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Good evening all.
Just wanted to tell you I have had a very delicious day......I have had the whole day making stuff in my studio/garden shed, in the style of Homer/doughnuts 'aaarrwwwwww'. It has been such a treat to know the whole day was mine. Except for one taxi service trip, that is taking daughter number 1 to work! I feel positively spoilt. Mind you, I'm paying for it with a totally numb backside (I could have been crude then) and aching shoulders, but "I musn't grumble".
You may (or may not) remember the piece above, well I have reworked it slightly by attaching it to a gorgeous piece of old map with big stitches, I have peeked and preened it a little too. I think it looks much better. The envelopes here are really ancient and very beautiful and I really like the way it has layered up and looks quite worn (like me). SOLD
I have also been working on my soldered pendants today, so you have that joy to look forward to tomorrow.
Thanks for calling by x

This and that

Couple more pieces destined for Etsy here. I could embroider on these beautiful envelopes all day, every day. Just so relaxing. This top envelope is a beauty from the USA dated 1954 and I have added an iron on vintage embroidery transfer and guess what... I embroidered it. Technically cornflowers do not have yellow centres but for artistic purposes these do:-)

Jack Russells what can you say about them....characters at the very least! I thought this photo was just lovely and worked well with the vintage look of the envelope.
Complete change of subject here, just a few pics of a couple of places visited.

Holly and I visited Presteigne on the border of Wales/England. Just the loveliest small town ever. The houses are mostly medieval but have georgian frontages.

This wonderful carving shushing us all, is just in one of the main streets. Just take a look at the top of his head.

This stunning wonderful building is covered in decorative plaster work, beautifully coloured, stained glass and mosaic work all included. A really unusual building housing a charity shop.
In the church...... a little sign, very descreet, 'please close the door'.
We also visited a village fete, held in the grounds of a very large country home at Staunton on the Arrow. All sorts of games, with a few stalls such as tombola, white elephant, plants for sale, held on the large lawn which fronted a stunning lake.
Holl and I enjoyed refreshments here! She is a good girl ....I dragged her around musty book shops, charity shops, ooohh and arrgghhhed at the old buildings and then onto this fete. She did'nt moan once, which I thought was wonderful for a 17 year old.
I thought this was so terribly British. Tea on the lawn. Each table had a beautiful tablecloth and flower arrangement, which you can't see because the wind had blown all the cloths. Of course, not long after this was taken it absolutely hammered it down, spoiling the afternoon!

Lengthen or Shorten here

Blimey I have nearly taken root waiting for these photos to upload...
Anyroadup, I adore this photo....poor little thing has one eye up the chimney and one eye in the pot! Have you noticed I have not mentioned the name of the breed, pure laziness, can't be bothered to get the dictionary.
I had every intention of uploading a few more photos of places I have visited just lately, but they will wait till tomorrow now, just wanted to post the latest small collage that is now on Etsy. Thanks for visiting x

Best Friend

Firstly I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to visit and leave a comment. It is so pleasing to get feed back and helps me to keep focused....thank you all again.



. We all love our dogs ~ so here is an doggie inspired collage. Vintage photo of a very sweet Chihuahua (had to look in the dictionary for that one) mixed up with snippets of old maps, dressmaking pattern, Deightons iron embroidery transfer and a lovely old shirt button. And of course finished off with the old french knots!
It's very sweet (although I say it myself) and small and has been put on Etsy.
Thanks for visiting x

Stockholm to Japan

I did this at the weekend too. (I do interact with the family and push the vacuum around occasionally!) I have had this envelope for ages and wondered what I could do with it ~ the printed image is so beautiful and the usual stuff I do on envelopes would not have worked. In a flash ....a flash I tell you, of inspiration I sorted out an old Deightons Embroidery transfer and ironed it on, rather hesitantly and then spent the weekend embroidering it ~ not so easy, infact a real fiddle faddle as vintage paper does not do embroidery! I'm quite pleased with the result as the embroidery does'nt overpower the printing too much. Added to Etsy SOLD

Primitive inspiration

Friday on Flickr I came across http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldworldprimitives/ OMG I love them....the dolls etc are made from Netty LaCroix patterns and Stephanie Baker has made them up....beautifully and are for sale on her Etsy. Anyway inspired by the sheer simplicity of the shapes, textures and colour pallette, I started to have a little doodle. My husband again 'does'nt get it' but hey.....I think I will try and keep these going and see how thing develope.

It's the little things in life........

Took myself and Holly to Shrewsbury, Shropshire today. Such a lovely, interesting town. One of a few towns left in the area that has individual shops, boutiques, antique shops. All the other local towns seems to consist of Opticians, High Street Stores and Building Societies. Anyway, less of the moaning........ we wandered around an antique shop and I managed to pick this beatiful old box advertising Showboat Kunzel Cakes. I though maybe it was American but on closer inspection the Bakery was in Granville, Birmingham. Who would have thought. I am going to use it to house greetings cards when I do a Craft Fair. On the same stand I purchased this card of beautiful glass buttons for only £2.50. Finds like these make the world go around!