Summer holidays in New Zealand

During my blogging break I spent several weeks at our cottage in New Zealand

(click on the pics for a larger view)

doing this 

on walls

and furniture

When we visit again this chest of drawers needs a lot more attention, it was a case of 'slip, slop, slap' this time to make a quick improvement so that it's okay enough to be used.  (During our absence a young couple with be house-sitting.)

But it wasn't all work and no play.

A fun highlight was a visit to Akaroa,
a French settlement about 2 hours drive from Christchurch.

The main reason for taking the trip to Akaroa was to visit a 

French shop that my sister had told me I'd love 

La Folie Jolie

Alas to my great disappointment it was closed!!

I couldn't believe it.

The only day it's closed is Tuesday, the day we chose to visit.

Next time I'm going somewhere special I'll be sure to check their opening hours first!

(You can visit La Folie Jolie online here.)

As always the end of our holiday came all to soon.

Flying over Farewell Spit (Tuhuroa), a narrow sand spit at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand, en route to Auckland to catch our flight back to Sydney.

Giveaway Winner Announced

My thanks to everyone who entered, and for your lovely comments,

and a huge welcome to all new followers.

My grandson made the draw this morning... 

Congratulations  Patrizia 

Paris in the Springtime is yours... 

When we were making the draw we didn't notice that when we shook up all the paper pieces inside the hat that Diane's name had become caught up in the plastic strap.  Unfortunately that meant that Diane had no chance to win so I want to offer her a small consolation prize (as yet unknown!).  Diane, please email me your address!

I have only recently returned to Sydney from a long holiday in New Zealand  where I had a great time visiting friends and family and working on our 'real human size' cottage.  During this time I had only occasional, brief, access to the internet so I haven't been visiting your blogs and feel that I am quite out of touch with what's been going on.  Hopefully I can catch up a bit over the next couple of weeks.  

I love Paris in the Spring-time - GIVEAWAY - NOW CLOSED

Let's celebrate New Year with a giveaway!  

This little 'I love Paris in the Spring-time' 1:12 vignette in a Paris themed book-box could be yours!

Rules of participation are simple

1  Be a Follower of this blog and  

2  Leave a comment on this post before 7 February 2012.

If you would like to mention this giveaway on your blog that is appreciated but not required.  

Season's greetings!!

Thanks for all your inspiration and friendship in 2012!

Let's do it again next year!!

Card image source http://astridsartisticefforts.blogspot.com.au/p/my-freebies.html (text added in Picmonkey)

Not sure if I can resist the temptation...

I should be working on the dining room or the salon I suppose but I've been collecting inspiration pictures for another project and my fingers are itching ...

JeanJacques Brisson - Paris Rooftops

This amazing project by Jean Jacques Brisson is all over Pinterest so some of you will have seen it before.  It's definitely high on my list of the most intriguing miniature projects I've seen and I'm sure lots of you will love it too so I thought I'd share it as not all of you use Pinterest (and therefore have many more hours in a day to do 'useful' things!). 

Click here to see the source page which has a couple of other (very different) creations of his. That page is dated Feb 2010 but I don't know when this was made. Unfortunately  Brisson's website (www.rectoversminiatures.com) seems to have disappeared from cyberspace.  The URL appears in Google cache but the links don't work.  

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Thanks Nathalie for the information that a video of M. Brisson can be found here

UPDATE

I found his new website!!

click here 

'Fabulously Small'

I stumbled upon Monique's blog Fabulously Small today - if you haven't seen it yet be sure to take a look.

Amongst other things, I love what she's been doing with old clock faces and watch parts, this creation is one of my favourites from a post dated 26 July 2012.

As an added bonus she's having a giveaway to celebrate 100 Followers, so be sure to visit before the deadline of 17 December.

Images are by Monique and sourced from her blog. 

Hallway and stairs - done!

No further progress to report on the bathroom for the moment - I've turned my attention back to the hallway, kitchen, dining and salon which are located above the ground floor Brocante. 

The wallpaper is a single sheet with lines scored to create the look of wallpaper strips typical of old papered walls.  The fake 'edges' have also been lightly stained with tea to create a more aged look as this wall is 'subject to damp'.   In old houses the edges of the wallpaper strips often yellow with age, especially if they become damp from time to time.  Tea was also used to create the staining intended to mimic more serious water damage. 

Stairs in

Balustrade added 

Stairwell wall in place, completing the hallway

There are obviously major issues with cracked plaster on the exterior of the back wall of this house, particularly the left corner - over the years the constant damp has caused the plaster covering to fall off exposing the lath underneath. Emily is going to need to sell a lot of goods in her Brocante if she has any hope of affording repairs! 

The stairs were made using instructions in Lea's book*  Le Grande Livre de la Maison Miniature. They're not the best piece of work I've ever done but most of the staircase will be invisible once the walls go in, and it was good practice.

I have to make a small diversion from this project now, I'm participating in Caterina's International Christmas Swap and I have to complete my swap gift for Terry and get it in the post, it's got a long journey ahead all the way from Australia to Italy!

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PS - Lea's book* is written in French.  However, the illustrations are very clear so it's possible to follow the instructions even if you don't read French.  Occasionally I do type a sentence or two into Google translate just to check on something I might be unsure about - however sometimes the translation is very amusing and not much help at all! ;)

Crazy, busy months are nearly over...

Sorry - I didn't mean to be away so long!! 

Everything just got crazy including an unexpected house move followed by a few internet issues so I haven't even been visiting everyone much at all, let alone doing anything for myself.  However tomorrow is the last day of classes for the year so once I get my assignment finished I can get into my new workshop area (which presently resembles a bomb site!), unpack boxes and hopefully get some mini-action going.  So thanks for your patience, and your kind enquiries as to my health and so on,  I hope to be back soon!!

PS -  not only is it my last class for the year,  it's my final undergraduate class!!  I thought the day would never come - it's been a long haul!

Special swap gifts from Jennifer at Plushpussycat

How gorgeous is this corset  ...

... and these pretty antiqued Czech glass bead perfume bottles?!

They are the handiwork of Jennifer at Plushpussycat.

(The photos are also by Jennifer, the setting is her Lover's Cottage.)

Thank you Jennifer, they are so lovely and will suit Emily's French bedroom perfectly.