Yes It's Me and I Have Something To Share With You All !

Hello Peachy Pink friends :-)

I have something very special to share with you all.

It was my birthday last week 

and I was spoiled rotten by my friends and family.

There was love, cake, laughter, a yummy lunch and beautiful heartfelt gifts.

THIS, is one of the very special gifts that I received from an old friend of mine Miss M.

You see, I had found this beautiful Victorian collar box on line and I fell in love with it.  It was completely ancient, age to perfection and served a purpose. I just wish that it was still full of the beautiful lace collars that once upon a time would have graced it.

 Oh can you imagine how much I would be squealing if they were still there......sigh

Well.....

A friend of mine took it upon herself to surprise me with it and managed to keep it a big secret !

and when the secret was revealed there was no wiping the smile from my face.

ISN'T IT GORGEOUS !

It has 2 compartments to keep lace collars.

One at the top and the other at the bottom.

Below, Top

Below, Bottom

and I plan to store my beautiful lace cuffs and bows in there.

Aren't these girls pretty ?

I LOVE their pretty posies of flowers.

The box is in great condition for it's age (Approx 1880) 

The velvet fabric on the middle section has worn over the years but the celluloid on the base and lid is absolutely perfect.

My French lace cuffs pictured below will now live in the bottom section of my box.

I am thinking that the little brass plate on the inside lid of the box may be for some type of bow tie .

Any thoughts ?

 Thankyou so much Miss M for such a beautiful thoughtful gift.
                                         I ADORE IT !

            I had a very happy birthday and I felt very loved.

 

Secret Garden Splendour

I received a pretty parcel in the post recently from a dear friend of mine Vera from

 Aunty Vera Scrap and Craft.

She loves to surprise me with pretty scrap booking supplies from her business

I was super happy when the postman handed me the box and I took a peek inside.

Aunty Vera knows me very well.

She knew that I would be squealing with delight.

I thought you would all love to take a peek too !

These gorgeous papers are from the 'Secret Garden' collection.

She has lots in stock right now so pop over and tell her that you are a friend of mine. She is a real sweetheart and she will look after you.

I had something special in mind to make with them when I saw them. I decided to make some pretty gift tags to attach to my flower orders for Mothers Day.

They are so pretty and soft and Mums would love them.

Well this Mum (me) loves them especially !

These are my tags complete !

I love the one on top the best because I LOVE Forget-me nots

Didn't I get spoilt !

Lucky me :-)

You will find these papers HERE

I love to make things when special occasions arise. There is nothing nicer then a home made card to say 'I love you Mum'

and then I made something quite neutral and brown into the perfect greeting for my tea cup posies.

They are quick and easy to make and allow my blooms to be the star and not the card.

They may be boring brown but they look really effective don't you think ?

a dab of hot glue stuck my little flags on to a simple skewer. 

Simple but just right.

              no it's not your eyes..........this next pic IS blury.

                                     But you get the idea of where my little flags ended up !

and the birthday girl was very happy when I delivered her little teacup full of happiness. It is such a gift in itself to hand somebody flowers and seeing their face light up.

Thursday Flowers......Boho Style

It all began with a big bucket of flowers that inspired a whole room change.
I was passing by my local florist store and decided to stop in and buy my daughter a bunch of flowers for her birthday......

My daughter (as mentioned in Mondays post HERE) isn't a shabby chic girl at all. She prefers a more Boho look and loves  Indian textiles and raw timber surfaces.  Combining her look with my look in our home has often proved to be quite the challenge.  
I have in the past snuck a frilly cushion or a rose inspired print into her room, but as soon as she locks eyes on it is is back out of her room as quick as a flash.

When buying her flowers, roses and violets and other delicates are just not her thing.

So on my venture into the florist on the day of her birthday, I stood there scratching my head about what I would create for her.

It didn't take long to be inspired. Buckets and buckets of flowers sat before me and I was straight away drawn to a big bucket of fushia coloured  Dahlias. These pretty blooms didn't know it yet but they had inspired a whole new room change.
I used reds and creamy white Alstromeria to compliment the Dahlias. I needed some smaller blooms to soften the hues and the florist didn't have a lot in stock because it was straight after Christmas.  Hesitantly I reached for a bunch of Babies Breath. Babies Breath wasn't quite the look that I was after but I knew that it would help to fill the space.
I found nice tall native blooms in the shade of mauve. (I have no idea what they are called as the assistant who served me wasn't sure).  I didn't use these blooms in my arrangement but I knew that they would look big and dramatic in a new tall cylinder tin that I had been recently given as a gift.

I began with a couple of floral foam florist balls.  I soaked them for a few minutes until they were completely absorbed with water.
I then cut the heads off my flowers and began to fill my foam ball with them. I left a short stem of about 5cm on the end of each flower head and poked it into the ball.  I evenly spaced the larger blooms Dahlias all around the ball and then followed with a different shade and variety of Dahlias.  Then I began to fill in the gaps with creamy white Alstromerias and Babys Breath.
By the end of the process I realised that I had not bought nearly enough blooms for 2 balls.
I guess it is a learning curve and next time I will buy more !
I had wondered about hanging my ball up but in the end I decided to sit it on top of a round glass vase filled halfway with water and used the fallen petals to float in the vase.

and my arrangement is complete !

If you decide to try this at home, don't throw away the tighly closed buds because they add texture and interest to your design. Nothing from your bunches should be wasted unless the flowers are damaged or discoloured.

My daughter adored her flowers when she came home and saw them bursting with colour in her bedroom.  The smile and hug that she gave me made it all worth it.  Somehow I had managed to please her teenage eye with something that she may have selected for herself.  Dahlias are such a pretty old fashioned flower but in her eyes they were Bohemian, fresh and very hip !