Gift Giving to Friends Near by and Far away

Things have been fairly busy here lately - tied up with

gardening, bottling, preserving and lots of personal stuff in my life

but 

at the same time I've spent snipets of time closeted away

in my studio creating a number of gifts to send

to some friends for Birthdays and Thankyous

such as this one  

which went off to my dear friend Liz in the U.K.

In the parcel went a vintage heart along with

 this little keepsake clutch purse.

 I used some of this vintage brocade fabric

and created a flower from a vintage doily using

one of Julia's hand crocheted flowers 

for the centre.

Another Birthday gift to Rosemary

a special friend of many many years.

A collaged broche

embellished with this dear little Kookaburra!

A thankyou gift for Cindy below

 (cindy adkins whimsical musings)

Cindy is such a wonderful heartfelt friend

who created some angel wing earings for my dear friend, Andrea,

to wear during her cancer journey last year.

That truly was an act of love so appreciated by me!

Finally, another little "Thankyou" gift to Glenda

here

for the beautiful laces she gifted me with recently.

I feel very blessed to have friends such as

these in my life!!!

I'm linking these last two gifts to 

Grey Dey Thursdey with Michelle at

Petite Michelle Louise's party.

So pop over and have a look at some amazing

grey gifts, makeovers and inspiration board.

I'm hoping to be a more faithful blogger again by coming

over to visit you all very soon!

I too have recently had a birthday and would like to

share some gifts I have received too!

Hope your grey skies are turning blue!

Big hugs, Suzy xox

Hearts in Greys

Hello friends! - I recently had the pleasure of receiving

this most beautiful package from dear Julia

from Vintage with Laces

which I thought I would share.

The package contained these beautiful items, all wrapped
and tagged so beautifully which contained this
lovely heart created from broderie anglais
dyed laces.

This dear little heart shaped box contained
some vintage lace which Julia
encased in these sweet little
soldered pendants -
aren't they amazing?

The heart shows the subtle shades
of grey which Julia achieved by diluting different
dilutions of black dye

and labelled with an "S" on this little tag.

Also in the parcel was this little draw string dyed bag
with a French collaged label containing
a number of these crocheted flowers

which Julia made herself!

This sweet French themed collage also included
some of her grey dyed fabric and laces!

I thought the effect looked so beautiful
in all the co-ordinating shades of greys!

Thank you so much dear friend - I love each and every piece
which you so beautifully and thoughtfully created for me!
Merci!!!

The inspiration from this heart spurred me on to create

another heart in some similar and co-ordinating shades

of greys, rust and browns

and it was the perfect opportunity to incorporate

one of Julia's crocheted flowers on the

pocket I fashioned from scrim

containing a little cabinet card.

I too had already created a stash of grey dyed

vintage laces, doilies and scrim

which I incorporated into this rustic heart.

Even these press studs I purchased at a market along

with some buttons came pre-rusted naturally!

I'm joining Michelle at
Grey Dey Thursdey
(Petite Michelle Louise's blog)
with these so why don't you join me over there
to see more images in greys!

The weekend is almost upon us again here in Australia
so hoping your grey days everywhere are 
starting to turn blue!!

Love and hugs, Suzy xox

Fabric Bird Journal Wrap

I mentioned in my last post

that I would share images of the Fabric Bird Journal Wrap.

I was so inspired by some ideas I picked up from

both Lilla and Nellie

that I thought I would do my take on one of these wraps

and, at the same time, attempt to show you

how I created this.

I love working with nature themes so this Australian Honeyeater

graces the cover perched on a branch.

This shows the inside of the wrap with a pocket on the 

inside cover with placement for a pen next to it.

This is what the front and back look like before

it becomes folded into three.

The first set of pages are for keeping notes -

this gets attached to the first fold

This page sits nicely in the centre fold next

to the pen pocket and the next two images show

the front and back wrap for the

water colour art paper pages

which I have sewn together then into the last fold.

The completed inner wrap above and below

you can see the wrap with the front cover

sitting over the centre fold displaying

the second water colour page book.

The image above shows how the end of the cover looks 

when folded in and lastly is the back of the wrap

when it is all folded in.

So there you have it basically. I did decide at the end

to add a piece of vintage sari ribbon to tie it all together.
This Journal Wrap has a multitude of uses including journalling,
sketching, painting, scrapbooking, doodling, cookbook etc. 

The way you create one of these is entirely up to your own choice!
My book is just one choice I can share here with you.

So if you want to start making one just begin by pulling out from

your stash a selection of some favourite fabrics, velvets,

silks, doilies, ribbons, buttons spreading them out along with some

notepaper and art paper after chosing a theme (or not)

and have a go because that's all I did!

I think Lilla may have a You Tube video where she

explains her way of creating one of these.

Click on the link at the beginning to take you there.
Also Nellie of Early Morning Thoughts
teaches a type of wrap at Creative Workshops.  So
you can check this one out also.

Thank you all for coming to visit and leaving such

wonderful comments!

Hope your week is going well!

Love, Suzy

The Winner of my Grow Your Blog Party GIVEAWAY

The time has come to announce the winner

of my GIVEAWAY for the

Grow Your Blog Party,

organized by our dear Vicki Boster of

2Bags Full Blog.

By all accounts it has been a huge success with over 600 blogs

entering.  The list of entrants is still up on Vicki's blog and will

be there for the whole year if you would love to
go and visit some.

The lucky number is 52 and that is
Wendy of Apple and Apricot
I had to laugh because Wendy was so keen to win the collage

that she had each member of her family crossing their fingers 
and toes!  Perhaps that is why it worked!

Congratulations dear Wendy I am so happy that this
collage brooch will be winging its way
to Holland but I will need you to
send me all of your details!

None of this would have been possible without the
dedication of hours put in by Vicki -
she certainly is an amazing person in so many ways
as well as a number of volunteers who assisted her in
visiting the huge number of blogs!!!!

Now I honestly think it is time for Vicki to have a well earned rest
because she has put her own personal life on hold while
involving and organising such an amazing event!

I too have visited many many new blogs and found some
amazing artists out there in blogland 
and
am gathering much new inspiration for my ever evolving
artwork!
I would like to thank all of you who left me such kind comments too!
and decided to follow my blog -
just "Thank You"♥♥♥

I can see how blogging has changed the lives of so many people
in such a positive way for all those that came to the party!

♥♥♥

Very shortly I will share with you a new project which I have
recently completed - a Bird wrap

speaking of which came these feathered parrots
to drink from our fountain this morning!

They are Australian Rainbow Lorikeets with their
distinguished colourings and noteable red beaks.

You can't mistake their arrival - they are so noisy and raucas!

I am sure you will find something beautiful in your 
surrounding world today that will bring you
some little joy!

Love and hugs,
Suzy xox

Thank you once again for your wonderful comments
for they are so appreciated by me!