Vintage Sparklies and New Starts

Hello!

Not much work has been completed in the house of Annie this week as I've been spending time with my lil man before he starts reception at BIG school!! Have been celebrating as Husband has started a new job too..It will mean that we get a much more better quality of life as he will be at home at the weekends and working much better working hours too!!
Here's a picture of a vintage tiara and clip that I have made for my good friend as a present for her wedding. The diamantes are around 60 yrs old and the brooch about 50 yrs old.The clip is made from another vintage brooch with a gorgeous pair of earrings from the 20's!

This end of the year of my most fave, you still have some sunny days here and there, the evenings still hold lots of daylight but allow you to snuggle and get cosy in a blanket! Hence why Ive started to keep mine about to hide my feet under to avoid turning the heating on Just yet!! ( by turning the heating for me means summers officially over!!) And although the hats and scarves haven't quite been necessary these floral pretties had to be bought to wear with a cardie or light jacket! ( Matalan and Primark bargains!!)
It also does tend to influence my designs too...Colours are muted, olive green, burnt orange & sometimes even purple creeps its way in somewhere too...This is my display in my space i rented, from Last year...Of course a pumpkin naturally finds its way into the scheme of things!!
Basically this Thomas Kinkade painting sums up this time of year...the summer bedding plants are still in bloom but the leaves are orange and everything is hazy....(oh to live in a Kinkade Cottage!!)
Until next time...have a great weekend!! I'm off to enjoy our first weekend together in a long time!!
Annie x

Distressed!!

Hello!
Well I'm not personally distressed but thought i would post about this
little tool that I have fallen in love with working with!Anyone who is into paper crafts will know that there are tools out there that you can use
to distress paper with inks but can also be very pricey!! I have used these pricier tools and
have to say that sometimes the bargain is better!! Firstly let me tell you how to use it ......
First you place a bit of felt on the block and press down on the Velcro...

Then you get a normal stamp pad... ( I am using brown here to give it a vintage feel )
dab the the block felt side down on the ink pad a couple of times then on your chosen print or card
( making sure you have a bit of scrap paper under your print) then make small circles starting
from the scrap paper to the print rubbing and smudging the ink all around the edges
So it looks something like this, basically less is more and its best to build up the colours...

I also added some colour from a Teal ink pad, Autumn Leaf and pale Aqua too
and now it looks a tad more authentic!
It was a good friends Birthday Today too and I made her a card
in her fave Colour Purple but thought I would use a bit of teal in there too..
...LOVE THIS LOOK!!!
The Craft shop that I work for( Fantasy Crafts ) sell this magic little tool for the bargain price of ....£2.49!! YES I know!!!!..It also comes with some spare Felt pads too
but have to say these do not disintegrate easily so will last you a while too!!
If you would like to try one then just email fantasycrafts@hotmail.co.uk and I can send
one out to you for this great price plus £1 P+P only....
...If you do please show me the finished projects you use it for..
.by the way I have also used this on painted frames too!!
Oh and yes I have been playing with my blog background
but still have lots to learn and tweak so all feedback and advice would be much appreciated !! ;~)
Annie x

Celebrations!

Hello!
Well sorry have been missing in Action for a couple of days now, its been a Busy busy week what with my Birthday on Thursday and the Wedding at a manor on Saturday that I was working on I haven't had a chance to post!
So first a catch up!!
I did show you some pressies that I opened at my birthday BBQ in my last post but I did save some to open on my actual birthday ( whom I share with the lovely Debs from Home thoughts from Vintage wants ) so here's the rest that I was so blessed to receive

These gorgeous bags are made by Anna Chocola They are SOOOO cute!!
and her business cards are Gorgeous too!! Apparently these were delivered virtually the next day, how professional is that?!! You can find more of her products here
some more goodies follow.....YES I am a walking Cath Kidston advertisement!! LOL! did you notice the Birdcage necklace and Birdcage umbrella? I can feel the roll of the eyes already!!! Tee hee!!
Here's also a little collage of the birthday cards I got too..My friends are always complaining that I'm hard to buy cards for because i make them...but I always think they do a Fab job...here's a few of them!!
After receiving all of these Pretties my Darling Hubby took me to London and spoilt me rotten!! I got clothes, books and the most gorgeous purple Anna Scholz autumn jacket too...oh and a country living subscription!!! WOW!!! I GOT SPOILT!!!!!
SO back to business....
This Saturday was the wedding I had been working on, it was held in this lovely place

The Bride looked amazing

AS did the setting

a few finishing details made by moi ...Handmade paper roses on a birdcage you might have seen somewhere before....

and it was complete!...It was a great success! Wishing the happy couple many years of happiness x
SO now my big job is to try and get my lil man ready for school next week...He starts reception!! and then my poor neglected house! ( Well with 4 part time jobs somethings gotta give!!)
Thank you to all of you in Blog land who sent me Birthday wishes too..I'm touched xx
Annie x

Birthday BBQ and an Update

Hello!
Ok Well I had a BBQ to celebrate A) My birthday on Thursday and B) the fact that for the first time in 2 years we have something that resembles a back garden! SO I er kinda forgot to take pictures mainly due to copious amounts of this Demon below!!SO I thought I would take some pictures of the aftermath!! We had such strong winds that the Gazebo nearly blew away!! but managed to clear the rubble before Taking this picture..I found some lights for £6 in the sale and painted some polka dots and strawberries on a paper light shade and cherries on another and the hung a few lights in them for the evening.

and these little Strawberry Bird feeders were too cute in the B& Q sale so I put a tea light in the bottom and they made cute candle holders!!

SO I got a few pressies from my Lovely friends and family... and YES I KNOW It's not my Birthday till Thursday but It would be rude not open them when they want to know if I liked them or not!!!! Of course I did as my friends all know me too well!!
Theres some fab C k goodies there..one I'm saving to open on Thursday! Some Breathtaking Crystal Necklaces and great little goodies.....all sitting on a fab bedspread made by Mummy along with the heart cushion I was swooning over in this post!!
and YES that is a birdcage necklace you can see there!!
This pretty little card was made by the lovely Aisha, my friends Daughter and I just think its so cute!! Love the colours together!!..def an artist in the making!
Having my family and friends altogether in the same place just made me feel so happy...I have friends that have known me since the teenage years and some that have just come into my life but every one of them bring something extra to my life....I feel so blessed.
Speaking of blessed.....I have a NIECE!! Her name is Casseta Angelique and is just gorgeous! My Husbands Twin Sister had her a couple of days ago and they are both doing well...She is a natural earth mother!!
SO I had some lovely baby cuddles over the weekend too!! Hopefully we'll be blessed with another in the next year!!
Ooh OOH here's my pumpkins too!!
This is what it looked like last time I posted....and now it has grown and been joined by another!! I have a pumpkin patch!! Can't wait for them to turn orange!! I planted them quite late in the season so they are a bit behind some other plants i have seen. I read that to get a nice round shape that you have to stand them on end so that's exactly what I've done...if anyone is growing them too I would love to hear from you so we can swap notes!!

SO Hubby is taking my Birthday off so we can go and take a trip to London...I know Spitalfields Antique market is on that day but can anyone give me any secret spots that will hold vintage treasures that they would like to share with me? Consider it a birthday gift!!!!
I will try and post at the end of the week if I am not busy preparing for the wedding in Birmingham the next day!!! Until next time oh gorgeous ones.....BYEEE! xxx
Annie x

Posted pretties!!

Hello!
Been hectic this end as usual!! But in the midst of the madness came some lovely surprises!!!
My Smashed Teapot replacement arrived and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the teacups were actually dainty little coffee cups! I also had a salt and pepper shaker set too!!!
Made my day!! Here's the coffee cup and teacup that I already had!
So then the next day..I received a lovely package of goodies from Dolly! As I swooned over her ladybird Magnets and her over my party ring salt dough ornament, we decided to do a swap!! but I was not expecting this lovely stash of pretties!!
JACKPOT!!! Love love love it all!! Love the Magnets...especially the little mice! Just looking at these took me straight back to my childhood...oh those days when I had not a care in the world and the only decisions I had to make were which Ladybird book to read!!! Of course i always came back to this book...CINDERELLA!She had 3 lovely dresses in this book all were ones I dreamed of wearing! So when I saw this lovely page for me to frame I was over the moon!!! How Pretty?!!!
SO as I have been getting these lovely pressies to open my Lil boy has been getting a tad jealous..so when my 4yr old Aidan saw the sweeties he was over the moon too!!! I managed to grab a lemon sherbet before they were all devoured!!!

YUMMY!!

Cant...quite ..get into this one...mummy.....

A cheeky Wink ( well his version of one!!) For Dolly who has now converted my lil boy into a sherbet lemon addict!!Thanks Hunny for this lovely swap..yours is now FINALLY in the post with a little picture of you drawn by Aidy to express his thanks!!!
Another thank you goes to all of you who posted lovely comments about my Mum's sewing pretties...she read them and asked me to thank you all, its great to hear such lovely feedback xx
So off now to tidy up as we are having a bbq over the weekend to celebrate my Birthday next week...If I am not too worse for wear I might get to post some pics!!
Hope you all have a great weekend xxxx
Annie x

Lessons, Wish lists and Weddings

Hello!
Bit of a mixed bag post as, as you know if you have read previous posts I do multitask my work Quite often!! So this weekend has been a bit of a hectic one really..My Mum came down for a visit which was lovely, she lives a couple of hours away from me and with her she bought some lovely fresh homegrown veggies and a few more of her handmade sewing pretties too! Unfortunately the Batteries in my Camera ran out before I could snap them all...but managed to get my fave pretty though!
This is waiting for the right button to be sewn on in the middle but is still lovely as it is and doesn't it look fab on my comfy chair?? I was secretly hoping Mum would 'forget ' to take this home with her!!This is a double bedspread made with the same vintage rose fabric, a gorgeous duck egg blue and beige linen too.....LOVE IT, the bedspreads have a nice weight to them too, so snuggling under it whilst reading my book would just be heaven!!
There was lots more including some great Union jack cushions and more heart cushions one with a nice pocket in to store your fave book or P.J's or the remote control too!!
Lorraine ( mum) Will be selling her handmade pretties at the vintage and homemade fair on 7th November ( see the link in the sidebar for more info)

Also on Saturday I had one of my lovely brides visit for a make-up trial in readiness for the big day in September, she has a colour scheme of Ivory and Claret and is having her wedding in a lovely Manor house...so all that's left now are the Order of services and the Table Plan and then those fiddly little bits! She has chosen one of my birdcages to hold her cards and it will be adorned with claret Paper roses! Here's the invitation she chose ( excuse the poor quality of pic) It was A5 in size and Hammer effect Ivory card with Dark red wired organza ribbon
I obviously blanked out the details as I'm sure she wont want any gatecrashers HAHAHA!!
SO then on Sunday I went to the Craft haven ~Fantasy Crafts in Barton to teach a tiara class. It was great fun and we had 2 lovely ladies who were taking a beginners class but were absolute naturals! I had the Lovely Lisa who wanted to make a Tiara to go with a Red Ball dress that she has hidden away in her Wardrobe! As you can she she chose different shades of Red CrystalsThen after laying them out on the bead board and after some guidance and practice of wire work and some techniques Lisa started the assembly of her Tiara!After actually a short time the tiara had finished and Lisa made her first pair of earrings and pendant too!! Modelled beautifully in the pic below!! ( thanks for being a great Pupil Lisa, looking forward to booking the next class)
Fantasy Crafts is such a fab place to work, Its different to other craft shops as there is room for you to drop in for a cuppa and a biccie and play with any type of crafts you can think of! Each area has a table to sit and try something out and there is always a talented person who can show you a few tricks too! Its also a great place to take the kiddies when they wanna experiment, There's aprons and the mess doesn't end up in your home!! For more details just contact Yola on 01582 885727/ fantasycrafts@hotmail.co.uk
Here's a few pics of a few of the rooms including the party room ( which I would have Loved to live in!)
Well this post has already got far too long already So I'll leave you with this request for some advice!!
Its my birthday on the 3rd September and have been asked to make a wish list but for some reason when I have an opportunity like this my mind goes blank!! I'd love a handmade bag, retro vintage style of course!! I love a bit of Laura and Cath, and Crystal jewellery...so please please can you send me either some ideas or some websites for me to have a look at so I can compile some ideas!!!
Thanks oh gorgeous ones...until next time
BYEEEE!
Annie x
P.S Love Love Love all the comments it really makes my day to read them...and Carol your comment really touched me thanks for talking the time to share it.xxx