Giveaway and a lovely swap

Well, I thought I would do a giveaway to celebrate 200 followers...thank you all so much for following and commenting on my blog - it is really motivating and I appreciate it so much.

Since so many of you like the little Greengate plates I have been making, I thought that it would be a nice thing to offer as a giveaway, so here it is. There is a little shabby table, some little books - one is a cookbook, one is called "Shabby Chic" and the third is "Vintage Style" by Cath Kidson. There is a chocolate pot, a cakestand, and six large and six small Greengate plates. I really hope you like this giveaway!

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is be a follower and make a comment on this post. If you feel like copying the picture and linking from your blog, then that would be great. I'll draw the giveaway winner on 19th September.

I was very very lucky this week, because one of my blog-heroes agreed to do a swap with me and look at the lovely, lovely things that arrived. Kim sent a gorgeous cake and some cake slices, some adorable cupcakes, and even a little bowl of icing and a wonderful shabby heart shaped board. I love it all, thank you so much, Kim!!! She is having a party at her blog at the moment and the pictures are to die for!!!

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you so much for stopping by. :-) You are all lovely to come visit and I really appreciate it.

It's (not) all about the kitchen

I seem to post a lot about the kitchen, and I hope you are not getting sick of seeing it. Warning....lots of photos in this post. I decided that today was the day to fill the kitchen cupboards. I made this cupboard quite a while ago, and it has been sitting nearly empty on the kitchen wall ever since, with just a couple of things sitting forlornly on the shelves. So today I had a lovely time filling up the cupboard.

There is quite a mixture of things there....on the top shelf I made the jars of jam by filling real glass jars with resin. I also made the little cookbooks (they are mostly about making cakes, cupcakes and macaroons), and the label for the food can. The blue tumbler is part of a Chrysnbon set - I am a huge fan of these - you may have seen the green pitcher in previous posts. The purple vase, along with the matching milk jug on the bottom shelf are by Sam Dunlap.

Most of the boxes on the middle shelf were made by a fellow miniaturist - I bought them at a show. The lovely little pastel cupcake papers were made by Cindy - aren't they wonderful! The stoneware jug on the far right is by Elizabeth Causeret. I made the spotty plate, and the two on the bottom shelf (more about them later).

Also on the bottom shelf are more books and a little sugar jar with a cute polkadot lid which started life as a scrapbooking brad.

I had two lovely things arrive at my house this week. My lovely friend, Dorothee left a little parcel by my front door, and inside was this beautiful flower arrangement. What a lovely surprise at the end of a long day!

And then I opened a parcel from Lory and look what was inside. These cupcakes are so beautiful! I absolutely love them and I think I must be her biggest fan.

I was really pleased this week because I have finally found some really nice, delicate porcelain plates to use as blanks for my Green Gate plates. I had a lovely time today making plates, and then of course I had to re-do the other kitchen shelves because I had different plates I wanted to display. So here is the new display - I really like the spotty plates and now I can do big and small plates so that is great. The only problem is that I really can't fit any more plates in the house.

Here is a photo of one side of the kitchen. Can you spot the thing I forgot to do??

But while we are trying to find more places to put plates, here is something I found that I was really pleased about. The little glass cakestand that arrived the other day, which was too jolly small for anything in 1/12 scale except the tiniest cupcake, fit perfectly over one of my small plates, and look what is displayed inside...one of the pretty butterflies that WAS going to be in the little boys room. This one has been stolen away and moved to the bedroom.

I really should stop faffing around with plates and make some curtains.

Thank you so much for reading my blog....I enjoy your comments. And keep watching because, to my amazement, the 200 followers is approaching and I think I will do another little giveaway. I hope you all have a wondeful week.

Polka dot chocolate pot

I thought I would show you what I have been working on today. I had a little chocolate pot that I have been meaning to play around with for some time and today I decided I would decorate it, so here it is with green polka dots and floral designs. It has been on a little trip around the cottage, trying to decide where it would best like to sit....

....would it like to be on the kitchen bench? No, it feels too big here and doesn't know what to say to the sundae glasses.

....would it like to be in the living room beside the bookcase? Well, no. That is just a silly place for a chocolate pot. But there's plenty to read!

....would it like to sit on the shelf by the door? Well maybe... .....but what are the other options??

....would it like to sit up high with a good view of the kitchen? Yes, for now that will do.

Yes, the only thing I have made is the chocolate pot, so I needed to take lots of photos of it!

I am happy because my knee is feeling less sore and today I took my little dog for a walk myself for the first time since I hurt my knee a month ago. It was raining but I didn't care. I was a bit slow but I didn't care.

It was so nice to be outside and I am so happy that it is a bit better.

Butterflies and some French Country treasures.

I have been very busy catching up with commissions lately, so I STILL haven't made any furniture for the shabby cottage, but I thought I would show you how the little boy's room is progressing. I have decided that he is going to be a little nature lover. He has a rock collection (just like my own little boy) and he goes out hunting butterflies. So here are some of the treasures in his room. He has a beautiful butterfly poster on his wall, and his butterfly net and jar are on the floor - he has five beautiful butterflies in the jar (made by Susanna).

One of the butterflies has escaped - you can see it sitting on the top of the jar - I hope he carefully recaptures it in time to return it and the others safely outdoors! As you can see, I spent way too much time on Etsy about a month ago!! The marbles, which are tiny and perfect and made of real glass, were another Etsy find.

I thougth I would also show you some gorgeous little treasures that arrived a little while ago. The originals, made by Lory, were lost in the mail and are sadly somewhere out there, still lost. :-(

Lory made me some replacements - aren't they just so pretty! She is one talented and generous lady. I have some of her cupcakes on a pretty stand in a corner of the kitchen. The little keys hanging on the nail on the shabby blackboard were a wondeful ebay find.

Well, this has seemed more like a guided tour of Etsy than a proper post, but I knew I would have to own up sometime to all this shopping. I don't have any time (or money) for shopping now, so it is back to making things. That is just so much fun, and so satisfying. I had a nice time the other night, adding some cute little coat hooks and a pretty scarf to the display shutter in the bedroom - here is a photo of the bedroom, still minus curtains, but looking pretty.

I''m sorry that I haven't had time for making many comments lately, but I am really enjoying reading your inspiring blogs!