I do love Kimberly's ATC swaps, she is such a lovely hostess, and she is starting 2014 off with a VALENTINE'S ATC swap!
I had to get my skates on with this one, as the deadline is 18th January, and I can never be sure how quickly or slowly a letter/package will get to the States. So I started as soon as I saw her post yesterday, and here they are, in sweet pink and gold -
I started with scrunched up pink tissue paper glued to the tag and very lightly rubbed with gold to highlight the raised bits. I didn't have any Dresden trims ( why the heck are they so difficult to get in the UK? ), so I used a gold paper doily for the tops of the ATCs. I ran a gold coloured Christmas envelope through my Bigshot to get the golden butterflies and flowery scrolls. Needle felted some little pink hearts. Found some pretty vintage ladies and voila, Valentine's ATCs completed!
I had to use my little old Fujifilm Finepix camera for the photos, because my Nikon camera has finally self destructed. Well, not the whole camera, just the standard lens it came with, but I have had nothing but trouble with that lens ever since I bought the camera. It has been in for repairs 4 or 5 times, thankfully under the extended warranty I had splashed out on, but that is now out of date, and the lens is bust. Well and truly. The insides have collapsed and are rattling around in there. Very frustrating. Sigh. Not sure what I am going to do now.
Now I have get started on the first Tag Tuesday tag of 2014, due tomorrow. Hmmm, perhaps a little Belgian chocolate will help to get the creativity flowing.....
Toodlepip xxx
HAPPY NEW YEAR !
I have started the year as I mean to go on, with a little bit of crafting every day. I am hand stitching some very simple lavender hearts made with delicious vintage French lace at the moment.
Toodlepip xxx
I have been such a bad blogger this last month of the year. One reason was that my Etsy shop was busy, which was really nice. Another reason was that I hadn't created anything worthwhile, and therefore had nothing to show. Two years ago, just before Christmas, my mother died and was buried the day before Christmas Eve, and I get rather quiet and maudlin in the weeks before Christmas. I sit and plan all kinds of things to make and do, but they stay in my head and my hands stay still in my lap. I get frustrated with the mess around me, my craft stuff and the many many things I have bought in France for the shop, and the more I try and organise and clear up, the worse it seems to get. So I leave it and just get more and more frustrated. I hope I haven't shocked you too much by writing such personal things, I realise thats not what you expect or what I usually do. I just felt that I owed my wonderful bloggy friends an explanation for my long absence.
Having said all that, Christmas was wonderful and uplifting and filled with much laughter and joy, and I am feeling so much better within myself again. So I am giving myself one more week to get my act together and get on with organising my stuff, and then I will be back to normal blogging, yay!
For now I just want to thank you for being such loyal friends and followers, and I wish you all a very happy, healthy, peaceful and successful 2014! May all your wishes for the new year come true and may you ( and ME!! ) stick with your New Year's resolution for longer than a week, tehehehe!
Here are some fun 19th Century Happy New Year cards from my collection -
Toodlepip xxx
Oh, I do love it when my bloggy friends keep our postman busy. Look what he brought me yesterday afternoon, a package from Denmark, and that could only mean one thing........ it was a package from my friend Dorthe, yay! The first thing I saw when I opened the package was this -
Beautifully packaged blingy embellishments. The bag was tied up with roses, a religious medal and the letters of my name. How sweet is that?!?
Dorthe's packaging is always beautiful, so beautiful that I didn't really want to disturb anything -
Inside the package was...........
this exquisite angel!
The details are superb, from the lovely bead embroidery -
and her wonderful halo/crown -
to her dainty wings -
Next to her in the package was a sweet little heart -
And finally, there was this stunning Christmas card -
So lovingly and beautifully made. I can't help feeling Christmassy when I am surrounded by so much Christmas cheer from my friends. Hugs and kisses to you, Dorthe!
Toodlepip xxx
Hearing the postman pushing mail through the letter box this time of the year is exciting, because instead of the usual junk mail or bills, he delivers Christmas cards! And when the Christmas mail is from faraway bloggy friends, then it is even more exciting. I just received Christmas mail from two wonderful artists. Of course you know both of them, they are much loved in our little corner of Blogland. The first one to be opened was from Lynn Stevens, who shares her art with us on her blog Trash to Treasure Art. Isn't this just the sweetest Christmas ornament? -
She also sent me these gorgeous delicate laces wrapped on a darling little tag-
The ornament is so lovely, I think it will have to stay on display all year round. Thank you so much, Lynn!
I recognised the handwriting on the second envelope straight away. It was from my much loved friend Suzy in Australia. Her creations leave me breathless, they are so beautiful. When you visit her blog Suziqu's Threadworks, you lose yourself for hours in her incredible work. This is the heartachingly beautiful card she sent me -
And she also enclosed these gorgeous images for me to create with -
Love you, girl!!!
I feel very blessed.
Toodlepip xxx
The prompt over at the 'Our Beautiful World' blog this week is STILLNESS. I took this photograph in France one summer, early in the morning, and the air was so still, even the fine silks of the spider web didn't move. There was a wonderful stillness to the morning at that moment, no breeze, no sounds, just utter peace -
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that the new week is going to be a good one for you.
Toodlepip xxx
I was sorting through some gorgeous old braids and trims I had brought back from France after the summer and I came across some rather exquisite 19th Century French silk and metal braids. One of those braids is the most gorgeous taupe-y grey, so I thought I would show you this one for Petite Michelle Louise's Grey Dey Thursdey -
Hop over to Michelle's blog and check out all the other beautiful and elegant greys!
Toodlepip xxx
How can the year have gone by so quickly, and why do I seem to have no time for my poor old blog? I am just about keeping up with the Tag Tuesday challenge, but I have fallen so far behind with the Every Inchie Monday challenge. The Etsy shop has been busy and that has kept me rather occupied, not that I am complaining, but I have done very little in the way of crafting, other than making tags to go with purchases and the Tag Tuesday tags.
This is this week's tag with the theme ANGELS -
I hadn't taken part in Our Beautiful World for a little while either, but as I was looking through some photographs of France last winter, I found this one which I thought suited the theme DECEMBER quite well. The frosty and misty early morning walks in the woods over crackly grass were so lovely. You can just about see DH and DS with one of the dogs strolling down the path -
Toodlepip xxx
