fete et fleur: July 2008

Something to Dream About . . .

My mind lately has been wandering many paths. One fun path has been a decorating turn that has surprised me. Recently, I found a new blog called My Marrakesh. This blog is one American woman’s adventures in Morocco. As I read through Maryam’s blog and drooled over her amazing photos, I began to fall in love with all things Moroccan. All of the sudden, I found myself longing for sequined covered blankets, silver trays, hot colors and beaded Moroccan shoes. The best I could manage were the photos below, inspired by Moroccan style.

Enjoy!

I wanted to let you all know I will be posting some more shoes at the end of next week, Friday! Until then . . .

A Sweet Giveaway Gift

Giveaway Gift from Kate Tracton

These lovely earrings are from Kate Tracton of Shiborigirl. Thank you Kate. I love them!! You can see more of her marvelous bead work jewelry here.

Interested in gorgeous hand made clothing?

Kate also creates beautiful clothing from her own dyed fabrics. She uses an ancient Japanese resist dye method called Shibori. You can see her beautiful textile work here.

Have a Wonderful Day!

Doll Shoes!

This is what I've been up to...

Beatrice

Coquette

Violette

Vanille

TAGS

I'm still finishing these tags for the shoes.

I'm working on several heeled pairs for next week.

I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Eye Candy!

I’m happy to say we discovered the problem with my email and I am once again receiving comments in my email box.

I wanted to leave you with some eye candy for the weekend.

I think some of you might have read my husband's post here. It’s about how I love antique frames.

I thought I would share a few of my favorite frames.

Enjoy!

The frame that captured my eye.

Pretty ivory gesso frame on the mirror in my front room.

This antique French frame was an amazing find. It was one of those lucky days. The seller sold it to me for a song because of the damage. Hint: Never pass up a frame like this because of damage, often times a dealer will lower the price because of it.

I took the two frames above and combined them. I placed the smaller on the larger and then added the print below.

Here are the frames together with the print. I love this layered look. I have this displayed on a table. I never would have thought of displaying frames laying down, but I think this works well.

Wishing you all a beautiful weekend.

Nancy

Gifts

She smiled and said, “I believe some things are meant to belong to certain people.”

Then she handed me this . . .

Thank you dear friend! I will treasure it forever.

From Ullabenulla

Because You Asked

I had several of you ask how I display my millinery. Everything in my house is constantly moving so nothing is ever in a permanent resting place. I've mentioned before that our home is quite small and storage is at a premium. What we’ve had to do is buy cabinets for everything from towels and linens to our formal china. That is how I display most of my things.

Ten years ago, I walked into an antique store and saw the loveliest little apothecary cabinet from France. It was sold already, but I had fallen in love with it. I kept going back to the store after that, to gaze at it (until it was taken), but after three months it was still there. I plucked up enough courage to ask the store manager if it really was sold. Well . . . after calling the owner we found out it wasn’t! I bought it for a song right there and then. It has held everything from fairies to china.

The picture below shows the cabinet holding some of my millinery and the next photo shows what it is currently holding (some of my old linens). I took these photos a long time ago and they are not full shots of the cabinet, but if you look closely in some of my photos throughout the blog you will see it pictured here and there filled with various things.

A pretty Venetian glass inkwell sits on top of the cabinet.

Antique beaded French flowers sparkle in this glass case.

Velvet strawberries hang from the key.

I recently put this display together. I have absolutely nowhere to put my art supplies so I’m beginning to scatter them around the house like art. This display is made up of a vintage earring holder. I took bakery twine and tied my old vintage fruit to it and then covered it with a glass dome. I use the domes to keep my supplies dust free.

Here is something I just finished. This piece is actually recycled art stuff that was too wonderful to just leave in pieces. I had a bunch of twisted wire scraps and pretty crystal beads along with beach shells. I put them altogether and made this crown for a Little Mermaid. It actually is about 3 inches in diameter. It looks at home on this shell.

Some of you have asked about my little paper doll slippers. I promise they will be ready soon. I’ve had so many busy things distracting me from focusing on artwork. I also have a swirl of ideas in my mind for future projects. I’ll post the slippers soon. Thanks for being patient!

Dreaming

I love vintage millinery. There is something about an old crumbling silk rose that makes me begin to dream.

I dream of things like who owned this lovely flower . . . and was it her first dance that she wore it to . . . maybe it was pinned to the waist of her dress . . . or tucked behind her ear, while she sang a song to the man she loved.

To me vintage roses are full of mystery, mysterious past lives that we will never know about.

Except for this one . . .

A beautiful champagne silk rose

This one was my mother’s. She gave it to me years ago and I have treasured it since that day. I live far from my Mom and when I look at this rose it brings me closer to her.

More Vintage Roses