Sunday - Revisiting...June 2010

rrI have just got back from Holland. I couldn't tell you beforehand because my MIL visits my blog now and again. It was a surprise visit as she was 80 years old on Saturday. She started to cry when she saw that all her children and grandchildren had gathered to surprise her. We had a lovely celebration time and enjoyed our stay. Joël stayed home with David, bless his heart, so that we would have our hands free to move around a bit.



Today I am going to revisit a grid card I made in June 2010. This is my case of it, which is probably a winter version of the summer version below.



Tonight I will be making quiche with fresh green asparagus.. It is the time of year to collect them fresh from the wooded areas where they grow wild and we have a little patch near to where we live where they can be found. I took a picture of our find this afternoon. They are delicious.

They are a little delicacy here in France.

Hope you are all well!!

Moxie Fab - Tuesday Trigger

When I saw this inspiration photo it immediately reminded me of the Mimosa I had shown on my blog last Saturday. I love this gorgeous inspiration and although this beautiful bright color yellow is definitely not one of my 'go-to' colors I just had to create with it!!

Luckily I had received these pretty die-cuts from Sue which I thought matched the patterns on the doors. The black sentiment matches the boots and the door handle!
Thank you Sue - even the butterflies came in handy here. Can you see the tiny little heart in the 'O' of YOU in my sentiment? It's not a blodge!!

Sue had even sent a swirl die-cut which I sponged with Shabby Shutters and arranged behind the circle. I don't have yellow circles so I had to cut these out myself which is not easy!

Really enjoyable to leave my comfort zone for once!

All the entries can be found here on the Moxie Fab blog.

Mimosa - Springtime.

A blessing!

I have to share this little testimony. A sweet friend of mine brought me little signs of Spring in the form of the Mimosa flower this week. It blooms just one day and the scent it brings into the home is overwhelming! And everytime I forgot to take a photo! I had this thought in my heart that I wanted to share it with you on this blog, but my chance was gone. Yesterday morning as I was in the office, the phone rang.
It was my neighbour and she wanted to give me a huge bunch of Mimosa from her tree!! Now she never does this, so I was not only overwhelmed with her kindness but I knew in my heart that God wanted to bless me! Just simple, the conviction was there.
So I am sharing this bunch of God's creative goodness with you today. The first signs of Spring in this gorgeous yellow color!

Another little thing I wanted to share are these Cameo bowls I bumped into in the Sales. A little more than one dollar each. Luckily I was able to buy six of them. I was just looking for some unusual bowls!

And lastly here is my nature card:

Talking about yellow, the daffodils have shown themselves again and all the trees and shrubs etc. are showing signs of new life. I love that, its so uplifting.

I hope you have an uplifting weekend!
Jacqueline

Mariposa papers revisited

Because of the rich patterns on these papers it seems pointless to hide them..


The only thing I could think of was to make a grid where the whole sheet is done justice. I have been able to catch some of the glitter on this page.


Because we have very poor vineyard soil in our garden I planted some peas in a flower pot on the window sill of my craft room. Amazed to see that within three weeks I already have pea pods! Actually these can be eaten just as they are, raw in the salad or even lighted cooked as a vegetable. Can you see the pea pod hanging there?



I am showing you this picture here on Barb's blog (please stroll down to the bottom of her post). My son needed the camera for something he had seen on a tree next to my washing line. This looks very similar to what Barb showed. It is called a 'Night Butterfly' although it looks more like a giant moth. They are attracted to the lights at night but are very fragile insects.


I just must show you this stray little climbing plant that arrived in my garden (love surprises like that). I know that if something just appears in the garden that I didn't plant, then it has chosen the right spot for itself. It is called a Morelle (French name) and develops small berries after the flower has gone.

That was it for today. We have lovely weather, swimming pool is 27 degrees C (80.6F), the cherries and the peaches are ripening on the trees and the lavender bushes are turning a beautiful lavender color. These bushes are growing out of hand - they are next to the driveway on both sides and that gap is slowing becoming smaller!

Have a great weekend!

The Play Date Cafe Challenge - color challenge

This is my card for the PDCC challenge this week followed by the inspiration picture.
I used beige as well, but I hope it will still be considered.



Even if it isn't I just loved stamping with this new Hero Arts stamp called STARBURST LACE. I have made alot of cards with it in white, but love it in black too.
The panel with the roses was a great freebie which I found here, for those interested. (Thanks Lin for reminding me.)

(Challenge photo)

I made some photos of my garden yesterday as we are having lovely Spring weather which brings nature to life.

We couldn't go!

Because of the photo below we were unable to make the trip to the North yesterday. I really needed a little break and find myself working in the office again today.. as usual! I am determined to take a good walk in the snow this afternoon and take some pictures. I wonder how my little daffodils are taking it! We had at least 20 inches of snow, something that is very rare in these parts. But the scenery is breathtaking!



Yesterday afternoon we were without electricity and homebound. David and Michaël couldn't go to school because the buses weren't running. And today is the same. But the sun is shining and the melting process has begun.



So, yesterday I had a little chance to see if the inspiration was there or not and found myself puzzling pieces together from my scrap basket. Kind of rediscovered the collage type of card I love to do.



---------------------------------------------------------
JOHN 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Just to share a little bit - I don't know about in your part of the world but there is definitely a shift going on in the Spiritual world here, it seems that things are coming to the light in God's Church that have been covered and the Christians are searching for the True Church where Love and acceptance, unity and fellowship abides.

But it brings a battle because Light and darkness don't go together! We are all in a war, if we like it or not and have to wear our spiritual Armour to protect ourselves. We need to stay close to the Word of God to receive discernment concerning false doctrines, which will come, the Bible says. We need fellowship too, as a mirror, so that we don't think we know it all!

These last weeks we have felt the wind of change and it's unsettling - one has to adapt even though it's a positive change. I have felt oppression and wanting answers, but God doesn't always give answers, we have to believe every step of the way.
The other day I was so needing wisdom that I was thinking, who can I call, who shall I ask to help me.... I knew, the only One who can really help and give wisdom without reproach is the Lord. So after wrestling for half an hour in prayer, I stood up, without receiving a Word of wisdom - but I did have PEACE! I thought, isn't that just God?? He didn't give me wisdom because I knew deep down what I wanted was none of my business, but He did give peace which surpassed all my understanding!! I was blessed.... but do you know what? The next day, I needed to go back to the Father and receive again!! Luckily GOD is always there, just a prayer away.

A visit to a little village in the South of France and a little give-away - CLOSED

AIGNE is a little village just a little way from here and is in the shape of an escargot (snail), a 'round' village. This afternoon I went there to get some souvenirs from the little shop I found and to take photos of the Christmas decorations before they got taken down.

Here is a grid of the Christmas wreaths I saw hanging on doors. One of them is decorated with peakcock feathers - isn't that a great idea?!


This is the entrance to the shop I found which sells lovely little souvenirs. The shop is on the right.

Looking through the windows!


This photo and the one beneath is how the owners decorated the shutters on the outside.



These doors belong to very old houses! The wreaths are really effective on the outside, even though they are decorately thinly.






A very old window barred with mesh.


Look at the moss under the window on the above photo!

I bought some lovely little souvenirs there and am going to do a little New Year blog give-away. The stamp isn't new but as good as (which I didn't find in the shop by the way).


A sachet of Provence lavender with an ornament of an angel, a Christmas tree hanger and a stamp. If the winner is not vintage-minded and doesn't want the stamp I will pull out another name for the stamp.

Just leave a comment here and tell me what you think of this little village in France and I will pick a winner at the end of the week, probably saturday.

Hope you will join in!
Jacqueline

Lavender sachets

I LOVE lavender!





A little break from card-making to make some lavender sachets. I stamped with a lavender and pot image on the fabric and sewed a little pot from fabric on afterwards on the one sachet and the other sachet is one I made last year.

I got round to making a little basket full. The little basket the sachets are in came with bread in it - our little boulangerie sells some of their special bread this way.

Couples - Theme thursday

For the challenge at Theme Thursday the theme is 'couples' and as I had a picture of a couple I had a good start.



Another picture here of a place somewhere in a village in the South of France, near to the Pyrenée Mountains.