Happy Sad Week

Well it's hard to believe that the kids have been here a week already, how time flies and all that. As you can see their car was full to the brim including their two cats, who have settled really well.
We have had a week of highs and lows the high, their arrival, my husbands birthday and then we received the sad news that we had lost Stew who was only 32 years old and had been fighting cancer for 6 years. So bizare to have all these emotions swimming around at the same time.

The kids made papi and me a beautiful card for our birthday's and we have hung it on the door till it's my turn next week.

 Poppy & Stevie mixing up a dough  and Stevie made a monster face and a house,and Poppy made a catpig as she called it, mmh and yes I had a go too, mine is the snake and the basket, popped them in the oven to dry and then they painted them which kept them entertained for a good 30 minutes.

I bought two bubbles wands,  but unbeknown to me it  was going to create a mini war between them, I got two different coloured ones (I thought that made sense)!!  Wrong!!!!  meanwhile the Zebra's escaped to have a well deserved snooze after  being dragged into the bubble war and used as lethal weapons, I think Poppy won.

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Finally time for  little angels  bedtime, now the big ones can relax till morning, this is when we can finally go ahhh  who's getting the drinks in!!!

In Loving Memory

This is a very sad day for our entire family. Stew 32, daddy of two beautiful identical twin girls (my great nieces) Ellie and Maddi age 4 and husband to Becky, finally lost his  five year battle with cancer last night. God bless  you Stew and you will always stay in our hearts.

Giveaway $15 voucher from Krishenka

Today I made my 260th sale and I feel like sharing my happiness. I have been with Etsy for a little over 2 years now, and I love the idea that my creations are now spread around the world.  I  have met some fabulous people  both sellers and buyers and I wanted to say thank you. 


So to celebrate I am going to give one person a $15 gift voucher to spend in my store.

What  you have to do to win this:

Well if you already follow my blog then you are almost there! if not please follow my blog,  (you know how it makes me smile) and then I would like you to guess the weight of this jar of buttons. It's open to anyone, anywhere and you can guess the weight  either in metric or imperial.

I was originally going to ask you to guess  "How many Buttons" are in the jar but decided that I did not want to spend the entire week counting them! wise move on my part.

You can guess as many times as you like :) just add your name and contact details so I can reach you to give you your voucher. The voucher will be valid for 6 months.

This will close on the 18th August. 

Good luck and happy guessing!!!


ps. Would love to see which item you will pick!!!

A Dream "TheFatBoy" Sculpture

I would like you to meet Clive and Steve known as "The Twins" who had a dream, they not only had the dream, they made it come true. Their dream was to make a sculpture of a Fatboy (Harley Davidson) and capture a worldly manifestation of  Human Freedom. It turned out to be twice the size of a real life bike and weighs in at a mere 11016lbs  which is 4.5 metric tons and 5 US tons. Hard to believe that it started out as a 11" model!!
Clive and Steve have known each other for over 20 years and became known as the twins due to their disparate heights, and the film that followed sealed their nickname.  They chose a Harley Davidson being the most recognised  bike in the world.   So here are a few pictures  off

"THEFATBOY"

To read the full story and see the process which in it's self  was complex to say the least, rubber moulding, wax casting, ceramic shell to name a few, and to follow it's trail through America and where it now sits in Milwaukee. http://www.fatboysculpture.com/index.html
They are planning to sell it now and move on to their next project, and I can't wait to see what they come up with  I take my hat of to you both. That was some dream.

I ♥ Your Blog Award!

I am delighted to announce that Jessica from  http://www.etsy.com/shop/ecofriendlyfreckles has awarded me with the "I ♥ Your Blog Award!" Yippee! So, the rules state that I need to post the award on my blog (check!) link back to the person who gave it to me (check! and make sure if you aren't already to follow her blog!) and finally, I need to pick 15 other delightful bloggers and pass the award on to them. When you decide to share the love with your favorite blogs don't forget to follow these rules and add the "I ♥ Your Blog Award!" button to your post.

In addition to "the rules" I have decided to select my favorite bloggers that have a love for nature like I do! Here it goes, in no particular order:


Will be back later when I find my 15  14   13 favourites

 Creative Minds

http://www.bushelandapeck.typepad.com/


http://poetesswug-thewugsbackyardblogspot.blogspot.com/

Ikea and a Charity Run

I have now had the pleasure   pain of going to Ikea almost on a weekly basis over the past few months in order to finish my kitchen. So yesterday I found to my horror I had to go back again but this time I was determined that not only will I finally never have to go to Ikea again for a very, very long time I had to find something else to make the day better. I did!

A quick search on the internet and whoo hoo,  I found that there was a huge Emmaus (a French charity) set in a huge warehouse. I went with my girlfriend and we had a great day. I am not going to even mention  Ikea again as it is now  a distant memory and  I am delighted with my kitchen, thank you Ikea.

This Emmaus was on the outskirts of a village called Labarthe -sur- Leze and very close to you know where! Set in a massive warehouse and we spent a good hour rummagging around. So here are a few pics of what we found. I did of course to my pleasure find some stunning vintage buttons but they all have to be cleaned very carefully before you get to see them :).  I could have bought this adding machine  to tally how many visit's to you know where! but decided my memory would do that for me.

These plates would be perfect for any Greek wedding, and what better place for this loving couple to be!

This lovely little lady was wearing more lace than was for sale in the shop, she wouldn't let me take a photo of her skirt but trust me it had several yards of lace!!!!  Ok that's about it till my next jaunt out.

Looking For a Good Book!

If you are in a book store and can't find the book you are looking for, you're obviously in the.....

sorry could not resist this one!!!!!!

Broomsticks, Medieval Fair, and More, Brassac France

We decided to go out for a tour round the Black Mountains roughly about an hour from where we live in the Tarn and we came across this little village called Brassac where a car boot sale (yard sale) was taking place, make my day!! so just had to have a wander around. Parked  next to this gorgeous pink and white deux cheveau, you got the impression that a marriage had taken place either that or the car was owned by a witch and if the car ran out of diesel she could fly off on her broom stick.

Had to cross this gorgeous 12th century bridge to find the sale but had to quickly nip down and get a photo to let you see it, it was all roughly cobbled and really difficult to walk on and is still as beautiful now as it was all these years ago.

Well Joan of Ark greeted us as we walked into the sale and she really looked like she wanted to be elsewhere, sorry Joan couldn't help you out there. 

 

Well have to say there was not  much today that caught my eye, but did  come across a really nice guy called Michel Jessier a French Canadian who lives and works in a place called Saint Felix Lauagais and makes the most beautiful silver jewellery. He was showing us how this drill which is worked by string to turn it, it's 150 years old and he still uses it today. The necklace is just one example of his beautiful work.

Well I saw this little fella in a medieval costume and it turns out that they were having a festival along with tumblers and dancers and street musicians, great atmosphere and everyone was enjoying themselves, but we left them to it as we needed to eat, and so headed of to another village  further up the road called Lacaune.

On arriving in the village we saw this

beautiful flower bed set out to show the name of the village and that I have to say was the best part of the  entire village. Where Brassac was lively and full of people this place was like a ghost town, needless to say we found a little brasserie and had lunch and then meandered home.

Well I did find a couple of trinkets that I will be playing with over the next few days but you will have to wait and see them when I finally add them to my shop:)