Cadeau d'anniversaire!!

I made this little

fabric covered notebook

for my friend's birthday.

I always appreciate

a hand made gift

I was very excited to find

 the pretty Toile fabric

at our Spotlight store!

I like to imagine this is

a picture of

Marie Antoinette

and her friends

in the royal bateau!!

I slipped the notebook

into a little bag

I made from old

dressmaking pattern

tissue!

Thank you my dear friends for visiting my blog.

I appreciate all your comments and

I really enjoy visiting your blogs too.

Be kind to one another

Shane xox



WINTER IN NEW ZEALAND

Just as we are heading

into Spring in the

southern hemisphere,

we've been visited

by a cold blast

from the south pole!! 

This little blackbird

probably hasn't experienced winter before

a very cool cat!

or

a snowcat maybe!!!

Thank goodness for sturdy

winter flowering shrubs like

Japonica

I'm thinking this image

could make a great

Christmas card

A photo of dinghies

in the so called

Winterless North!!!

I photographed this

beautiful camellia

on one of my daily

walks in the park.

Unfortunately

it wasn't named.

Lastly, what could be

more beautiful than the

delicate Hellebore

(winter rose).

For my friends in warmer places just now

(especially you Tammy)

I hope these snow photos have

had a cooling effect on you!!!

Please check out two

wonderful Giveaways -

the buttons are on my side bar

or you can link from here.

Rose Petals from Heaven

and

Paper Trails Leaver

Thank you Mo and Amy!

I've got my fingers and toes

crossed that either

you or I

will win!!!!!

Thank you my dear friends for visiting my blog.

I appreciate all your comments and

I really enjoy visiting your blogs too.

Be kind to one another

Shane xox

BOUTONS ET RUBANS SWAP

I recently joined a swap with Elizabeth of

French Village Life 

the theme was "Buttons and Bows"

which really appealed to me!

Imagine my excitement
when her parcel arrived!

I think Elizabeth must have
guessed one of my passions is lace!

(apologies for the poor quality of this photo)

I think this piece of lace
is traditional Bretagne
(I'm hoping Elizabeth
can confirm this).

For me to have a piece of
"hand made French lace"
is my idea of 'heaven'!!!

I'm saving it for a
very special project.

Don't you just love

this sweet little Peter Pan collar.

One of my other favourite things

is baby clothes.

I'm saving this for another

'very special project'

that's already forming

in my head!!

All these amazing goodies

I'm "over the moon"

but wait there's more!

a great selection of buttons
to use in the cards, books
and bags I make!

Also these colourful ribbons and...

a needlekeep.

Elizabeth, how did you know

I needed one of these!!

Maybe you read my

recent embroidery post!!!!

More embroidery goodies!!

A little Gutermann set

to take when I'm travelling!!

Thank you so much

Elizabeth,

it was such an exciting parcel

for me to open!!

I loved  being part of your

swap - thank you!

A sneak preview

of part of my swap goodies

winging their way to

France!

Thank you my dear friends for visiting my blog

I appreciate all your comments and

I really enjoy visiting your blogs too.

Be kind to one another

Shane xox

WOO-HOO!! Karla's Tag Book arrives....

I was so excited the day

I found this exciting parcel

in our letter box!

I couldn't show you the envelope
it arrived in -
I tore it to shreds
trying to get inside as
quickly as I could!!

The tags were thoughtfully wrapped

in a book page from

a 1907 publication titled

"What I have done with Birds"

by

Gene Stratton-Porter

how clever is that!!

Karla's tag just

took my breath away

(and she made 150 of these tags)

just look at this detail

a sweet little bluebird

singing in her cage

Suzanne's tag is exquisite

I love "pretty" so I'm a

huge fan of hers.

http://suzanneduda.typepad.com/

    Hope's tag

and the reverse side is

just as pretty

http://vintage-whimsy.blogspot.com/

Lilla's adorable tag.

I was so happy when I

found Lilla's tag

in the bunch!

Most of you probably know

I'm a huge fan of hers

(and we're friends too -

she's a fellow Kiwi after all)!

Lilla creates magic in her studio - 

"the sweetest French-styled art".

She also sells on Etsy

http://justlilla.blogspot.com/

Donna's pretty tag

http://redapplejunction.blogspot.com/

I wish I knew who made this sweet tag.

Sadly, I can't read the name

This is the reverse side.

In the top left corner
there is a signature.

Please click on this image

to get a better view as

I'm hoping someone

may recognise the signature.

I would love to know who made it!

This pretty yellow chested birdie

is from Kat.

You can see more of her work here:

Flickr: KatInCali

Pinterest: Kat Lives

Erica's tag has amazing detail.

The lily in the top left corner

is made of clay,

it is sitting on a piece of old lace.

There is sewing,

more lace and

folded paper -

please do click on the image to

appreciate the finer detail.

http://www.zunky-chic.blogspot.com/

A very special

"Thank You"

to all the ladies

who made the beautiful tags

in my book.

It is sitting on my coffee table

and

everyone ooohs and aaahs over it!

Merci

This was my first swap

and I loved it!!

I'm trying to visit

all the people whose tags

were included in my book.

Thank you sweet Karla

for all the effort you put into this.

150 swappers - phew!!

That means you handled

over 1000 tags,

plus made 150 tags

(one for each book).

The logistics are mind-numbing!

Merci mon amie!

http://karlascottage.typepad.com/

Thank you everyone for visiting

my blog

and leaving your lovely comments.

Take care

and

please be kind to one another!

Hugs

Shane x

"ALOUETTE, je te plumerai.......

This is the tag I made for

Karla's

"Birdsong Tag Swap".

Those of you who know me

won't be surprised that

I chose a French theme!!

Karla is an expert at running

tag swaps

and I responded when she

put out the call.

I was quite excited as this

was my first swap.....

The details and rules for the swap

can be found on Karla's blog  here

Please do visit Karla

and if you think you might

like to be part of a swap

in the future

then become a follower

so you don't miss out!!

The reverse side of my tags

had a group of

chirpy little tweeters

I called

"the dawn chorus".

We made 7 tags

which could be all the same

or different.

Being my first swap

I made them all the same!!

Karla made little books

of 7 cards for

each participant.

The combo above included

my tag,

it's in the middle

of the bottom row!

This is Karla's beautiful

tag on the front

of each of our books.

Tomorrow I'll post

the photos of the

gorgeous little

"Bird Song Tag Book"

I received in the post

on Saturday.

Thank you for visiting

my blog

and leaving your lovely comments.

Take care

and

please be kind to one another!

Hugs

Shane x