Tuesday, July 3, 2018

So the plan was ...

NOT to fill the armoire - but look what happened!  It all started out with couple of boxes ... 







It teams up with this bed and chest of drawers 




All of these pieces are for sale at Fairy Meadow Miniatures (available separately or as a set).  Please contact either myself  or Lorraine (@ Fairy Meadow Miniatures) if you think they might be just what you're looking for 😊 

If you think you've seen that 'day in the country' image here before you're absolutely right, I was playing with it as wallpaper in the French apartment bedroom a couple of years ago. I haven't touched that project in a long time, it's in storage as we're still full-time house-sitting. It's just not practical to move everything around with us all the time but I manage to squeeze in a few pieces of furniture and paint and paper, etc. Some of the little things (more to come on those) will eventually go into the Brocante but most of my work is going to Fairy Meadow Miniatures. 

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Safely arrived from France ...

               
   

The delightfully tiny (4 cm) Mrs Hedgehog has just arrived from France, still smiling after her long journey 😊 She's so lovely I'm going to keep her on my work table so that I can enjoy her company, and she can advise me on French style 😉

Her creator is the incredibly talented Veronique Lux. Click here to visit Veronique's Etsy store where there are other whimsical creatures waiting to amuse and delight you.

Saturday, June 23, 2018

Catching up with a few projects

We've been without wifi for a few weeks at our house-sit so have had to rely on a limited amount of mobile data but we moved to a new house a few days ago and have unlimited wifi data again, yay!! Now I can catch-up with sharing some of what I've been up to and also with what you've been doing - I'm looking forward to a blog reading feast 😊

I'd had dreams of making a couple of curtained kitchen dressers for a long time so I really enjoyed working on these. The signs are my own design, I've discovered I quite enjoy playing with graphics. 


The top frills on both dressers aren't sitting quite right, I hadn't noticed until I looked at the photos, they're fixed now but I forgot to take a another photo of them before sending them off to the shop. These two are for sale at Fairy Meadow Miniatures. They're not in the online catalogue yet though so if you're interested in perhaps purchasing one please contact Lorraine  or email me - normabennett@hotmail.com. I want to do something similar for myself some time as well as more to sell but they'll  probably be slightly different so these two are each effectively 'one of a kind'. 

I have some more bits and pieces to share shortly including a pretty armoire that I just couldn't help filling 😃

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Living like a local in Montematre

We had a few days in Paris before SIMP, it was a dream come true to 'live like a local' in a very tiny studio apartment at Rue des Saules, Montematre. Close to Metro Lamark-Caulcaincourt, restaurants, boulangerie, bank etc, and a relatively shortish (but steep!!) walk to Sacre Coeur, it was a great location to explore the area from. We loved being Montematre residents even though it was just for a short time. 


Our tiny apartment in Rue des Saules, Montematre


Inside looking out - the plants in the boxes on the railing were struggling to survive in the summer heat, like we were, but the geraniums seemed not to mind.


  
Rue des Saules, cobblestones look nice but can be tricky underfoot.






Stairs and more stairs ... 


The reward for the climb, the bustling tourist precinct of Le Consulate, Sacre Coeur, etc. Seeing it for the first time was one of those "it's really real!" moments, a solid thing and not just an image seen a million times, always elusively ethereal. Unfortunately we never seemed to pass by at meal times, or we'd already eaten before tackling the climb up the hill, so didn't get to try the food. I think we need to remedy that if we make it back to Paris in the summer of 2019. 


I was a little disappointed to see that the St Pierre shop front has been painted, I much prefer the  previous shabby version.


And the jewel in Montmatre's crown, Basilique du Sacre Coeur, which always reminds me of a rather elaborate wedding cake.

If we make it back to Paris I'd love to stay in the tiny apartment at  Rue des Saules again 💖

Friday, March 30, 2018

Springing into action!

It's been a very long time since I've been active in the blog world so with Easter being a time symbolising renewal and regeneration it seems like a good time to get back into it, even though it's autumn here in the southern hemisphere.

But before moving forward let's look back for a bit. My last posts were all about SIMP 2017 which seems like a lifetime ago already! It was a fabulous day, everything I'd hoped for. There was so much talent in one place it was mind-boggling. It was wonderful to at last meet old friends who have supported and inspired me from a distance for many years, and fantastic to make new friends too. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet and talk with everyone I'd hoped to and I didn't take a lot of photos as it was very difficult to get a clear view of tables with lots of people crowding around but I'm delighted to share the treasures I brought home. 


Being first in the queue (with dear Rosanna Rollo who indulged my desire to be EARLY with hardly a complaint 😉) paid off as I was able to choose from several beautiful tiny dolls by Lea Frisoni, the pretty flowers a sweet bonus, thank you Lea!!


Thank you too dear Rosanna for arriving so early to accompany me to the show, for your friendship over the years, and especially for this gorgeous tea cosy. Getting to hang out with you really made my day!!


I've long admired the pretty shoes and handbags by Patrizia Santi so I was so pleased to find these for the French apartment bedroom. 


I was excited to meet Genevieve after many years of online friendship and so surprised by her perfectly gorgeous gift. Thank you Genevieve!!


The whimsical toys of  Veronique Lux are charming beyond words and were high on my 'must buy' list for SIMP, I'm delighted I was able to bring this cheeky little rabbit home with me 💗


I've been hankering after a little bear for a nursery scene for quite a while, this sweet little one is just so cute. Unfortunately there were no cards on the table I bought it from and no maker's information on the box (which I expected or I would have enquired at the time) which is a little sad but she's been adopted into a loving mini family at least. Does anyone recognise the maker's style?


Dear Luce Fediere brought the potatoes dauphinois and super little utensils a long way on the train for me, thanks Luce, I love them! One of these days I'll get around to making the French cottage kitchen to put them in ðŸ˜‰


I just couldn't resist such classic ceramics by Elisabeth Causeret (no website).


I could have happily run off with many more pieces for my Brocante from Roberta Solari but managed somehow to show some restraint. A delight to meet you Roberta, I hope to see you again!


My brain was pretty much overwhelmed by the time it came to choosing little detail pieces by Laurent Seigle-Dias so I guess I'll be pestering him in the future to mail me some more becaue he had lot of interesting bits and pieces. If you're not familiar with Laurent's work check out his website  http://miroudjim.wixsite.com/laurent-seigle-dias 


Last but not least (and certainly not cheapest!!!) is this classic globe by Vonas Miniatures (Gert and Ans Vogels). It's a real work of art, I hope I can produce a setting worthy of it. 

When I went to SIMP last year we thought it was going to be the last ever but it's been taken over by new people and although there's a change of venue it'll be on again this June. I can't make it this year but I'm really hoping that I might in 2019. You can check out the SIMP website here for date, venue, exhibitors, etc for 2018.