Brown Paper Packages ....

I've had a busy time these last couple of weeks, what with Steve's Big Birthday, school holidays, painting, gardening and generally messing about, lots of long walks in the long-awaited sunshine ... not to mention long evenings spent sitting on the sofa watching Team GB walk (or run, or dive, or row, etc) away with armfuls of medals! Now the Olympics are on the last day will have to find something else to do before the Paralympics begin ...

It seems like ages ago that I joined Katie from booty-fullthings lovely Jar of Love swap.  I was paired with the lovely Madison, and this was great, because I had not stumbled upon her blog until then, so was introduced to a new blogging friend.  I decorated a jar with dotty sticky-backed plastic, added a ribbon trim round the top and stuck on a little magnet saying "where there's a woman, there's a way".  So true!

 I sent Madison some sandcastle flags for her little boy, a card of vintage buttons (14p from the Co-op!), a With Love tag, a Cath Kidston heart-shaped soap, some mini bunting I'd made, a decoupaged bangle Millie made, some red, white and blue balloons, a crocheted flower, a rosy basket needlecase, some more loose buttons and a heart shaped picture holder.

I received a lovely big box in the post, and armed with a cup of tea and chocolate cake (both made by Millie), we sat down and opened it.  I was well and truly spoilt by Madison!

Ruby, acting nonchalant in the presence of cake!

Madison is very crafty (unlike me; I couldn't really fit a cupboard into a jar now, could I?) and had made me a rosy tissue box cover; a lovely flower corsage brooch; a knitted heart (she must have looked carefully at my blog and seen that I have hearts everywhere!). I also received some pink velvet ribbon; a clasp; a Limoges miniature; a pair of gorgeous silver sugar tongs; a cloth bag filled with herbs which you drop in the bath and some Twinings tea.  It was all packed in a lovely Kilner jar adorned with a lovely butterfly.  (Think this will look nice dangling from my pink bike!)

Thank you Madison, I absolutely love it all, you must know me so well!

I love these swaps, as it's nice getting surprises in the post as well as gathering things together for someone else, and it's also a way of meeting lots of new bloggers ...

I'm thinking hard about doing a giveaway myself soon, as I am so surprised that I'm approaching 100 followers, so once I achieve that magic milestone, I'll celebrate with you .. I really find it hard to believe that so many lovely people are interested in listening to me prattle on about nothing, really ...

Before I go, I'll just show you the sofa I painted (this matches the chair I showed you previously) in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (Old Ochre) ...

Before ...

and After! The little bookcase in the corner has also been given a makeover in AS Paloma, but I'm not too sure about that! The paint is so easy to use, and dries almost immediately, so it's easy to just change something if you don't like it.  By the way, do you like my Degas canvas above the sofa? I've been looking for one of these for years, as an old friend had one which I always admired.  I searched on ebay, I enquired online, but could never even find an image of the picture, never mind one available to buy.  A couple of weeks ago, there it was, at a car boot sale, about to be bundled back into the car because it had started chucking it down ... for the princely sum of £1!! Yes please, that'll do nicely, thank you ... when what I really wanted to do was jump up and down, screaming "I've found it, I've found it"!! Millie would have quietly disowned me on the spot I think, but she'd have had a long walk home!

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday,

Love Claire xxx