Fabric and crochet flowers

Hello dears, I promised to share more of the swap I sent to Odetta. I already shared:
* The swap Odetta made for me
* The card I sent her
* The little fabric book I made
* My lace heart with fabric flower
* And a little gift bag I made and filled with some goodies

So here are a few more things I made for her.

I crocheted a few different flowers.

And one crocheted flower I used on a fabric flower I made.

And everything I wrapped in little packages.

FREEBIES

I also sent her some printed vintage images and a couple of antique French cards.

You can find the scanned French cards HERE for your own use as a freebie.

~

Thank you so much Odetta for asking me to swap with you! It was so much fun and you have sent me so many gorgeous creations and goodies!

Thank you all for visiting and wishing you a beautiful day!


Hugs xx
Wen

Clutches, work in progress, flowers and a freebie

On my worktable are two of my (many) UFO's which are patiently waiting to be finished. I just can't work on one project, I have too many ideas that come at the same time. I don't have time to finish them, lol.

The first project is the fabric and lace book that I have posted photos of before HERE and HERE. I'm busy with the spine at the moment. Then I'm going to finish the front and back and then the last embellishments on the pages. I think.

Next is a fabric and lace heart that I'm making.

(Update: you can see the finished heart HERE.)

I will add a beautiful vintage tassel. It will hang from the bottom of the heart.

And then there are so many other UFO projects... Plus things I really ought to be doing :)

Another UFO is finally finished though!

Ages ago I started with this little clutchy like thingie below:

I didn't know what to do with it, so it ended up sleeping in the UFO box. After stitching it I tea dyed the little clutch which gave it a more aged look. Then I had fun making another one, which luckily didn't end up in the UFO box.

Some funny white fabric I bought and never used ended up being a flower.

For the base I used an old crocheted rectangle thingie. For embellishing I used old lace appliques and a piece of a doily, some vintage buttons and another of the beautiful tassels that came from the wonderful shop

La Croix Rosion from Liz

Make sure to check out her shop, she buys the most wonderful vintage pieces all the way from beautiful France where she has a cottage. I have a whole string of these tassels, so they'll pop up once in a while I'm sure.

I think the clutches are cute and I declare them finished.

Me was thinking that my blog lacks flowers lately. And I don't mean the fabric ones here. So here are some bright sunny flowers.

It's also been a while since I last posted a freebie.

So here you go, a freebie image taken from one of my antique French postcards. A sweet little girl with a basket of fresh flowers.

Wishing you a beautiful sunny day and many joyful moments!

xx Wen

Mail received, a sneak peek and a freebie

A while ago I purchased a gorgeous lace heart from Suzy of

suziqusthreadworks

Suzy is one of my favourite artists and her work always inspires me.

She has a great eye for colour combinations, beautiful images and gorgeous details.

Along with the heart I bought this gorgeous card.

On the card she added some of her own goats hair, which she dyed herself.

(Only the hair, not the goat ;)

The sweet and generous Suzy added some beautiful things to the package

which I can use for my own work.

Another package arrived.

It came from another generous soul.

Ariadne from Greece

After seeing my beachy works, she sent me these beautiful beach finds.

Sea glass, pottery, stones, all beautifully worn by the waves.

Thank you dear friends, you're so generous and such inspirational artists!

Big hugs to you!

And here's another sneak peek of my other blog

Love A Rustic Life

And last but not least a freebie for you.

One of the antique French postcards I bought last year.

Free for you to use in your own projects.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!

xx Wen

Gifts, a freebie, and a little hello from the sickbed

Some of the things I sent to my sweet blog friend Ira some while ago.

Along with the fabric collage,

the little gifts

and the wall hanging card

I showed you earlier.

A little vellum gift bag (first photo), stuffed with goodies.

A little notebook for things to remember

or happy creative ideas may be.

A tiny gift tag to adorn the gift wrapping.

A small gift box filled with more goodies.

The goodies I already showed you in an earlier post.
Along with the vellum bag this time.

By the way, I edited these photos in picmonkey,

using "cinema" (without the box)

and "dark edges".

Also added some brightness.

A very fun online free editing program!

Of course I can't help but share one of the photos I used.

I love this photo with the lady on the street.

Not edited by me this time.

Free for you to use in your personal creations.

Well, this is it for today.

Back to bed, because I still have a most nasty flu.

Thank you so much for your well wishes!

I will visit you all as soon as I'm fully recovered!

xx Wen

A freebie vintage photo and a little book in the making

 A quick hello from behind my worktable.

My table is filled with beautiful fabrics and laces, paint, threads, book papers

and a little flower from our garden.

We still have some flowers left because of the mild autumn weather.

I'm pressing some of them for use in my work later on.

Which I intended to do this spring and summer

but I haven't done so!

At the moment I'm busy with the pages of a little book in the making.

I paint some of the laces and fabrics and there's also a bit of painting inside the book.

There are also some vintage photos inside, which I edited in photoshop.

Like the one below.
Which is NOT a freebie by the way.
(Hence the name of my blog included in the picture.)
May be it will become one later on, but I wish to use the image myself first.
Thank you!

UPDATE: you can find this and two other freebie photos HERE.
Make sure to scroll down to the bottom of that blog post to get to the freebies!

(But there is another freebie below too, so make sure to read on.)

I will use some of the beautiful blue roses fabric that you see in the photos.

Anyway, you'll see when it's finished.

But that might take a while, because good news is

that out of the blue a sweet lady asked me to make a custom book for her.

(Being not this one by the way.)

Which means she's my very first customer!

I'm thrilled and honoured!

***


FREEBIE


Okay, on to the freebie then!

I'd like to share with you another one of the French antique postcards.

The girl you saw in my previous post.

Isn't she a pretty girl?

Free for you to use in your arts and crafts.

Right-click to open in new window so the photo will be enlarged.

***

Last but not least

a shout out for Marie of

Lost Bird Studio

who's celebrating her 5th blogoversary

with gorgeous giveaways.

Be sure to check out her beautiful and inspiring blog

if you didn't already.

***

So in the end it wasn't a quick hello after all.

I am a rather silent introvert person most of the time.
Well, in real life anyway.
But when I do open my mouth, beware!
Seek refuge!

You'll have to forgive me on that.

Wishing you a happy day!

xx Wen

L'amour d'une Maman - the making of a fabric mixed media collage

Some days ago I promised you a making of or DIY or tutorial if you like
of my collage L'amour d'une Maman.

I know some of you really don't need a tutorial like this

because you're masters in making collages yourself.

But I thought it would be nice to share with you how I did it because we all have our own ways.

And I warmly welcome every tip and trick you can share with me!

So here we go...

Another of my wall hanging cards + freebie

One day I stumbled upon an old photo, a so called tintype,

of a beautiful young girl with gorgeous dark curly hair.

One of the most stunning tintypes I ever saw.

For my sweet blog friend Ira I made another of my wall hanging cards.

(Among other things which I will show you later, by and by.)

I found the original tintype on pinterest.
(With credits to Crafty Dogma.)

It was quite dark. I altered it in photoshop so it could be printed and used in arts and crafts.

And I love to share it with you

so you can also use it if you wish in your own work.

Wishing you a beautiful week!

xx Wen

Ps: I'm still busy with the "making of" that I promised in my previous post.

It will be online this coming week. UPDATE: you can find it HERE.

Sneaky preview and more antique French freebies

Autumn chills and rains have me spending more time indoors.

Which means more happy hours at my desk.

Surrounded by (and covered in) glue and threads,

torn paper pieces and fabric leftovers

I decided it was time again for some presents

from me to you.

Next week (if all goes well) I will share with you a "making of" or a how to or tutorial if you like, of a mixed media canvas wall hanging with fabrics. Above you see two sneaky previews.

Although I do love the sunny days of summer,
I must say I prefer autumn above all.
The decay of flowers and leaves,
the chilly and fresh air.

***

FREEBIES

But here are two presents you don't have to wait for. The back of one of the antique French postcards that I purchased some months ago. The original and a graphic version of it.

Free for you to use in your own arts and crafts.

***

Wishing you a peaceful day.

xx Wen

And oh yes, I'm re-doing the look of my blog again.

That's me, ever changing.

Hope you'll get used to it, lol.