Delightful summer pinks and purples & an art party!

Hello again dear readers and blogging friends!

I know that I have promised you a garden photo post today, but I have to make this a devided post now because I also like to participate in Artsy Mama Kari's "artful blogger party" which she is hosting over @ her blog today, open for artsy bloggers from all over the world! So stay tuned for a very long blog today lol!

I recently made a few things for the "Marie Antoinette Swap" (hosted by my finnish blogging friend Delila from Sepia Art Studio) which I like to show you today:

First there is this Marie inspired collage hanger made on a one piece cake paper plate which I've painted in my fave turquoise color and glued a pretty paper on, then I've glittered the edges and lastly I've embellished it with golden Dresdens papers, charms, bouillon, brads, a mother of pearl button and a millinery flower.

Then I've made a box for all the goodies I've gathered for my swap partner because I so love beautiful packaging and think it is as important as the gifts itselfs:

I chose a picture of Madame de Pompadour for the box because I find this especially pretty:

Another thing that I made to put in the Madame de Pompadour box is this soldered Marie-Antoinette jewelry pendant which I've already showed you in my last post:

Well that's it about art blogging for today but now it's time to go back to the garden!

My Garden is literally full of pretty pinks and purples at the moment which I like to share with all the garden lovers amongst you:

Above is a tiny pink carnation and below a pink Hibiscus syracus:

A purple bird ball on the table and pink is my pink pot ladder with a pot of pink flowers of course lol

Purple Petunias in a hanging basket above and Pelargonium with Heliotrop on one of my tables on the deck:

The purple Heliotrop is also called Vanilla Flower here in Germany because it scents so wonderfully Vanilla like hmmmmm

In the picture below you see one of my Phlox flowers:

And in the next picture you can see my purple grapevine. The grapes are already ripe now:

This pink beauty is Anemone japonica:

I have planted pink Diascia in the the turquoise pot, because it is on of my fave color combinations:

This is a deeper pink Diascia in a clay pot on my potting table:

Then there are more different Phloxes blooming right now:

And snapdragons in different pinks too:

Lastly my provence rose "Elle" is blooming in a gorgeous pink right now, sometimes they are more orange, the colors change with the weather:

And last but not least the pink Cottage rose is also blooming again:

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures of my summergarden pink and purples and will come back visiting me again!

Carol(a) xox

A good mixture!

Oh my goodness like every time I can't decide what to post on my blog. I'm torn between pictures of my garden, decorations, swaps and crafts. What is it that you like to see best/mostly? Well for this time I decided to make this post a good mixture out of it all lol

Okay so I've started with a decorated corner of my deck in the picture above!

Followed by a photo of a wonderful royal mail parcel that I had in the mail last weekend from Chantal of the blog http://celestinemusings.blogspot.com/

Chantal e- mailed me through flickr that she saw a comment that I made weeks ago under someone elses picture of a book called "The Country diary of an Edwardian Lady" and that she had a spare copy of that book which she'd like to send to me just because she loves my blog and cause she wanted to share it. Wow random act of kindness (RAK) or what? Of course I was delighted and I still am! :D Thank you so much Chantal, you and another kindred soul have made my weekend! I was suffering from a bad migraine and couldn't do much, so your parcel was very soothing for me!

It is such a beautiful nature diary through a whole year with the most enchanting pictures of plants and butterflies etc.pp all hand painted by the author Edith Holden back at the beginning of the last century. Im so happy to have my own copy now! The gorgeous foxglove below is just one example of the prettyness of the pictures, I'll sure post more pictures out of this treasure book from time to time:

See the beautiful metal birds in my fave colors hanging from my blue parasol?

Well they came in another wonderfully lavender smelling parcel last weekend from my dear friend Nature Girl from Canada. We had a magazine swap and the sweet heart that she is she has popped some more goodies in the envelope. I love everything but the birds really make me happy! I so love birds and she just knew it! Thank you so much NG! xox

Click on picture to enlarge and see more details!

Further I like to share with you some pictures of what is blooming in my little garden at the moment:

Above you can see "Lavatera arborea" a real big plant, almost to big for my border, but it has so many beautiful blooms!

Above is Clematis "Cardinal rouge" which is still blooming pretty as well on my blue trellis and my "Augusta Luise" rose in the photo below is still having pretty flowers too:

Then there are the magnificent sweet peas blooming in my border close to the rose arc now:

The collage on canvas below I've made for Jenny's bits and pieces swap. It's going out to my swap partner Anastasia in Sydney this week. If you are interested to see the collages of all the other participants of this swap go have a look at the flickr group here

See a bigger more detailed version of the picture above here!

And I made another crown, or this I think it became a bit more tiara like. My swap partner Ele had the choice between 3 crowns now and has decided she wants the golden King crown I've shown in my last post though. I'll show you pictures of what I'll get from my swap partners when I've received their parcels. There is also a flickr group for this swap of Holly Doodle, see here

See a bigger more detailed version of the picture above here!

Lastly can you spot me in the next picture?

Sure you can lol

Have a fabulous summer time everyone oh and winter time of course for those of you living down under! And leave me some comments please so that I know that you were here! Thank you and see you in July!

Warmest wishes

Carol(a) xox

Crafts, Swaps & Roses!

Hello dear readers,
I know it has been a long time again and my only excuse is that we have too good weather to stay in the house, oh and I'm back at work since last Thursday too and in the late evenings I was busy crafting. Please be patient if the pictures are taking long to load, just open another window keep surfing and come back here when they have all loaded, sometimes it helps to refresh the site too. I promise you won't regret it! Also if you don't like "eye candy" you don't have to wait ;-)

Click on the picture above to enlarge it to it's full size and see all the details, I took it yesterday!

This is what NG's friend and neighbor TWT has sent to me for our magazine swap! Thank you dear TWT the magazine is beautiful and I also love all the extras you've added! They are perfect for a gardener! Not sure if I'll ever be able to touch dirt with those gorgeous party garden gloves ;-) Btw your's and NG's swap enevelopes are on it's way to Canada!

Then I'd like to show you what I was busy creating lately! These are magnetic 3 D collage tins, which I'm going to add to my little empty Etsy shop this week! They will add a nice romantic touch to your fridge or any other place where magnets will hold!

I did my best to make them look pretty from the in- and the outside, using German Dresden borders, satin ribbon and vintage lace borders etc.pp!

I'm going to take close up pics of every magnetic tin for the Etsy shop descriptions though!

Then I was experiencing what else I could create with paper and mixed medias that I haven't seen around the crafting and blogging world before and I came up with the "apple collage" above and the "Victorian shoe" below which I could add to Etsy too if someone is interested in it:

This next picture I took at my mum's last week, just because I thought it's pretty eye candy:

Well then in the here calles "rose month of June" I can't resist but posting more actual pictures of some of my favorite roses in my garden, cause I feel they have just reached the high point of their beauty:

Eden rose 85:

"Augusta Luise":

Leonardo da Vinci:

David Austin's "St. Cecilia":

I'm looking forward to discover what's new in your blogs now! Have a happy week everyone! Carol(a) xox

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P.S. Have you seen the new little banner pics on the right, in my side bar? I've signed up to two fabulous new swaps this week. First is Jenny's "Collage bit's and pieces swap" and the other one is Holly Doodles "Crown and Tiara swap". Can't wait to find the time to start! :D