Lacebook for Liz

I very recently sent this parcel off to my friend, Liz,

as a birthday gift.

This shows the attached tag and I wrapped it

 in some layers of crazy patch worked laces.

Now Liz is really keen to start her first fabric journal 

and being a wee bit intimidated as to

where and how to begin 

I decided to make a small lace book

which she could refer to.

I used one of my vintage books with some precious

 old vintage images of women in pen and ink

set in garden scenes.  

 Some beautiful embroidered lace and linen

tablecloths were incorporated here.

 vintage knitted doilies, Suffolk puffs, 

lovely tortoiseshell buttons

and tiny lace motifs

If you look very closely at the left side of these pages

you will see a tiny hand crocheted flutter-by

which I received from Karen of

www.todolwen.blogspot.com

Thank you dear Karen for gifting me with some of

your very own  beautiful hand work which I could share 

here.

A lace pocket here holding another  handkerchief

in it's own little pocket -

that's a pocket within a pocket you might say!

 These pages incorporate some very old

wool embroidered fabric which belonged to the

the parents-in-law of a dear friend of mine, Jan.

- a rusty old bottle top

always just goes with lace.

The back cover is from lovely piece

of recycled pin tucked cotton blouse.

and the tie which wraps around the whole book

is made from some old  worn and torn chair webbing

and sari silk.

You can see the buttons from the blouse here.

The many layers which build up the picture

more rust

and finally the binding!

I do hope this little lace book brings the necessary inspiration

to help you Liz and anyone else feeling inclined

to create one of these.

I do know one of these days I had better put this together

as an exercise in learning for all!

♥♥♥
I am linking up with Doni (thank you Doni!)
at www.faithgracecrafts.blogspot.com
for Pearls and Lace Thursday
and 
Becky at
www.timewashed.com
for Time Washed Wednesdays
Thanks also Becky for this!
♥♥♥

I know many of you are yearning for Spring as

some of us are welcoming Autumn - whatever

is your season let it fill your heart 

with the gratitude of life!

xxx Suzy

Season's Ending

 Some of the fading joys of Summer's ending

 here on our property -

♥♥♥

The last big flush of fragrant roses!

the gutsy goaty girls and boys!

the Black Swamp Wallabies out and about

in the early morning dew!

the dry native grasses,

the Wattyl birds feeding on the grevilleas,

and the black ducks arriving for winter on the pond!

more favourite roses and garden light

reflecting on the sunroom window!

and hearts to remember the Summer gone!

So much joy to remember everyday!

♥♥♥

Thank you everyone for sharing all this with me - your friendship

means a lot!

xxx Suzy

Vignette and Collages

Well seeing that I just received this beautiful cloche

for my recent birthday I decided to

assemble a vignette to 

display in it!

I so loved these amazing soldered charms

created by Marie

that I had to share them with you one more time

in this vignette!

The silver plated spoon in the background

came from my friend Liz.

A silver plated embossed lid is the top of this

button jar and sits next to 

a vintage photo of my mother dressed in the most

beautiful organza gown (just look at those sleeves!!!)

and that slim waist behind that huge bunch

of delicious flowers!

The roses I have dried from my garden.

♥♥♥

 Just wanted to share this parcel which arrived

from the U.K. last week.

It is the beautiful work of Liz

Yes that's Liz from LuLuLizinLaLaLand

(To me - Liz is the Queen of Tag making!!!)

Now how kind is this woman to send me such a lovely

collage and Yes, with those words, as

we really do love to spend time

chatting over the internet

(U.K. is oceans away from Australia!)

along with these other items -

some genuine ceramic frozen charlottes!

She also knows about my love affair with textures, exotic

trims

and roses!!!

Not to mention anything silver plated!!!!

How thoughtful and generous you are dear Liz

I thank you so much for your kindness in choosing and sending me

 these gorgeous gifts

but more importantly for your friendship!

It is simply amazing when your friends know exactly what you love!

She really knows how to keep me busy (haha!)

♥♥♥

This collage was a recent commission for

Carol from www.flightsoffancyboutique.com

Carol offers the most superb range of trims and embellishments,

ribbons, buttons, fabric, handmade paper, vintage laces, etc. for crazy patchworkers, stampers, crafters, scrap bookers etc.

Her range of materials is one of the most exciting

I have seen on the internet!

So go and check out her shop!

This is a very large multi-layered collage

using upholstery fabric, burlap, chiffon,

vintage laces, silks, buttons and baubles

all pieced together around the central theme

of a woman harvesting from a vintage book I own.

The pen and ink drawings are superb!

This is a smaller collage which went to live with Carol also

where I used an image of Maude Fealy 

(quite a favourite of mine!).

She is definitely like a "Summer Rose"!

 To all of you who drop in to say hello -

and leave me wonderful comments

 I just want to say

"A big Thank you" -

I appreciate you so very much!

Suzy xxx

A Couple of Birthday Gifts to Share

 You know that everyday is special

but

a day can feel even more special when friends

want to share your Birthday with them!

by sending and giving me a string of cards

and a few special gifts

like these! 

A dear little altered box filled with all number

of things like

these beautiful soldered pendants

and charms as well as some

beautiful vintage 

photo frames.

These came from dear Marie

at Lost Bird Studio

Marie knows that I am creating a journal of collaged pages

and tags which I have collected from many blogging

friends

and 

Marie has created the beautiful "Friends" bezel

for me to incorporate on the cover.

Thank you so very much Marie for thinking of me!

She is a darling and knows just the images that I love!

♥♥♥

Now we all know that books give us so much inspiraton

  for our creativity so no doubt

I'm going to love these!

♥♥♥

A beautiful cloche sitting on a decorated tin base

- another gift from Maggie

in which I have for the moment placed this most precious

vintage shawl and on top of which is one 

of Marie's pendants.

Now there is a story which came with this from my dear friend,

Rosemary (of some 46 years).

The shawl(which is almost like gossamer!)

belonged to her favourite Auntie (her mother's older sister)

and

it was kept with her lace wedding dress so Ro

assumes it may have been her Auntie's wedding day shawl which

she says is over 80 years old! 

Just how special is that - a true treasure!

I feel so blessed to receive such an amazing piece of the

finest knitting I have ever seen!

♥♥♥

Have you ever seen one of these?

Well it happens to be a "dibbler" - an instrument

which has been turned from some red gum timber

for using in planting seeds -

what more could a garden enthusiast want???

Such a thoughtful gift from Jenny.

A stunning cheese plate with cover so beautifully fashioned

with scrolls and leaves with silver plating

and sitting next to it is this most amazing hand fashioned angel

doll created so incredibly by my very talented doll artist and dear friend, Dorthe

at www.denlillelade.blogspot.com

So please pay these girls a visit and view their creations.

You will not be disappointed I assure you - anything but!

Their work is truly inspirational!!!

and both are so gifted!

And here she sits watching over me looking so elegant now

with her pearls over her cream and beige laces, ribbons

and tuille with the sweetest blue eyes 

and feather like

hair.

My heartfelt gratitude Dorthe - she's just adorable

and so special!

Now, I had to show you this very special gift from my friend,

Jo in New Zealand 

This special gift which she organized will go to a family in 

East Timor to provide them with a Watering can, one of the gardening implements 

which may help them in growing a healthy and stable diet to

avoid the incidence of malnutrition.

This is organized through Oxfam who work with 

Movimento Co-operativo Economico Agricola

to assist the people in East Timor with self sufficiency.

My Birthday Card message to you all is above!

Have a fantastic week full of adventure

and creativity!

Thank you for all of your kind wishes and

comments as well as a warm welcome

to all my new followers!!!

Love, Suzyxxx