Ben watching The Tartan Parade

Ben is sending lots of love and a picnic to share with Sadie

because Aunt Sarah @ Hyacinths For The Soul

 is hosting The Tartan Parade!

We're also visiting with the Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays,

after all it's not every day a chap gets to wear plaid!

And..........

since the letter T is centre stage at Mrs Matlock's Aphabe-Thursday this week

we're joining the party there too.

Scrap booking

With Diane & Susan- Graceland 2005

For Alphabe-Thursday this week over at Mrs Matlock's blog off on my tangent 

I'm sharing some of my recent scrap book creations.

Nick & Mr Ben June 2011

Tea for one in the garden

Susan & Me - Paris 2011

The SP jumping for joy in HHI.

Thanks to UKScrappers my scrap booking mojo is back!

the 5 most important things needed for our trip to Italy, next month

Easter Calico Rag Wreath

Whilst visiting blogs recently I came across Gina @ Random Thoughts, who was one of the hostesses of the Spring'taculer Craft Link Party Parade.
I just fell in love with her Easter Burlap Rag Wreath. Click on the link to see how pretty is it.
The tutorial was very easy to follow and so I decided to make one myself.
Not having any burlap to hand, I improvised with a length of creamy white calico left over from my bunny rabbit crafting days.

Ripping the calico gave my wreath the country homespun look that I was after. Thanks go to my friend Sue @ ISewQuilts for that tip.
In place of the pink pail and Easter flowers that Gina used, I hung a decorated egg bought many years ago at a craft fair in Bavaria and still one of my favorite items of Easter decor after all this time.

What do you think? C'est jolie n'est pas?

Pink Saturday - Scrap booking: Tags.

This iconic phrase has been my motto once again this week whilst I recuperated from quite a bad fall last weekend.
Don't ever try and separate two squabbling dogs whilst carrying two mugs of tea, otherwise you could end up falling flat on your face, as I did early on Saturday morning.
My knees took the brunt of the fall and I still have terrific bruises, black, blue & yellow, from my knees down to my ankles.
I was very lucky not to break anything.
My friend Gaynor broke her collar bone a few years ago, whilst performing almost the same trick, minus the dogs.
To help pass the time I have been busy crafting.
My new obsession? Tags!
The tags below were the first ones I made and I gave them away to friends, coincidentally I gave the pink one to Gaynor.

A few weeks ago I joined a fantastic online scrap booking site UK Scrappers and last week signed up for a Tag Swap.
The photo below is of the three tags I made for the Tag Swap, and I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

I hope to get back into blogger mode during the next couple of days and will be over to visit you all to catch up with what's been happening in your world this week whilst I've been awol.

Sharing my new obsession with Beverly

 @How Sweet The Sound 

and all the other participants celebrating Pink today.

Monday Doorways

For Louis la Vache's Monday Doorways

a little taste of home.

Musée de l'Orangerie Jardin des Tuileries 

in Paris.

Daffodils

After two weeks of alternate sunny and rainy days the daffodils are now out in all their glory!

For Seasonal Sunday #92 with the Tablescaper some sunshine to brighten your day wherever you are.

Linking this post also to

Mosaic Mondays

with Mary @thelittleredhouse.

Click on the highlighted links to see who else is participating this week.

Quelle surprise!

QUELLE SURPRISE!

Recently I received a surprise in the mail.
A beautiful hand knitted woodland nest, a gift from the hugely talented Vicki who's blog 2 Bags Full is a wonderful place to spend some time.

There you will find more beautiful nests such as this one.

You may remember that I was able to acquire the last 2011 Christmas nest last December, so lucky as the waiting lists for Vicki's nests are very looooong!
Vicki also shares her love of travel on her blog, she just returned from a cruise and her photographs are always amazing.
However, whilst Vicki and her husband were away a community very close to theirs at home was almost completely destroyed by the terrible hurricanes which ripped through the area causing unbelievable devastation.
You can read more about what happened, on Vicki's blog, by clicking here.

As I did at Christmas time I created a small vignette of the nest alongside my vintage copy of Diary Of An Edwardian Lady.

As you can see the illustrated pages for May are perfect with the nest, how talented Vicki is and Edith Holden, the author and artist of DOAEL, was.

Linking this post to Mrs Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday where the lesson for today is the letter Q.

Monday Doorways

I couldn't resist taking this shot of the stunning National Trust Shop

 in the beautiful Cathedral City of Wells, Somerset, U.K. when
visiting the Cathedral with the Quimper Club in 2004.

My contribution to this week's

Monday Doorways

hosted every week by

 Louis la Vache in beautiful San Francisco.

Alphabet-Thursday. P is for Printemps

Can you believe it?

This is my 400th post!

I'd like to say a great big thank you to all my followers 

for supporting me since I began blogging

 almost four years ago. 

What a great time I've had, sharing my life with you and learning about yours.

Here's to the next 400!

Here in Normandy it's Printemps, again!

image from google

Not Printemps the world famous Parisian department store!

I'm talking about this Printemps.................

When spring takes centre stage to announce
 "All right, Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close up".

The weather on Tuesday was lovely.

 Although still chilly we enjoyed blue skies and sunshine.

Everywhere I looked in the garden spring was bursting out all over,

to the soundtrack of a chain saw!

S the G is back!
(Sean the Gardener, soon to be starring as the Rotivater in the Potager)

Linking this springtime post to Jenny Matlock's

Alphabe-Thursday gathering

@off on my tangent.

Click here to peruse more peas!

(sorry, I've got gardening on the brain!)

Smugglers at the Lugger, Portloe, Cornwall.

Where do you suppose this padlocked, rusty barred gate leads to?

Smugglers be here!

I spotted this fascinating doorway whilst staying at the Lugger Hotel in Portloe, Cornwall last year.

The 17th Century inn has a dark history. 

In 1890 its landlord, Black Dunstan, was sent to the gallows

after his second career in smuggling French brandy was uncovered. 

Sharing the spoils with Louis La Vache, in beautiful San Franscisco,

for

Monday Doorways.