The kindness of friends

Hello!
Had a rough time of it lately but the kindness of my friends have put a smile back on my face and has made me realise How Blessed I am.

I made these for my friend Nadine who has recently got married....

 She looked amazing in a vintage dress so these clips made from Vintage brooches and glass pearls from an old vintage necklace seemed appropriate!
So in the post this morning I was delighted to discover a box on my doorstep with some Beautifully wrapped packages in it!

It was a shame to open them but of course... I did!!!!

 GORGEOUSNESS!!!!!

Some yummy Cherry Green & Black's ( I'll have you know!)  chocolate bar, a pack of floral napkins that I actually stopped myself from buying the other day!, a cute cherry ring binder and a pretty teacup candle from her wedding that Nadine had made herself!! 

Did you notice these pretties?

Nadine made these herself they smell all lavendery ( yes its a word!) and are in all my fave colours!

Keep a look out soon for her blog and website launching soon with her all of her sewing pretties! 

Thanks so much for the present hunny, it put a big smile on my face this week xxx

Friends are the family you choose x

Until next time

Annie x

Buttons, Lace and Ribbon organiser

Hello!
Well sorry a little later than promised here is the pics of our new Button, Lace and Ribbon organiser!
Er... I did actually forget to take a pic of the unpainted shelf that I bought for £1 at a car boot but it was a cheap oak and hardwood shelf which had a really terrible tile fixed to the middle of it which was a bit strange looking!
So Off it all came and on went a wash of white emulsion.That was wiped off with a wet rag then followed a pale green wash which was also wiped off then a blue and then a pink! After drying I sanded the edges down so that the natural wood came through.

I then loaded it all up with my stash of bits and bobs that will be playing a big part in the the new line of products coming soon to Birdcages & Butterflies!

hmmmmm still could do with more organising though....how about some labels??

and here are some for you to use on your button jars!!!!

With colours on.....

....Or without!!!!

These fit nicely on small spice ikea jars which we are storing our sorted buttons it. But they would also be great on jam jars too! Just enlarge the size if you are an avid collector and have BIG storage jars full of buttons like some peeps in blog land I know!!!!!!!

When we have some finished products from our new line then I will give you a sneak preview before the launch of our products and the giveaway! Will be back maybe with some pics of our little summer showroom tucked away in Nana's old brick outhouse.....at the moment its really just an old space but It will be transformed by the time we are finished with it.......with chandeliers included!!!

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post too!!! I will probably be posting this to the usual makeover linky parties which I Love reading for inspiration!!! I will add the links soon xx
Linked to Metamorphis monday , Trash to treasure tuesday, DIY DAY,
Until next time
Annie x

Storage jar prettiness!

Hello!
As I have been organising my crafting room and making room for Nana to work here too I thought I'd show you some little makeovers....
I'll start with some Ikea Jars prettied up!
With help from this Great blog The graphics fairy I downloaded some labels to pretty up some plain jars that are currently holding my sparklies broken, odd, or just looking for a new lease of life AND a Jar of random tidbits that don't necessarily have somewhere to live!

So here's the before

Then after adding a cross stitch style font title to the label I printed it off and aged it up a bit with brown and black stamp pads and my trusty blender!!!! ( read here for more details)

Bit of glue and careful positioning and VOILA!!! (Shimples!)

I'm gonna link up to The Graphics Fairy's linky party 'BRAG MONDAY' for the first time today and hopefully make more of an effort to do so seeing as the BEST graphics I have ever used has come from there.
And actually probably a few in my sidebar also Metamorphosis Monday , Do it yourself Day, Trash to treasure Tuesday , Transformation Thursday, Show off your stuff Party , Show & Tell Friday
....Have a look at the sidebar for linky parties permanently displayed there, every day theres a whole host of fantastic inspiration at your fingertips!!
Will be back soon showing off an old plate rack bought for £1 that I've transformed into braid, button and ribbon holder!
Until next time
Annie x

Coming soon...

Hello!
Hope you have all been well! Thanks you for all the lovely comments on my last post and sorry if I didn't get round to replying to all personally...I've hardly been on the puta, been checking my emails by Phone and typing on such tiny keys is just not easy!! I'll suppose I'll get used to it!!!

So Followers of my Blog shop may see that I have not added any new stock lately....WELL There is a reason for that....There will be 'new' Products appearing soon ( New as in Re purposed new lease of life of course!!!) I have invited a designer Nana Maja (pronounced Na-na-Mya) to join me in a new venture we are undertaking. Of course there will still be Birdcages & Butterflies usual Vintage style items such as the home ware, Stationary line, wedding accessories etc but also a new line of Jewellery and MUCH MORE!!!!
Yes I'm being a Tad Cryptic but as we are still in Embryo stages I don't really want to reveal too much yet!!

Nana Maja has great style which I love and we share a common interest of Love for Vintage and an eye for 'seeing the potential' which is a gift that us creatives seem to share!!!!! I know that our different tastes  along with the Danish and British influences will compliment each other and fuse into something that will cater for all!!!!

SO at this moment in time I am clearing my craft room and making space as Nana is with the space that she has and we will be 'hopefully' kicking off by the 1st weekend in July.We will more than likely be celebrating with a Giveaway with a gift from our new range.

I will be keeping you updated with our progress of course so you can come along on our little journey!!

Right off to try to find homes for the millions of buttons, trims and bits and bobs I have here in the craft space!!!! Enjoy your weekend!
Annie xxx

Organisation and declutter needed!!!!

Hello Lovely peeps!!
Please excuse that rather long disappearing act...it really wasn't planned....illness, school holidays, gardening, friends....well basically LIFE!!!
Have taken a little break from work and getting my house in order!! You know I have paint that has been siting there for a good year ready to use cause we just haven't had time to do it....Well I think its high time that we do something about it!!!!!
Also Car boot season has started and I'm finding lots of treasures to revamp and show you!!!
SO fancy a photo catch up??
Firstly I have to show you these Lil gorgeous birdies that have now resided in my Birdcage from the lovely Alison from Vintage Amethyst... They have been called Sweet and Pea x Thanks Alison xx

My Girly Terri has recently chosen to become a Christian which I was Most pleased about! She chose me to be the one to Embrace her with a warm towel after she went for her dunk! I was the first person to hug her in her rebirth...I was overwhelmed...oh and very wet after a big bear hug...did not think that one through fully!!! LOL!! The day was amazing as was her church and its parishioners....it was a very Emotional day and I was fighting back the HUGE lump in my throat, but broke after a very heartfelt and beautiful version of Carole Kings 'you got a friend'...so proud of you Terri x x x

 Then Easter came as well as family friends and LOTS of Chocolate!!!!!

The Easter Sunday Table

Handmade Easter wreath.

pretty pink flowers

 ...even if they are a bit shabby!!

Here are a few of my Car boot finds do far...I will be back soon for a more detailed post when I have completed some trash to treasure makeovers!!!!!

a great tall candelabra and something that resembled a birdcage so HAD to to have it of course!!!

 This FAB teapot from a well known website which I have been hankering after for ages!!! and a cute dumpy little jug both found at the carboot for £1 Only!!!!

 These heavy Beautiful Vintage Curtains bought for £5!!!!

 And this set My friend bought for you'll never believe it...£2!!!!!!

It has lots more Cups, a coffee pot and teapot with all the trimmings!!! And Coffee tastes SO good from those cups too!!!!!

 This other little set was Another bargain that she bought....All this for £2!! It was missing a  blue jug.....Guess what Annie had in her collection??? Of course It deserved to go back to where it belonged!!!

 So after both me and Aidy being Ill with Flu for the Majority of the Easter holidays I promised to get better in time to take him out for a day trip to London before he went back to school...so off we went to the Natural History and Science Museum...unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries but I did manage to get these few pics x

 Aidy recording his findings!!

 Love his attempt at spelling diplodocus!!!

 and me and Aidy exhausted after a long day

Not sure when I'll pop back..got me some decluttering and organising to get done!!! Enjoy the sun hunnies xx
Until next time
A