a bit of bling...

yesterday eve i got the urge to do a bit of blinging.

i do like to bling things,

indeed it would be quite true to say

anything which comes my way if it stands still long enough

 will eventually be blinged.

in fact upon tippity tapping this,

i have reflected upon my life

and do believe not a day has gone by when i have not 'blinged',

such is my need to do so.

a little bit of bling,

be it on a thrifty find

 or an old friend found in the cupboard,

can be just the thing

to cheer up something a little tired or lost.

(myself included)

a few weeks back,

my blinging ways

led to an old cardi having new buttons.

this old friend will now be travelling across the pond with me

in a few short days

last night's bit of time spent blinging

resulted in some clogs looking spiffy with woven ribbon detail.

just a few happy moments with some peachy ribbon

from a fabby dottie angel dearie in Holland

and a bit of good old mod podge.

i got my bling fix,

i am happy,

my clogs are happy,

now that is my kind of bling.

i think i will call it

'granny chic bling'

from now on...

Tif

Girl Crush Seattle & a 'small' note...

on friday i headed across the bridge to the big city to set up Girl Crush Seattle with the peachy Danielle and the 'always peachy' Assemble Shop. i managed to snap a few 'snappy snaps' of which you can peruse below, scattered amongst the ramble...

after which i came home and paced and pottled and fretted about my talk.

then Our #3 wisely pointed out how hard can it be? i was having to talk about myself, nothing to learn and remember new, just everything inside of my head and my experiences. well that little bit of wisdom was a tremendous help and i went to bed super duper early at 9:53am to be exact. slept like a log but a log who has very vivid dreams as is the norm for moi. none of the dreams woke me so that meant a good nights sleep like a log as far as i was concerned.

i awoke fresh as a 43 and half year old daisy and decided my braids needed little bits of rag ribbon in them for good luck. i pinned on my 'little lucky bunny' badge gifted to me by Danielle the day before and once again (at precisely 8:17am) headed back across the bridge to begin our big artist tea party day.

oh and what a day it was.

instantly i was at ease meeting the other crushers. we sat around a large table and the day past in the blink of an eye. i must tell you i have never had such an opportunity to share my story and my insecurities before and one may think that is quite daunting to do, but not so, not when surrounded by others who all had something to share and in turn we all understood and then we pondered and we searched for solutions and sometimes, perhaps its true, solutions cannot be found at that particular moment but somehow i do not think that matters, for just knowing another understands, has the same fears or experiences is always a comfort...

the food was most delicious and in the afternoon we had cupcakes 'dottie angel' style kindly donated by Trophy Cupcakes of Seattle, i bought my little deer home from my cupcake to keep forever and ever to remind me of this wonderful amazing day.

later, around 4ish we started our art work. it is through Danielle inviting me to be part of her art tea parties that i have started my collage work again. and so i was most happy to spend a few hours with others, sticking and pasting with tongue slightly stuck out in concentration to produce a little bit of something which makes me happy. all of our pieces will be displayed at Assemble Shop which is tres lovely of Andie and Emily indeed. hip hip hooray for Andie and Emily!

i do not have pictures of the day, alas and alack i was in the thick of being part of it, but i do know fellow crushers have some, when and as i see them put online i will be sure to highlight them. chances are it will not be here but over on my facebook page so best to look there.

"where?" "there... there on the stairs, a little mouse with clogs on, well i declare, going clippity clop on the stairs"

(could not be helped)

and my talk? well yes of course the very thing that had me fretting, talking in public. i am delighted to report it went well. i did not require my note cards, i did manage to talk about myself and i think include most things and most importantly, no one fell asleep! so a success i would say.

my little bit of collage art created at Girl Crush Seattle

and on that spiffy note, i must tell you my 'small note', but 'oh so important' note. my lovely book writing buddy Rachelle, as i tippity tap this post, is in the air winging her way across the pond to visit for a whole week.

(breaking news just in, she is not in the air but stuck in a plane on the runway that won't go and told it could be a while, hours even before they take off. oh pants of the very big kind indeed)

we are beyond giddy, (not about the stuck plane and Rachelle in it obviously) we are besides ourselves. for next week is 'show time' for the book photographs. our photographer , the 'ever so lovely' Cath will be arriving on weds and we will start the task of snapping one half of the shots for the our Granny Chic book! it is quite the marvel i do believe, for Rachelle and myself have written this book through a common interest that has grown into an amazing friendship, resulting in a book to be published this autumn and what i think most amazing and which i do believe shows how extra ordinary it all is. until this evening, when i stand in arrivals at the airport waiting for her plane to arrive (eventually), until that moment, we have never actually met before and yet we feel like we have known each other all our lives... extra ordinary indeed.

Tif

footy note:

many thanks to all the lovely crushers who came on saturday, you are the bees knees indeed!

if you wish to find out if an artists day and tea party is happening in a city near you over the coming months than take a looky over here

GIRL CRUSH ~ seattle... having no doubts about it

for most of my life Mr Doubter has lived in the shadows. sometimes he casts his shadow in my direction and other times he leaves me be. the days he leaves me and my creativity alone, those are the days my creative soul gets to shine, the sky is the limit, it is just me, my imagination and my hands to make what we will. 

and the days he looks my way with his shadowy presence, well those are the days i tell myself, i am not alone, i tell myself all creative artistic souls have their own Mr Doubter and the shadow he brings. i have never asked if this is the case, for it is my comfort inside of my head, that on those doubting days, i am not alone and i do not wish to learn otherwise.

and so that is why today i am really rather happy to be introducing my friend Danielle to you. Danielle is the brilliantly creative brains behind The Jealous Curator, an extra ordinary presence in cyber land. just her tagline of  'damn, i wish i thought of that' really says it all. she curates and highlights creative souls from all over the world and she does it brilliantly as The Jealous Curator. however very few folks knew until recent times, Danielle is also an artist of mixed media collage work and like so many, it was not an easy thing to put her work out into the public eye. through talking with other artists and creatives, it became apparent she was not alone. with all the incredible works we see daily, it is indeed very easy for us to let our Mr Doubter slip from the shadows, take position upon our shoulders and question our creative worth.

Danielle's cogs turned and with it a wonderful idea was born. why not talk about this, but not in cyber land, but together in reality, in a creative environment, where we can discuss how we get past staring at a blank canvas, how we can believe what we create is worth something, where we can find confidence within a group of others and in time Mr Doubter can for once and for all slink back to his shadowy corner

GIRL CRUSH workshops & tea parties are in my books, the bees knees!

and i am more than a little chuffed to be collaborating with Danielle and the peachy Andie & Emily from Assemble Shop in Seattle to offer a day of talking, creating & eating fine food. at the end of which, we will have 'assembled' a collaborative, mixed media piece of artwork which will be displayed on the gallery wall for others to see!

you can see all the nitty gritty details here and also the list of fine and dandy artists Danielle has lined up throughout the USA. 

i know for me, this will be a defining moment, i have no doubt on this. it will be good to share with others the 'whys and wherefores' of my Mr Doubter and how i have come to terms with him in my life and how indeed perhaps his very shadowy existence is the very reason why i do what i do. for i love to create. apart from my family, friends and critters, it is the very thing that makes me want to get up out of bed everyday and live. there are no words i can find to describe how much it makes my world happy and therefore i cannot allow that shadow to take 'the fragile happiness' away from me. and so you see, in a way, his very presence makes me even more determined to continue listening to my creative soul, not be riddled by self doubt and to allow myself and my creative soul time to shine

Tif 

a 'little string of happy hearts' how~to...

i must admit to not being one for decorating for valentines, however i do like hearts and i do like little strings of happy for their ability to brighten the day, so why not i say...

before we begin, several things

several thing one: you could make this little string longer and larger if you so wish by using full sized book pages and more of them

several thing two: if you do that, you will probably have to use something more sturdy to string them altogether

several thing three: you do not need a trusty sewing machine, there are ways around this and i will pop them in brackets where relevant in the recipe below

several thing four: due to the nature of how i have stitched the pages together, it is a tres delicate little string so care is needed when handling the happy hearts

a 'little string of happy hearts' how~to

skill level:

easy peasy lemon squeezy

ingredients:

* old book pages

* happy coloured thread for trusty machine or hand embroidery thread

* scraps of decorative papers (wallpaper, scrapbooking paper, wrapping paper etc)

* handy dandy glue stick

* little paper label of sorts (more on that in recipe)

* spiffy paper scissors

* trusty sewing machine (optional)

* 15 minutes and a cup of tea

recipe:

* with 2 or 3 book pages held together, fold and tear in half, and then in half again, so you have 4 quarters when put together, make a whole page

* with trusty sewing machine and happy coloured thread stitch around your torn pages. this is for two reasons, one to keep the layers together and two, because its a jolly thing to do

(if not using a trusty sewing machine, just glue your layers together and set aside to dry. perhaps consider adding faux stitching with a coloured marker, could look mighty fine)

* cut out happy hearts from your scraps of paper, do not draw them on first, eyeball them so each one will have their own personality and charm

* with glue stick in hand, spend a few moments attaching each heart to its own little stitched book page, once again do not worry about the placement greatly.

* if you happen to have the 'little lucky bunny' postcard which came with my book, then cut out the tag saying 'please hold on to my heart', if not, do not fret nor weep at Tif using something which you do not own. you can hand write your little tag or indeed print one off like i did, if you have a handy dandy printer

* take your happy heart pages and with a trusty sewing machine stitch them in a happy line. be sure to leave plenty of thread either end of your happy heart pages so you have something to hang them up with. also leave a little gap when sewing them together so they dingle dangle nicely. don't forget at the end to stitch your tag on. i did and had to go back due to my forgetful ways.

(if you are not using a trusty sewing machine, take a needle with embroidery thread and carefully so as not to tear the book pages, hand-stitch running stitches along the top of your book pages)

* admire your little string of happy hearts

* hang your little string of happy hearts in a place most suited to maximize the happiness they give off and where others may too appreciate the sentiment behind your little string

Tif :)

a jolly good read...

if perchance you are looking for a jolly good read today then may i suggest the latest issue of 91magazine

and if you happen to turn to page 62 you'll find a spiffy feature about our Mossy Shed and a nice little write up about my book.

 i am quite the fan of 91magazine, the articles are beautiful and i even find myself enjoying the ads which is nice i think, sometimes ads just do not sit right amongst the pages, but not in this magazine, no sirree! they fit peachy perfect, hurrah hooray. 

yes indeedy, it is the perfect read with a cup of tea on a winter's afternoon.

many thank you kindlies to Caroline and indeed Chloe for inviting me to be part of such a spiffy publication

her mother hen heart has been put through the mill by her chickie peas today ~ Tif 

fabby fabric from a silly old suitcase...

oh golly gosh, nothing quite like a piece of fabby vintage fabric to get my creative soul feeling a little crafty and that is exactly what happened when a wonderful parcel full of peachy goodness arrived on my doorstep a few weeks back.

lovely Maartje from silly old suitcase blog had a give away, a very generous give away where upon several of us won! when i heard the news i was pretty giddy with the anticipation of what my little prize would be. for just one look at Maartje's world with her crafty vintage talent has my little heart beating faster. on a side note here, if perhaps you are amidst the blearghy winter feeling where every thing around appears a little dreary and drab, may i suggest you visit Maartje and her 'silly old suitcase', to me it is a 'light box' blog, one that is bound to lift your spirits and you are left feeling like a little ray of sunshine has been to visit. such colour and such prettiness abounds from every photo you come away ready to fend of Mr Deary and Mr Drab with a "be gone dull guys! i do not have time for your depressing ways, no sirree, i am filled with happy sunny colourful thoughts thanks to Maartje and her little old suitcase filled with happy things"

and so my package of goodies arrived before Christmas, where upon i hung several dingly danglies around the shed made by Maarje's own fair crafty hands and then i sat and hugged the other part of the parcel, for it contained a length of vintage fabric like no other i had seen before. a fabric worthy of a long hug, my very fabby fav type of vintage fabric...

ugly pretty no less!!

with a shed full of gleeful decorations and clan, i wisely placed my new love where i would see her daily, reminding me of things to come when the shed was cleared of decorations and clan. so i waited and whilst i waited i pondered, for such was her ugly pretty beauty i knew i needed to do her justice.

roll on to January, i was in full on shed clearing mode and along with the crappity crap things like cleaning out drawers, recycling and thrifting, i interspersed it with jolly things, like re-covering our old IKEA couch with a  pair of wonderful vintage Sanderson curtains found on Ebay, which had also been biding its time waiting for a quiet moment. once the loose cover was miraculously made, i realized my couch was no longer a couch, but a settee, for a settee sounded so much grander and Sanderson fabric is grand in my books. i dared to wonder if the handcrafted gods were on my side, after all i had managed to make a slip cover out of 2 curtains surely they were... 

and they were, for unfolding my lovely bit of 'silly old suitcase' fabric i discovered there was enough to make 3 spiffy back cushions for my newly Sanderson-ed settee.

oh joy, oh happy day, when once again i stood back to see the completed transformation of IKEA couch into a settee of vintage Sanderson goodness along with some ugly pretty cushions worthy of a joyful tear or two

how marvellous i think to myself every night whilst sitting upon our settee, that i was lucky enough to win such an amazing piece of fabric and my hope is Maartje will see just how suited it is to living in our Mossy Shed. thank you kindly Maartje, for your lovely fabric, your wonderful happy blog, for cheering up the cold winter months and indeed your silly old suitcase filled with crafty vintage goodness

once again she finds herself waiting in anticipation of Mr Postie and what he carries in his Van ~ Tif

one little bird studio and giving thanks...

i do like Leanda, i like her a whole lot.

and as i thought perhaps we are getting to that time of year when you may be making wish lists, or thinking of another to gift to, it would be a perfectly perfect time to introduce you to Leanda.

one little bird studio has the most peachiest of prints and one little bird studio belongs to Leanda. 

i marvel at her wonderful work, how time after time she comes up with images i would happily hang on my shed's wall in a heart beat. yes i marvel at how gifted Leanda is with her designs.

recently she has produced some prints which made my granny retro heart skip a beat. especially this spiffy number. so much so, it is now hanging on our shed's wall. the most beautiful midnight blue background truly makes me happy alongside of the wonderful pops of bright colours.

whilst i was waiting for my 'home sweet home' print to wing its way to my door step (which may i add, it did so very safely in the sturdiest of cardboard mailers i have ever come across, my kitchen scissors were no match for its sturdiness, thats how sturdy it was!)... well as i was waiting, Leanda only went and popped her 2012 calendars into her shop.

gosh, see, take a look at this one in all its mustardy glory

now does that not make your granny retro heart skip a beat all over again. 

surely if ever there was a person who does not do calendars, and they happened upon Leanda's 2012 calendar print, i am without doubt they would be converted into being a calendar loving folk. how do i know such a thing? what proof do i have? well i don't really, but none the less, i'm a believer and i stick by what i say, and that is, the 2012 calendar from one little bird studio, is quite the most peachiest calendar i have laid eyes on.

i do think showing you the wonderful printed world of Leanda, is a lovely note to end on, for tomorrow it is Thanksgiving, my favourite American holiday, and so i will be taking a week off until December 1st when i will return for the joyful gleeful season!

hip hip hooray!

so for now, i will leave you with saying "thank you" for the kindness you have shown me and my constant canine companions this week, for all the offers of fingers, paws and fins crossing over the coming few weeks. and indeed for all your wonderfulness over the past year, from the incredible embracing of my book, to your continuing wish to visit me here on my shiny place and being most generous with your comments on my crafting, time and time again. 

you have truly filled my heart with such a brilliant feeling of warmth, 

and are such an important part of my world.

so once again, i can only say it the best way i know how.

"thank you kindly dearest readers, you are the bees knees to me"

she is wishing you a wonderful happy thanksgiving in the USA and is wishing everyone else an happy week too ~ Tif

round and round...

'tis no secret, i am partial to a stool or two in our mossy shed. i appear unable to say no to little waifs and strays of stools i come across in my daily travels. however there is one stool i hold dear, above all the other little stools within our nest. now of course i know it is terribly wrong to have favorites but i cannot help myself. for the stool in question has been there all my life...

(i am quite sure i have told this story before but as it is buried deep with in the rambling archives of this here blog, i'm just going to repeat myself rather than try to find it as i fear it could take all day to unearth it)

 as a small child i would sit on a stool at my mother's dressing table every sunday evening. where upon i would don what can only be described as a shower cap attached to a long flexible tube which in turn was attached to a box which was attached by a cord to a plug in the wall. 

my mother would switch it on, the cap would inflate and hot air would start to dry my tresses. after half an hour, my mother would remove my head from the hairdryer of sorts and say "voila", where upon i would sit there silently praying that this time my hair would come out poker straight and gloriously shiny. upon opening my eyes, every sunday the vision reflected in the mirror, told me once again, my prayer had not been answered and thus a week of going to school with kinked, fuzzy, cow licky hair proceeded until the following sunday when i started praying again...

despite the horrors of my childhood hair-do i still look back fondly on those moments, and i am quite sure that is mainly to do with the stool upon which my derriere sat. for it was a glorious tulip stool and its fine form, is to me, one of the best a stool can have.

nearly 14 years ago, my mother kindly entrusted the tulip stool to me. in the years that followed it has had many little coats of various grandness, some quite dubious, like fake fur, or lilac sateen, but still it never felt unloved. recently, (and when i say recently i mean the past 10 days), i got itching to be stitching it a new little jacket.

inspired by lovely folksy round cushions, i took one large doily and started going 'round and round' with strips of lace, fabric and one embroidered vintage doily for the middle.

i spent many many happy moments with embroidery floss in hand. i then went a little nutso on the french knots which are my fabby fav thing to do. they are so peachy, you do one and it looks just right, and so you do another and before you know it, there are many little knots doing a brilliant job of looking spiffy.

after which i took my large decorated folksy doily and appliqued it like a cap 'on top' my stool.

i am most happy with my lovely folksy stool

however i must confess, i was not happy with my man when he came in from running around a soccer pitch for 2 hours in the rain last night and promptly sat his derriere down upon my fine and roundy stool! it took all my willpower to remain quiet, i took deep breathes followed by recalling my 'labouring' breathing exercises, for fear of what was happening to my french knots under the soggy soccer gear. i thought i had it under control, i really did, i channeled my inner kindness with all my might, thinking of the long day at the office he had had, and how i needed him to fix a lamp for me and all those other good things he does for me daily but alas, no! my french knots and their fate was too much to bear. i could not get past 2 minutes before i burst and had to ask him to find another stool to plonk down on... any stool, any dumptie just get off my french knots hoppity quick 'pretty please'

she has 3 lads haircuts and one 'constant canine companion' bath lined up for her thrilling saturday morning ~ Tif 

footynote: a little message for Katie (Bob) i have tried to send you several emails today, alas they keep on bouncing back to me, not sure why. could you please email me again with your email address so i can respond to you. many thanks :)