Sunday, 9 November 2008

time flies . . . . .


i find it very hard to resist these vintage floral buttons - the violet daisy has to be my new favourite!


i'm afraid i haven't got anything crafty to show you this week - i have made something very gorgeous BUT it is a secret for now! oh. . . . . i just can't resist showing a little glimpse of it . . . .




i have however been buying "STUFF" as my partner would call it {that's when he's being polite} so i will share my thrifty goodies with you instead!



what a sweet little face this "heidi" has, i found this lovely but battered book in the most bargain of bargain bins along with a copy of "lolita" and "good wives" and another book i'd never heard of and bought purely because it was in large print - these books are destined for re-cycling in my altered art but i'm going to have to keep the loose cover of "heidi" .



found this little stack of vintage dishes and couldn't resist them i thought they'd be great for displaying/photographing buttons in - isn't it strange how our{maybe it's just me!}tastes change with age - ten years ago i wouldn't have given these a second glance - now i may even use them to eat from!





below are two vintage aprons - one looks almost perfect and it's twin is rather worn and much more "vintage-y" lovely soft fabric.



and i also bought a couple of vintage embroidered cushion cases - i actually "know" what i'll do with these!


Saturday, 1 November 2008

cupcake swap goodies!



ooh - look at all my goodies!
this is what i received from Alex - a lovely cupcake applique picture - a ceramic cupcake - a cute drawstring bag in cupcake fabric and an applique cupcake card - all very lovely - thanks Alex :0)




and pictured below is what i sent {late} to Alex - sorry about the photo's in this post - can you believe it was too sunny? The colours are so wrong in them but what can you do!

i love the little chimp in this picture so i had to use it - kinda an apology for my lateness in posting!

this little cabinet below has been beckoning to me every single time i walked past the shop window - i'd managed to resist it because it was just so damn expensive - the shop is closing down and everything was 30% off but everytime i walked past the shop was closed so i couldn't buy it - so when i walked past today the owner was packing up the shop into a van and the frame was sitting on the counter i walked past still resisting but on my way back past i could bear it no longer so i went to the door and asked if i could buy it - i got it for less than half the original price - i didn't even have to haggle!! yeah ! I'm going to keep all my creepy little dollies in it and they won't get dusty cause they'll be locked in behind glass -ha ha ha!

see how creepy they are - they are MOVING in this one - eeekkkKK.

{click on the photo}

maybe they didn't like my shining a torch in their faces!

Tuesday, 28 October 2008

mabel got framed and other stories

i found a tiny vintage frame for "Mabel" not quite sure what i'll do with her now though!



Ages ago i took part in Meridian Ariel's http://meridianariel.blogspot.com/ "fairytale swap" - i meant to blog my swap gifts from Jo Lovejoyhttp://www.things-to-make-and-do.co.uk/ at the time but some pesky little boy ran off with it! He loves the little book with the textued pieces of jabberwocky skin and wing! I managed to get the book back and photographed before having to give it back - i also got a notebook and a bookmark - Jo enquired whether this was "dark" enough a tale for my taste - oh yes it sure is, as a child i was terrified of this poem which my parent's would relish in reciting to me "don't say that JabeRwOcKy" would be my fearful response - thanks Jo!!!!







ooohh look what i got in the post


loads of gorgeous fabric covered buttons from incywincystitches http://www.incywincystitches.com/



cute cute cute little dolls
and even cuter winter wonderland creatures - which i'm going to sew on to my black winter coat.
but i might just have go buy more . . .very soon!
oh and there were some cute strawberry shortcake hair bobbles but my daughter has them somewhere in the murky teenage depths of her bedroom!!!

Sunday, 19 October 2008

i've been a neglectful blogger. . . . .




sorry but i seem to have totally misplaced my mojo . . . . again.


i'm spending way to much time mooching about in cyber space and not enough time actually doing a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.


i feel restless - i guess it's the changing seasons and the nights drawing in.


so as i've done practically no crafting i'll just post a photo of this cute "knitting nancy" - french knitting doll that i inherited and found out {through a lovely lady on flickerhttp://www.flickr.com/groups/618440@N20/} is about 80 years old - wow - she looks very young for her age!

"knitting nancy"

oohhh look at the lovely vintage-y crazing on the varnish!

i finally had a sale on FOLKSY!!! this gorgeous family of russian ladies are off to their new home tomorrow :0)

Thursday, 9 October 2008

happy birdies!!!


i've had great fun playing with my new sizzix bigshot machine this last week - as i mentioned it was my daughter's birthday on friday and i made her this card -





today was my Mum's birthday so i made her this one -



and this weekend - me and D are off to a wedding {D is bestman} so i made this card for the happy couple - i think the die has paid for itself now!

***geeky information alert*** the sheet music i cut these birdies out from is a wedding march!


fancy stamped insert!


oh and i have a commisioned birthday card to make to - and how great is this?
I'm being paid in buttons - hurrah!!!!

{that was my choice - lol}

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

ETSY shop updated

my new etsy shop has had a really great start - six sales already - i'm so pleased!


If only i could time-travel and buy more of this braid as it has sold out already. I've kept a bit for myself as it is so cute!



today i have added this BIG & GIRLY pink and white selection of buttons and trims, there is a mixture of vintage and modern in this set - i think it would be great for scrapbooking or sewing projects.



i've also added a few more sets of buttons and a vintage brooch.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6279583




Saturday, 4 October 2008

a FOURTEEN year old daughter!!!


first birthday

my daughter was FOURTEEN yesterday -
O M G where did the time go?


5th birthday

6th

proud big sister - aged ten.


aged 11
aged 13
"hApPy BiRtHdAy - My LoVeLy DaUgHtEr"