBQ ~ so the boys came over and commandered the barbie

.
strike a pose girls
best thing about BBQ's are that the girls can put there feet up.
what you see here is South African sausage ~ bultong ?? (spelling :0)

lovely.

Well now the smiles can go back in there box cos another day and it is raining again ~ would you believe it !

The only place I think will put a smile back on my face is on the dance floor, so tommorrow night I will be dancing like I never danced before and as they say like no one is watching.

Hope the sun come out for you.

Ginny xx

Saturday Night is the BIG dance night ~ but am I ready for the freestyle LOL

Advanced Freestyle ~ Am I ready for this

nooooooooooo

I have been learning Ceroc for a few months and this Saturday will be my first freestyle night ~ no teacher, no help, just dance.
( Ceroc is named from the french name le roc) ~ as in jive and swing but with a twist ~ there are quite a few latin moves too and am just not ready for some of those moves ;0)

Well I have earrings ~ thats a start

my daughter bought me the biggest pair she could find for a mothers day present and they are officially my Ceroc earrings.

I even have the shoes, special dance shoes with the flared heel and the suede sole, ankle strap and glittery too, they are fab and really comfortable!

Oh Please ~ Noooooooooo ~ watch ya back ~ see what I mean any one for Tango LOL

gulp
Have a good weekend
Ginny

Altered Apron Part 2 ~ THE REVEAL

Stephanie of Just a little bit Pink has received her Apron that I made for her for the Altered Apron swap that was organised by Heather and Stephanie ~( see my previous post) I was so honoured to be chosen to make an apron for Stephanies first swap on blog ~ it had to be special but it also had to suit her taste too.
So after a bit of detective work I think I came up with something that might just suit.
Here it is.























I did have a look at making something from scratch cos i do sew LOL.



















But actually I had the perfect thing ~ a vintage french maids apron that I have had for a few years and always wondered what I would do with.




















So I took some vintage roses fabric
























and started the frou frou business lol.





















Which included 2 layers of tightly gathered netting. Then I attached some pink velvet to the waitstband and made a large detachable corsage for the waistband.

and then created a rather long rectangular brooch for the pocket

(both corsage and pocket brooch can be removed so that the apron can be washed if need be)

Of course my detective work revealed a love for butterflies :0)))

Thank you Stephanie and Heather for asking me to create for this swap I loved taking part.

Best wishes Ginny xx

Sweet Southern Style

Altered Apron Part 1.

It is always fun to have a little bit of escapism from our day to day lives.

So just lately I have been participating in an Altered Apron Swap.

The idea originated from my round robin pal Heather and her friend Stephanie .

I was so glad to be asked to participate because I have missed doing these swaps and the good thing was that Heather and Stephanie put a collection of bloggers together that all had similar taste therefore we were all matched very well. I SURE WAS !!!!

I was practically hitting the ceiling with excitement when I heard

Jenn of Sweet Candy Creations was making an apron for me ~

I had always wanted to have Jenn in a partner swap for a long time. So I was extremely excited when I found out it was her. I was equally honoured to find out I was making for Stephanie ~she is new to blogging and one of the organisers of the swap so I wanted to do something extra special for her.

I was squealing with delight when I saw the postman coming up my path with my parcel. There was no mistaking who it was from ! :0)))

wrapped up in beautiful streamers and tissue

and tied with beautiful ribbon ~ what a colour ~ and the rose too.

I will keep these just like this.

Jenn had asked me what sort of thing I would like and of course I wanted something uniquely Jenn ~ I wanted her to have fun and not worry. I know what she is capable of and wanted all the whimsical, fun, innocent, frou frou, blingee Southern Charm that she could muster up.

She did not disappoint me. A beautiful Southern belle, white picket fence pocket, frou frou in the prettiest colours and bling. It is all sooo stunning and everything that I wanted ~ see my link to Jenn above because her photo's are just gorgeous and way way better than what I was able to do.

Jenn you really did make the most gorgeous apron for me, I will always remember you and all your Super Sweet Southern Style.

I promise to wear it everywhere except in the Kitchen ..... ha ha

For the apron I was making for Stephenie ...... well you will just have to wait .

ruffled and frou frou'd it with a dash of bling . Sorry just peeks at the moment.

Come back for part 2.

best wishes Ginny x

Marie Day ~ 1st April ~ Celebrate The Year that was Marie Antoinette ~AND JOIN IN FOR MY FIRST EVER GIVE A WAY TOO !!!

Well today marks the day that Marie the Magazine from Stampington is out.
A magazine filled with all art dedicated to Marie Antoinette ~ and if you didn't know by now ~ though you must do ~ she was the beautiful, lavish and highly stylish Last Queen of France.

Back in 2007 (seems a life time ago now) I embarked on a beautiful project along with 3 other talented women  Holly  Heather  and Natasha - see this POST .it was an International Round Robin on the theme Marie Antoinette ~

We submitted our books to Stampington in the hope that they might feature our work. So when they told us one small feature would not be enough and that they wanted to use our work and another group effort to put into a new publication called Marie we were thrilled. A call for more Marie inspired work and months of eye candy later Marie is born!!

So we are celebrating by having a Marie Day, and each of us have a giveaway too ~ so please go visit the other 3 girls - see their links in red white and blue, and if you have come from them thank you for visiting !!!!

Holly's and Heathers Covers were featured in all their glory.
Natasha created equally stunning work, embellishing her work with the most beautiful and exotic trims. Gorgeous work on display.

Then came my pages  ....(this was the picture I took below )

  
But I have to be honest and say the Magazine photograph of my  page above  is looking a bit smashed up and bleached out. Not how I remember it at all.

The inside page of the corset is ment to visualise a door opening onto a world that was hushed up, of partying and affairs, dangeous liasons.

My Marie page  as seen in the magazine, still very bleached out ~ all details kind of lost in the blur.

Below is the picture I took. Thats my girl  :-) thankfully she is all in one piece.
 ( I used my daughters image for Marie ... see how I turned her into Marie below )

Marie with a little more detail, all these petticoats lift up to reveal an embellished shoe underneath.

I thought it might be nice to show you how I came to create my Marie page before it was submitted and share with you some of the inspirational historical art and film that inspired my round robin page.
Original portraits of Marie below served as perfect inspiration.

 As did costume from the film Marie Antoinette by Sofia Copolla seen above..
This Picture below inspired Heathers corset page.

I created a few hairpieces for this project too and loved all the twisting and coiffuring LOL.

 So giving away a little secret here and talking hair do's ~my own daughter got a make over of a whimsical
 kind, with various  poses in corset and skirt we ended up with this picture for the pose, however the face was looking the other way and I wanted her staring straight through the lens at me.


 

so a few twists and tweaks and close ups of her face in various positions I finally found the look I was after, ironically this picture was taken just before she headed off for her Prom and so her look was filled with all the nerves and fear of the unknown, of how her evening would unfold. A perfect look for Marie Antoinette.

then a bit of photoshop

then a tad of blur

and then dressed

The first page of my book.

The pocket page ( featured) shows one side a pocket page to house info about all 4 girls who took part in the round robin. The other side is Marie ( a paper doll) arriving at Versailles carrying her packages ~ this particular package unfolded provides the story of Marie Antonia of Austria at age 14 travelling to France to marry the young dauphin of France (uncrowned king of France in waiting).

  This beautiful candelabra on the left similar from the era is installed in the Palace of Versailles and originally owned by the Duchess of Windsor. The sweet shape inspired this bird cage for my first Marie page -

I found that researching the historical archives on Marie quite eye opening and extremely interesting. I tried to bring this emotion through on to the pages.

Even while participating in a swap last year I could not resist doing up this little china figurine
re -doing her into a Marie Antoinette image. This little lady went to Cheryl of Rosy Posy Confections

In the Marie Publication you will find many more talented artists all creating some incredible work all in the name of Marie Antoinette. So if you have not bought the magazine do so.

So to celebrate the publication of Marie, Holly, Heather Natasha and me Ginny are all doing a giveaway. This will be my first GIVE AWAY . I have decided to put together a collection of trims, fabrics and embellishments ~ many of which were used in the round robin.

Vintage and modern millinery including some beautiful velvet blooms.

Opulent Embellishments, silk antique buttons, silky bobble trim, beaded trim and a gorgous antique french tassel.

TWINKLE* that's PINK
beautiful Blue hand dyed silk velvet,

French Fabrics ~ this one ideal for book covers. Strong and hardy

French embellishmets and Blue Millinenery, ribbons, lace and English and French Rose fabrics

So please come by and leave a comment here ~ (open to the entire world) I will draw a name on the 14th April .I hope that all my visitors that might just look will leave a comment on this occasion ~ you might get lucky you never know.

 Well even though I had a few criticisms of the way my work had been presented in the Marie magazine (its the artist in me) , I am still thrilled to have been included with so many like minded women within these pages of Marie and will never forget the fun I had with my 3 girls across the continents creating our own round robin.
I enjoyed the experience of doing this project so much and  was even invited to join a Marie Art Group. So I look forward to creating many more cakes and dresses in some way or form.

This my final post on our international round robin will serve to be a reminder of the year that was most definitely Marie Antoinette.
xxx to Heather, Holly and Natasha because without you we wouldn't have these beautiful books. Thank you
And thanks to you all for coming by. xx