Joyeux anniversaire Luciebelle

How fast time goes, Luciebelle is one today. She has brought so much to our family since she was born, she's been a real blessing. We all love her so much. We had a tiny little party for her with family coming for afternoon tea. A few balloons, a sweet little tutu bought from the $2 Shop (3 of them sewn together and adorned with little roses and one big one), some cute presents, and of course homemade cup cakes. I had never done cupcakes before, they are not very French! But, with some help from the expert (!!), a lot of fun and two hours later, we had two dozens prettily decorated cupcakes. I bought some flowery little plates from my favourite opshops, et voila! A cool little party for Lulu.

Lulu in her pretty party tutu

the cupcakes

the homemade decorations

gorgeous plates

Zoe's much envied (by me) cake tin. Isn't it sooooo cool?

Stella, our little helper

Lulu about to blow her first ever candle, precious

special time with mémée Wendy

let the party begin...

Zoe's collection of fabulous tea towels

We had so much fun at Zoe's again today.
Zoe is my friend who has a million (seriously!) collections in her attic.
When she opens the door to her attic, it's like she is opening the door to Ali Baba's cave and we enter this magical world full of wonders and treasures.
This morning, we discovered Zoe's collection of fabulous tea towels. The pictures below are only showing some of them, there were so many more and so little time to discover them all. Next time...

Zoe displaying her English pride...

Luciebelle liked these ones

I love this one

A Laura Ashley hand printed tea towel

Lulu decided that her own reflection was equally interesting

finally, Lulu's patience was rewarded with some special time with Zoe

Vintage finds

Today, I found a real little treasure... a vintage scrabble, the original type with all the pieces, which are wooden and just beautiful. I'm in love!
Am I so happy about it because I love scrabble? I already own 2 sets (!!). Maybe I should collect scrabble games? Why not?



The picture doesn't do it justice, it's such a foul day outside and I had to take photo under kitchen lights, not great.

Vintage finds

I am relatively new to opshopping and treasure hunting, but have I not made up for it in the last few months!! I wonder what you girls (and boys) out there, who have been thrifting for a long time, do with your finds??
The following pictures show some of my newer treasures. I only caught on a bit late with the 'Flea market finds' game (?!) on Sophie's Her library adventures blog (http://herlibraryadventures.blogspot.com) , so I have decided to show my little finds in one go. Thanks Sophie for such an initiative, it's brilliant!
My favourite, most treasured items, are the shoes (actually found by Zoe). They are wonderful, all my friends are jealous (sorry...) of them, and I feel like a million dollars when I wear them.


kitchen things, surrounding Zoe's gift (the pear!)

THE shoes...

Luciebelle's chest of drawers and mirror (lulu's cot and her name bunting made by Hannah seen in mirror)


I'm in love with those cups, I found them today

my favourite chair

Luciebelle's treasures (found the pram, quilt, necklaces, tin, little knitted rabbit, stripey blue and light pink top and blue cushion today - a good day for Lulu!)

Have a lovely day xxx

les joies de la nature

one tree,
plenty of fun for the family,
climbing, swinging,
eating under it,
picking up leaves and walnuts,
cracking walnuts and,
of course, eating them. Yum!!

vintage children's book and little treasures

Another lovely book
and some little treasures

beautiful things

I had been surrounded by boys for so long
that I had nearly forgotten what it is like to be a women, and a girl
Luciebelle's arrival and my dearest friends
are showing me the way to a life full
of 'prettiness' and joy
thank you so much
(by the way, the lovely things in these pictures,
except for Luciebelle (!!) are Zoe's)

Gorgeous books

the boy who cried wolf

I love this story and I found this copy of the book in a little opshop.
The pictures are wonderful.
Love it!

More peggy squares

Yes, I'm nearly there, twenty more peggy squares to crochet and my boys will have a blanket each for those cold days when they are reading on the sofa, or occasionally watching tv.
I love those squares so much that I would love to share how to make them, but I am wondering whether anyone would be interested in looking at my blog for a tutorial when there are so many tutorials already out there??
I will be back with more pictures when the blankets are finished. I am hoping to have them done by the end of next week. That would be a good goal that would keep me away from spending too much time (and money) in opshops...